The DCnU

So, with summer comes the comic companies big event books. Think of them as if they were major summer blockbusters. Generally, only Marvel and DC tend to have these major events (yes, other companies do as well, but they are never as big as these two companies. Obviously, seeing as how Marvel and DC are the biggest comic publishers). Marvel has Fear Itself for this summer, while DC has Flashpoint.

Now, I'll go over Fear Itself at some other point, it still has a few issues left before it's over anyways. Flashpoint, on the other hand, is almost finished. It has one more issue (part five) out this month, and then the whole DC universe gets rebooted.

Well...sort of. Some series are going to practically ignore this reboot, and continue with the stories they've been going over for the past 5-7 years. Yeah. It's a bit confusing. So, to be completely fair one should wait to discuss the bulk of this matter (I.E. how the reboot is going to happen) until after Flashpoint ends. But, for most of the summer DC has done nothing but reveal all the changes that will happen. Needless to say, I'm a bit unhappy with some of their choices.

In order to spruce their comic line-up, starting in September there will be fifty-two issue ones out for DC's line. Every book is getting a brand-spanking new number one. Surely, as Marvel can attest, this will boost both short and long-term sales! Heh.

So, let's go over the fifty-two series (yeah, this is going to be a long post) that DC is starting in September.

Justice League #1 - By Geoff Johns and Jim Lee: Hm. The premiere super-hero team as written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee. I'll definitely check this out, as both creators are incredibly good. The problem is, Jim Lee hasn't been known to keep a deadline. To his credit, he oversees a lot of things creative-wise over at DC, but even before his current position, he had trouble keeping to a monthly schedule. So I expect he will draw about four to six issues (enough for the first arc) before a new artist comes on board.

Justice League International #1 - By Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti: Well, initially I thought I was interested in this book. It stars the current JLI crew that were in the bi-monthly series spawned by Blackest Night (the last event book DC did, confused yet?) So this is where this reboot gets sketchy. It apparently will continue the story set up in the previous series. The question is, how does this reconcile with the word 'reboot'? Another problem, Dan Jurgens wasn't the writer for the previous series, and he has known to be a bit sketchy. At least the art will be the same. Well, I'll try it out to see if it will be interesting.

Aquaman #1 - By Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis: The long-awaited new Aquaman series! The main problem this character has, unfortunately, is that pop-culture has begun to hurt the character. Watch Robot Chicken or Family Guy or any other type of pop-culture show, and you'll understand why. In the current pop lexicon, Aquaman is the weakest character DC has. Again, to make matters worse, this is a continuation of a story set up in last year's Blackest Night (and the bi-monthly series Brightest Day). So again, how to reconcile the reboot with a current story? Geoff is usually a great writer, so I'm hopeful that he will figure something out.

Wonder Woman #1 - By Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang: The art will be great, at the very least. Looks to be a complete reboot, so I can start on this without knowing the character well (which, sadly, I don't). Brian Azzarello is an interesting choice, though, as usually he only does crime-based stories. The most interesting thing coming out of this series was the pants-change DC has done just weeks before the issue comes out. All summer DC has shown a Wonder Woman costume where she wears pants (read: spandex) that cover her entire legs. It was a way to tie into the Wonder Woman series that was supposed to run this fall. Well, that show never got off the ground (the pilot was god awful, which is a shame), so I suppose DC has decided to give her just very short-shorts to wear. They look like panties. Seriously. I'll try the series out, but this costume change feels like a bad idea.

The Flash #1 - By Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato: Hm. A new Flash series. Great art, but I'm not convinced that I'm interested enough in Barry Allen. Maybe it's because I'm a 90's kid and grew up on Wally West. Don't think I'll keep up with this series.

Captain Atom #1 - By J.T. Krull and Freddie Williams II: Oh god. This writer (J.T. Krull) still gets work? He was the creator of the horribly bad miniseries Rise of Arsenal. Ok, get this. Arsenal was originally the sidekick of Green Arrow (think Robin Hood, but in current times and he doesn't steal he just shoots people with gimmick-arrows in the name of justice), and waaaaay back when, it was revealed he was a junkie (presumably of heroin). Well, in his drug-addled days he bedded a super villain named Cheshire, and they had a kid. He cleaned up for the sake of the child, and became the hero he was meant to be. Great story, right? DC doesn't like that, they have to be edgy! So a couple of years back there was a miniseries called Cry for Justice (I won't bore you with the details) that had Arsenal's arm cut off, and his child killed during a terrorist attack on a city. So, during recovery he gets hooked onto some new drug, and begins to go on drug-rages against people in the city. During one of his tirades, he begins to beat up a bunch of punkers with, I kid you not, a dead cat. To make things worse, he hallucinates he is beating these guys up with his dead daughter. Yeah. This was by J.T. Krull. Ok, so none of this ties into Captain Atom, I just wanted to point the writer is so god awful that I'm completely skipping this one.

