My List of 52 #1s

I decided to keep my own personal count of DC's September relaunches, but thought I'd share as I update. There's less that twenty slots open, so if your preference hasn't turned up yet, better write your congressman straight away...

1) Action Comics #1 possibly by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales, involving hideous accessories, but at least he finally ditched the tightie redies.

2) Superman #1 by George Pérez. Didn't that already happen twenty years ago?

3) Batman #1 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo. A rising talent and a former gig name artist that helped keep Spawn one of the top selling comics in the nation for years. I expect this one will go over very well with the fans.

4) Detective Comics #1 by Tony Daniel. For those keeping score, that's a demotion. Don't try to fob off the blame on I-Ching, dude.

5) Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang, in a slightly worse version of the current costume (sans jacket) and possibly involving stuff I hate like blood swords and smooching Superman.

6) The Flash #1, by Francis Manapul, with stupid looking out of date Ultimates piping added to the costume.

7) Green Lantern #1, which will be for Geoff Johns as The New Teen Titans was for Marv Wolfman Post-Crisis, a sacred cow staying the course. With Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy, ever since Blackest Night.

8) Green Lantern Corps #1 with Guy Gardner, John Stewart and more by Peter J. Tomasi with art by Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna.

9) The New Guardians #1 with Tony Bedard & Tyler Kirkham, led by Kyle Rayner.

10) Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. The one home run for me, with a freakin' awesome cover that highlights what a scary, dangerous place the ocean is.

11) The Savage Hawkman #1 by Tony Daniel And Philip Tan. The downgrade from an actual writer rumored (James Robinson hit by retaliatory action for his loose lips?) to the guy who created The Tenth is the kiss of death for me. 

12) DC Universe Presents initially starring Deadman, by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang (anyone remember The Second life of Dr. Mirage?) with Ryan Sook covers.

13) Firestorm #1 by writers Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone with artist Yildiray Cinar. That came out differently than I expected. I won't slight Cyberfrog's EVS since he's aided by Gail Simone, but that new Firestorm Red/Firestorm Yellow/Firestorm Voltron looks seriously funky.

14) Legion of Super-Heroes #1 by Paul Levitz & Francis Portela.

15) Batman and Robin #1 by Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason, who must be really pleased to have gone to the creative team of a bold relaunch from the dudes running late as $%#^.

16) Batman: The Dark Knight #1 by David Finch, who gets to be the guy who was so late, he's early. Then when he's late again, he'll be "retro."

17) OMAC #1, by Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen. By an amazing coincidence, I just finished writing three months worth of weekly "Thank God It's OMAC" posts right here.

18) Batwoman #1 by J.H. Williams. Doi.

19) Catwoman #1 by Judd Winick and Guillem March. Whoever was first asked clearly chose the bad news first.

20) Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone and Ardian Syaf starring Barbara Gordon. That's why you do universal reboots. The costume isn't bad, but her classic look was so great, I'm kind of ticked at Batwoman for co-opting it.

21) Birds of Prey #1 by Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz, because ditching Gail Simone worked out so well last time. Seriously, that Black Canary costume is worse than the hideous '80s suit infamously put to the fire on a Brian Bolland cover. I guess that's a piss poor Poison Ivy and... Katana? Rose Tattoo? Dinah's departure killed volume one, but this looks to straight up slit II's throat right in front of her, like that dude from The Longbow Hunters. How's that for a visual?

22) Teen Titans #1 by Scott Lobdell & Brett Booth. Red Robin, Superboy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, unnamed others, and a bucket of slime dumped over the title's former fans. So very icky.

23) Green Arrow #1, because he needs another mulligan. JT Krul continues with Dan Jurgens. I smell doom.

24) Red Lanterns by Peter Milligan & Ed Benes. That story broke so long back, I'd forgotten about it. Knowing Benes, Atrocitus will begin wearing chaps.

25) Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens and artist Aaron Lopresti. Jurgens' previous JLI run with most of these characters was contemptuous, so I'm going to give this a pass. I will say I'm glad the Vixen got a totally random spot, though she does technically rep for an African nation. Also, it's good to see Guy back where he belongs, and Jaime Reyes allowed to exit the shadow the terribly redesigned Booster Gold casts. Let the kid be his own Blue Beetle. August General in Iron makes perfect sense to me as a representative of China, and as a mixer if Guy is truly reformed. Only Donna Troy is a real oddball, but they damned well better fix her origin this time, and make her a Themysciran representative.

26) Nightwing #1 by Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows. Where else to put Dick? I have this long history of wanting to buy Nightwing comics without actually doing it, and I'm not sure that this is going to break my streak. The new suit isn't bad, but I don't look at and say Adult Robin as much as Male Batwoman, not to mention Seeing-Eye Daredevil. I think Barrows brings sexyback, but does this Higgins mother know how to act, because I never heard of him.

27) Swamp Thing #1 by Scott Snyder & Yannick Paquette. Solid team there.

28) Captain Atom by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II with cover by Stanley “Artgem” Lau. I'm pretty sick of the "corrupted by power, struggling with madness" angle.

29) Mister Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and artist Roger Robinson with cover by J.G. Jones. I don't hate Wallace of much as most people for his molten va-jay-jays or splitting of the Atom, because I thought he handled a badly dealt hand with a modicum of grace. Also, I pegged Mr. Terrific as a token character a decade back, and have had to eat those words, so I think I'll give Mr. Terrific (with the fantastic Roger Robinson) a shot. I just hope he gets his jacket back.

30) Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. Sometimes you forget the obvious ones.

31) Superboy #1 by Scott Lobdell, which seems a might soon, but what the heck?

32) Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman. Totally called this one at random. I don't get a Morrison vibe, and I think you really need it.

33) Red Hood & The Outlaws by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort. A team book with Jason Todd, Arsenal and Starfire. Every book you wish were getting published but doesn't will have you groaning "but they did that?!?"

34) Batwing #1 is by Judd Winick and Ben Oliver. There is no way that this is not a mini-series. Not art, though.

35) Static Shock #1 by John Rozum and Scott McDaniel.

36) Voodoo #1 by Ron Marz and Sami Basri. Voodoo was my favorite of the WildC.A.T.s, but I didn't like her solo under Alan Moore, so what chance has Ron Marz got?

37) Justice League Dark by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin starring John Constantine, Deadman, Shade the Changing Man and Madame Xanadu. This had better be a mini-series, because the League brand does not have the cache it did in 1989 or 1998. Really, this is just a big old ship of three Vertigo rejects and Hellblazer, not at all far removed from the Sentinels of Magic.

38) Demon Knights #1 by Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves involving medieval heroes. Totally a mini-series.

39) Frankenstein: Agent of Shade #1 by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli. Stars the walking dead. Smells like one, too.

40) Resurrection Man #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and artist Fernando Dagnino. The old book was pretty alright, but there was obvious fishing for any possibilities for this "dark" supernatural line, and I expect this will be another finite series.

41) I, Vampire #1 by Josh Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino, obviously pandering to the Twilight crowd by combining the sparkly metrosexuals with lupine shirtlessness.

42) Supergirl #1 by Michael Green and Mike Johnson. Kara Zor-El In shorts, as skirts and thongs have been banned by editorial edict. I worry about her. I'm absolutely certain she has a place at the CW-DC, but she's also one of those characters most in danger of being radically altered for the sake of a soundbite.

43) Legion Lost #1 by Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods.

44) Hawk & Dove #1 by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld. I assume Liefeld was selected because Deadpool gave him some cache, and because the last Hawk & Dove ongoing was launched on the strength of response to his breakthrough art on the mini-series. Of course, that was decades ago, and we all know Marat Mychaels will be drawing this thing by #4. I guess Mychaels is already working on The Infinite #2 for Image.

45) Blue Beetle #1 by Tony Bedard & Ig Guara. No offense, but what's so different now from when this title was canceled a couple of years ago?

46) Grifter #1 by Nathan Edmondson with art by CAFU. Are those Daemonites or White Martians?

47) Deathstroke #1 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennett and Art Thibert. Much, much?

48) All-Star Western #1 starring Jonah Hex by same ol' creators Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Moritat.

49) Suicide Squad #1 starring Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark by Adam Glass & Marco Rudy. So long Secret Six, and King Shark, who sticks out liker a sore thumb in any death pool.

50) Sgt. Rock and the Men at War #1 by Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick. Not a bad creative team, but a lousy take on the property.

51) Blackhawks #1 by Mike Costa and illustrated by Ken Lashley. You may not know this, but the Squadron celebrates its 70th birthday this year. This isn't such a bad looking way to acknowledge that, and way more than I was expecting from DC.

52) Stormwatch #1 by Paul Cornell & Miguel Sepulveda.

Now for some speculation in the months to come:

Justice Society of America #1 by James Robinson (finally?)

Vigilante #1 by Darwyn Cooke. I'm not thinking this is actually in any way remotely likely.

Shazam #1, because DC hasn't had a major Marvel Family failure yet this decade.

Cyborg #1. Got to start somewhere with legitimizing this. If only Tony Isabella didn't have some sort of participation on Black Lightning. There are few black super-heroes I find less interesting than Cyborg. The dude was disfigured through an accident by his scientist father, rebuilt as part robot by same, and whined about it for years. He's no dummy, but he's still basically a jock who routinely busts up his gear and has to have far bigger brains repair him every few years. His human parts have held up way better than they should have (excepting the few years he spent in a vegetative state while his armor acted independently,) and he doesn't actively get on my nerves, but we're still talking Red Tornado Lite™ here. Actually, Red Tornado at least has two solo mini-series under his belt to Cyborg's one, which makes him twice as eligible, right?

The Outsiders #1, featuring the Huntress, Power Girl, and any other major recent cancellations/surprising M.I.A.s?

Superman Beyond #1 by Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz?

Superman/Batman: World's Finest #1.

My Greatest Adventure #1 starring Kevin Maguire's Tanga and Aaron Lopresti’s Garbageman?

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, since Spencer isn't around anymore. How were the sales again? Maybe they'll give this one a few months or never.

Plastic Man by Gail Simone and Ethan Van Sciver. Please? With sugar on top?

The Question #1?

Xombie, since it got a lot of critical buzz, and a six issue volume 1 would fit nicely in a trade before launching volume 2.

A lot of this just feels like the rearranging of deck chairs. It's the same people who couldn't sell us one DC title doing a different one. I'm waiting for some left field creative choices to blow me away, like Chris Ware on 'Mazing Man, Joe Hill on Swamp Thing, or Adam Warren on Power Girl. Something really cool to make me think this is in any real way different from the whimper of One Year Later. I continue to feel like DC Comics is being run by Sidney Mellon and Dan Pussey, which is not a place I want to be.