comScore
  1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

Great Hera!

Teen Titans Go Returns to TV, Amethyst of Gemworld Returns to the DCU (Written by the Creator of Jem and the Holograms)

by Susana Polo | 11:17 am, June 8th, 2012


DC Comics is coming up on the year mark on its New 52 reboot, and the 52 have not gone without some pruning and additions. The third wave of the reboot is now upon us, and contains one addition we’re positively delighted to see. Not only does it resurrect a long dormant female character who most people have never heard of, she’s also in something of a genre twist for the DC universe, and her book is going to be written by the woman who created hard-rocking, kickass ’80s heroines Jem and the Holograms.

Look, just let me talk about Amethyst and Christy Marx for a bit, and then I’ll tell you about how Teen Titans is coming back to TV with its entire original voice cast.

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld was created by Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn as a character tangentially related to the DC universe in the 1980s, originally for the audience of young girls, though her stories took a darker tone over time. Though raised in our world, Amy Winston eventually finds out that she’s the orphaned heir to the throne of Gemworld, another dimension in which she has magical powers, and she’s the only one who can wrest rule back from the evil Dark Opal.

This new 52 Amethyst has approximately the same backstory, but has been raised in hiding in our world by her mother, and will be going up against her malicious aunt. Christy Marx, who will be writing the series, has had a more than thirty year career in TV, comics, and video games, but is perhaps most famous for creating Jem and the Holograms. Our contributor Theresa Romano interviewed her late last year, and this is what she had to say about reading and writing comics:

You love comic books, and have worked on some throughout your career. What are some comic books that have really inspired you, and are there any you’re really into right now?

I was deeply inspired by Batman as a little girl, and early on I loved the Legion of Super-Heroes, Lois Lane and the Metal Men, amongst others. When the Marvel titles appeared, I quickly latched onto those, especially X-Men, Spider-Man, Thor, Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, etc. There were a lot of comics I loved over the years. I thought the early Love & Rockets series was brilliant. I’ve adored Elfquest from the very beginning, so it was wonderful that I was able to collaborate with Wendy for the story of Bearclaw. [Editor's Note: you can read Marx's Elfquest collaboration here for free, just Ctrl+F "Wolfrider!"]

I followed the entire run of Strangers in Paradise and Echo by Terry Moore; The Sandman as written by Neil Gaiman, of course. I enjoyed Hellboy, the terrific Concrete series by Paul Chadwick and I’ve been reading the Bronze Age graphic novels from Eric Shanower. Currently, I still read the X-Men and Usagi Yojimbo. Some of the things I was reading (likeEcho) have ended, so I need to find new stuff.

You also wrote your own comic book series Sisterhood of Steel, which is about strong,warrior women fending for themselves. It came out about the same time as Jem, so how would you compare those two groups of women?

I certainly love to write strong, independent female characters, no matter what the medium. The two projects are pretty far removed in every other way, though. As much as I loved Jem, it was someone else’s property, whereas I created and own The Sisterhood completely.

Marx’s Amethyst book will be called Sword of Sorcery and will launch in September.

But I know some of you are here for the news that Teen Titans will be returning to television as a half-hour series by the name of Teen Titans Go!. Teen Titans had a very popular run of three years between 2003 and 2006, and introduced a lot of kids to the DC universe. It returned in small capacity as shorts for Cartoon Network’s DC Nation programming block, but will be making a full fledged revival with a half hour comedy series (that will hopefully include a lot of action) for the block. (Needless to say… I hope this bodes well for a half hour Super Best Friends Forever show!)

And here’s one last piece of info on the DC-and-gender-representation front that we can’t go without mentionin: Becky Cloonan will be pencilling September’s Batman #12. And now I’ll turn you over to DC Women Kicking Ass for some info on just how stratospherically rare a woman doing the art on a Batman book is.

(via DC Women Kicking Ass.)

TAGS: | | | | | | | |


  • Anonymous

    SO happy to hear about Amethyst of Gemworld! I found a stack of issues in a consignment store when I was really young, and even though they were all random issues and I couldn’t really follow the story, I remember loving Amethyst and all of the other gem-related characters a whole lot. What a great nostalgia bomb :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000500177841 Rachel Banzhaf

    Hooray for Amethyst! I have the original Maxi-Series and Annual 1 and have reread them dozens of times. I hope it sticks to the mood of the original series. The things I’ve read about what happened with Amethyst later just make me sad. I haven’t bought comic books in years but I will definitely be picking those up for as long as they stay true to the Amethyst I love. 

  • http://twitter.com/zenoferic Erica Throne

    Second beloved series coming back to DC! Amethyst! I LOVED the books as a kid, and still have most if not all of the original run from the 80′s. With this and Dial H by China Mieville, my faith in DC is gradually being restored. I just hope its readers are enthusiastic as I am about these somewhat out-of-the-left-field choices and that they’re not cancelled.

  • http://twitter.com/jasonenright Jason Enright

    Hi great article! I keep noticing that the few times DC actually hires a woman to write or draw a book, it’s always a female character. They seem to think guys can write characters like Wonder Woman, but women can only write Batgirl or Amethyst. I’m constantly disapointed by DC find it hard to get excited even about good news like Christy Marx writing Amethyst because it feels like they’re just throwing us a token female every now and then to shut us up. I want a female writer and artist on big books like Batman, Justice league or Action comics as a regular gig not just a one off.

  • Alex T

    I’m really excited about Teen Titans return. It was the only show that my brother and I actually agreed to watch when we were young. (I wanted Sailor Moon  and Animaniacs, He wanted Batman and Garfield). It was a really great show.

    What’s happening with Amethyst sounds really exciting as well. Girls need strong female super heroes. Especially because we’re sorely lacking in that area. With the exception of Wonder Woman, if a woman’s a super hero in TV and movies today, she’s a sidekick. That means she’s not getting nearly as much screen time as the main men.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jessisca Jessica Andersen

    I am excited about Amethyst. I read that one religiously when I was young. Can’t wait to see what they do with it!

  • Carlos Ovalle

    Fun! I had some issues that I really liked when I was a kid, so I just picked up the entire run of the two early Amethyst series (and the really really tiny cameo in Flashpoint) a few weeks ago. Very cool! They’ll also be releasing the Showcase version of the original Amethyst series in September, I believe.

  • Francesca M

    AMETHYST OMG!!!!! I USED TO HAVE ALL OF THEM. I loved that part of DC’s Magic. Sigh. I’m glad its a writer like Christy Marx, because otherwise I’d be afraid of what they’re currently doing to the Marvel Family.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Z4CJFSWSF6NJQ2QO56FEBHKHJM K

    Devin Grayson wrote for Nightwing.  It was the only time I picked up an “adult” Batman book (I preferred the teenager adventures at the time, Spoiler, Robin, Young Justice, etc.)

    (I totally get what you’re saying – but she’s one of the few writers I know by name, haha…and only because it was…not ironic, but funny she was writing for Dick Grayson)

  • Anonymous

    Does this mean they’ll finally collect the originals?

  • Anonymous

    SHE’S BAAAAAAACK!!! YES!! CAN’T WAIT TIL SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

X