The New 52 #1s of DC

The list of 52 new number 1 issues have been released from DC. DC has announces them in categories, but I’ve got the list here in Alphabetical order with a few notes of my own.

Action Comics – (9/7) It’s one of the flagship titles of DC and they’ve taken it back to #1. They made changes to Superman after the Crisis on Infinite Earths. I wonder what they will do to him this time. And will he still be married to Lois Lane? [Prediction: Of course this will stay around.]

All-Star Western – (9/28) Although the days of the western style book are long gone, Jonah Hex always seems to pop up. I wonder if he’ll last in the book. I also wonder if they will use this book to bring back characters like Batlash and such. [Prediction: This might last a little bit since there’s already a Jonah Hex book, but it won’t be too long term.]

Animal Man – (9/7) Buddy Baker gets another chance at a series outside the Vertigo line. Let’s see how this title does since it seems his daughter is about to get powers of her own. [Prediction: Depending on what they do with it, it could last for a while like the old title. I don’t think it will go too fast.]

Aquaman – (9/28) Back from the dead and back in his own title. What will the waters bring him in his return and how much will they change? [Prediction: I think this will be around for a while.]

Batgirl – (9/7) One of the biggest changes announced and probably once of the most controversial is the return of Barbara Gordon not only to her feet but to the Batgirl costume. This means no more Oracle. She played a big part in the DC Universe as Oracle and I know a lot of people will miss her. Will she be better or not back as Batgirl? [Prediction: Not sure what to expect given the change from Oracle. Some will love it, some will hate it. It’ll probably be around for at least a litle while.]

Batman – (9/21) DC has been rebooted so what does that mean for Bruce Wayne? I guess only time will tell though hopefully he’ll be the only Batman again. [Prediction: This one isn’t going anywhere.]

Batman and Robin – (9/14) This is now about Bruce and Damien instead of Dick and Damien. At least we know that part of his history hasn’t changed. [Prediction: Damien’s annoying. He may be enough to bring down this title after a few years.]

Batman: The Dark Knight – (9/28) According to the write-up, this will start with dealing with the legal ramifications of Batman Incorporated. It looks like that bad idea is still following on into the new world. [Prediction: This will stick around.]

Batwing – (9/7) Speaking of Batman Incorporated, the African Batman gets his own title. I wonder what he’ll bring or if the new character will just flop. [Prediction: Too many bat titles and this is a barely known character. It won’t last long.]

Batwoman – (9/14) They talked about her title for a while and she even got her #0 issue. Finally, our lesbian addition to the Batman family starts her own series. (At least they better keep the lesbian part. Rewriting that will piss off even more people than the Batgirl change.) And there’s a chance Flamebird may be “trained” as her sidekick. Hello! Bette has been doing this for years and Kate just started and worked with the original Batwoman. The training should be the other way around. [Prediction: I think this will stick around ,especially with gay community support. How long will depend on how they do with it.]

Birds of Prey – (9/21) No Oracle. The best part of this series is gone. So where does this leave us? The group is now Black Canary and… Starling? Who? No Lady Blackhawk or Huntress? Yeah, this title is seriously getting chopped off my list. [Prediction: Unless they really up their game on this one, without Oracle, it won’t last very long.]

Blackhawks – (9/28) It looks like the concept of the Blackhawks is getting a modern update. They are now high tech, elite military specialists. Not really sure what to expect here but the characterization is going to have to be good for this one to last. [Prediction: Totally short term. It’ll be in the first group to go.]

Blue Beetle – (9/21) Jaime Reyes, out of his recently cancelled title, back-up story, and spot in the Teen Titans is back in his own book again. Let’s hope he does better this time cuz it looks like he didn’t make the cut for Justice League International after his appearance in that mini-series. [Prediction: This will stick around for a while as long as they do a decent job with it.]

Captain Atom – (9/21) I guess Blue Beetle shouldn’t feel too bad because Captain Atom didn’t stick around either. I wonder how his own title will treat him this time around. [Prediction: I’m 50/50 on this one.Could be decent but probably not great.]

Catwoman – (9/21) Back in her own title again. (There seems to be a lot of that going around, doesn’t it?) Selina always seems like an interesting character when balanced against Bruce Wayne. Let’s see where they end up taking her this time around. [Prediction: I think this will last for a while.]

