DC to REBOOT???

[Professor Zoom]

The following current titles are missing from the relaunch (apart from Batman Beyond and Batman, Inc., which we know will be relaunching at some point):

Adventure Comics
Booster Gold
Doc Savage
Gotham City Sirens (although the characters are all accounted for in other titles)
Justice Society of America
Power Girl
Red Robin
Secret Six
The Spirit
Superman/Batman
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
Zatanna

I wonder if they could (not that they should) roll Doc Savage into the greater DCU. He's a licensed character, I think, so that would be problematic. I can see Doc Savage and The Spirit being gone for good.

T.H.Under Agents (I got tired of the periods)... hm... roll it into the DCU? Was it already?

Zatanna is gonna be in JL Dark, so she won't have her own book.

 

[Captain Craig]

I had thought THUNDER Agents was a leased property, does DC own them outright?

Captain Marvel is a glaring omission imo as is a JSA team(however they had to do it).

Still waiting on word for Steph, Helena and Cass as well that is a blinding oversight.

If JSA is absent I guess it's too much to ask about Freedom Fighters?

I'd like to have seen a Starman title in their list as well.

I guess characters like The Atom, The Question, Bronze Tiger, Vixen and other B/C listers will get explored as guest stars in other books.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Jill Pantozzi interviews Gail Simone about Batgirl and Oracle...

Snippets...

Gail Simone said..
A lot of the things people are certain of though...we haven't stated at all. We haven't said she was never Oracle. We haven't said there won't be an Oracle. We haven't said she'd be a sidekick. We haven't said what age she'd be. We haven't said if “The Killing Joke” remains canon or not. But I've heard all of those things stated as gospel over and over.

I know people are worried about Cass and Steph. All I can say is, I cannot imagine that those characters won't have a role in the new DC. It just seems very unlikely. If no one else is using them, don't be surprised if they show up in Batgirl in the near future. They are awesome.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Zatanna is gonna be in JL Dark, so she won't have her own book.

A lot of characters have a solo book as well as appearing in a team book, though, so they're not mutually exclusive. They're just not going that route with Zatanna at the moment.

Gail Simone has confirmed the cancellation of Secret Six with this post.

 

[JoeZhang]

Jill Pantozzi interviews Gail Simone about Batgirl and Oracle...

Snippets...

Gail Simone said..
A lot of the things people are certain of though...we haven't stated at all. We haven't said she was never Oracle. We haven't said there won't be an Oracle. We haven't said she'd be a sidekick. We haven't said what age she'd be. We haven't said if “The Killing Joke” remains canon or not. But I've heard all of those things stated as gospel over and over.

I know people are worried about Cass and Steph. All I can say is, I cannot imagine that those characters won't have a role in the new DC. It just seems very unlikely. If no one else is using them, don't be surprised if they show up in Batgirl in the near future. They are awesome.

As far as I can tell Simone says simply whatever the machine needs her to say at any particular moment. I know that all the time she spends pressing virtual hands on talkboards make her a bit of a favourite but I've always found her condescending and fake.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Zatanna is gonna be in JL Dark, so she won't have her own book.

A lot of characters have a solo book as well as appearing in a team book, though, so they're not mutually exclusive. They're just not going that route with Zatanna at the moment.

I wouldn't say A LOT of characters.... Is Zatanna that popular? I get why you would have Supes, Bats, WW, GL, Flash in both a team book and their own solo books, but... not everyone, not even a LOT of characters get that much support.

 

[Mr Light]

That stinks that Secret Six is cancelled! But hey, it lasted longer than it should have in a reasonable world.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Is Zatanna that popular?

Dini's Zatanna book I thought was quite good, though I admit that I dropped it a few months ago because of the lack of a regular art team, and I planned on adding it back whenever Dini got around to pulling Zee into the Bat-verse. (Some interviews with Dini when the series launched suggested that he was, eventually, going to get there.) Now I don't feel bad for dropping it. *shrug*

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

I wouldn't say A LOT of characters.... Is Zatanna that popular? I get why you would have Supes, Bats, WW, GL, Flash in both a team book and their own solo books, but... not everyone, not even a LOT of characters get that much support.

It's not just the main A-list characters who have been in team and solo books concurrently. The list of characters who have done so includes Robin, Nightwing, The Atom, Aquaman, Hawkman, Firestorm, Mister Miracle, Booster Gold, Animal Man, Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom. It's certainly not every character who gets that treatment, but it's not uncommon.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I wouldn't say A LOT of characters.... Is Zatanna that popular? I get why you would have Supes, Bats, WW, GL, Flash in both a team book and their own solo books, but... not everyone, not even a LOT of characters get that much support.

It's not just the main A-list characters who have been in team and solo books concurrently. The list of characters who have done so includes Robin, Nightwing, The Atom, Aquaman, Hawkman, Firestorm, Mister Miracle, Booster Gold, Animal Man, Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom. It's certainly not every character who gets that treatment, but it's not uncommon.

I'm not suggesting that it IS uncommon, just not a lot at any one time. What I am suggesting is that Zatanna isn't popular enough to support a solo book, but is popular enough to being in a team book.

