DC's New 52: The Second Wave

Comics News
DC's New 52: The Second Wave
By Dan Horn
January 12, 2012 - 14:22

We may talk more about this news on next week's podcast, but here are the new titles announced by DC, the books that will be canceled to make room for them, and a few quick thoughts on each:

New Books:

Batman, Incorporated
by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham

Of course Batman Inc. is coming back! This strange, sphinx-like Batman saga from the the warped mind of Grant Morrison had quite a following in 2011, and I was surprised to see it take such a prolonged hiatus as the New 52 line was launched. With last month's thick one-shot "Leviathan Strikes," Morrison and company reminded us that this was still a series we shouldn't soon count out. Also, glad to see artist Chris Burnham is still involved.

Earth 2
by James Robinson and Nicola Scott

With the New 52 merging most of DC's multiverse into a singular time line, however unsuccessfully, the Golden Age heroes of the Justice Society of America are still relegated to an alternate reality known as Earth 2. I see this book taking off like the Geoff Johns JSA run from nearly ten years ago, as these characters have a surprisingly devout following.

World's Finest
by Paul Levitz, George Perez, and Kevin Macguire

World's Finest, you would have to assume, would mark the reemergence of a Superman/Batman anthology, but you'd be wrong. Paul Levitz is taking the lead on this new anthology series, starring Power Girl and the Huntress in the book's first arc. It's a bold move, and here's to hoping it's as entertaining as it sounds.

Dial H
by China Mieville and Mateus Santoluoco

Perhaps the announcement that has me most excited, author China Mieville's involvement on this series, which explores the tried-and-true genre concept of the affects of superpowers in a real-world environment, should be one of the greatest things to happen to comic books since Stephen King's involvement in American Vampire. I'll have plenty more to say about this during next week's podcast.

G.I. Combat
by various industry mainstays

The return of GI Combat, as I see it, is DC's apology for Men of War, a truly awful and confused book that launched with the New 52 in September. GI Combat will feature such classic DC war features as the Unknown Soldier, Haunted Tank, and the War That Time Forgot. Honestly, why didn't they go with this anthology from the beginning? Also, John Arcudi is tapped to contribute to this series!

The Ravagers
by Howard Mackie and Ian Churchill

The Ravagers sounds a bit like DC's take on Marvel's Runaways, even in name, but I'm fine with that. Give me a young adult book with some teeth, and I don't care if it's a rip off, as long as it's great.

Books Getting the Boot:

To make way for the six new titles, six of the original New 52 will be biting the dust. These are all titles that have performed poorly and have been greeted with mixed reviews at best. Static Shock, which saw its writer bail out early on, Men of War, which I think I've said all I need to say about above, Blackhawks, which always seemed like a book from another time and a bad GI Joe facsimile, Hawk and Dove, which, let's face it, was doomed from the start and its green-lighting defies logic, Mister Terrific, which was met with a tidal wave of un-terrific reviews, and OMAC, which I thought was at times actually a fun, retro comic book series.

Anyway, there you have it. Out with the old-new, in with the new-new. Stay tuned as we discuss these changes at length, as well as other subjects, next week.