DC Comics' ambitious initiative to relaunch its "universe" begins in earnest at the end of August with the conclusion of its Flashpoint miniseries and the re-launch of Justice League. So, just what exactly are they up to?
Well, for starters, the general idea explained by the brains behind the project, co-publishers Dan DiDio & Jim Lee, is that for today's generation, the age of heroes supposedly began 5 years ago. The object of this exercise is to introduce a new generation of readers to familiar characters without requiring going through a mountain of back issues. We've had the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Bronze Age. For lack of a better description, it'd be safe to refer to the new DC Universe as the launch of the Digital Age, since most, if not all, of the books will be released digitially concurrent with their print releases.
Following is a thumbnail summary of each of the 52 new books, along with the respective creative teams.
Justice League: The classic superteam reforms yet again. The 6-page preview in DC Comics: The New 52 does not give away too much of the plot. (Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, & Scott Williams)
Justice League International: Batman will appear in this book as well, leading a global unit that includes a recently created hero, August General in Iron, from China. (Dan Jurgens, Aaron Lopresti, & Matt Ryan)
Justice League Dark: Call it the paranormal branch of the League, with Zatanna the only member with links to past incarnations of the League. Replaces Zatanna's solo series. (Peter Milligan & Mikel Janin)
Aquaman: The classic version returns, having given up his throne as King of the undersea world of Atlantis. (Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, & Joe Prado)
Wonder Woman: The Amazing Amazon ditches the long pants for a more classic look, but can she be trusted? (Brian Azzariello & Cliff Chiang)
The Flash: Barry Allen is back as the Fastest Man Alive. However, writer-artist Francis Manapul has been criticized as one of the slowest creators alive. Co-written by Brian Buccellato.
The Fury of Firestorm: Two generations of Nuclear Men, united, with the original (Ron Raymond) retconned back to high school. (Ethan Van Sciver, Gail Simone, & Yiidiray Cinar)
Captain Atom: The former Charlton Comics hero, reborn for the 21st century. (JT Krul & Freddie Williams II)
The Savage Hawkman: The adjective, I think, is to attract the violence-obsessed fanboys, but it's the same guy you remember. (Tony Daniel & Philip Tan)
Green Arrow: The Emerald Archer is even more like Robin Hood, an outlaw chasing other outlaws. (JT Krul, Dan Jurgens, & George Perez)
Mr. Terrific: Spun off from the dormant Justice Society of America. Mr. Terrific is the 3rd smartest man in the world. Bill Gates, though, never had it this good. (Eric Wallace & Glen Luca)
DC Universe Presents: Anthology series. Deadman stars in the first 5 issues. (Paul Jenkins & Bernard Chang)
Action Comics: One of the company's flagships, just barely past 900 issues, rolls back to #1, and with it, Superman is rebooted with elements of his Golden & Silver Age personas merged together. (Grant Morrison, Rags Morales, & Rick Bryant)
Superman: The one thing that fans don't like, is that Superman isn't married to Lois Lane anymore. Marvel caught flak for breaking up Spider-Man's marriage, so DC thinks that they can do it better. Yeah, sure. (George Perez & Jesus Merino)
Supergirl: Don't we mean Super-bad-girl? Who decided she needed an attitude adjustment? (Michael Green, Mike Johnson, & Mahmud Asrar)
Superboy: I think this time, the plot is inspired by the current Young Justice cartoon. (Scott Lobdell, RB Silva, & Rob Lean)
Batman: Albany native Greg Capullo takes over the artwork, as the true Dark Knight is the only one again. (Written by Scott Snyder, inked by Jonathan Glapiuon)
Detective Comics: A new era means new enemies for Batman. (Tony Daniel & Ryan Winn)
Batwoman: After months of delays, the series finally begins in earnest. (JH Williams III & W. Haden Blackman)
Batman: The Dark Knight: Consider with caution. Writer-artist David Finch never finished the first volume of this book.
Batman & Robin: Can always be retitled, "Batman & Son". Yes, they are sticking with the current Robin, Damian Wayne (Bruce's son by Talia). (Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, & Mick Gray)
Batwing: Spun off from Batman, Inc., which goes on hiatus until 2012. Africa's Dark Knight gets his own book. (Judd Winick & Ben Oliver)
Batgirl: Barbara Gordon is back in costume. I predict that this may be a top 5 seller first week out of the box, simply because Barbara has never headlined her own series, though two successors to her cowl have. (Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf, & Vincente Cifuentes)
Nightwing: Dick Grayson returns to the ID first established in the 80's. Seems like a demotion every time he gets to be the big Bat. (Kyle Higgins, Eddy Barrows, & JP Mayer)
Catwoman: I once referred to Selina Kyle as DC's distaff answer to Alexander Mundy (Robert Wagner's character from It Takes a Thief). She's also got a bit of Robin Hood to her, which is part of her charm. (Judd Winick & Gullem March)
Birds of Prey: What are the Birds without the former Oracle (now Batgirl)? Dangerous. Looks like Poison Ivy's joining up. (Duane Swierczynski & Jesus Saiz)
Red Hood & the Outlaws: Red Hood is Jason Todd, who was Robin for about 15 minutes in the 80's. The other outlaws are Dick Grayson's spacey ex-lover, Starfire, & Arsenal (more recently Red Arrow). Sort-of replaces Batman & the Outsiders. (Scott Lobdell & Kenneth Rocefort)
Green Lantern: No, it ain't Hal Jordan. That's all I'm going to say about that. (Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, & Christian Alamy)
Green Lantern Corps: Jordan ain't in this book, either (he's over in Justice League). However, the guys that are here can still lay the smack down. (Peter Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin, & Scott Hanna)
