The Last Wave of the New DCU

In this last roundup, I will cover the last 6 titles just announced. The first two are not associated with a particular grouping, and the last 4 are the Superman family. Yes, in the New DCU, the Green Lantern family of comics has as many titles as the Superman family. Has DC's "Big 2" moved to a "Big 3?"

Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes is a normal teenager. That is, if you don't pay attention to the scarab created by aliens who conquered or destroyed whole planets as a way of life. Using the powers of this scarab, Jaime becomes the Blue Beetle. The latest incarnation of hero with that name, Jaime is also my second favorite. I still miss Ted Kord, but at least he went out defiant. Tony Bedard is writing this book. I like his work, and am looking forward to reading this book. Ig Guara is handling art duties, and if Guara does his usual excellent job, this will be a gorgeous book. I made the call earlier that this character may show up in Justice League. I'm not sure if they would have a teenager who should be in high school in that illustrious organization, but regardless, I expect Blue Beetle to be an important part of the DCU moving forward. He's powerful, has a legacy, and contributes to the diversity of DC's offerings. I really hope this new book raises this character to the upper-tier of DC's heroes.

Suicide Squad: I've always liked the idea of the Suicide Squad. B-list and C-list and maybe even D-list villains showing up to run missions for the government who may well not make it out alive. Sure, the core team is unlikely to die. But you never know if a new character brought in is going to be a new part of the core team, or if they might even replace a one of the core members. This one features Harley Quinn, Deadshot and King Shark. Adam Glass is writing and Marco Rudy is doing the art on this book. Glass seems to have an interest in writing villains (He is writing the Legion of Doom story for Flashpoint). That will serve him well on this book. Rudy has a very stylized way of drawing. It promises to give this book an appropriately dark feel. My only minor nitpick so far is not liking the look of the redesign on Deadshot. Even so, if the character is as good as he frequently is, I can overlook it. I'm looking forward to seeing who makes it through this revolving door.

And now, on to Superman.


Action Comics: The longest-running monthly comic of all time will be releasing a #1. It's been almost 75 years since this has happened. I'm almost expecting a shaft of light and a choir of angels when I pick up this book. Grant Morrison is writing, and he did a great job on All-Star Superman. The amazing Rags Morales is the artist bringing Morrison's take to life visually. This looks like it will be a very different take on Superman, as the blurb says "Superman defends a world that doesn’t trust their first Super Hero." I like the fact that Morrison is taking this in a different direction, particularly compared to All-Star where Superman was so well thought of that no one would ever doubt the Man of Steel. That said, as I have mentioned previously, I have found Morrison to be hit or miss. Hopefully, this one is a hit.

Superboy: Scott Lobdell is writing this book, which appears to be a story of redemption, much like the story of Red Hood, which he is also writing. The official release says "They thought he was just a failed experiment, grown from a combination of Kryptonian and human DNA. But when the scope of his stunning powers was revealed, he became a deadly weapon." The cover looks like he might also be part robot. This looks like a different take on the Connor Kent Superboy, and I look forward to seeing this comic with art by R.B. Silva and Rob Lean. Some of my concerns about the new Action Comics apply here as well. Of all the corners of the DCU to bring dark, brooding stories to, I don't feel as though Superman's corner is the right place for it.

Supergirl: Michael Green and Mike Johnson who wrote for Smallville (which I really wish was streaming on Netflix, by the way) as well as for Superman/Batman are going to be chronicling the story of the Kryptonian teenager with art by Mahmud A. Asrar. Green wrote not only for Smallville, but also worked on the Green Lantern movie, and Heroes. He clearly understands the genre. Asrar's art is clean, and doesn't feel too dark. This book looks like it could be a lot of fun, and should capture the light side of the Superman family. Supergirl has been a very uneven series over the years, but hopefully this creative team can bring the book to another upswing. I'll be along for the ride to see how it works out.


Superman: George Perez is writing this, and Jesus Merino is handling the art. Perez is generally more thought of as an artist, (and one of my all-time favorites at that) but I am looking forward to seeing his take on the Man of Tomorrow as a writer. Jesus Merino has done good work on Superman in the past, and I enjoyed his work on Justice Society of america as well. Looking at this cover, it does indeed look like Superman has done away with the "undies on the outside" look. The belt and boots look a little more high-tech. And the cover looks like there may be a good reason why the population doesn't trust Supes as mentioned above in "Action." This blurb refers to "Superman’s startling new status quo." This is where I have concerns. Like I have said about the new Star Trek movie - it was a good movie, and I get why a lot of people liked it... but it wasn't my Kirk. Kirk shouldn't lose every fight he is in. That too was a re-launch, but I felt it, in the case of at least that one character, took me too far from what I loved about the original - the very reason that it was around long enough to re-launch. I have my concerns here as well. Throughout a lot of this overview, I have referred to getting back to the most iconic or best-known versions of the characters. I hope DC hasn't decided to not do that for the one character who is among the most iconic fictional characters of all time.

Time will tell how these relaunches go. I am looking forward to reading them, and to making the choices of the ones that I want to continue following.

Next: my thoughts about the relaunches as a whole, and about the day-and-date digital release and its potential impact.