Relaunching My DC Comics Shopping List

In the words of the late Doctor Who actor Nicholas Courtney, "Well...Here we go again..."

DC Comics finally released information on the last four of their 52 Post-Flashpoint reboot/relaunch/reloaded titles yesterday, revealing the new Superman, Superboy, Supergirl and Action Comics books.  It's been an interesting couple of weeks, watching news trickle out each day and seeing the instant assessment from fans about whether these new titles are going to be worthy of their $2.99 for the immediate future.  As fans, you tend to make a call on some titles based on their creative team alone, or others on the how the characters you've loved for years have been altered in whatever way.  We all do it, and I'm no different, obviously.

With information on all 52 titles now available for prospective readers to dissect and analyze to their hearts' content, this means I now have a decent idea of which titles I'm going to add, which I'm going to keep and which I'm losing.  So for the two or three of you who might actually be interested in such things, here's a rundown of how my monthly DC Comics shopping list is regenerating into its new incarnation.  (Sorry, couldn't help myself there...)

For the sake of comparison, here's how my original list of 22 DC Comics titles looked...

     Action Comics                                               Hellblazer
     Adventure Comics                                          Justice League of America
     Batman                                                         Justice Society of America
     Batman and Robin                                         Legion of Super-Heroes
     Batman, Incorporated                                     Power Girl
     Birds of Prey                                                 Secret Six
     Booster Gold                                                 Superboy
     Detective Comics                                           Superman
     The Flash                                                      Teen Titans
     Gotham City Sirens                                        Wonder Woman
     Green Lantern                                                Zatanna

And now, here's my new Post-Flashpoint list, with new titles in bold...

     Action Comics                                               Green Lantern
     Animal Man                                                 Hellblazer (Presumably)
     Aquaman                                                     Justice League
     Batgirl                                                          Justice League Dark
     Batman                                                         Legion Lost
     Batman and Robin                                          Legion of Super-Heroes
     Batwoman                                                    Nightwing
     Birds of Prey                                                 Stormwatch
     DC Universe Presents                                  Superman
     The Flash                                                      Teen Titans
     The Fury of Firestorm

So overall, that's only one less title every month after losing ten as a result of cancellation or simply not going forward with the relaunched version.  Not too bad, certainly better than I expected a couple of weeks ago, and I'll be trying out a few others for a short time to see if they can convince me to add them to this regular buying list.  I will miss Batman, Incorporated, Justice Society of America, Power Girl and especially Secret Six, though, but at least there's word that Batman, Incorporated is going to return in 2012 for twelve issues.

It should be interesting to see this list a year and a half from now.  All 52 are unlikely to make it past issue #18, especially with this economy, so I imagine those titles of genuine quality and talent have the best chance for long-term survival.  Hopefully, some entertaining "mid-season replacements" (to use a television programming term) are already in the works.

Now, if my own list changes are generally typical of DC's existing audience, then I'm guessing they should be okay for the foreseeable future.  I'm sure there will be creative team changes and adjustments along the way as they figure out this relaunched DC Universe, so for those upset about things like missing characters and certain costume designs, try and be patient if you can.  I've been though this sort of thing before back in 1986, so it's not nearly the end of the world that you might think it is.  It's just change.

To rattle off a bit more from Doctor Who, it's a bit dodgy, this process, you never know what you're gonna end up with.  But it could be fantastic so pass me the fish fingers and custard...