Green Lantern: New Guardians: The title speaks for itself. (Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham, & Batt)
Red Lanterns: Just what we didn't need. Lanterns with the attitude of Marvel's Punisher. (Peter Milligan, Ed Benes, & Rob Hunter)
Swamp Thing: As the copy says, Alec Holland has his life back. I guess this is what happens when Alan Moore takes his name off the company's Christmas card list. (Scott Snyder & Yanick Paquette)
Animal Man: Buddy Baker's back, but I think soon enough the series title will become Animal Girl, as his daughter appears to have inherited his abilities.(Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman, & Dan Green)
Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE: This was originally the Spawn of Frankenstein, who appeared in the back of Phantom Stranger's book back in the 70's, then was reincarnated by Grant Morrison in his Seven Soldiers book. Now, he leads his own team. (Jeff Lemire & Alberto Ponticelli)
I, Vampire: Can vamps enter the Witness Protection Program? Seriously, this series originally was a serial in House of Mystery back in the early 80's. Andrew Bennett is now Andrew Stanton, but the series exists because of the "Twilight" books, True Blood, and general popularity of the undead. (Joshua Hale Fialkov & Andrea Sorrentino)
Resurrection Man: A series from the 90's makes a comeback. Well, I did say the undead were popular......! (Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, & Fernando Dagnino)
Demon Knights: Etrigan, the Demon in the title, is back, and he's got a new girlfriend (hint: she appears in Justice League Dark). Talk about pushing the envelope! (Paul Cornell, Diogenes Nieves, & Oclair Albert)
Stormwatch: Former Wildstorm series returns, now with the Martian Manhunter on this team instead of being in the Justice League. (Paul Cornell & Miguel Sepulveda)
Voodoo: Former member of the WildC.A.T.S. stars in her own book. You may think there's a touch of Witchblade here, but I don't. I'm thinking Claw the Unconquered. (Ron Marz & Sami Basri)
Grifter: A charming con artist is being hunted because of monsters only he can see? Say what? (Nathan Edmondson & CAFU)
Suicide Squad: The latest reincarnation of this 80's favorite welcomes back Deadshot from his recent stint with the Secret Six (which this book replaces). He brings along another alum from the Six, King Shark, plus a newly remade Harley Quinn, who doesn't look like the Joker's girl anymore! The harlequin now looks like a slut after a bad hair week. (Adam Glass & Marco Rudy)
Deathstroke: The frenemy of the Teen Titans gets his own book again. (Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennett, & Art Thibert)
All-Star Western: Jonah Hex returns to the book where it all began for him 40 years ago. Now, his home is.....19th century Gotham City?! (Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, & Moritat)
OMAC: Jack Kirby created the concept nearly 40 years ago, but he wouldn't recognize it today if he were still with us. (Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen, & Scott Koblish)
Blackhawks: The elite fighting team of World War II is now firmly reset in today, with more of a mercenary bent. I expect a meeting with the Suicide Squad inside of the first year. (Mike Costa & Ken Lashley)
Men of War: Easy Company's back. Enough said. (Ivan Brandon & Tom Derenick)
Teen Titans: I have a problem with this version. Wonder Girl's a thief? Other than that and Red Robin (Tim Drake), this may feel like a flopped negative of Young Justice. (Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth, & Norm Rapmund)
Static Shock: Milestone's breakout star returns, and leaves Dakota behind for the Big Apple. (Scott McDaniel, John Rozum, Jonathan Glapiuon, & Le Beau Underwood)
Hawk & Dove: The 80's incarnation is back, and so is artist Rob Liefeld. There will be a pool on whether or not this can keep its deadlines for more than 2 issues in a row. (Sterling Gates & Rob Liefeld)
Blue Beetle: The current Beetle, Jamie Reyes, is back, but it feels like they've hit the reset button with him. (Tony Bedard, Ig Guara, & Ruy Jose)
Legion of Super-Heroes: Travel 1000 years into the future as one of the most beloved sci-fi series returns again. (Paul Levitz & Francis Portela)
Legion Lost: 7 Legionnaires traveled to our time to prevent the destruction of their future. Their tech fails them at the worst possible time. (Fabian Nicieza & Pete Woods)
I'm actually going to come out of retirement and pick no more than 3-4 of these books and experiment with them through the end of the calendar year. Which ones? I'm not telling. Yet.
2 comments:
If none of the DC heroes have been in business for more than five years under the new dispensation, than how is Damian Wayne ten years old? The fact is that DC is trying to have it both ways, rebooting some concepts while leaving some established popular continuities (Batman, Green Lantern) more or less as they are now. And it's still possible that much of this is Flashpoint gimmickry designed to be revoked at an early date. I am less than thrilled by it all.
I see your point, Sam.
In the case of Green Lantern, Geoff Johns isn't about to consign his Red Lanterns, who were introduced just within the last year, to limbo so quickly.
As for the Bat-books, Tim Drake went from Robin to Red Robin in the last 2 years, and, again, they're not about to put a stop to that so soon. Damian's development, as you well know, was fathered, if you will, by Grant Morrison, and to keep Morrison happy, I think, they're keeping Damian around while trying to figure out a new origin point for him.
Personally, I'm not on board with some of the changes with Superman, although I get what Morrison wants to do by combining elements of the Golden Age version (leap, can't fly) with those of the one we grew up with. Someone on Google posted an article about Lois' new love interest in this revamp, and the comparisons were drawn to One More Day already.
I don't see all 52 surviving the first year. There will be some casualties.
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