Dynamite's Death Defying 'Devil Launches in December

As Newsarama has reported, Dynamite Entertainment will be expanding the Project Superpowers universe in the coming months to make it a full-fledged super-hero universe, akin to both the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe.

Early November will see the launch of Black Terror by Jim Krueger and Mike Lily , with Project Superpowers 2 and Masquerade coming in early 2009. Before that though, The Death Defying ‘Devil will debut in December, written by Joe Casey , with art by Edgar Salazar (newly exclusive to Dynamite).

The Death Defying ‘Devil got a spotlight in Project Superpowers #2 which showed him, like the other Golden Age heroes, trying to regain his footing after being trapped in a magical urn for the better part of 60 years. The character, of course, is Alex Ross and Krueger’s take on the “Daredevil” character, originally published in the ‘30s and ‘40s.

According to the “Fighting Yank’s War Journal” in the pages of Project Superpowers, the PS-universe Death Defying Devil was truly a mystery man, and has been made even more mysterious thanks to his time in the urn. Yank’s Journal noted that the ‘Devil often fought with The Claw, and wondered whatever became of his allies, the Wise Guys. Design-wise, the ‘Devil is characterized by his red and black costume, spiked belt and use of boomerangs.

The new series will feature regular covers by Alex Ross, with variant covers by John Cassaday. The slug for the first issue reads: “If this is the Death Defying Devil, Then Who is This?” referring to a character wearing an alternate Death Defying Devil costume.

As Dynamite reveals, the character will be instantly thrown into the action in his own series. From the publisher’s press release:

Spinning out of the events from Project Superpowers Chapter One and bridging the gap before the debut of Project Superpowers Chapter Two, the mysterious ‘Devil is put on the case to track down the terrorist organization known as "The Claw". Traveling with the equally mysterious Justine, the ‘Devil is shadowed by a new hero that very well may hold the answers to the ‘Devil's strange existence and new clues to the nature of the Urn which imprisoned all of the heroes!

"We're extremely happy to be expanding the Project Superpowers Universe that Dynamite has built together with Alex Ross and Jim Krueger," stated Dynamite's Nick Barrucci. "Bringing Joe Casey as the scripter was a piece of the puzzle that Joe put together by reaching out to Alex to join our team. It's great to know that great talent such as Joe could see what we were building towards in the initial series, and has helped us to showcase the ‘Devil as the next step towards introducing these ‘dynamite' characters to the world!”

Check back with Newsarama soon for an interview with Casey about the series.