Todd Matthy.com

By Todd Matthy

As many of you now know DC Comics has announced they are renumbering their entire line in September. The renumbering is supposed to reflect significant changes to their continuity. While I’ll wait and see before I pass judgment, right now I’m not excited.

Don’t get me wrong, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee on “Justice League” is a dream team, it’s about time Grant Morrison got to write a Superman ongoing, Brian Azzarello’s “Wonder Woman” has me interested, and Geoff Johns faces his greatest challenge when he and Ivan Reis revive “Aquaman.” But still, there is something missing. After thinking about it I realized what the reboot is missing: new voices and perspectives.

When Marvel did “Avengers: Disassembled,” Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Warren Ellis, and Allan Heinberg were brought in to revive the franchise. These creators had never worked on the Avengers before and brought a unique perspective to their respective series. The same thing happened when DC rebooted their universe after “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Creators like John Bryne, George Perez, and Frank Miller breathed new life into Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. These runs are widely regarded as high points in both the creators and character’s tenures. Both of these reboots and relaunches were successful because many of the creators were new to the companies and titles they were working on. The DC Reboot doesn’t have any of these.

The DC Reboot features creators that have been at DC for years. Why didn’t they use up and coming writers like, Brian Wood, Roger Landridge, Kelly Sue Deconnick, G. Willow Wilson, Claudio Sanchez (of Coheed and Cambria and Amory Wars fame) or Arvid Nelson? Why didn’t they go after artists like the Luna Brothers, Cary Nord, Mike Choi, Stjepan Sejic, Mike Miller, or Brandon Peterson to name a few?  Why didn’t they try to bring in A-list writers like Brian K. Vaughan, Warren Ellis, or Brad Meltzer? These creators have a unique style and flair that you don’t find at DC (outside of Vertigo). Letting these creators loose on the DC Universe would make the books more unique and bring a fresh perspective to these characters. Instead we are getting artists turning into writers and the same writers DC has been using. I’m not knocking these creators work or ability (Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdells stewardship of the X-Men is classic) but the DCU needs some fresh blood and a reboot is an opportunity to bring new and A-list talent to their iconic characters.

That being said there is a couple of titles I am interested in following, which I will list below.

1. Justice League by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee- One of the greatest super hero writers combined with one of the best artists ever, I have to look. The only thing that can stop this title is delays. Hopefully DC bet Jim that he couldn’t finish the first six months in advance.
2. Action Comics by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales- It’s about time. Seriously, Grant Morrison has been chomping at the bit over the years to do Superman and if “All Star Superman” is any indication, “Action” is going to be one wild and unique ride. I don’t agree with the renumbering but I guarantee once were in the range of issue 1,000 the original numbering will return.
3. Green Lantern by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahke- If it aint broke don’t fix it.
4. Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang- Very interesting creative team choice. Wonder Woman will not be the lady to mess with under the creator of “100 Bullets” stewardship.
5. Aquaman by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis- Geoff Johns made his career on fixing broken characters. In September he faces his greatest challenge, making Aquaman cool. Lets face it Aquaman is the butt of every single super hero joke. Johns, best of luck. I can’t wait to see what you do.
6. Supergirl by Michael Green, Mike Johnson & Mahmud Asra: An interesting new premise. I’ve been following since her revival in 2004, so I’ll see what the new team brings to the table.
7. Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo- It’ll interesting to see longtime “Spawn” artist Capullo’s take on Gotham City. I’ve also been hearing good things about Snyder’s writing.
8. Stormwatch by Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda- It’ll be interesting to see how the Wildstorm characters are integrated into the DCU.
9. Batman Inc. by Grant Morrison and Various artists- While not debuting in September I’m glad one of the best comics out there will be continuing.