"The dead will rise."

That's the hook for DC Comics' (www.dccomics.com) ongoing "Blackest Night," a big-event miniseries that has brought dead heroes and villains back to life.

Next month, "Blackest Night" also resurrects some classic DC titles — but their revivals will be short-lived.

DC is bringing back eight canceled titles for special one-shots in January. The titles will resume their numbering from when they were ended, with the story lines tying into the events of "Blackest Night."

"We were talking about all the different things that we could bring back from the dead, because the books had been working so well," said Dan DiDio, DC executive editor. "So we were trying to figure out how we could expand and have some fun with the whole idea of 'Blackest Night.'"

The eight titles are "Suicide Squad" No. 67, "Weird Western Tales" No. 71, "Catwoman" No. 83, "The Phantom Stranger" No. 42, "The Power of Shazam" No. 48, "Starman" No. 81, "The Question" No. 37" and "The Atom and Hawkman" No. 46.

Some of the titles ended relatively recently; others haven't been seen for decades. "We wanted to get as broad of a spectrum as possible to make this as exciting as possible," DiDio said.

The return of "Starman" seems to be generating the most buzz, DiDio says. Not only is it a beloved series, but original writer James Robinson is writing the return. But don't look for an appearance by Jack Knight, who was at the heart of Robinson's run on "Starman."

"James is very particular about Jack Knight, and he prefers that we keep this character retired, and we honor that commitment," DiDio said.

DiDio said he personally is excited about the return of "Weird Western Tales" — namely because he's writing it. "I threw my hat into the ring to do it," DiDio said. "It was so different, so quirky."

Look for the return of a lot of DC's Western heroes.

"We get to see the Trigger Twins, Bat Lash, Super-Chief, Firehair and, of course, it wouldn't be a weird Western tale without Jonah Hex," DiDio said.

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DiDio is also the new writer on "The Outsiders," a DC team book whose roster includes Geo-Force, Black Lightning, Metamorpho, the Creeper and others. DiDio's first issue hit stands in January as well.

While a new writer often means a big change, DiDio wants to keep the team intact and continue some story lines from the past year.

"You'll see the return of some classic villains, you'll see some new villains introduced to the mix and you'll see some characters introduced to join the team — but later in the run."

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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