Creators unveil new 'Wildcats' arc

Artist Tim Seeley and writer Adam Beechen have lifted the lid on next year's Wildcats arc 'Red Blade'.

The new plotline picks up directly after the 'Number of the Beast' arc, which has left the world in ruins. Current scribe Christos Gage's run on the Wildstorm comic will end with issue #18 in December, paving the way for the duo to take the reins.

"For Wildcats, we really want to focus on the fact that this is now a very different world than before the 'Number of the Beast' incident. 90% of the planet's population is gone, there are no governments, no services, little communication," Beechen told Newsarama.

"The overall goal is to get the planet back up on its feet and running once more, so essentially, they should all be one giant team. At least, that's how some of the heroes feel. Others, not so much."

Artist Seeley and editor Shannon Denton have collaborated on new visual designs for each of the main characters. "Shannon wanted to slightly modify a few characters, so he and I kicked back and forth our ideas," he said.

"We both found we liked a lot of the earliest designs of these characters best, so we're giving some of them a 'retro-modern' look. Shannon worked in animation and won an Emmy for character design, so if I made him happy with a design, I figured I must be doing alright. The scariest part was when Shannon told me Jim Lee himself had been in to look over the designs. Out of like 50 of them, his only suggested change was to get rid of a hat. Whew."

'Red Blade' will commence in January 2010.