Jim Starlin To Write A.R.G.U.S. for DC Comics?

Jim Starlin posted an image to his Facebook hours ago that suggests the super-spy organization A.R.G.U.S., which promises to play a substantial role in the upcoming Trinity War event and in Geoff Johns's Justice League of America relaunch, will also figure prominently into the book he recently announced he'll be writing for DC. "This helmet looks like it may play a part in the new series I'm writing for DC Comics," the veteran writer-artist teased, attaching the image shown at left. While a number of fans immediately speculated that he may be working on a Vigilante relaunch, one sharp-eyed fan remembered a blog post on DC Comics's The Source that showed off a strikingly similar design for an A.R.G.U.S. helmet, redesigned by Gene Ha for the New 52.

"In this instance, Gene [Ha] did a ton of research when coming up with an A.R.G.U.S. agent's body armor and helmet. And based on that, he did TWO tons of sketching until he got to a place that he and Jim Lee both agreed to," said Brian Cunningham, the Justice League editor who oversaw the redesign. "One thing Jim wanted was a fancier, more high-tech helmet than what Gene had in his first round of sketching. Ultimately, Gene came up with this design. It's very clever in that there's the option to make it look ominous or so that you can see the person's facial expression. It's extremely versatile."

It's still not completely clear whether Starlin will be taking over an existing title, which would likely see him incorporating A.R.G.U.S. into another story, or perhaps writing back-up features somewhere featuring the organization, or whether he'll be launching a new series, in which case an A.R.G.U.S. series wouldn't be totally out of the question; after all, A.R.G.U.S. shares quite a few features with S.H.I.E.L.D., which is a pretty recognizable property in comics right now. Besides A.R.G.U.S. and Vigilante, the helmet does bear a passing resemblance to a couple of different helmets seen most recently in the Booster Gold and Time Masters: Vanishing Point series that happened pre-relaunch. Both Rip Hunter's helmet, used as part of his armor that protected him from the ravages of time travel, and Booster Gold's 25th Century football helmet bore at least passing resemblances to this one. Given the fact that the last time we saw Booster Gold, he was wearing an A.R.G.U.S. logo on his uniform, that may not be a coincidence.