DC to relaunch with 52 #1's

[Colin YNWA]

okay so things have taken a very interesting turn with the first of today's announcements.

via Bleeding Cool ( http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/07/dc-relaunch-john-constantine-in-the-justice-league-paul-cornell-jeff-lemire-scott-snyder-peter-milligan-and-more-bring-a-darker-dcu/ ) it would seem Entertainment Weekly have been given the scoop on DCs darker titles.

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/06/07/dc-comics-swamp-thing-frankenstein/

And it reads like the pre Vertigo 'Mature Reader Titles' to me.

A lot of interesting titles. Animal Man I've already gushed over (but check out that image!). Snyder (where does that 'y' go?) on Swamp Thing has me bought in and pretty excited. Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE coming out of his Flashpoint series both by Lemire as well. Assuming that the Flashpoint book isn't absolutely rubbish this one has me on side too.

The final two sound absolute rubbish... except and there really is a big but. Firstly I've been wondering what Paul Cornell would be on and he has a new title 'Demon Knights'

super-heroism set in medieval times

which if anybody else was writing it I'd back away from. However its Cornell and I've stated by love for that fella before so will be checking this out at least (come on Paul on a Lex ongoing, still hoping...)

Finally... and I'll do this as a quote so people don't think I'm making this stuff up... finally...

• Justice League Dark, what DC terms "a band of supernatural heroes" — John Constantine, Deadman, Shade the Changing Man and Madame Xanadu

Which is a bloody horrible idea, terrible... except its by Pete Milligan... and he might... if anybody can... he might just be able to make this work (or it'll be the most laughable comic ever but I'm going with make it work for now). On paper all five of them are in the pull list.... which is making the pull list too big and so some tough decisions coming... do I need to kidneys?

EDITED: I got the warning, knew The All Seeing Emperor had beaten me too it but dagnabbit I'd typed all that in and wasn't backing down!

[Colin YNWA]

It would seem that Scott Snyder has tweeted the artists on Swamp Thing

://Ssnyder1835 Scott Snyder
And to be clear, the team on the book is @YanickPaquette as main artist, @f_francavilla on special fill-in issues and me. Big story planned
22 minutes ago

I had a nerdgasm.

[TordelBack]

It would seem that Scott Snyder has tweeted the artists on Swamp Thing

://Ssnyder1835 Scott Snyder
And to be clear, the team on the book is @YanickPaquette as main artist, @f_francavilla on special fill-in issues and me. Big story planned

Expect Abby's cutoffs to be a major aspect of this run.

[Colin YNWA]

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/07/dc-embraces-its-dark-side/

Uh some more about these 'Dark' titles. Headline I guess here is Abnett and Lanning on Resurrection Man with art by Fernando Dagnino. Who a quick search reveals looks very good. So that's another one on my list I'm thinking.

A couple of new titles (I think) Voodoo by Ron Marz with art by Sami Basri and I, Vampire by Josh Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino.

In addition The Demon Knights does indeed (as I'd hoped) return The Demon to his roots in Medieval Camelot and has art by Diogenes Neves and Oclair Albert. Go Kirby vibe I hope.

Artists on the other titles also announced and do nowt to put me off this side of the DCU I have to say.

Edit: Well aside from that Demon cover by Tony Daniel (I think) that's just not my cup of tea. Mind he's not doing interiors so nowt to worry about

[Greg M.]

Now we're getting to the really interesting stuff. 'Justice League Dark' is a ridiculous branding but Pete Milligan writing a demented team book with Shade on it... yeah, you won me. (Justice League is clearly the new Avengers in terms of bunging the name onto anything.... and Avengers was of course the new Justice League after Bendis decided to pattern it after Morrison's JLA. Cyclical stuff, Big Two comics.)

DnA on Resurrection Man? Yep, that'll be great. Demon Knights... sure, I'll go for that. Frankenstein... maybe. But probably not. Even though I like Lemire. As others have said though, you have to wonder how long any of the more peripheral titles will last, even though they will invariably be the most interesting. They must be holding the Grant Morrison news till the end... it's gotta be Action Comics, right?

[Emperor]

Frankenstein... maybe. But probably not

If it picks up its cues from the Seven Soldiers story then it is a must have. The Flashpoint Frankenstein mini-series doesn't seem to, though (see the previews above) and is more Frankie leads the Creature Commandos in WII (which might be interesting too but not what I was hoping for). However, the Flashpoint series isn't out so it is too early to tell. If done right this could be great.

