Come September

You've probably already seen my thoughts on the DC relaunch over at Nerdy Nothings, but I thought I'd do a little wrap-up, to see just how much things are likely to change for me in September, based on the solicitations as they stand and my current pull list. So first, I made a quick list of all the main DCU titles that I've been consistently buying. I included a few books that have recently ended and omitted miniseries, Vertigo, and Johnny DC titles. Here's the current list:

1. Action Comics
   
2. Batman, Inc.
   
3. Birds of Prey
   
4. Booster Gold
   
5. Detective Comics
   
6. Doom Patrol
   
7. Flash
   
8. Freedom Fighters
   
9. Green Lantern
   
10. Green Lantern Corps
    
11. Justice League: Generation Lost
    
12. Power Girl
    
13. Secret Six
    
14. Superboy
    
15. Supergirl
    
16. Superman
    
17. Wonder Woman
    
18. Zatanna

Eighteen regular titles. Now, here's what things will look like in September. New titles in bold, "Batman, Inc." omitted due to hiatus:

1. Action Comics
   
2. All-Star Western
   
3. Animal Man
   
4. Batgirl
   
5. Batman
   
6. Batman & Robin
   
7. Batwing
   
8. Batwoman
9. Birds of Prey
   
10. Blue Beetle
    
11. DC Universe Presents
    
12. Demon Knights
    
13. Flash
    
14. Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
    
15. The Fury of Firestorm
    
16. Green Lantern
    
17. Green Lantern Corps
    
18. Green Lantern: The New Guardians
    
19. Grifter
    
20. Justice League
    
21. Justice League International
    
22. Legion Lost
    
23. Legion of Superheroes
    
24. Mister Terrific
    
25. Resurrection Man
    
26. Sgt. Rock & the Men of War
    
27. Superboy
    
28. Supergirl
    
29. Superman
    
30. Swamp Thing
    
31. Voodoo
    
32. Wonder Woman
    

From 18 titles up to 31. If DC's goal was to get me to buy more comics, they definitely succeeded. Some of this is lateral motion; "Justice League: Generation Lost" becomes "Justice League International," "Batman" replaces "Detective Comics." "Doom Patrol" and "Freedom Fighters" have already been cancelled; "Secret Six," "Zatanna," "Booster Gold," and "Power Girl" are being left in the pre-relaunch DCU. "DC Universe Presents" is going to replace "Superman/Batman" as "the anthology-style book that I'll buy whenever the creative team or spotlight character appeals to me."

And there are some books that are very much not new to the pull list; I bought "Blue Beetle" and "Firestorm" in their last incarnations, and I've bought "Jonah Hex" (giving way to "All-Star Western"), "Batman & Robin," and "Legion of Superheroes" at various times in the past; the latter are both fairly recent drops from my pile, as is the second Legion title, "Adventure Comics."

A good number of these are provisional; this list assumes that I'm wowed by every single book I pull in September. "Batwing," "Grifter," "Voodoo," "Firestorm," "New Guardians," "Batgirl," "Birds of Prey," "Sgt. Rock," "Mr. Terrific," "Batman & Robin," "Flash," and surprisingly "Superboy," and "Supergirl," are all on the cusp, judging by solicits and past history. If this relaunch goes really poorly, I could be back to eighteen or fewer titles come October. I don't anticipate that, and it's entirely possible that some book not on the list (like "I, Vampire," "Static Shock," "Suicide Squad," or "Teen Titans") might drum up enough buzz that I'll pick it up the following week.

Overall, I'm generally pretty excited. I think reboots are generally a bad idea, but if we must have them, then I'm at least glad to have so many options and so many choices. I just hope that the next few months provide new solicits for new titles featuring new creators, above and beyond the relatively few that are mentioned here.