With a new DCU, it's also an opportunity to clean house of books that don't sell well and create books that do. Or, well, just better.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

I'm not suggesting that it IS uncommon, just not a lot at any one time. What I am suggesting is that Zatanna isn't popular enough to support a solo book, but is popular enough to being in a team book.

With a new DCU, it's also an opportunity to clean house of books that don't sell well and create books that do. Or, well, just better.

Fair enough, although the sales of Zatanna demonstrated she has potential to anchor a solo series. Sometimes it takes a couple of cracks at a solo series before things click well enough for a run of a decent length. But there were obviously a hell of a lot of characters and teams vying for re-launch titles.

 

[Myasishchev]

Jill Pantozzi interviews Gail Simone about Batgirl and Oracle...

Snippets...

Gail Simone said..
A lot of the things people are certain of though...we haven't stated at all. We haven't said she was never Oracle. We haven't said there won't be an Oracle. We haven't said she'd be a sidekick. We haven't said what age she'd be. We haven't said if “The Killing Joke” remains canon or not. But I've heard all of those things stated as gospel over and over.

I know people are worried about Cass and Steph. All I can say is, I cannot imagine that those characters won't have a role in the new DC. It just seems very unlikely. If no one else is using them, don't be surprised if they show up in Batgirl in the near future. They are awesome.

As far as I can tell Simone says simply whatever the machine needs her to say at any particular moment. I know that all the time she spends pressing virtual hands on talkboards make her a bit of a favourite but I've always found her condescending and fake.

She's sort of the anti-McDuffie. Or she learned from his example.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I'm not suggesting that it IS uncommon, just not a lot at any one time. What I am suggesting is that Zatanna isn't popular enough to support a solo book, but is popular enough to being in a team book.

With a new DCU, it's also an opportunity to clean house of books that don't sell well and create books that do. Or, well, just better.

Fair enough, although the sales of Zatanna demonstrated she has potential to anchor a solo series. Sometimes it takes a couple of cracks at a solo series before things click well enough for a run of a decent length. But there were obviously a hell of a lot of characters and teams vying for re-launch titles.

I think almost all of their characters could anchor a series, almost all are interesting enough. (hell, I would buy a G'Nort series) but it's what can sell. Perhaps they thought she didn't do well enought, time to try something new. And this is the time to try it.

if space opens up, and there's interest, maybe she'll come back.

I'm not surprised that she didn't get one, unlike Captain Marvel or the JSA. Those surprise me.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I wonder if comic con will reveal Toy previews for the relaunched characters. I can only imagine how insane the DCU panels are gonna be for this year after this. There also seems to be a lot of "new" or "unknown" creators on books for this relaunch. There are quite a few that I'm not familiar with, particularly in the artist category. I'm sure this is part of the editorial strategy.

 

[sojourner]

^Yeah, it's called "hire the new guy that will work cheaper".

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yep. Didn't mention this earlier but I am interested in the new "Stormwatch". Having J'onn next to Apollo and Midnighter is weird lol.

 

[Myasishchev]

God, Secret Six was awesome. Currently re-reading "Cats in the Cradle." This is, like, Born Again great.

I also want to take back what I implied about Jim Caliafore. His later Secret Six stuff looks a little rushed on occasion, but his earlier stuff is the shit. He might actually have been better than Nicola Scott. He's not David Mazzucchelli, I guess. But pretty close.

The only obvious way to make it better would be to have an editorial policy, which already permits graphic torture, that lets Floyd Lawton say "fuck."

 

[Hound of UIster]

^Yeah, it's called "hire the new guy that will work cheaper".

It's actually "hire foreign artists that will work cheaper and better".

 

[JoeZhang]

^ Yep. Didn't mention this earlier but I am interested in the new "Stormwatch". Having J'onn next to Apollo and Midnighter is weird lol.

Midnighter: "More lemonade J'onn?"

J'onn: "Yes thanks you, Midnighter, What do you think we should do about that evil Dictator killing his people in the middle east?"

Midnighter: "I think we should push for a strong UN Resolution condeming his actions".


Tune in next week when the Midnighter does not beat a man to death with a human head or stick a road-drill up another man's ass.

 

[Myasishchev]

My God! It was there in front of our noses all along.

It was never about Barry Allen. What fools we were!

Flashpoint? Duh!

More seriously, yeah, if the killing team of superhuman soldiers is sanctioned by the UN, can Batman still be a condescending dick to them? He's not a condescending dick to regular soldiers. Is he? I have no idea.

Although, really, what is the function of Stormwatch in a world where the Suicide Squad already exists (or vice versa)? Or the Blackhawks? Or, hell, the Justice League? I like Flashpoint and Battalion and Backlash and Nautika and Sunburst and Diva and Winter and Union and Lancer and Ion* and just about all those lame old 1990s dudes, but they don't work in the DCU. They didn't even work in the Image Universe that well. Arguably they didn't work in the Wildstorm Universe, given that they were all killed or sidelined--and neither one of those milieus was nearly as crowded (nor as scare-quote "moral").

And yet it would be pretty cool to see Bendix use a Frenchman on vacation to invoke Code Perfect and have Jenny Sparks execute the Joker U.S. prison-style. Because that is what logically would happen, and what totally will never happen.

*If you remember these last two dudes, you should be reminded that you have a finite number of neurons, and you have not always spent them wisely.