DC shuffles the deck again

Newsarama reported on Monday that DC is cutting 4 titles in January, with one of them transitioning into a new book. It was also reported that there is at least one cancellation in December. The cut list:

GI Combat (2nd series-ends with issue 7 in December): DC is finding out the hard way that war books just don't sell in the 21st century, not when our real-life soldiers are overseas in a long, protracted war designed to shut down terrorism. DC ran into this same problem when they revived Men of War last year, only to cancel it after 8 issues and replace it with the revived GI Combat. The returning Haunted Tank is arriving too late to save the series from cancellation. Factor in, too, that it's 40 pages for $4, and that might be a turn-off for some folks as well.

January cuts:

Legion Lost (2nd series-ends with issue 16): What worked in the 90's doesn't work now, apparently. Despite the fact that the Legion of Superheroes franchise has a loyal fanbase dating back to its earliest days, something about this book is turning those fans away.

Grifter (ends with issue 16): Giving this book to writer and cover artist Rob Liefeld was, in fact, the kiss of death. Grifter also appears in the revived Team 7, but I don't like its prospects of survival, either.

Blue Beetle (3rd DC series-ends with issue 16): DC rebooted this series back to #1 to start the New 52 line, but co-creator Keith Giffen has a new book, Threshold, which will continue Jaime Reyes' story. If DC was looking to reach out to the Hispanic-American audience with this series, let's give them credit for at least  being persistent.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. (ends with issue 16): Some might be surprised it lasted as long as it did. The creators fitted in the Creature Commandos, a superteam that was first introduced as a World War II team in Weird War Tales (1st series) back in 1980, to give DC's version of Frankie some backup. Unfortunately, there seems to be not enough room for more than 2 monster books now, as I, Vampire will stick around along with the current incarnation of Swamp Thing.

Having flipped through the pages of the new Phantom Stranger, we find that former Teen Titan Raven will return as a central player in this series, leading into a major storyline event tied to the Justice League line next year. Bonus points for reviving the classic cover title logo for the series, though DC exec Dan DiDio has a long way to go to earn readers' trust, since his reboot of OMAC bombed earlier this year. Based on what I've read of the January solicitations, I think I'm making some changes with my reading list, probably before January. Stay tooned.