The Comics Professor

Thoughts on DC's first batch of new #1's

Today, DC released details on eight new #1's - here are some early thoughts, a nice mix of positive and negatives (from someone who's sour on the whole project):

Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang: I'll buy most anything drawn by Cliff Chiang,and  while I've not been keen on everything I've read by Azzarello, I trust him to deliver quality stories and a unique perspective on our favorite Amazon. It just remains to be seen exactly what will done with her.

Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis: I was incredibly excited about this before the whole reboot was announced, and I see no reason to change that; given the cover's references to the corpses-of-the-sea from Brightest Day, I trust any revamp past that will be minimal.

The Flash #1 by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato: Manapul quickly became my favorite Flash artist with his fresh work on the last run, but I'm not sold on the chinguard--please ditch it.

The Fury of Firestorm #1 by Ethan van Sciver, Gail Simone, and Yildiray Cinar: Creative team is very interesting--Simone rocks, of course, and teaming up with van Sciver will be interesting--and Cinar's work on Legion has been amazing. I like the suggestion that Jason and Ronnie will each have an individual Firestorm "look" for some reason, so I can't say I'm happy with the overblown "composite" look.

The Savage Hawkman #1 by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan: Daniel's work writing Batman has been OK but not great, and Tan is very up and down for me--this one is a true unknown. Definitely don't like the tweaks in the costume (a complaint which will run through this post, unfortunately), too much metal (and again with the chinguard).

Green Arrow #1 by JT Krul and Dan Jurgens: Not a big fan of Krul's current GA run (or the debacle which led to it) but maybe this will be a fresh start. Jurgens is always nice to see, though sometimes he can lack a certain dynamic (for example, his run on Nightwing with Marv Wolfman). Again, too many superfluous highlights and tweaks on the costume.

Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti: "A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime"? Really? Too bad it can't simply flow from their recently wrapped series, which was a lot of fun. Glad to see Lopresti on it, the best of the several artists from that book, but surprised to see Jurgens writing it rather than Winick--but at least he knows Booster (and we've yet to see if Booster gets a new series or not). Couple small complaints: 1) Batman don't get drafted by no one. 2) More superfluous tweaks to Booster's outfit (see my last post on "change for the sake of change"). 3) Who is the woman in the lower left? Gypsy? (I only guess that because her JLA-Detroit temmate Vixen is present, which I like.)

Mister Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson: Long overdue--the current Mr. Terrific has deserved a series of his own for years (as has the current Dr. Mid-Nite). But Wallace doesn't fill me with confidence based on Titans, and though I never loved the old costume, I like this new one even less. (Wacky as it was, I loved Terry Sloane's costume--sue me.)

Captain Atom #1 by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II: I love that Nate is getting his own series, but Krul still is a wild card with me and Williams is up and down (liked him on Robin but not on JSA All-Stars--but that may have been due to having to cram the huge cast into the book, resulting in very busy-looking pages). Hate the wispy hair-thing going on--works for Firestorm, not for you, Cap. The silver shell with the red and blue was an incredible look, and I will truly miss it.

DC Universe Presents #1 featuring Deadman by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang: No qualms about this. 1) I love anthology books. 2) Jenkins is fantastic (though I'd like to see him on Captain Atom instead). 3) Chang is great and underrated. 4) Deadman is awesome.

Soon we should see details on Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern titles, as well as Teen Titans and Legion... keep your fingers crossed!

That being said... : What I would do with the post-Flashpoint DC Universe

In yesterday's post, I lamented the impending radical reboot of the DCU. Let me be Mr. Positive now, and list a few things I would do, had I the power, to simplify the DCU and bring it "back to basics" without (potentially) reversing years of continuity:

1. Mostly restore the pre-"Batman R.I.P." status quo in the world of the Bats. Dick realizes he will never "be" Batman, and now that  Bruce is back, Dick can return to being his own man (or Babs' own man). Nightwing was a magnificent character (with a great costume), and the DCU needs him back. I would keep Damian as Robin, though, and Tim can stay Red Robin or choose another identity not so closely tied to Robin. That way, we have Bruce Wayne as the one and only Batman again, with a young and impetuous Robin by his side--the "classic" coupling--and the rest of the Batverse can stay as is (including Steph as Batgirl, provided there is a place for Cassandra, and Babs as Oracle in some form).

