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DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults, formerly known as DC Ink, is a DC Comics imprint focusing on a teenage and young adult audience. Similar to its kids-oriented counterpart, DC Zoom, the imprint publishes original graphic novels, instead of single issues, and has invited many accomplished writers of prose books for the target demographic, most of which make their first foray into comics. The titles focus on either telling completely new interpretations of well-known DC heroes as teenagers or retelling the origin stories of the company B and C-List characters. Stories published under DC Ink are independent of both main DC Universe as well as each other. The imprint has been announced in 2018 with the first title launching in March 2019.

Compare with DC Graphic Novels for Kids, a similar DC Comics imprint focused on graphic novels aimed at a younger audience.


    Titles announced under DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults 

DC Ink releases

  • Mera Tidebreaker (February 2, 2019): Written by Danielle Paige (Dorothy Must Die) and illustrated by Stephen Byrne (Justice League/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers). Teenage Princess Mera of Xebel, an underwater kingdom under the oppressive rule of Atlantis, travels to the surface with a mission to free her people and save her from an Arranged Marriage - by assassinating heir of Atlantis' throne, Arthur Curry. But things get complicated once she falls in love with him.
  • Under The Moon A Catwoman Tale (May 1, 2019): Written by Lauren Myracle (The TTYL Series) and illustrated by Isaac Goodhart. When 15 years old Selina Kyle becomes homeless, she will have to learn fast to become tough if she wants to survive on the streets.
  • The Teen Titans series, written by Kami Garcia (The Caster Chronicles) and illustrated by Gabriel Picolo.
    • Teen Titans: Raven (June 26, 2019): After losing her adoptive mother and her memory in a car accident, Rachel Roth moves to New Orleans to live with her foster mother. When strange things start happening all around her, she will have to rely on her foster sister and new friends to discover the truth about who she was in a previous life.
    • Teen Titans: Beast Boy (September 1, 2020): A sequel by the same creative team, retelling the origins of Garfield Logan.
    • Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven (September 28, 2021)
    • Teen Titans: Robin (March 7th, 2023)
    • Teen Titans: Starfire (July 1st, 2024)
  • Harley Quinn Breaking Glass (September 3, 2019): Written by Mariko Tamaki (Supergirl: Being Super) and illustrated by Steve Pugh (The Flintstones). Ever since Harleen's parents split, her only family has been Mama, owner of drag queen cabaret above which the girl has her apartment. When the cabaret falls victim to gentrification, Harleen is faced with two ways to save it - with the help of a political activist Ivy or a Bomb Throwing Anarchist Joker.
  • Batman: Nightwalker (October 1, 2019): Written by Stuart Moore (Strangers in Paradise) and illustrated by Chris Wildgoose, an adaptation of Marie Lu novel of the same name.

DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults releases

  • Wonder Woman: Warbringer (January 7, 2020): Written by Louise Simmonson and illustrated by Kit Seaton (Black Bull of Norroway), an adaptation of Leigh Bardugo novel of the same name.
  • Shadow of the Batgirl (February 4, 2020): Written by Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Trilogy) and illustrated by Nicole Goux (Fuck Off Squad). Cassandra Cain is the daughter of supervillains, trained her whole life to become a living weapon. But after a life-shattering experience, she runs away from her old life and tries to find a new one by emulating her favorite superheroine, not seen in Gotham for years - Batgirl.
  • The Oracle Code (March 10, 2020): Written by Marieke Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends) and illustrated by Manuel Preitano (Destiny, NY). After becoming paralyzed by a gunshot wound Barbara Gordon enters Arkham Center of Independence, seeking physical rehabilitation. However, when she notices strange things happening at the facility, she must decide whenever it is paranoia caused by her trauma...or is something dangerous really going on.
  • Gotham High (April 1, 2020): Written by Melissa De La Cruz (Witches of East End) and illustrated by Thomas Pitilli. 17 year old Bruce Wayne, best known at school for throwing huge parties he doesn't even really like to engage in, has one true friend - Jack Smith. However, their friendship as about to end when they both meet a girl named Selina Kyle.
  • The Lost Carnival A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel (May 5, 2020): Written by Michael Moreci (Roche Limit) and illustrated by Sas Milledge (Mimon). A mysterious and mystical Lost Carnival threatens to steal remaining customers of circus employing Flying Graysons and youngest member of the group, Dick Grayson, himself succumbs to its allure. Among the Carnival, he finds both love and looming danger.
  • Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed (June 2, 2020): Written by Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak) and illustrated by Leila del Duca. When 15 years old Diana tries to help a group of refugees, she suddenly finds herself shipwrecked and lost in a strange land. To come back to Paradise Island she will have to face both drug smugglers and human traffickers.
  • You Brought Me The Ocean (June 9, 2020): Written by Alex Sanchez (The Rainbow Trilogy) and illustrated by Julie Maroh (Blue Is the Warmest Color), centered on Jackson "Jake" Hyde's coming-out story.
  • Swamp Thing Twin Branches (October 13, 2020): Written by Maggie Stiefvater (All the Crooked Saints) and illustrated by Morgan Beem.
  • Victor And Nora A Gotham Love Story (November 3, 2020): Written and illustrated by the same creative team as Under The Moon.
  • House Of El Book One The Shadow Threat (January 5, 2021): Written by Claudia Gray (Star Wars: Lost Stars) and illustrated by Eric Zawadzki (The Dregs).
  • Nubia Real One (February 23, 2021): Written by L.L. McKinney (A Blade So Black) and illustrated by Robyn Smith.
  • Catwoman: Soulstealer (June 1, 2021): Written by Louise Simmonson (X-Factor) and illustrated by Samatha Dodge, adaptation of Sarah J. Maas prose novel of the same name.
  • Poison Ivy Thorns (June 1, 2021): Written by Kody Keplinger and illustrated by Sara Kipin.
  • I Am Not Starfire (July 27, 2021): Written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Yoshi Yoshitani. Starfire's teen daughter Mandy is the exact opposite of her mother in every way possible and struggles to seek an identity outside of her mother's shadow.
  • Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero (September 7, 2021): An original story written by E. Lockhart (We Were Liars) and illustrated by Manuel Preitano.
  • Unearthed A Jessica Cruz Story (September 14, 2021): Written by Lillian Rivera (Never Look Back) and illustrated by Steph C.. A Latina high school per from Mexico adjusts to her new life in Coast City and has to contend with anxiety, xenophobia, and visions of Aztec gods.
  • Wonderful Women Of History (September 28, 2021): Written by Laurie Halse Anderson and various other authors, a nonfiction book about historical women.
  • Mister Miracle The Great Escape (January 18, 2022): Written by Varian Johnson (My Life as a Rhombus) and illustrated by Daniel Isles.
  • Galaxy: The Prettiest Star (May 17, 2022): An original story written by Jadzia Axelrod (The Gun With the Glass Chamber) and illustrated by Cait Zellers (Nimue). An alien princess-in-exile from her homeworld after it is attacked pretends to be a normal human boy on Earth, in love with a girl.
  • Constantine Distorted Illusions (July 26, 2022): Written by Kami Garcia and illustrated by Isaac Goodhart.
  • Zatanna The Jewel Of Gravesend (August 2, 2022): Written by Alys Arden (The Casquette Girls) and illustrated by Jacquelin De Leon.
  • Girl Taking Over A Lois Lane Story (April 18, 2023): Written by Sarah Kuhn and illustrated by Arielle Jovellanos.
  • Superman The Harvests Of Youth (October 3, 2023): Written and drawn by Sina Grace. A young Clark Kent in Smallville investigates the connection between his girlfriend's brother's suicide and an online hate group.