DC Universe Presents – (9/21) This is DC’s new anthology title. They are starting off with Deadman who seems to be showing up everywhere lately. (Hope people don’t get sick of him too fast.) He starts the series off with a full 5 issue storyline. You’d think they’d make it shorter stuff or maybe have back-up stories to go along with it for some variety. [Prediction: This will have a decent few years but won’t be too long term.]

Deathstroke – (9/14) His Titans team is gone but he’s still around. Does he still have what it takes to stick around in his own title? Guess we’ll see but I fear he may not be the popular character he used to be. [Prediction: This will do ok for a while but they need to really find somewhere good to go with it to keep it alive.]

Demon Knights – (9/14) This new title following Etrigan and Jason Blood (and oddly enough Madame Xanadu who is in 2 of the new titles) in the Dark Ages of all places. What’s with all the period pieces? Supposedly there will be all sorts of heroes and villains showing up. It makes you wonder who and how. I guess only time will tell. [Prediction: This will be another of the first batch to go. The Demon’s books have a bad history.]

Detective Comics – (9/7) The other flagship title of DC. It’s hard to believe it was renumbered after all these years. [Prediction: This will be sticking around.]

The Flash – (9/28) There’s no information on which Flash this is. I’m assuming it’s going to be Barry from the cover. I probably won’t be following this if it is. Given he was in the center of Flashpoint, I can see them making some big changes here, especially since he just came back from the dead anyway and most readers nowadays associate Wally West with the Flash’s name from his comic series as well as the Justice League cartoons. [Prediction: This will be around a while unless they really mess it up.]

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. – (9/14) It seems with the reboot, the government agencies got their money back for superhuman (and maybe supernatural in this case) teams. I guess we’ll see if Frankie and his team fares better than the Freedom Fighters. [Prediction: Add this one to the first batch to go.]

The Fury of Firestorm – (9/28) It’s both Ronnie and Jason as Firestorm. I’m not a fan of Jason but I like Ronnie. I liked Ronnie and the Professor better though. Guess I’ll see how things go and what they do with Firestorm. They never really resolved that “you might blow up the universe” bit though. Oh, and Ronnie’s still in high school? [Prediction: This has got potential now that Ronnie’s back. As long as they don’t drop the ball, it’ll have a decent run.]

Green Arrow – (9/7) Well, we never got to see Ollie’s Merry Men as was original shown in the lead-ups of the last issue. I hope they do better by him in this series. I really hope they don’t change him too much. [Prediction: This will do pretty well as long as they put the effort into it.]

Green Lantern – (9/14) I’m assumed this would be Hal’s book still but the cover just shows the glove and ring and mentions an “unexpected new Lantern”. Who knows if it will be about Hal and someone else or what. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. [Prediction: This isn’t going anywhere.]

Green Lantern Corps – (9/21) The Corps is back in business after the War. Hopefully this will be a fairly stable title as I can’t see much reason to revamp most of the alien Green Lanterns. [Prediction: This will stick around with the main title.]

Green Lantern: New Guardians – (9/28) This should be interesting. The concept of the New Guardians popped up following the whole emotional spectrum revelation with Hal as the representative for green/will. It looks like it’s going to be Kyle now. The group is all blacked out on the cover with just the ring glows showing. All the other secrets on the covers are visible which makes me wonder if they are hiding this one for some reason or if they just went for that look for this cover. [Prediction: This is a bitch of a niche book with the recent events. It’ll last for a bit but not too long unless they do something really special.]

Grifter – (9/14) The first Wildstorm character in the new DC list. I’ve always enjoyed the character who seems like a cross between the best parts of the Punisher and Deadpool. with a little extra charm. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with him on this. [Prediction: If done right, it might stick around. Not betting the farm on that though.]

Hawk and Dove – (9/7) Finally back in their own series again. The write-up for the series says that Hawk isn’t happy that Dawn’s his new partner so who knows what they are doing with reality on this one or if the marketing team is just clueless. I hope they aren’t having them start all over again. If they do, does that mean Holly’s not dead any more? Or maybe she doesn’t even exist now. [Prediction: Depending on how little they change things, this could be decent. The book had good chemistry the first time around.]

I, Vampire – (9/28) Vampires vs. the heroes of the DC Universe. I hope they at least build up the main characters enough before jumping right into the guest stars. [Prediction: Vampires are the big thing right now, but I don’t see this as being around too long.]

Justice League – (8/31) The dream team version of the JLA is back together – Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman. On top of that, it seems Cyborg is joining the team. There was talk of the team reaching 14 members as time goes on. I wonder who else they’ll add. [Prediction: Definitely long term.]