The Fury of Firestorm #1 - By Ethan van Sciver and Gail Simone with Yildiray Cinar: Hrm. Ethan is a great artist, don't know about writing. But he is teaming up with Gail Simone who is a great writer. The problem is, I just don't care about this character. The last few attempts at making this guy interesting (he is a chemist's dream hero, though) have failed. But, it has Gail Simone. Tough one. I'll try out the first issue, hopefully there will be a great hook that will keep me on. I'll explain more about Gail Simone later.

Green Arrow #1 - By J.T. Krull and Dan Jurgens: It has J.T. Krull. I'm skipping.

The Savage Hawkman #1 - By Tony Daniel and Philip Tan: This poor guy. Last year's event started with him finally reconciling with his lost love Shiera, only for both to be brutally murdered and become evil zombie-like henchmen. Yeah, it gets worse. They are resurrected, go through an entire ordeal of dealing with her evil mother only for Shiera to die off again. So, I'm assuming the title is called Savage because he is angry. How edgy. Philip Tan is a pretty bad artist, so I think I'll skip this one on the basis that I won't be able to understand anything.

Mister Terrific #1 - By Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson: The only JSA character (well, besides Hawkman) that will be in the DCnU. Two unknowns will be heading up this book. I really don't know if this will be any good. May wait for the reviews to come in before I try.

DC Universe Presents #1 - By Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang: Now this is a great idea. Use high profile (or sort-of high profile) creators on not-so popular characters and see what happens. The first arc will be centered on Deadman, who has had a bit of resurgence in the last year. Of course, his last story ended right where he started (annoying a lot of people in the process, wasting a year of story), so maybe cerebral writer Paul Jenkins can do something interesting with him. Definite try.

Action Comics #1 - By Grant Morrison and Rags Morales: And we get to the biggest problem I have with the DCnU; the Superman change. Superman is one of the few main characters that is getting a complete reboot (more on that later). That means, no marriage to Lois Lane (in fact, she'll be dating someone else), none of the current supporting characters, and both of his adopted parents are dead. On the plus side, this is being written by Grant Morrison (writer for All-Star Superman) so it has potential. But I'm seeing red here. Superman is my absolute favorite character, and I've been following him since the Death and Return saga. To see all of that story just erased annoys me to no end. I understand that DC is trying to make him relevant in our current world, but I don't think this was a good idea. Only time will tell if I'm right or not. Skipping and just going to wait for the reviews/trades.

Superman #1 - By George Perez and Jesus Merino: Where Action Comics tells the tale of Superman's debut, Superman will fast forward five years later (which is the current timepoint for all series in the DCnU, superheroes have only been around for half a decade), and show his current interactions with the world. New costume is okay, they got rid of the over-the-pants underwear, but he looks like he has armor on, so it looks a little silly. Another one I'm skipping and just waiting for the reviews and trades.

Superboy #1 - By Scott Lobdell and RB Silva: Well, back in the nineties (I think) Scott Lobdell was a great teen-book writer. He probably would have been great to helm the current Superboy series. Instead, he has to do the reboot. Superboy is no longer the well-rounded character he has been for years, he is back to his creation. Instead of being a sex-crazed teenager (hah) like he was in the nineties, he is a souless weapon that gets free from his restraints. Hrm. Definite skip. Don't think I'm going to even bother with the trades.

Supergirl #1 - By Michael Green, Mike Johnson and Mahmud Asrar: Judging by the cover of the solicit, the art will be nice. Can't say I'm interested in anything else. According to Dan DiDio; take Superman, change into a teenage girl, and strip away any of the human qualities Superman has and you have this series. Skip.

Batman #1 - By Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo: Hah. And here we go. Remember when I said Superman was the only major character to actually get rebooted? Batman isn't so lucky (or maybe he's really lucky). While it is hard to reconcile that all of the major Batman stories for the last few decades happened within five years (yeah, apparently Robin is a harsh intern program. I kid you not, that's how DC explained the multiple Robins within five years), all of his current stories are continuing. I'll read this one, mainly because I like the current Batman stories and Scott Snyder has promised every change will be explained in-story.

Detective Comics #1 - By Tony Daniel and Ryan Winn: Tony Daniel has been doing really well with Batman recently. While I'm not a fan of his artwork, I do like his stories. He has been working on Batman for the last couple of years, ever since Dick Grayson took up the mantle (Oh yeah, Bruce died for a while and his first Robin became Batman. Don't worry, Bruce got better and for the last few months there have been two Batman's....Batmen?), and now he gets to write about the real Batman. Should be interesting.

