New 52 Third Wave Pitch: Slam Bradley

Over the next few weeks, I am going to try and post a few proposals for DC's eventual New 52: Third Wave. Mostly, they are the dream comics I would like to see, but have very little chance of actually happening. This week: Slam Bradley

Tagline: From the creators of Superman, DC Comics presents a hard boiled detective story starring one of the oldest private investigators in comics! Slam Bradley, former Gotham City Police Department detective, will take any case as long as he believes justice will be served.

Pitch: When DC announced the New 52, a big deal was made about the company publishing books that covered most of the comic book mediums' classic genres. This effort can be seen in All Star Western and two (soon to be three) military books. One genre that has been conspicuously absent is pulp style detective stories. Slam Bradley would be an opportunity to have a classic hard-knuckled private eye walking the streets of the DC Universe.

Writer:

The obvious choice to write Slam Bradley would be Brian Azzarello since he's already working for DC. His most famous work in the genre is the crime comic 100 Bullets published by Vertigo. Just a couple of years ago, he helmed DC's revamped pulp line, First Wave, that starred pulp and pulp-inspired characters like The Spirit and Doc Sampson. Another seemingly obvious choice is Ed Brubaker whose Criminal series has been critically acclaimed. During his Catwoman run, he modernized Bradley, but Marvel has him tied up in their regular and Icon imprints. Brubaker's sometime writing partner, Greg Rucka would also be an interesting choice but, as far as I can tell, he did not depart DC on the best of terms. Another possibility is David Hine, who penned some very good First Wave: The Spirit issues. Finally, Darwyn Cooke is a writer that might be interested in taking on the character. He's obviously a fan of detective and crime stories and even included Bradley in his 2003 mini-series New Frontier.

Artist:

There are several possible artists who would be perfect for the tone of Slam Bradley but might not be able to fit it into their schedule. Cooke could handle the subject matter nicely, as we have seen in his Parker series and Moritat's art on The Spirit had a nice atmosphere to it. But Cooke is going to be busy with his Before Watchmen duties and Moritat is (I really hope) entrenched as the All Star Western artist. One possibility might be Chris Sprouse whose characters' strong jawlines would fit a guy like Slam Bradley perfectly.

Main Characters:

Slam Bradley: Former Gotham City Police Department Detective

Supporting Cast:

Detective John Jones: Old friend and former partner of Slam Bradley. Martian Manhunter in human form. Though most long-time readers would already have guessed it, this wouldn't be officially revealed until several issues in.

Detective Chimp, a.k.a. Bobo T. Chimpanzee: Talking ape detective. Friend, consultant, and occasional professional rival to Slam Bradley.

Jason Bard, Private Eye: Former Marine turned investigator, professional rival and occasional friend to Bradley.

Possible Villains:
I have no specific ideas here, Slam could tackle anything from superpowered kidnappers to intricate supervillain heists,