What SHOULD have been in the DC Relaunch: METAMORPHO: THE ELEMENT MAN

As a, sort of, tribute to the passing of the old DC Comics 2.0 and ushering in of the DC Comics 3.0, a popular blog concept has been making the rounds.  I'm talking about the "DC Fifty-TOO!" blog where cartoonist Jon Morris picked the mind and talents of 52 artists out there to "imagine" their dream title that is noticeably missing from the new DC Comics relaunch of their line with 52 new titles. 

I am not a participant in Morris's DC Fifty-TOO, but I loved the idea and on another website I participate on occasionally a smaller group of us decided to do our OWN cover designs and concepts.  I chose "METAMORPHO: THE ELEMENT MAN."  Probably second only to Green Lantern in terms of my hierarchy of favorite DC heroes (though the way DC has been portraying GL recently, I may be moving Metamorpho to the number 1 spot). 

This is my cover art and the series  concept I envision is that Metamorpho is sort of a type of "Alchemical Messiah" empowered by the Orb of Ra. He's torn between the thrill of power and adventure versus the vanity of the loss of his humanity and looks. Java, of course, is jealously in love with Sapphire who is still in love with Rex in spite of what has happened to him. Sapphire is still heiress to the Stagg empire but, in an attempt to make her way out of the shadow of her father, became an NBI agent. She still functions as an at-large agent working with international agencies on behalf of the U.S. in investigating and taking down global threats. She thinks she employs Java as her own personal bodyguard and assistant. But in truth, Java is controlled by Sapphire's sinister father, Simon, who has his own secret agenda in play. What role the fugitive Dr. Will Magnus and his mysterious "Metal Men" play in this drama is unknown, but Doc Magnus seems particularly interested in this "Metamorpho."