Questions about DC's relaunch

[Diabolical]

Any word on Gotham City Sirens?
With the direction the series has been heading I can see Catwoman replacing it. Even though I like the dynamic between Selina, Harley and Ivy, I won't be too heartbroken if it does get replaced, as its not one of my top reads every months.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Any word on Gotham City Sirens?
With the direction the series has been heading I can see Catwoman replacing it. Even though I like the dynamic between Selina, Harley and Ivy, I won't be too heartbroken if it does get replaced, as its not one of my top reads every months.

Ivy looks to be part of the new Birds of Prey, judging from the cover.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Well well well, it's a super extra special "Fuck You" aimed directly at little ol' me straight from DC Comics.

They wait almost a quarter century to put my beloved Hawk and Dove back in a monthly ongoing, and then get @#$%@%#%$%##%@%@%#$ to "draw" it.

That's like ordering the most delicious exquisite stack of waffles ever, and then having an incontinent giraffe come and squeeze putrid diarrheah on them in lieu of maple syrup. That's like being a rookie driver in the Indy 500 and having a substantial lead headed for home, and crashing on the fourth turn a few hundred yards from the finish li...oh wait that happened also. Thats like winning the lottery and when you're having your picture taken at the ceremony with the Governor, he turns around and kicks you in the nuts, steals the ticket and everybody goes along with his bullshit lies that he bought it.

And what's with continuity fucking Tim Drake? And to a lesser extent the rest of the Titans? I can' wait to see how thay spin that bullshit.

the Legion can go hang. This is like their ninth attempt at an ongoing. I'm sure will see attempt numero ten some time next year.

And the more I see of these titles, the more I want a brand new Who's Who Edition to be put out. We haven't had one since '88. I had that as the 52nd title, but its looking unlikely. Yah, yah, I know we have the internet now, which does that job more accurately. But I want to hold it in my hands dammit.

[anarky]

What's going on with the one true Robin?

[jjreason]

Here's pretty much the whole shit & shaboodle all in one place:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=32748

Grant Morrison will only have one book it looks like - Action Comics. I am also interested in how the amalgamation of Stormwatch characters into the DCU will go - they're kinda based on DC characters.

[Diabolical]

Looking at the list and synopsis of each title has just made me realize that this relaunch means I won't be buying an regular DC titles anymore.
Oh well, at least it'll save me some money.

As up and down as the recent Batman stuff has been, the part I've liked the best is one of the things DC is doing away with - the fact that there are two guys dressed as Batman out there. I think that really adds a potential sense of mystery to the myth of Batman for the regular folks in the DCU.

[jjreason]

But at least they're dealing with that before the inevitable "Battle of the Batmen!" ("Clash of the Cowled Crusaders!" ???) happens....

[Rollo Tomassi]

Of the 52 titles, I might might get the Jonah Hex/All Star Western book. Just because it's basically the book thats out now with a different title. All the Hex issues are pretty much stand alone done in one issues anyway, and the writing team is the same. The reason I wouldn't get it is just the principle of the entire DC thing. Like a solidarity FU towards the entire line.

I am a huge Deathstroke fan, and I've been waiting for Hawk & Dove to get an ongoing for over two decades, and I'm not even getting those books.

I think its especially hypocritical that DC wouldn't let an infinitely more talented writer like McDuffie use the Big 7 when he was on the JLA book, but as soon as Johns gets it, he's allowed to have whoever he needs to make it an important jawdropping book. Sadly, now McDuffie is gone.

And if they had pitched these books one or two at a time, and not just dumped everything all at once, I might have been jumping up and down with excitement. Morrison on Superman? Yeah, I might've checked that out. AllStar was awesome. Perez on Superman as well? That's worth at least the first issue. Snyder's been nailing it on Detective, and I've liked Capullo ever since Quasar. So that would've been exciting.

But instead they've got me focusing on the stuff we're losing. No More Secret Six? No More Steph as Batgirl? Oddly enough, I started out as a Steph Batgirl hater. I was like, WTF, Where is Cassie? But it ended up being a fun book. If they had promoted Batgirl half as much as they pimped John's goddamn GL opus or that shitty Brightest Day crap, sales on that book would've been rockin'.

Right now, my DC list is

Batman
Batman & Robin
Batgirl
Detective
Birds of Prey
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
GL: Emerald Warriors
Jonah Hex
Red Robin
Secret Six
Superman
Teen Titans
WonderWoman

I recently dropped Action, Batman Inc, Dark Knight, Gotham City Sirens, and Flash.
And sporadically picked up JLA, JSA, Green Arrow, and Adventure, just to stay semi on top of them.

Come September, it'll be perhaps one of those.

[jjreason]

I'll likely be in for the first issues of Action & Justice League just to see.

[Diabolical]

Does anyone know if this relaunch has anything to do with the rights to Superman?

[anarky]

Possibly.

I was just going to come in here to note that Dan Dickio has apparently semi-confirmed Superman will no longer be married.

Fuck progress. Fuck character evolution. Fuck the fairy tale for boys, where the hero gets the girl and they live happily ever after. (Could you imagine Disney saying, "Cinderella appeals more to girls if she's single, so we're retconning Prince Charming out of existence"?) Fuck everything except Jim Lee's 1990-reject costume change and Grant Morrison blowing himself on paper with his overgrown fanfic.

No, DC. Fuck you. And fuck you, too, Marvel.

(Okay, DC, fuck you except for Fables and some of the other Vertigo stuff. Reboot that, and I'll personally saw off Jim Lee's nuts with a butter knife.)

[Rollo Tomassi]

In regards to the Superman lawsuit, it occured to me that they wouldn't even have to call the book 'Superman'. They could just put the giant S-Shield (the modern version that DC/WB owns) on the cover as the title. Its universally recognized as Superman without actually saying 'Superman' on the cover. Like they did with Superman/Batman for the last six years. The 'title' of the series was just an amalgamated image of Supes and Bats insignias.

And they can still call him Superman in the interior of the book right? Kinda like DC still uses Captain Marvel, but they have to call the book Shazam!

That's what I'd do.

[anarky]

I would kill to see Shazam included among the 52. Written and drawn by Jeff Smith, a direct continuation of The Monster Society of Evil. That series was amazing. Even the only major change, having Mary still be a small child when she becomes Mary Marvel, was inspired.

If they wanted true diversity, a series like that could reel in the kiddies. No question about it.

But instead, we get fucking Rob Liefeld. I'm not dissing him as a person since he's Rollo's new BFF, but the man's artwork was rather lacking in 1990 and hasn't progressed one bit since then. And he is the mortal enemy of all deadlines.

[anarky]

Here's another dumb question.

They said they chose 52 titles since the number "52" is especially important to the DCU.

Since when?

Wasn't the miniseries 52 from like 2003? So it's been important for eight whole years? Wow. I'm floored. And 52 was named such, IIRC, to account for the 52 weeks between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later. So it was something of an arbitrary number, based entirely on a real-world marketing gimmick.

And, if they're confident in this move, why not let Marvel have the dominant share for several months and introduce one new title per week? Let it build slowly. Give folks time to check everything out.

[Rollo Tomassi]

52 was the arbitrarily picked number of new Universes in the DC Multiverse.