While Marvel announced plans to reshape their cosmic line of characters in February and March, DC has beat them to the punch with a new look at the cosmic characters of the DC universe in the New 52. Written by acclaimed comic scribe, Keith Giffen, Threshold will be a new sci-fi epic mini-series spinning out of Green Lantern: The New Guardians Annual #1. Giffen is no stranger to sci-fi epics, having written the classic Legion of Super-heroes tale, The Great Darkness Saga (Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2 #290-294), and Marvel’s Annihilation. Of course, he is also quite familiar with reshaping the DC landscape via powerful mini-series with less than A-level characters. To this day I am still astounded by Giffen’s brilliant 2008 DC mini-series, Reign in Hell, which reshaped the worlds of magic and hell in the DC universe before the reboot. Joining Giffen on art will be Tom Raney (Ultimate X-men, AVX: Consequences) and Scott Kolins (The Flash, My Greatest Adventure). Why does Giffen have 2 big name pencilers joining him on this? Because each issue of Threshold will have 2 stories, as has been the trend for DC cosmic comics. Threshold is set to be 30-pages per issue, with 20-pages devoted to Giffen’s main story with Raney, entitled “The Hunted”, and 10-pages with Kolins called “Larfreeze”. As you can imagine by the back-up story’s title, it stars the beloved Orange Lantern, Larfreeze, in his own solo-adventures.

As for the tale of “The Hunted”, it all begins when disgraced Green Lantern Jediah Caul has been captured, stripped of his powers and forced to compete in The Games, a reality TV-style show spanning an entire alien solar system. An unwilling contestant, Caul must stay one step ahead of cutthroat alien hunters willing to do whatever it takes to score the highest points in game history. Armed with only his Green Lantern combat training and whatever alien tech he can steal, Caul fights to stay alive, turn the tables on those running The Game — and maybe redeem himself along the way! If this sounds at all like The Hunger Games or Battle Royale, don’t worry, because Giffen also has experience in this field, being the English language adapter of the Battle Royale manga for Tokyo Pop. “The Hunted” will also bring back some pre-New 52 cosmic villains in the way of Lady Styx and The Reach, both villains Giffen has worked with in the past. Expect to see plenty of DC cosmic characters in Threshold, like the Omega Men, Stealth, Space Cabby, Blue Beetle, Tom Tomorrow, and Star Hawkins.

Issue #1 of Threshold will be in stores January 16th, 2013. Kenneth Rocafort provides the first spectacular cover, emphasizing Larfreeze’s involvement. Check it out below and tell us what you think about this bold new plan from DC to bring us back into their once rich sci-fi enviorment.