Yes, after leaving Dark Horse's Conan revival -- and that was one heck of a great run -- Kurt Busiek has decided to go steady with DC.

Why not? Already he writes his most precious baby, Astro City, for the publisher through Wildstorm. The veteran writer will also be in charge of the next revamp of Aquaman, part of the "One Year Later" event. While I'm not a fan of the vague idea behind that revamp, the fact that Kurt Busiek is the one penning it makes it worth a look or three.

In DC's press release, there's some hinting toward a project that sounds pretty exciting.

So Busiek can go exclusive with DC, because we're still going to get the best of his work.

From DC:

Kurt Busiek, acclaimed writer of ASTRO CITY and JLA and upcoming writer of
AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS, has signed an exclusive agreement with DC Comics.

Busiek also will co-write the 8-part story "Up, Up and Away" with Geoff Johns beginning in March' s SUPERMAN #650 and ACTION COMICS #837.

"It was great to be asked to come into the DC fold full time and join in on the One Year Later shebang," says Busiek. "I think things are really popping at DC, and there's a welcome emphasis not just on doing event stories to get attention, but making sure there's something interesting and valuable going on in the books so readers will want to stick around for the long haul.

"All the stuff we're talking about doing, from revamping and reworking Aquaman to doing a follow-up of sorts to SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY, to the possibility of some new creator-owned material to accompany ASTRO CITY - it's all been challenging and involving and varied. I'm enjoying working with Matt Idelson and Nachie Castro on the Superman books, and with Joey Cavalieri on AQUAMAN, and they're making it clear I've got a lot of freedom to do new stuff. I think we're headed for a great ride."

"With Kurt, we bring another one of the most talented writers in comics to the DCU, whose knowledge of our characters is almost second to none," says Dan DiDio, Senior VP - Executive Editor, DCU.

DC went on to recommend books like Arrowsmith (cool stuff), JLA/Avengers (more cool stuff) and of course all the Astro City collections. We also want to re-plug Secret Identity, an alternate universe tale featuring a character suspiciously like the Earth-Prime Superboy now running around in Infinite Crisis. If only the kid had read Busiek's mini-series, he wouldn't be so pissed off.

Derek McCaw