Powers and Puberty

DC has announced several teenage superhero titles to be a part of their re-launch in September. This announcement brings the total number of titles they have announced up to 39. Only lucky 13 to go.

Hawk and Dove: Okay... Sigh... here goes. I love these characters. Have done for a long time. My appreciation goes all the way back to, well Teen Titans Spotlight featuring Hawk, I guess, thought I kind of liked them before. Then I saw the limited series written by Barbara and Karl Kesel. Loved it. And here, we have the artist from that series, Rob Liefeld back on these characters. I'm not going to lie. I liked his art on Hawk and Dove back then. Sterling Gates is writing the book, and I am not too familiar with his work. He has gotten some very positive reviews, and seems like a good guy in interviews I have read, and no one can disparage his comic book geek credentials. The characters, the embodiment of War and Peace, Chaos and Order, have really cool concepts, and I be that Gates will be able to do a lot with them, and I look forward to his take. But back to Liefeld. I know that a lot of people on the internet hate Liefeld. Some hate his work... some seem to hate him personally. He also took a couple of shots at Stan Lee on Twitter back in January. So, I get why there is vitriol towards the man. That said, he co-created Cable and frickin' Deadpool. He is one of the co-founders of Image Comics. He has left a legacy in the comic world that is hard to dispute.(However, his impressive legacy is a small fraction of Stan The Man's and I have to pretend that those shots at Stan didn't happen or my brain kind of fractures. Maybe he feels that Stan has gotten more of the credit than he deserves, and Jack Kirby deserves a larger share. That is a fair opinion, but to suggest that Stan is utterly without talent is ridiculous, bordering on idiotic.) All of that said, I'm still looking forward to this book. I don't expect a comic artist to be photorealistic (though I don't mind if they are), all I want from them is the ability to clearly communicate what is happening in the story. Liefeld does that, in a very action-oriented style. Hopefully, that style ends up suiting the pacing of Gates' writing, and we can all go home happy.

Legion Lost: I hgave been a fan of several of the various versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes we have been treated to since the 70's, when I started reading comics. I dig this idea - seven members of the Legion are stuck in the 21st century trying to save their future from annihilation. Fabian Nicieza is writing this tale of Dawnstar, Wildfire, Tellus, Gates, Timber Wolf, Chameleon Girl and... someone (I think it might be Invisible Kid, though I am not sure) stuck in their past. I loved Nicieza's work on New Warriors for Marvel many years ago. He has done other, very impressive work more recently, but if he can capture half of the fun, emotion and kick-ass-ness in this series he did about teenage heroes that he did in that one, I'm on board for as long as he is. Legion Lost will feature the art of Pete Woods, who will make this series look great. Woods has been working on Action Comics of late, showing the confidence that DC has in his art. This book will always be at the very top of my read pile. Unless, maybe, they announce a JSA title by Roy Thomas with George Perez drawing. Then I'll put one of those at the top, and one at the bottom to make sure my read is always bookended by sublime comic experiences.

Legion of Super-Heroes: Normally, I'd say that I would feel sorry for whoever is writing the other half of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the ones still in the 31st century, as they will have their work compared to Nicieza's. In this case, I'm not worried. Paul Levitz has been a long-time favorite of Legion fans, and I am sure he will continue to bring the goods. Francis Portella will be providing the art on this book, and I am very much looking forward to his interpretations of the characters, and to seeing Levitz and him introducing new recruits to help fill the hole left by the seven characters lost in time in Legion Lost. Reading books set so far in the future is always fun, because there is less of a sense of status quo, giving the creators a great amount of latitude. This series will be a fun read.

Static Shock: Static is the most successful character to come out of the Milestone Comics imprint from the mid-90's. Milestone was an effort by a group of creators to have minorities better-represented in mainstream comics. Much like the Wildstorm universe more recently, the Milestone universe existed seperately from the DCU, although there was a "Worlds Collide" cross-over event, and the Milestone universe has since been merged in to the DCU proper. Static was also the star of the Static Shock animated series that ran for 4 seasons starting in 2000. Recently, he has been a member of the Teen Titans. John Rozum will be writing with Scott McDaniel who will also be handling art duties with John Glapion. This title fits in well with DC's desire to be more diverse. Rozum was one of the original creators of the Milestone universe. Static is a popular, established character who brings some diversity to DC's core lineup. And although I know some people who dislike McDaniels' are as too stylized, for the right book, I love it. His work helped to define Nightwing for me when that series launched, and I loot forward to seeing that art again every month as I read Static Shock.

Teen Titans: Last, but definitely not least is DC's flagship "teens with powers" book, Teen Titans. DC has tapped Scott Lobdell to handle the writing on this book, with Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund on art. Lobdell has written some amazing books for Marvel and in the Wildstorm universe in his time in the comic industry. It will be great to see him writing for the mainstream DC Universe. This is the second book he is writing that will be featuring a former Robin - he is also handling the writing duties on Red Hood and the Outlaws. The makeup of this team is interesting - Tim Drake as Red Robin, Kid Flash (announced to be Bart "Impulse" Allen rather than Wally West), Wonder Girl who is a "mysterious and belligerent powerhouse thief," what looks like Superboy, and a couple of characters I do not recognize, though one almost looks like a female version of Obsidian. It looks like there are going to be some changes to this book.

Overall, I am looking forward to reading about these characters. There are 13 more titles to come, but I feel like there has been precious little love for the "middle generation" of DC's heroes. Yes, Nightwing is getting his own ongoing, and Roy "Speedy/Aresenal/Red Arrow" Harper will be in "Red Hood and the Outlaws," but what about Donna Troy and Wally West? Maybe Garth/Aqualad? Hopefully at least the first two of those are addressed soon.