FINALLY!
Monday August 15th 2011, 7:00 pm
At last we get to have a trade collection on the full Chase material that I had any involvement in, available for pre-order now. Its going to be pretty comprehensive, featuring the full prematurely cancelled series and some short stories. This is just in time for people to get caught up in the origins of Cameron Chase and the D.E.O., as these ideas will have relevance to other work. This was early work by me (along with other cohorts), and I’m still proud of it today. This was also my first foray into writing my own series, along with co-writer D. Curtis Johnson, who sorely needs to return. His talents were tremendous and comics could use his mind again.
Chase was one of those series that came out at time when almost everything new from DC was getting the axe within a year due to slow sales. Ironically, as we were getting chopped, a groundswell buzz was happening around what we were doing, but unfortunately not in time to save the series. In all the years since then, Chase The Series had garnered a cult status, becoming almost more popular after it’s death than when it was alive. I still hear from fans today about it, wondering if we’ll ever get to bring the series back. Even though this work never saw its full completion, that doesn’t detract from it’s worthiness to be on people’s bookshelves. It’s still a good read (or at least I hope so).
The stories were inventive and entertaining, and brought some new ideas to DC, that others enjoyed enough to keep Chase and the D.E.O. alive through other means. These ideas managed to have strong impacts on other titles as Cameron Chase (or the organization she works for) was featured in many series to follow, some of it short appearances, while in others as major supporting roles. But here in this new collection you’ll find the original stories that lead to some interesting ideas, viewpoints on what it may be like to live in a world of fantastic super-powered heroes and villains, on where the normal human being may fit into the grandiose drama of the DC Universe. Sure this isn’t anything new, as many series have touched on this over the years. But I can say we were one of earliest titles to do so. These stories allow the reader to see the DCU from a different point of view, one that I feel can still be valid today. And ideas that I would love another chance to explore more fully. If you are going to be reading Batwoman, this will be essential reading, as it gives some insights to how I view things, and where Haden Blackman and myself may be headed. The full solicit is below…
CHASE TP
Written by D. CURTIS JOHNSON and J.H. WILLIAMS III
Art by J.H. WILLIAMS III, MICK GRAY, CHARLIE ADLARD, YANICK PAQUETTE, BOB HALL, ERIC CANETE, EDUARDO BARRETO, RICK BURCHETT, GREG SCOTT and others
Cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III
On sale DECEMBER 21 • 352 pg, FC, $29.99 US
Collecting a cult favorite series from the 1990s spotlighting the amazing artwork of J.H. Williams III, CHASE stars Agent Cameron Chase. On field assignment for the Department of Extranormal Operations, a government agency with jurisdiction over superhuman activity, she’s about to encounter some unexpected surprises, as her own mysterious powers come into play – powers she doesn’t fully understand.
This spectacular collection includes appearances by Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Teen Titans, the Justice Society of America and more, in stories from CHASE #1-9 and #1,000,000, BATMAN #550, DC UNIVERSE SECRET FILES #1, SECRET FILES GUIDE TO THE DC UNIVERSE 2000 #31, SUPERMAN: OUR WORLDS AT WAR SECRET FILES #1, JSA SECRET FILES #2, THE FLASH SECRET FILES #3, THE JOKER: LAST LAUGH SECRET FILES #1, BATGIRL SECRET FILES #1 and HAWKMAN SECRET FILES #1.