"I am thrilled to help bring DC’s Young Animal to life, having been raised on experimental 80s and 90s takes on superheroes. I see Young Animal as a place to try new ideas - following the spirit of those books from the past but bring them somewhere else. I see it as an imprint where we can explore fine art, bold concepts, mature themes, and strangeness — with lots of heart."
Young Animal is an imprint of DC Comics founded by My Chemical Romance frontman (and writer of The Umbrella Academy) Gerard Way that launched in September 2016.
Described as "comics for dangerous humans," Young Animal publishes titles intended for mature readers, putting modern spins on classic (and obscure) DC Comics concepts like Doom Patrol, much like the Vertigo imprint before it. Though published independently from the mainstream DCU titles and not being considered part of the DC Rebirth branding, Young Animal comics are still set within that universe; Mother Panic, for example, is set in Gotham City.
Never intended to be a permanent fixture (it was described as a "pop-up imprint"), Way announced the imprint's titles would end in summer of 2018, although they returned a year later. The one exception was Doom Patrol, which was announced to continue indefinitely.
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Wave One
- Doom Patrol (2016) — In the spirit of Grant Morrison's legendary run on the series, along with other classic incarnations of the characters. Written by Gerard Way with art by Nick Derington.
- Shade, The Changing Girl — An alien takes over the body of a 16-year-old bully and must face the challenges of being a stranger in a foreign land, plus the consequences of a life she didn't live, exploring themes of madness, alienation, and the bizarre in this sci-fi thriller. Written by Cecil Castellucci with art by Marley Zarcone and covers by Becky Cloonan.
- Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye — DC Comics’ Silver Age character Cave Carson, his cybernetic eye and his college–age daughter travel to dark places deep in the earth and mind. Written by Gerard Way and Jon Rivera with art by Michael Avon Oeming.
- Mother Panic — Meet Violet Paige, a celebrity heiress by day and brutal vigilante by night as she takes on the underbelly of Gotham City’s high society. Written by Jody Houser with art by Tommy Lee Edwards.
Wave Two
- Bug!: The Adventures of Forager — A solo comic for the titular character, a minor figure from Jack Kirby's New Gods sub-franchise. Written by Lee Allred, art by Michael Allred, colors by Laura Allred.
Wave Three — The Remix
Following the line-wide "Milk Wars" crossover, Young Animal was relaunched with a handful of new titles, and continuations of existing ones:
- Shade, the Changing Woman — A continuation of Shade, The Changing Girl, wherein Loma sheds her Earth body and comes into contact with the original Shade. Written by Cecil Castellucci with art by Marley Zarcone and covers by Becky Cloonan
- Cave Carson Has an Interstellar Eye — A continuation of Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye, following Cave Carson and his daughter after they fall into a black hole. Written by Jon Rivera with art by Michael Avon Oeming.
- Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. — A continuation of Mother Panic. Ten years after the disappearance of Batman, Gotham has fallen into dystopia. Written by Jody Houser with art by Tommy Lee Edwards and Ibrahim Moustafa.
- Eternity Girl — A disfigured former superhero who can't die sets out to destroy the universe. Written by Magdalene Visaggio with art by Sonny Liew.
Wave Four
A fourth wave has been announced, to be released in July 2019.
- Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds — Continuing Doom Patrol, featuring the team on a road trip across time and space. Written by Gerard Way and Jeremy Lambert with art by James Harvey, Doc Shaner, Nick Pitarra, Becky Cloonan and more.
- Collapser — A wannabe DJ named Liam James gets superpowers from a black hole and gets involved in a cosmic conflict while trying to continue forward with his day-to-day life. Written by Mikey Way and Shaun Simon with art by Ilias Kyriazis.
- Far Sector — Newly deputized Green Lantern Sojourner "Jo" Mullein polices a massive city that keeps its inhabitants safe by removing their emotions when chaos begins to break loose. Written by N. K. Jemisin with art by Jamal Campbell.
Compare to MAX, a similar imprint by Marvel Comics. Not to be confused with the Seinen magazine of the same name from Japan.
Young Animal provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: The main character of Shade, The Changing Girl is a female counterpart of the original Shade.
- Crisis Crossover: "Milk Wars", which tied into all five ongoing titles and set up Eternity Girl.
- Electronic Eyes: Guess which title features a character with one of these.
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Spiritual Successor: The imprint revives the original 1990s approach of Vertigo Comics, with stories featuring mainstream DC universe characters, but with more challenging subject matter and artistic approach. In particular, Doom Patrol and Shade are revisiting concepts that had already been Vertigo'd. - Stealth Sequel: At first, it seemed like Doom Patrol would be a reboot of the franchise, and it does not acknowledge the team's then-most-recent appearance in Geoff Johns' Justice League run. However, issue 3 makes it clear that both Grant Morrison and Keith Giffen's runs did indeed happen (and by extension, their entire history), by having Robotman reference events within those series. It later turns out the Justice League appearances are possibly still canon when it's revealed the Robotman of Way's run may be a copy of some kind. Though considering that Justice League run may itself no longer be in continuity, who knows anymore?
