THE FLASH Exclusive & FROSTBITE for Vertigo

The Flash #1 courtesy DC Comics
The Flash #1 courtesy DC Comics

Joshua Williamson is launching The Flash Rebirth and speeding over to Vertigo Comics.

DC Entertainment announced Joshua Williamson will create comic book content exclusively for DC Comics and the Vertigo imprint. After launching THE FLASH in June, Williamson will make his Vertigo debut with FROSTBITE, a new six-issue miniseries joining the title lineup. Artist Jason Shawn Alexander (Batman: Arkham City, The Empty Zone) will join Williamson on the book.

”Josh is a fantastic writer, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him on board,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee. “He has a knack for telling stories that really grab hold of readers, and it comes through whether he’s writing epic superhero fiction, or more edgy and darker tales.”

Williamson may be DC exclusive but Frostbite is not what you expect:

FROSTBITE follows Keaton, a South American woman and a “coyote,” a human trafficker specializing in no-questions-asked transportation of people across dangerous landscapes. Decades earlier, the world entered a new ice age; though the remaining populace has survived and adapted to the frozen environment using new technology, the weather is not their biggest danger. A new disease nicknamed “Frostbite” is making its way across the remaining communities. It literally turns people into ice, slowly freezing the moisture in their cells. Keaton and her crew are tasked with transporting two scientists from Mexico to a science lab on Alcatraz where they are working on a cure. It should be easy; after all, it’s only an elderly man and his adult daughter. But when the transport is attacked Keaton finds out that the scientist and his daughter have a bounty on their heads, and this simple transport job becomes very, very complicated.

Frostbite courtesy Vertigo Comics
Frostbite courtesy Vertigo Comics

“For a comic book writer, this is a dream come true,” said Williamson. “There aren’t too many people that get the chance to not only write The Flash, one of my all-time favorite characters, but also work with Vertigo; a publisher that’s been a huge influence on my writing style. DC Comics is an important company to me; I’ve loved these characters all my life and an opportunity to add to their mythology is amazing. It’s an honor to be a part of it.”

Williamson makes his REBIRTH debut on both THE FLASH: REBIRTH (on sale June 8) and THE FLASH (on sale June 22) with an all new-story arc, coming out of the events of May 25th’s DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH Special, written by Geoff Johns.

The events of the Rebirth Special have left Barry Allen at a crossroads, and issue #1 begins chapter one of “Lightning Strikes Twice,” where a new storm brews over Central City, and disproves the old adage about lightning never striking twice. This time, just when Barry Allen is beginning to feel overwhelmed fighting crime, a new speedster debuts! But where did he come from, and is there more to him that meets the eye? As part of the Rebirth line wide relaunch, The Flash will ship twice monthly, with art by Carmine DiGiandomenico and Neil Googe.

FROSTBITE arrives in September.

By Editor