It’s like the Sunday comics in your local paper were and still should be. Big, cool, and beautifully reproduced. They start the mind going and leave you wanting more. As DC put it in their solicitation copy, “Wednesday Comics is unique in modern comics history: Reinventing the classic weekly newspaper comics section, it is a 16-page weekly that unfolds to a sprawling 28" x 20" tabloid-sized reading experience bursting with mind-blowing color, action and excitement, with each feature on its own 14" x 20" page.”

And with that they’re basically right on.

The project, which was developed and pulled together by DCU Editorial Art Director Mark Chiarello (Batman Black and White, Dc: The New Frontier) includes Batman by the 100 Bullets team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, Adam Strange by Paul Pope, Metamorpho by Neil Gaiman and Michael Allred, The Demon And Catwoman by Walter Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze, Deadman by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, Kamandi by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook, Superman by John Arcudi and Lee Bermejo, Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell, Green Lantern by Kurt Busiek and Joe Quiñones, Teen Titans by Eddie Berganza and Sean Galloway, Supergirl by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner,  Hawkman by Kyle Baker, Sgt. Rock by Adam Kubert and artist Joe Kubert, The Flash by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher, and Metal Men by Dan DiDio and Ian Churchill.

The results, to say the least, are spectacular. With its Hal Foster-like detail and mood-setting ambiance, Kamandi alone is worth the price of admission, but everyone will have his or her favorite from this project.

And people are definitely taking notice. Editors & Publishers, the Scripps Howard News Service, Publishers Weekly Comics Week, AOL/Asylum’s Comics Alliance, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Honolulu Star Bulletin, The Toledo Free Press, and other media outlets have covered it.

DC Comics Senior Vice-President and Executive Editor Dan DiDio was interviewed on the Fox Business Channel, and USA Today featured the first Superman strip from the series in its July 8, 2009 print edition and will run it and each of the subsequent installments on its website.

Wednesday Comics is a great thing to see celebrated because it itself celebrates the roots of comics and perhaps their future.