DC's summer event random facts and thoughts

Well several months ago DC had a huge announcement. DC decided that August 24 would be the end of the DC Universe as we know it. The week of August 31st there will be only 1 DC book in your hold box. Then each week for the entire month of September (about 13 books a week) they will release a total of 52 books. These 52 books will all be #1 issues essentially restarting some books, starting new on going series, and canceling the rest.
So starting August 31 we will see Justice League #1 which will team of team of the best in the business. Geoff Johns will handle the writing and Jim Lee will handle the art and cover. The promo art features Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman. All having some costume adjustment with Superman having the most significant adjustment. We Meet Batwing, the Batman of Africa.

"They're such a diverse group of characters, they're so iconic, and we are looking for ways to make things 'more modern' and create jumping-on points for new readers"
-Jim Lee on the new Justice League

The first week of September will see the release of the first thirteen new number ones. I think this will be the most interesting and heartbreaking week of this whole re-boot scheme. It is this week that both Detective Comics and Action Comics #1’s will be released. While I am not looking forward to either of these titles loosing their numbering I am looking forward to the team up of the writing of Grant Morrison and the art of Rags Morales. Rags Morales will handle one cover and there will also be a variant cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams. With the reboot of Action Comics which DC is calling the corner stone of this new DC Universe one question that immediately comes to mind is the whole copyright battle between DC and the estate of both Siegel and Shuster.

"We will change some of the basics and reintroduce familiar characters in some unfamiliar ways"
-Grant Morrison on Action #1

Thirteen more number ones will hit the shelves on September 14. This is when we will see the introduction, sort of; (see Flashpoint #3) of one time Image main stay character Grifter. Grifter will get his own title and I think it will be one of the high points for this week. This week we see the release of not only fan favorites Batman & Robin, Batwoman, and Green Lantern we also get the return of two characters to their own on going series with Deathstroke and Resurrection Man. But we also see the on going series Red Lantern written by Peter Milligan.

The week of September 21 sees the release of only twelve titles. DC mightiest detective Batman will be the third of DC’s four long running series to lose its numbering. The start of a new era for The Dark Knight will be written by Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo. Wonder Woman, Bat Girl, Cat Woman, the Return of Nightwing in a snazzy new costume and a new ongoing title for Red Hood.

The final thirteen books hit stands on September 28. Well the last of the long running series Superman starts over at number one. This is also when we will see some of the more interesting of the new on going series. Teen Titans issue #1 will have a roster of Red Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Wonder Girl and three new characters. Additionally, former Titans Static and Blue Beetle will each be given their own titles. The reboot is to be written by Scott Lobdell and drawn by Justice League of America artist Brett Booth. It has been confirmed that Wonder Girl is Cassie and Kid Flash is Bart Allen.

I am going to approach the events of September with an open mind. Different publishers have tried similar tactics to drum up sales. Marvel tried it by renumbering a lot of their bigger titles only to return to original numbering years later.

When Valiant was bought by Acclaim they not only rebooted the universe but with drastically changed some of the characters origins. While some were minor changes like Bloodshot others had major changes like Ninjak. Sometimes good things happen when you re-imagine a characters origin. Case in point the first four issues of Acclaim’s version of Shadow Man arguably the best thing Acclaim published. With an intense story by heavy hitting writer Garth Ennis and the awesome art of Ashley Wood this four part story arc was definitely a high light in the short life of Acclaim Comics.

I like so many other comic fans are not happy with DC’s decision to restart long running series like Action, Detective, Superman, and Batman. I am more concerned with the story between the covers rather than the number on the front.