We recently announced DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 “Second Wave,” which will launch GI COMBAT. This new series will feature rotating back up stories. First up is UNKNOWN SOLDIER by the writing team that brings you ALL-STAR WESTERN, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Dan Panosian.

We caught up with Justin and Jimmy to ask them about their story and here’s what they had to say:

“Unknown Soldier is one of the characters I’ve wanted a shot at for years and while this is a four part story I truly hope we can do more with it. I really enjoyed what Josh Dysart was doing on his Vertigo book and felt it deserved much greater success. With that in mind Jimmy and I wanted to take the book in a direction that was closer to the original version and add a modern twist to it. Rather than making it a period piece about the Second World War, we’re using the backdrop of the war on terror with a sense of comic book hyper-reality. Unknown Soldier is equal parts military fiction, espionage and sci-fi. Dan Panosian is in the unenviable position of having to illustrate both a grounded human level of storytelling and over-the-top action sequences in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mexico. The good news is he’s excelling at everything we’ve thrown his way. Its violent, emotional, exciting and with any luck we can bring Unknown Soldier back to the DCU in a way that makes people demand more.”

--Justin Gray

“Justin and I have been extremely lucky to get offered to write such a cool array of classic DC characters over the years, and The Unknown Soldier is another one we are super excited about. Within this 4-part story we will be introducing new readers to our take of one of the coolest and enigmatic characters ever presented, adding our own personal twist and turns to the legacy that we think will thrill the readers. We are so thrilled to have working with us Dan Panosian and Rob Schwager , two masters of the craft. Comics are a collaboration in every sense of the word and we think with Dan on art and Rob on color, we have raised the bar once again, presenting not only a unique looking story, but a distinctive representation of atmosphere and storytelling that will instantly pull any reader right into the wild and heartbreaking world we are representing. Our hope is that what we present has a life beyond the four parts and that fans embrace our take on the Unknown Solider.”

-–Jimmy Palmiotti

Here's a look at a few inked pages by Dan Panosian which were exclusively revealed in an interview with Justin and Jimmy on NEWSARAMA.

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