Batwing #1 - By Judd Winick and Ben Oliver: Ok, so to catch you up on recent events in Batman; Bruce Wayne died for a while, and was replaced by Dick Grayson (the first Robin). He got better, and decided to take his vigilante bad-assness across the globe. While Dick Grayson stays as Batman in Gotham City, Bruce has been globe-trotting and recruiting others to be Batman in their respective region. In Africa, he recruited the first African to be a Batman. His name is Batwing. This is his story. Reboot? Who needs a stinking reboot! This was the handiwork of the crazed Grant Morrison (and it's been pretty awesome), so I'll try this off-shoot series, but it probably won't last a year.

Batman : The Dark Knight #1 - By David Finch with Richard Friend: David Finch. Awful artist. Terrible writer. Skip.

Batman and Robin #1 - By Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason: Ok, to also recap; before Bruce died it was discovered he had a son with Talia Al Ghul (some genetic cloning thing or something like that, along with sex...can't forget the sex). Well, after Bruce died his son, Damian, became Robin to Dick's Batman. Well now that Bruce is back as the only Batman, he is fighting crime with his genetically enhanced son as Robin. Should be awesome. Picking this one up.

Batgirl #1 - By Gail Simone and Adrian Syaf: So, Gail Simone. For the better part of a decade she has been writing for DC. One of the best writers around (and she happens to be a woman, too). She revitalized the character Barbara Gordon as not only a tech-genius, but a compelling character who happens to be handicapped (Joker shot her years ago). Before being handicapped, she used to be Batgirl. Well, DC has decided to make her Batgirl once again. Which is a bit strange, because I think it may diminish the character, who has proven that being handicapped doesn't conflict with being a great hero. Gail has also gone on record to say this change will be explained in story. Well, as long as it's not some Superboy-Prime punch against a glass-like wall that caused continuity changes, I guess I'll give it a shot.

Batwoman #1 - By J.H. Williams III and Haden Blackman: J.H. is an interesting artist. But the character has been pretty boring, and the last Batwoman storyarc was a confusing mess of art and story (even though everyone claims it was just amazing, I couldn't follow it). So this is a skip.

Nightwing #1 - By Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows: Well, if Eddy Barrows weren't the artist I'd pick this up instantly. He is just horrible, though. So I'll wait for the reviews and trades on this one. Dick Grayson, folks, is back as his post-Robin role of Nightwing. Meh.

Catwoman #1 - By Judd Winick and Guillem March: Another meh for me. The problem is I never found Catwoman compelling enough to hold her own series. She was great when there are other co-stars, but even her main series a few years back wasn't that spectacular. Skip.

Birds of Prey #1 - By Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz: The best Birds of Prey, as written by Gail Simone, involved Barbara Gordon leading a team of female superheroes for various stories. It was great. This new version? Not so much. Duane isn't a great writer (if you've read the last series of Marvel's Cable you'd know why). So a total skip for me.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 - By Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort: So Robin II, Jason Todd, leads a rag-tag group of anti-heroes who were originally just plain heroes before the reboot against bad guys. I like the current version of Jason Todd, so this might be interesting. I'll give it a try.

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Green Lantern #1 - By Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke: The continuation of the current story starts here with Sinestro back as a Green Lantern. Screw the reboot! Of course I'll continue this one.

Green Lantern Corps #1 - By Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin: Another continuation of a series, and one that I happen to like so I'll get this one.

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #1 - By Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham: A new GL series that focuses on Kyle Rayner and a group of diferent-colored lantern corps members. Should be interesting.

Red Lanterns #1 - By Peter Milligan and Ed Benes: A spin-off from Green Lantern that focuses on the rage-filled Red Lantern Corps. Can't say I'm interested in this one, guess I'll wait for the reviews first.

Justice League Dark #1 - By Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin: Essentially the magic-based team. DC magic has never been interesting to me, so I'll skip.

Swamp Thing #1 - By Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette: On one hand, it's a character that I just don't find compelling. On the other, it has an all-star team on writing and art. I'll try the first issue.

Animal Man #1 - By Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman: So, let's make a series based on a character that has never been all that popular except when being done by a specific writer. Hint: Jeff Lemire is not that writer. While he does great with the weird-stuff, I think this will be a fail. Skip.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 - By Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli: Remember when I said Jeff Lemire is great with the weird? Doesn't get any stranger than this. Definite try.

I, Vampire #1 - By Joshua Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino: Vampire stuff. Based on the solicit it sounds like a cross between Vampire Diaries, Twilight, and True-Blood. Since I like none of those, definite skip. (I'll stick with Scott Snyder's amazing awesome American Vampire series instead).