Justice League Dark – (9/28) It looks like the JLA is getting a mystical branch. This title pulls together Shade the Changing Man, Madame Xanadu (Here she is again!), Deadman, Zatanna and John Constantine into one book. If that isn’t a motley group, I don’t know what is. (And I’ve got the current JLA line-up to compare it to!) Should be interesting to see how this group goes and who else may join in to try to keep this going. [Prediction: Despite fan favorite Zatanna in it, I don’t think it will last more than 2-3 years.]

Justice League International – (9/7) A few modifications to the line-up have been made since Justice League: Generation Lost. As of the first issue, the team is Batman (apparently the Wolverine of the JLA scene), Booster Gold, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, August General in Iron, Fire, Ice, Vixen and Rocket Red. I guess the August General in Iron has been added for more “International” feel though I’m not too familiar with him I like the new Rocket Red so he might be interesting.Hopefully this incarnation won’t be quite as goofy as the old series was. [Prediction: With good writers, it could have some staying power.]

Legion Lost – (9/14) It seems that a few of the Legion are getting thrown back in time for a while. I can only hope this is just planned as a mini or maxi-series. I don’t see them leaving characters like Dawnstar, Wildfire, and Timber Wolf in the past. Also included are Gates, Tellus, Chameleon Girl (I had to do some searching to find out who that was), and Invisible Kid (tho a few have guessed it to be Tyroc on the cover). The “Legion Characters trapped in present day” schtick is getting a bit old too. Karate Kid had a modern series. Cosmic Boy had a mini-series as did Inferno (the female one). There have been enough times groups were stuck here for a while too. It’s one thing for a brief mission, but let’s keep them in the 31st century and together. [Prediction: Short term. They need to keep the team united.]

Legion of Super-Heroes – (9/21) Supposedly, some big disaster is going to happen and the Legion will be “decimated” and the Academy crew will have to move up and start taking on the duties. I hope this doesn’t mean killing off a bunch of characters. I do hope this means we’ll see more of Gravity Lad (but less of Comet Queen) though. Hopefully this will keep being a good book. [Prediction: If it’s well written, this could do well. As long as the reboot doesn’t mess it all up.]

Men of War – (9/7) This book is about Sgt Rock and Easy Company. Is 2011 really ready (or wanting for that matter) a book about regular soldiers even if they try to bring them into the modern day? I don’t know if it’ll be the same characters but now or what. [Prediction: This will be one of the first gone.]

Mister Terrific – (9/14) The JSA title seems to be no more but it seems that Mister Terrific is sticking around. Considering that the last time we saw him, his cognitive abilities has degraded so far, he could barely read, it should be interesting to see what happens. (Or are they going to ignore that to start up the new book. as part of the “reboot”?) [Prediction: This might catch a little popularity at first but it won’t be around too long.]

Nightwing – (9/21) Dick is finally back as Nightwing which I like better than when he was Batman. And to top it off, he’s got the costume from Batman Beyond. Or is he sharing a closet with Batwoman? Either way, hopefully things will be back to the good times again. [Prediction: I think people will be glad to see him back and this will be around for a while.]

O.M.A.C. – (9/7) It seems there’s a new OMAC in town and his name is Kevin Kho and it seems he’s caught between Checkmate and Brother Eye. It seems like they are tossing out a lot of new ideas in a “sink or swim” test. [Prediction: This won’t be too long. The length will depend on what they do with it.]

Red Hood and the Outlaws – (9/21) Jason Todd, Arsenal, and Starfire (who is back from outer space it seems) feam up for this new group. And for some reason, Roy actually wants Jason to be the leader?!? He must be in rough shape to decide on that. I’m not sure what the mix of this trio will be like. [Prediction: As much as I like Arsenal and Starfire, I don’t think this grouping will last.]

Red Lanterns – (9/14) With characters like Atrocitus and Dex-star, this is going to be an interesting book to say the least. Not being “heroes” in the usual lantern sense, I’m not sure what the focus of this book will be so I’m waiting to see where all this will go. [Prediction: This is a fun group now, but I don’t know how long they will last on their own unless DC has some really good ideas for them.]

Resurrection Man – (9/14) He doesn’t stay dead and it seems neither does his title. Not sure what made DC bring back the hero who gains a different power every time he comes back to life, but hopefully they have some interesting plans ahead for him. [Prediction: He’s been gone for a while so I don’t know the plans. I could see it lasting for a few years but not too long.]