[Strontium Claw]

I'm more interested in characters from the weirder corners of
the DCU so I'll definitely try out the following titles:

Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
Batwoman #1 by J.H. Williams III, Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder
Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman
Swamp Thing #1 by Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette
Justice League Dark #1 by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin
Frankenstein: Agent Of SHADE #1 by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli

Thats 5 DCU comics more than I'm buying at the moment, so DC are doing something right!
Looking forward to whatever Morrison is on, but it's a damn shame that Batman Inc. is on hiatus. 

Having never read any of Synder and Lemire's work I hope they're as good as fans say they are.
Should I buy monthly or wait for the inevitable trade paperback when these titles get cancelled?

[Colin YNWA]

Latest bunch are out and its five teen themed title and Rob Liefeld!

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/08/dc-relaunch-guessing-the-teen-titans-makeup/

I'm relieved to say I have no interest in any of these. After the thumping my future wallet took yesterday I need a break to catch my breathe and regroup before the Morrison wave.

Read one in one of the many articles on this that there's 13 to go. With two days left in the week I wonder if they'll all be out before the solicitations on Monday evening?

[Greg M.]

Rob Liefeld?!? This just gets odder. Mind you, there is a (very strange) portion of the comic-buying populace who will still get their wallets out for him. I am baffled by the seeming omnipresence of Scott Lobdell... I'd be really hard-pushed to name the most recent thing he'd done, and DC seem to be ushering him back into the A-list. But y'know, he is from outside their usual talent pool, so at least he's an interesting choice.

[Colin YNWA]

There's been a lot of talk about the fact that now Bob Harras is Editor in Chief over at DC (taking very much a back seat to Dan D and Jim L in whatever fancy named roles they have) that the likes of Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza would all be making a come back. Lo and behold there they are.

From a time when I as out of comics so I don't really know him aside from a very dodgy reputation.

[Greg M.]

Actually, that makes a heck of a lot of sense since they were so prominent under his reign at Marvel in the 90s. Given the recent restructuring of the upper management tiers at both Marvel and DC, I'd totally forgotten that Harras became EiC last year. Interesting... and slightly worrying, given what a dark era the 90s were for Marvel.

[Colin YNWA]

Today's batch are in and it certainly makes for interesting reading.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/06/09/dc-relaunch-wildstorm-westerns-and-war/

First Jonah Hex survives WAYYYYHEEYYYYY.... well kinda. As All Star Western. Set in 19th Century Gotham. Hopefully they won't restrict the stories too much and I do wonder if it will have its own ongoing storyline now rather than the standalones. We'll have to wait and see but at least Jimmy and Justin still have their muckies on Jonah.

Sgt Rock set in the modern day (though by the sound of it linked to Sgt Rock of old) I might go for. Don't know enough about Ivan Brandon to comment but do have Final Crisis Escape in my read pile somewhere, so that might get a leg up. Intrigued by this one.

OMAC I figure will get a kicking by many commentators but I have to be honest while it has many flaws I've kinda got on with Didio's Outsiders and love me the Kirby vibe going on here so might give this a whirl if the budget will stretch.

Stormwatch by Paul Cornell only interests me cos his names on it and I like the Martian Manhunter (I was wondering where he was) so this will be checked out.

Luckily the rest leave me cold. Mind there is a Bisley Deathstroke cover that while it does nothing for me is very Joe Pineapples (it actually reminds one of one panel I remember, though I suspect when I see it it'll look entirely different).

So tomorrow then hey... Superman hey... Morrison hey... intriguing! Can't wait.

[Emperor]

The Stormwatch could be good but it does appear the Wildstorm Universe is in the DC main universe, which rather takes the edge off what they can do, presumably why they couldn't go with The Authority as it just wouldn't work. I'm not sure it makes much sense when they could have had it as one of the 52.

The Sgt Rock series sounds awfully like Stormwatch: Team Achilles, which might be rather good. Actually if the Wildstorm Universe is in the DC Universe then we might see some team members from crossing over.

[Professor Bear]

I was actually wondering what Scott Lobdel was doing these days - though for those without a dictionary handy I should point out that "wondering" and "caring" are not the same thing.

[Emperor]

From Paul Cornell:

My second title for DC's September relaunch is Stormwatch!

That's Jack Hawksmoor, The Midnighter and, hey, the Martian Manhunter on the lovely cover to issue one. I can say very little else so far except that Apollo is also in the book, as are other characters, old and new, and yes, Apollo and The Midnighter remain out and proud. It's going to be a very exciting book, and, put together with Demon Knights, I think I've found a new playground I'm very happy with. More as the release date approaches, obviously.

And talking of Demon Knights, I've done an interview with Newsarama about the book, and just got off the phone with poor Vaneta for another one coming up soon about Stormwatch.

www.paulcornell.com/2011/06/stormwatch.html

Sounds good. Those redesigned costumes are awful though.

Also an interview on his Demon Knights:

www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-paul-cornell-demon-knights-110607.html