Resurrection Man #1 - By Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with Fernando Dagnino: A story about a guy that gets a new superpower everytime he dies. Interesting hook. And it's being written by DnA, so I'm intrigued.

Demon Knights #1 - By Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves: Another mystic series, so I'll skip.

Stormwatch #1 - By Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda: A Wildstorm series, which was an indie imprint under DC, that is now being folded into DC proper. A group that watches over other superhumans, skip.

Voodoo #1 - By Ron Marz and Sami Basri: Another Wildstorm series that gets new life in DC proper, another book I never read, and according to the solicit its about an anti-hero woman who treks across America and leaves a trail of violence. Obviously, she isn't the real bad guy and is probably chasing something, or being chased by something. Blah. Skip.

Grifter #1 - By Nathan Edmunson and CAFU: Another Wildstorm book. About a guy, who is apparently a badass, killing 'normal' humans. Yeah, who happen to be evil aliens that no one can see. Yeah, just like the original incarnation, actually. And that one performed so well that Wildstorm ended up dying off. Yes, its such a great idea to repeat the premise! I give it six to ten issues before dying off again.

Deathstroke #1 - By Kyle Higgins and Joe Bennett: I like this character. A sorta-evil mercenary that likes to beat up on the Teen Titans from time to time to get them to shut up. I'll try it out.

Suicide Squad #1 - By Adam Glass and Marco Rudy: Take an unknown writer and artist, put them on a concept that only works as a mini, give them a new ongoing, add Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series, mix her with new sluttiness, and you have Suicide Squad. The gov'mint takes villains and offers to commute sentences if they take on crazy missions. Meh.

O.M.A.C. #1 - By Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen: I saw Keith Giffen(a well known writer)'s artwork just recently and loved it. It had a Jack Kirby style but colored with modern tools. I have no idea what this series is about, but based on the art alone I'm trying it out.

Blackhawks #1 - By Mike Costa and Ken Lashley: The original Blackhawks were a mercenary WWII airplane-fighter group. The current team is a military operation that takes on advanced threats. Meh, I'd rather have a WWII-era story instead.

Men of War #1 - By Ivan Brandon and Tom Denerick: Take a WWII comic-hero Sgt. Rock, and place him in the current era facing off against super villains. Yeah, this will work. *Sarcasm*

All-Star Western #1 - By Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Moritat: The continuation of the Jonah Hex book, but now he's centered in Gotham City prior to the 1900's. I never read the latest Jonah Hex book, but it has been reviewed really well. I'll try this out to see if it's a good jumping on point or not.

Teen Titans #1 - By Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth: Take Robin III (now known as Red Robin), and a recreated version of teen superheroes, make them more 'edgy', and you have this 90's throwback. Gah. I miss the Teen Titan series that Geoff Johns did back in the early 2000's. Better yet, I miss Young Justice.

Static Shock #1 - By Scott McDaniel and John Rozum: The African-American superhero created by the late Dwayne McDuffie under the Milestone Comics imprint (funded by DC, essentially a bunch of urban writers got tired of seeing just white superheroes that were compelling and having other racial heroes being pretty bad, so they created their own diverse heroes that were just plain awesome). This character was so popular that WB decided to make a cartoon of it way after the comic ended. Well, recently DC finally secured the rights to all of the Milestone characters, and it looks like the only one they are using is Static. Great character, so I'll give it a try.

Hawk and Dove #1 - By Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld: Wow. Sterling Gates is a pretty bad comic writer. Rob is considered to be a pretty bad comic artist. This should be spectacular. Going to try it out for the train-wreck potential.

Blue Beetle #1 - By Tony Bedard and Ig Guara: The latest incarnation of the Blue Beetle gets rebooted and becomes the only incarnation of the Blue Beetle! Gasp! Essentially a hispanic teen gets fused with an alien scarab and gets to become a superhero. The last series was pretty interesting, so I'll give it a try.

Legion of Superheroes #1 - By Paul Levitz and Franics Portella: A continuation of the latest Legion series, skips the whole reboot stuff. So I'll keep reading, even though Paul's current run has been pretty underwhelming.

Legion Lost #1 - By Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods: Take a few characters from LOSH, throw them in current rebooted-continuity, watch the explosive fireworks. Looks like this book will service current continuity fans with an outlet for complaining about all the changes, so I'll definitely read it.


Well, there we go. All fifty-two number ones. Whew. It might be interesting, but its a ploy to gain new readers. Unfortunately, it probably won't work. What is really different, though, is that DC will now offer digital versions of their comics the same day as the paper versions. So, DC will be the first to go all in in the digital landscape. It will either secure their dominance in the digital sphere, or be a spectacular failure. Guess we'll find out next summer.

Stay tuned for an analysis on a few current comic arcs, and a look at one of my own upcoming stories, Vigilante.