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The DC previews in the April issue (for issues and items on sale in June) are alternately giving me a teensy bit of hope, puzzling me and making me a bit sad.
The milestone issus for DC's "Trinity" are all being published during June: Wonder Woman 600, Superman 700, Batman 700. And it turns out that J. Michael Straczynski is taking over a series writer for Superman and Wonder Woman. Thing is, he's really a pretty good writer. I'm not particularly worried about what's going to happen with Diana -- I don't read Supes, though I may start now that the eternal New Krypton/War of the Supermen crossovers are finally done. (I wonder if the New Kryptonians survived and/or moved off to some other solar system. Guess I'll find out.) Straczynski writes good women, or can, at least. What I wonder is if he's going to be seriously over-extended -- I think he's still got "The Brave and the Bold" as well (and that's a wildly uneven title; it's either awesome or kind of boring, with nothing in between) or if he'll walk off in a huff the way he did at Marvel. (Said huff, as I understand it, being caused by Marvel going back on their word and wanting to include his Thor title in their never ending crossovers. They'd promised him that they'd leave him alone, and did for a long time, but then, oddly enough, Thor turned into one of their best selling titles, and they wanted to take advantage of that. He didn't want to deal with that, and I can't blame him. The problem is, that stranded The Twelve, Marvel's version of the whole "let's resurrect some of our old characters and some old public domain characters and throw them into the modern era" thing. And frankly, it was far more interesting than Dynamite's version of the same. But, alas, it seems that the series will never be completed. There is, I think, absolutely no chance that DC would leave Superman out of any line-wide crossovers, but they've left Wonder Woman completely out during Gail Simone's run, so maybe they'll keep that up. (Mind, I think that's slightly to her detriment. Not because I think the crossovers would boost her sales -- though it might, if they could avoid the cracktacular messes like "Blackest Night: Wonder Woman" -- but because there are major character developments that happen in the crossoves that never get addressed in the main title.) Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how that works out.
For the Green Lantern fen, there's the never ending crossover, Brightest Day leading straight out of Blackest Night. (My comic book dealer tells me that Brightest Day is meant to be more DC-wide. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Our theory is that somehow, DC's Brightest Day, when it finally arrives, will be The Return of Bruce Wayne, because the idea that they could resist the anvillicious irony of having the universe's Brightest Day being caused by the return of their darkest hero ... well.) The Alpha Lanters are revolting.
Over in Justice League land, there's the reformation of Justice League International. There's also the hook into Green Arrow; Oliver apparently is giving up the bow -- given what he did, and the fact that the League knows, I suppose there's no choice -- and there's going to be a new Green Arrow. I think Roy is having his arm regrown at STAR Labs. And then there's a JLA/JSA crossover starting. (Which JSA, I have no idea.)
Over in Batland, the joint's a-jumpin'. For one thing, Gail Simone is restarting Birds of Prey. This incarnation seems to be Oracle-free, as she's off over with Batgirl. Bruce Wayne continues to return -- this month, as a pirate! (The "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" kind, not the "let's hold an oil tanker hostage" kind.) And then there are the two things that are kind of baffling.
For reasons that surpasseth all understanding, DC has decided to start one weird new Battish title, and revive an old one. They've decided to do a Red Hood title, exploring what Jason did between his resurrection and 52/Countdown, in a series called "Red Hood: Lost Days." Seriously was anyone clamoring for this? Did anyone care? When last we saw him, Jason was battered, bloody, maimed and headed to jail. (Presumably, like all of Gotham's villains, he'll escape sometime soon.) And the other thing they're doing is resurrecting Batman Beyond. And again: people were asking for this? Continuity has already run over the original Batman Beyond; that said, they're implying that this may be based on the DC Animated version, rather than the old comic book version. If it's not, then continuity is going to be weird. That said, it's possible that Terry is a short-lived Batman; it's difficult to see how hefits around Dick, Tim, and Damian in their Batman runs. (Though ... the interesting thing is that, as I recall, back in Batman 666, Damian never explicitly said that he murdered Bruce. Moreover, given subsequent developments, it's entirely possible that Bruce isn't the dead Batman we see there. It could be Tim or Dick, and Damian could be his Robin. In "Batman and Robin", we get the return of Thomas Wayne. Again.
Elsewhere: DC's experiment in reviving The Red Circle titles seems to be over; both The Web and The Shield are cancelled with issue #10. Sadly, I'm not surprised. I couldn't get into The Shield, but I did like The Web; however, that said, the Web was a complete and total idiot, and the Bat corner of the universe could do without him. The Earth-One/First Wave universe continues, with yet another reboot of The Spirit and of Doc Savage continuing. Great Ten goes on (and on).
And in the development that really makes me sad, Paliotti, Gray and Amanda Connor leave Power Girl, and Judd Winick and Sami Basri take over. Understand: I'm not saying that Winick is a bad writer or anything like that. It's just that ... well, currently, Power Girl is fun. It's the most fun you can get in a 32-page superhero comic. She enjoys her life, she enjoys being a superhero, she enjoys being a woman. Yes, there are a lot of serious parts, but it's still just a fun, fun title. And somehow ... in what I've seen of his other work, Winick has always been fairly serious. I cannot see him bringing the fun. On the other hand, maybe Dini will bring the fun to his restart of the Zatanna title.
