Dakota City is not done making noise, baby. Not even close.
After hitting comic shops like a thunderclap and moving fast enough to make retailers blink twice, NEW HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE: THE DAKOTA INCIDENT is officially coming back to shelves with a second printing, and that tells you everything you need to know. Fans showed up. Shops felt it. The streets of fandom spoke loud. Now DC is bringing this powerhouse issue back for anybody who missed the first wave and for collectors who know heat when they see it.
This explosive chapter is driven by a stacked squad of talent, with Joseph P. Illidge, Stephanie Williams, Morgan Hampton, and Nikolas Draper-Ivey leading the charge. On the art side, you’ve got major visual firepower from Carlo Pagulayan, Valentine De Landro, Edwin Galmon, and more. That alone should tell you this is not some casual little side story tossed into the spinner rack abyss. Nah. This is a statement comic. A history-shaking, perspective-flipping, universe-expanding statement.
And let’s talk covers, because DC did not come to play. The issue features cover work from Diego Olortegui, Denys Cowan, Dan Jurgens, Yasmine Putri, Carlo Pagulayan, and Sway. For the second printing, Dan Mora steps in with a brand-new variant cover, while Diego Olortegui’s main cover returns with a freshly recolored logo. Translation? This thing is getting dressed up for another victory lap.
What makes The Dakota Incident hit so hard is that it doesn’t just revisit the past—it reclaims it. Spinning out of the pages of New History of the DC Universe, this issue uncovers a buried moment in DC history where a murder ignites all-out war between the heroes of Dakota City and the United States government, with none other than Lex Luthor helping drive the chaos. That’s not a small problem. That’s a “whole city on fire, heroes pushed to the edge, everybody’s morals getting stress-tested” kind of problem.
As Dakota becomes a battlefield, icons like Static, Rocket, and the rest of Dakota’s heroes are forced to make impossible choices to protect the people they love. That’s where this book punches harder than just continuity candy. It’s got weight. It’s got pain. It’s got sacrifice. And even more wild, while heroes fall in the past, the groundwork is being laid for something major in the present. So this isn’t just a history lesson—it’s a fuse being lit.
Originally released on February 25, the issue quickly built serious momentum with readers and retailers, selling through its first printing at distribution not long after it landed. No mystery there. The Milestone legacy still matters. Dakota still matters. And when you place that legacy inside the larger DC mythology with purpose and respect, fans respond. Simple math. Nerd math, but still math.
Now, with interest still climbing and the buzz refusing to sit down somewhere, this second printing gives readers and collectors another shot at one of the most important chapters in Dakota City’s evolving legacy. NEW HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE: THE DAKOTA INCIDENT Second Printing arrives in comic shops on April 22, 2026, and if you missed it the first time, don’t play yourself twice.
This one’s history with a right hook.
Check out Al’s chat with Joe about The Dakota Incident & more…
Joe Illidge Talks Milestone Legacy and The Dakota Incident | Comic Crusaders Podcast #670
Author Profile
- I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!
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