Bendis Discusses ‘Event Leviathan’ And Reveals Maleev And Paquette Artwork

Over on Paste Magazine Brian Michael Bendis has been drumming up fan support for his Leviathan event running through Action Comics currently, but about to spiral out of that title and into the DCU. But it’s not like other events that require multiple issues and mini-series to sustain them. No, this one, while promising to declutter the DCU of its many, many black ops teams such as Checkmate, Task Force X (otherwise known as the Suicide Squad) and more that have cropped up over the years, will run to 6 issues plus two specials. Firstly, there will be the .25 cents issue of DC’s Year of the Villain, then the Superman one-shot, Superman: Leviathan Rising Special out May 29th, followed by the launch of the 6 issue Event Leviathan mini-series which will feature DC’s best and brightest detectives teaming up to hunt down clues and, eventually, Leviathan.

Bendis makes no secret of his love for DC’s detectiving community telling Paste Magazine, “It just so happens that most of the greatest detectives in the DC Universe are my favorite characters of all time! So it’s Batman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Lois Lane, Manhunter (Kate Spencer). And a few surprises, and The Question.”

Interestingly, Bendis includes Lois Lane amongst this list of greats and it’s easy to see why, given her investigative journalist background, which will spill over into her own maxi-series this summer.

Hundreds of writers have shown that Lois Lane is one of the most interesting characters in all of literature, not just comics. So to celebrate that here is easy pickings, to be honest with you. It’s the easiest thing I’m doing at DC right now, is showing everyone that Lois Lane is the smartest, most dangerous person on the planet.

Seems like Superman celebrated turning 80 last year, but it certainly feels like it’s Lois’ year this year, doesn’t it? Seems the TV arm of Warner Bros. are missing a trick here, doesn’t it? With Titans and Doom Patrol as testament to their continued understanding of TV (maybe better than their understanding for film up until recently?), could a Lois Lane TV show be too hard to sell?

And, on a tangent, there was even talk of the newly revealed further secret identity for Superman, Chaz, described by Bendis as “Superman … just (turning) into Bradley Cooper from American Hustle”.

Overall, Bendis describes the whole event as “like a detective reverse-engineering the event from their point of view, and in doing so, creating clues and red herrings and really trying to figure out who Leviathan is to all the clues that are being left in front of them.”

As a regular reader of both Superman and Action Comics, having enjoyed them both since their relaunch last year, I’ll be looking forward to where this all goes over the next half a year or so. The DCU is certainly shifting, but with veteran writes like Bendis onboard, I look forward to where this is all heading!

DC’s Year of the Villain is out May 1st from DC Comics.