Upcoming titles


Tropes Appearing in DC Young Adult Titles:

  • Age Lift: A lot of the titles make the characters into teenagers and have them interact with people they only meet as adults in most continuities.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job:
    • Arthur is dark-haired instead of his usual blonde in Tidebreaker. One would expect DC to go for full-on Race Lift to capitalize on the movie but strangely they decided to stop on hair.
    • Nora (Fries) is dark-haired and dark-skinned instead of being blonde-haired and light-skinned, as she's Indian-American in Victor and Nora.
  • Adaptational Heroism: Joker in both Gotham High and Breaking Glass by the virtue of neither version being as bad as the main continuity version. Subverted with Breaking Glass, where John Kane turns out to be just as bad as the regular Joker. He makes himself look like an anti-establishment anarchist and manipulates Harley when he's really a smug, condescending, misogynistic racist who was using Harley to take the fall for him after he set up bombs that were going to kill all of Harley's friends and destroy the community garden her friend Ivy loves so much.
    • Same goes for Ivy in Breaking Glass as she is a peaceful political activist, instead of an eco-terrorist.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Mr. Mxyzptlk in Harvests of Youth is a regular human that uses chat rooms to radicalize disaffected teenaged boys into bitter reactionaries willing to commit crimes from acts of vandalism up to domestic terrorism.
  • Alternate Continuity: Every book in the range breaks from the established DC Universe, and each novel, save for direct sequels, has their own continuity.
  • Bland-Name Product: Beast Boy owns what resembles a pair of green Air Jordan 1's but with a generic design replacing the trademark Nike Swoosh. The artist, Gabriel Picolo, who's a self-proclaimed sneakerhead, has previously drawn fanart depicting Beast Boy wearing the shoes with the real logo.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Mera still has to face charges when she admits to vandalizing the Atlantean embassy at the end of Tidebreaker.
  • Composite Character: Joker in Breaking Glass is a well-intentioned Bomb Throwing Anarchist, giving him elements of another DC character, ironically often teased to be his son, Anarky. The well-intentioned part turns out to be total garbage, however.
  • Comic-Book Adaptation: As mentioned above, a few of them were based on novels.
  • Coming of Age Story: A common theme in multiple titles.
  • Darker and Edgier: Shadow of the Batgirl is marketed as a dark take on Coming of Age Story.
    • Under the Moon has shocked quite a few critics not prepared for how many dark themes like domestic abuse, homelessness, or serial killers, it managed to touch on.
  • Decomposite Character: Instead of Steve Trevor, in Tempest Tossed Diana is aided by two agents named Steve and Trevor.
  • Easily Forgiven: Mera doesn't seem to hold a grudge against Atlanna for having killed her mother in combat over Xebel's fate, and willingly accepts whatever punishment she may receive for vandalizing the Atlantean embassy in Xebel.
  • Elseworld: All of the stories are standalone and out of continuity, either retelling known origin stories with Broad Strokes approach (Tidebreaker) or completely revamping the characters for new tales (Breaking Glass, Under The Moon, Gotham High, Victor and Nora).
  • Holier Than Thou: Atlanna comes across this way, as she argues that she wants peace between Atlantis and Xebel, even though Xebel stands oppressed under their rule, and Nerrisa, late queen of the latter and mother to Mera, was killed by her in combat, and she makes no apologies, claiming she died a hero's death.
  • In Love with the Mark: In Tidebreaker Mera ventured to the surface to kill Arthur but instead they begin dating and she falls in love with him.
  • Lighter and Softer: Overall when compared to main DC titles.
  • Love Triangle: Quite common in multiple books.
  • Named by the Adaptation: Mera's mother is named Nerrisa in Tidebreaker.
  • Race Lift:
    • In Gotham High Bruce Wayne is half-Chinese and Selina Kyle is a Latina.note 
    • While so far we have only seen the cover to Beast Boy and his exact ethnicity has not been yet confirmed, it does show his skin to be brown before turning green.
    • Poison Ivy in Breaking Glass is now Ivy Du-Barry, whose mother is Asian and her father is Black.
    • Victor Fries' Nora in Victor and Nora is South Asian (India), and her full maiden name is Elinor Grace Faria.
    • Lois Lane in Girl Taking Over is East-Asian, specifically Japanese-American.
    • Scott Free in Mister Miracle: The Great Escape has the appearance of a black person, evoking his brief successor Shiloh Norman.
  • Start of Darkness\Super Hero Origin: A lot of the titles are retellings of the origin stories of various heroes or villains or tell new tales of their beginnings. Under the Moon solicit even refers to Selina as the girl who will grow up to be Catwoman and writer of Gotham High calls Jack the future Joker.

Alternative Title(s): DC Ink

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