The Savage Hawkman – (9/28) Another hero back from the dead, he’s not too happy that he lost Shiera at the end of Brightest Day. Still, Hawkman can usually be an interesting character so I’m looking forward to see where they take him this time, especially if he’s drawn in his furry chested splendor. [Prediction: Hawkman can be a fun character. It should last a while if done well.]

Static Shock – (9/7) Virgil and his family move from Dakota to New York City. Last I remember, he lost his powers back in the Teen Titans comic. I’d like to know how he got it back. I guess they are breaking his link to a lot of the Milestone stuff too. I enjoyed the cartoon of the same name but I’m not sure about this title. [Prediction: This has a chance for a decent run if handled well and done made into too tacky a character.]

Stormwatch – (9/7) The Martian Manhunter joins a group of Wildstorm characters. I’m not sure why the mix and match as well as bringing Wldstorm into the DC universe, but I guess we’ll see how it all goes. [Prediction: I have a feeling it may last a bit but will change a lot by the end.]

Suicide Squad – (9/14) The group is back. The bad guys given their chance to work off their bad deeds to help the government. Among the members are former Secret Six members Deadshot and King Shark. Personally, I’d rather see the Secret Six back. The chemistry in that group was great. I wonder what will happen to Catman now. [Prediction: It could have a decent run but probably nothing too great.]

Superboy – (9/14) The blurb for this title talks about Superboy as if he were just being created. It almost sounds like they are wiping his whole history and starting him over as a new character. Still a Kryptonian/human clone, but one they are still trying to examine and figure out. To lose all his history would really suck. [Prediction: This could run fairly well unless they really mess up with the reboot.]

Supergirl – (9/21) Supergirl is getting a change too. She’s still Kryptonian like Superman, but I guess she’s becoming a petulant teenager who doesn’t care about Earthlings. Fun wow. Maybe they should call it Superbrat instead. [Prediction: Might run for a bit if they really start to evolve the character early enough. Otherwise, it’ll suck.]

Superman – (9/28) Like with Action Comics, we’ll have to wait to see what changes they bring to Superman. [Prediction: No, this isn’t getting cancelled.]

Swamp Thing – (9/7) Following the return of Swamp Thing, actually built on Alec Holland this time, leads into this new title. With a fresh version of the character already, they can go just about anywhere with him now. We’ll have to see what they do. [Prediction: Depending on DC’s plans, it would do decent.]

Teen Titans – (9/28) This is one more title with major changes. Red Robin now seems to have wings or maybe a cape that looks a lot like them. (Tho I do like the general design better than his current one, especially with the mask change.) Wonder Girl is a belligerent thief. Kid Flash is hyperactive speedster which means he could still be Bart but who knows what they might do. (We still don’t know what will happen in the Flashpoint story about Kid Flash.) There’s 2 other female characters on the cover who could be almost anyone or even someone totally new. [Prediction: The teen Titans tend to stick around. This will take a real mess up to get rid of it.]

Voodoo – (9/28) The WildCATs character gets her own series. I’m not too familiar with the character to really judge this one much. [Prediction: No clue what to expect. Probably nothing great though.]

Wonder Woman – (9/21) Like Batman and Superman, we don’t know too much about what they are doing with the relaunch of Wonder Woman. Hopefully it won’t be too drastic but with all the changes and relaunched books over the year, we know nothing is sacred. [Prediction: This should be around for a while.]

And that’s DC’s new line-up. There’s a lot of great titles that are getting dropped with all the new ones being created. Among them are: Adventure Comics, Booster Gold, Justice Society of America, Red Robin, Secret Six, and Zatanna. There was an uproar at all the changes after the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The same is true right now. The problem is that in Crisis, they did it for good reasons. They did it to straighten up continuity. The recent Crises made a few changes that brought back some pre-Crisis stuff. This reboot seems to be just for the heck of it. After all, #1 issues sell better, right? People wll pick up the new books to see what’s up. It’s all about their sales and not about the interests of the readers they may very well run away. I’ve been reading comics for a long time (over 3 decades) and if you notice my reviews, they tend to be mostly DC nowadays. If DC messes up as badly as they could on this, enough to make me wonder if I’ll drop away from comics, how will it affect people who haven’t been reading them half as long as me. But, only time will tell what’s going to happen and there’s no backing out now. September will show if DC made a huge mistake or had a great idea. Will another reality altering event come along and toss things back after like a giant eraser and toss things back to the old numbering? So many questions that will need to be answered.