DC Comics has tapped Stjepan Sejic to become the new regular artist for one of their best ongoing series coming out of Rebirth, Aquaman. Sejic will debut in June in an extra sized Aquaman #25.
He previously worked on Image titles Witchblade, Aphrodite IX, Death Vigil, and Sunstone.
Sejic released a couple of tweets announcing his role on Aquaman. But some fans beat him to the punch!
https://twitter.com/KalelData/status/842495616584503296
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842507659119136768
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842510918919634945
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842585435465441280
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842605290927271937
He even combined his Sunstone characters with Mera!
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842743124405510146
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842754442063679489
https://twitter.com/stjepansejic/status/842879052256108544
Over on Facebook, Sejic even teased a couple of Aquaman villains, Black Manta and Ocean Master. There is no word on whether these two villains will be making an appearance when Sejic takes over, but the fact he was doing some test drawings of these classic Aquaman villains does hint at their return.
Black Manta has been off the board for a little bit ever since Aquaman took care of the Deluge and N.E.M.O. back in Aquaman #15. But at the end of that issue Dan Abnett and company left the doors wide open.
Since the launch of DC’s Rebirth, Aquaman has used a rotating team of artists including Brad Walker, Philippe Briones, and Scot Eaton.
Sejic will kick off Aquaman #25 and “Underworld” part one.
Here’s the full solicitation from DC Comics:
Written by DAN ABNETT • Art and cover by STJEPAN SEJIC • Variant cover by JOSHUA MIDDLETON
“UNDERWORLD” part one! In this extra-sized anniversary issue, former terrorists have replaced the Atlantean police. Crime lords control huge swaths of the kingdom. And a deadly undersea arsenal is trained on the surface-dwellers. All is as King Rath commands—and yet whispers persist of a rebel in the slums of Atlantis: A hero with the potential to change the world. A whole new era of AQUAMAN begins as master storyteller Stjepan Sejic (Sunstone, Death Vigil) joins series writer Dan Abnett for Arthur’s boldest and most harrowing adventure yet! On sale JUNE 21 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
This reads to me as a possible prequel tale, but there could also be some time displacement or even dimension work at play given we are not sure what is going to happen in the upcoming “The Button” crossover event with Batman and The Flash, which looks to flesh out some of the teases DC gave us in Geoff Johns’ DC Universe: Rebirth #1.
What do you think? How will Dan Abnett and company make the jump from Aquaman as the King of Atlantis making peace with the surface world to Arthur Curry being the low man on the totem pole?