DC Comics Announces Spirit World, The Vigil & City Boy For AAPI Month

Bleeding Cool previously covered rumours about Spirit World, City Boy and The Vigil becoming new series from DC Comics, and DC has now just confirmed them all for May 2023, ahead of the release of their solicits and solicitations as six-issue series with Asian lead characters, for May’s AAPI Heritage Month and the Dawn Of DC publishing promotion. We also gave added context, such as the Jack Kirby origins of Spirit World, City Boy‘s relationship to Jack Hawksmoor and where The Vigil have been appearing.

Spirit World #1 (of 6) – On Sale May 9, 2023

First seen in Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate #1, Spirit World features Xanthe, a non-binary Chinese hero with the ability to travel in and out of the Spirit World – the realm of the dead, and that of the living. Xanthe possesses the ability to burn items folded from ceremonial joss paper and turn them into real objects that can be used in the physical world. Their super power is based on the East Asian custom of burning joss paper at gravesites to send resources to ancestors in the spirit world. In this debut issue, written by Alyssa Wong (Batman: Urban Legends, Marvel’s Deadpool) with art by Haining (DCeased), Xanthe forms a reluctant alliance with DC’s bad boy of the mystic arts, John Constantine, to rescue Batgirl Cassandra Cain from a horde of jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampires). Haining provides both the main and 1 in 50 ratio variant covers, additional variant covers by Dustin Nguyen and Trung Le Nguyen, plus a special AAPI Heritage Month variant cover by Zu Orzu.

The Vigil #1 (of 6) – On Sale May 16, 2023

This mysterious team of South Asian metahumans made their first appearance in Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution #1 and can be seen again in issues #1070 and #1071 of Detective Comics. Written by Ram V (Detective Comics, Swamp Thing), with art by Lalit Kumar Sharma (Truth & Justice, Marvel’s Daredevil), The Vigil is Arclight, Saya, Dodge, and Castle, a group of individuals given powers they didn’t want, determined to stop metahuman research and tech created for military applications at any cost. Along the way, they’ll encounter super heroes that could be allies or enemies, not a surprise for a group that exists to shut down state-sponsored superhumans…and clean up the mess before any hero or villain arrives, as if both the crime and The Vigil were never there. Artist Sumit Kumar provides the main cover, with variant covers by Mukesh Singh and series artist Lalit Kumar Sharma and Anand RK, with Pop Mhan providing a special AAPI Heritage Month variant.

City Boy #1 (of 6) – On Sale May 23, 2023

Both DC and WildStorm fans have already been introduced to Korean super hero Cameron Kim, a.k.a. City Boy, in the WildStorm 30th Anniversary Special #1 and Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn #1. Cameron is just a kid trying to make a living, using his powers of speaking to cities to find lost and hidden goods to pawn, just trying to get by. But having these powers also means that he hears everything about these cities, everywhere and all at once, including their histories and the truths behind them. In his two current appearances he’s already made “friends” with Gotham City (including a rat avatar made from the city’s scraps), but only time will tell if City Boy is received as openly by Metropolis, Amnesty Bay, Themyscira, or other cities in the DC Universe. This six-issue series reunites writer Greg Pak (Action Comics, Milestone Media’s Duo) with artists Minkyu Jung (Batgirl, Titans) and Sunny Gho (Wonder Woman, DC Festival of Heroes, Justice League), and the debut issue features a main cover and 1 in 50 ratio variant cover by Minkyu Jung, and additional variant covers by InHyuk Lee and Michael Choi, with an AAPI Heritage Month variant cover by Alexandre Tefenkgi.