2. Return Wonder Woman so she bears some resemblance--not primarily visual--to her classic roots (as Johns did with Hal and Barry already). This may be the plan, who knows, and the new costume, especially as tweaked by Lee in the JLA promo picture, has grown on me. But restore the origins to what most people know, including Steve Trevor being involved with Diana's trip to "Man's World" (cue James Brown--heh!). And please, DC, get her right this time. That, in itself, may make this whole reboot worthwhile.

3. Superman is fine--keep the younger Supes in the Earth One line, but don't. mess. with. Superman. He's your key property right now with the upcoming movie and 75th anniversary coming up. Don't let Grant Morrison write some metacontextual, oh-so-clever Superman book--hey, I liked All-Star Superman, but as an ancillary title, not one of the main books.

4. Keep Hal Jordan on Earth more than has been done the last few years. I loved the Wein/Gibbons run on Green Lantern in the 80s, much of which took place on Earth with Carol fighting "normal" villains. Green Lantern Corps can handle the sci-fi- aspects of the GL world, but keep Hal "grounded" a good bit of the time.

5. Restore the JLA to some line-up focused on the Big 7 (or 6, as they're doing), without the needless de-aging. I loved Meltzer's line-up, as long as it took to come together. Do something like that again, but do it right.

6. Don't know what to do with the Teen Titans--perhaps they need to give them a rest for a while.

7. Do not touch the Legion--the return of Paul Levitz has been an 80s fanboy's dream.

8. Restore the glory of Aquaman, of course, as I have faith Johns will do--he was redeveloped wonderfully through Brightest Day, so don't mess that up. I see Aquaman as DC's Thor, capable of supporting his own separate world--can you imagine Atlantis fleshed out as well as Lee and Kirby did with Asgard? Peter David did just that, of course, with The Atlantis Chronicles, so build on  that if you want--just make us Aquafans proud, please.

9. Secret Six stays, end of story.

There is a chance, of course, that we're all overreacting to the skimpy details DC has given us regarding the reboot. Things may not change that much--more than the minor tinkering that resulted in New Earth after Infinite Crisis, certainly, but perhaps not a complete rollback. I wouldn't mind a short round of "spot the changes" like "One Year Later," as long as much of the DCU is kept the same--if someone is going to tinker with the past at the end of Flashpoint, let them be minor changes, not radical ones. Change for the sake of change is never wise--I just hope Johns, Lee, and Didio keep that in mind too.

Aquaman #1 coming later this year from Geoff Johns [UPDATED]

A bit of good news from DC for once: Geoff Johns announced at Megacon and over Twitter (which was later confirmed by Newsarama... uh, based on his tweet) that he will relaunch an Aquaman series later this year:

Announced at Megacon: After BRIGHTEST DAY I'll be moving over to a new book - AQUAMAN #1 coming later this year!! :)

Aquaman was (literally) given a new lease on life in the past year's Brightest Day, and is one of the characters fans most hoped would continue on into a new series. I just hope Ivan Reis or Joe Prado is on pencils, as they did as much as Johns and Tomasi to bring a new, regal dignity to Arthur Curry. Let's have the rest of the Aqua-crew (Mera, Aquagirl, and the new Aqualad) is there too (and bring back Tempest, please!).

UPDATE: And I'm completely agreed with DC Women Kicking Ass regarding including Mera in a major way (including in the title if not her own book)--Johns shone that spotlight on her, so let's hope he keeps featuring her as prominently as she deserves.

UPDATE 2: Check out this interview with Geoff Johns on Newsarama about the new series, which follows Flashpoint.