Ram V brings one of DC’s most difficult characters to kill back to life this April
One of DC Comics’ cult hits returns this spring with The Resurrection Man: Quantum Karmaa six-issue prestige miniseries written by Detective comics‘Ram V.
For the series, V reunites with his own Grafity’s wall collaborator, artist Anand RK (van Batman: Urban Legends‘ ‘Wight Witch’ story and lots of cool covers) – and Resurrection Man is exactly the kind of metaphysical, fantasy-adjacent science fiction that’s right up V’s alley.
Created in 1997 by writing duo Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and artist Jackson ‘Butch’ Guice, Mitch Shelley is an amnesiac who finds he cannot stay dead: every time he comes back from the dead, he loses the superpower that he had in his ‘past life, and gets a new life. Despite the nickname ‘Resurrection Man’, Mitch was never really a superhero. He was more of a man who wandered trying to uncover his enigmatic past, helping the needy he encountered and avoiding the dangerous, immortal forces that had an interest in him.
Abnett, Lanning and Guice’s original Resurrection man ran for 27 issues, then returned for a shorter lifespan of the New 52 series in 2011. In this new series: “After living and dying his last life, Shelley awakens with a new purpose to go along with his newest power: saving the universe,” according to DC’s press release. “This version of Resurrection Man must battle across time and space against a sadistic World War II internment camp captain who has inherited a warped version of Shelley’s abilities. As the lines of cosmic order begin to blur, Mitch Shelley will literally die to save the universe, more than once.”
“This is a story I’ve wanted to tell since I first started writing for DC,” V said in the press release. “It stuck and stuck and took hold in my mind, and my love and enthusiasm for the character and the story has only grown. Part of the joy of writing comics for me is reinventing and reimagining characters in a way that resonates with my own concerns and joys; of The Resurrection Man: Quantum KarmaI hope readers will share in my excitement as Anand, (colorist Mike Spicer) and (letterer Aditya Bidikar) and I tell a story about endless lives, saving universes and falling in love, across the entire length of existence.”
Butch also returns to draw one ‘synopsis’ page in each issue (seen below right), summarizing the history of Mitch Shelley.
The first issue of Resurrection Human: Quantum Karma hits shelves on April 2 and will be available for pre-order from January 17. You can check out the main cover (top left) by Jeff Dékal, and variant covers by (clockwise from top right) Anand RK, Jackson Butch, and Dan Panosian.