June's definitely going to be an ... interesting month in the DCU.
The milestone issus for DC's "Trinity" are all being published during June: Wonder Woman 600, Superman 700, Batman 700. And it turns out that J. Michael Straczynski is taking over a series writer for Superman and Wonder Woman. Thing is, he's really a pretty good writer. I'm not particularly worried about what's going to happen with Diana -- I don't read Supes, though I may start now that the eternal New Krypton/War of the Supermen crossovers are finally done. (I wonder if the New Kryptonians survived and/or moved off to some other solar system. Guess I'll find out.) Straczynski writes good women, or can, at least. What I wonder is if he's going to be seriously over-extended -- I think he's still got "The Brave and the Bold" as well (and that's a wildly uneven title; it's either awesome or kind of boring, with nothing in between) or if he'll walk off in a huff the way he did at Marvel. (Said huff, as I understand it, being caused by Marvel going back on their word and wanting to include his Thor title in their never ending crossovers. They'd promised him that they'd leave him alone, and did for a long time, but then, oddly enough, Thor turned into one of their best selling titles, and they wanted to take advantage of that. He didn't want to deal with that, and I can't blame him. The problem is, that stranded The Twelve, Marvel's version of the whole "let's resurrect some of our old characters and some old public domain characters and throw them into the modern era" thing. And frankly, it was far more interesting than Dynamite's version of the same. But, alas, it seems that the series will never be completed. There is, I think, absolutely no chance that DC would leave Superman out of any line-wide crossovers, but they've left Wonder Woman completely out during Gail Simone's run, so maybe they'll keep that up. (Mind, I think that's slightly to her detriment. Not because I think the crossovers would boost her sales -- though it might, if they could avoid the cracktacular messes like "Blackest Night: Wonder Woman" -- but because there are major character developments that happen in the crossoves that never get addressed in the main title.) Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how that works out.
For the Green Lantern fen, there's the never ending crossover, Brightest Day leading straight out of Blackest Night. (My comic book dealer tells me that Brightest Day is meant to be more DC-wide. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Our theory is that somehow, DC's Brightest Day, when it finally arrives, will be The Return of Bruce Wayne, because the idea that they could resist the anvillicious irony of having the universe's Brightest Day being caused by the return of their darkest hero ... well.) The Alpha Lanters are revolting.
Over in Justice League land, there's the reformation of Justice League International. There's also the hook into Green Arrow; Oliver apparently is giving up the bow -- given what he did, and the fact that the League knows, I suppose there's no choice -- and there's going to be a new Green Arrow. I think Roy is having his arm regrown at STAR Labs. And then there's a JLA/JSA crossover starting. (Which JSA, I have no idea.)
Over in Batland, the joint's a-jumpin'. For one thing, Gail Simone is restarting Birds of Prey. This incarnation seems to be Oracle-free, as she's off over with Batgirl. Bruce Wayne continues to return -- this month, as a pirate! (The "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" kind, not the "let's hold an oil tanker hostage" kind.) And then there are the two things that are kind of baffling.
For reasons that surpasseth all understanding, DC has decided to start one weird new Battish title, and revive an old one. They've decided to do a Red Hood title, exploring what Jason did between his resurrection and 52/Countdown, in a series called "Red Hood: Lost Days." Seriously was anyone clamoring for this? Did anyone care? When last we saw him, Jason was battered, bloody, maimed and headed to jail. (Presumably, like all of Gotham's villains, he'll escape sometime soon.) And the other thing they're doing is resurrecting Batman Beyond. And again: people were asking for this? Continuity has already run over the original Batman Beyond; that said, they're implying that this may be based on the DC Animated version, rather than the old comic book version. If it's not, then continuity is going to be weird. That said, it's possible that Terry is a short-lived Batman; it's difficult to see how hefits around Dick, Tim, and Damian in their Batman runs. (Though ... the interesting thing is that, as I recall, back in Batman 666, Damian never explicitly said that he murdered Bruce. Moreover, given subsequent developments, it's entirely possible that Bruce isn't the dead Batman we see there. It could be Tim or Dick, and Damian could be his Robin. In "Batman and Robin", we get the return of Thomas Wayne. Again.
Elsewhere: DC's experiment in reviving The Red Circle titles seems to be over; both The Web and The Shield are cancelled with issue #10. Sadly, I'm not surprised. I couldn't get into The Shield, but I did like The Web; however, that said, the Web was a complete and total idiot, and the Bat corner of the universe could do without him. The Earth-One/First Wave universe continues, with yet another reboot of The Spirit and of Doc Savage continuing. Great Ten goes on (and on).
And in the development that really makes me sad, Paliotti, Gray and Amanda Connor leave Power Girl, and Judd Winick and Sami Basri take over. Understand: I'm not saying that Winick is a bad writer or anything like that. It's just that ... well, currently, Power Girl is fun. It's the most fun you can get in a 32-page superhero comic. She enjoys her life, she enjoys being a superhero, she enjoys being a woman. Yes, there are a lot of serious parts, but it's still just a fun, fun title. And somehow ... in what I've seen of his other work, Winick has always been fairly serious. I cannot see him bringing the fun. On the other hand, maybe Dini will bring the fun to his restart of the Zatanna title.
June's definitely going to be an ... interesting month in the DCU.
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