The Dead Will Rise And Shine
It’s good to be a DC.
So much news came from the DC Comics blog this week I couldn’t keep up. I figured a nice round-up on Friday was the answer. The only problem there is, I’m sure they’re going to announce something else this morning/afternoon while I’m still asleep. But guess what? That’s why George Lucas invented the edit button. “Silly Jilly, George Lucas didn’t INVENT the edit button!” you say. Exactly.
Moving on:
- There’s always sunshine after the storm and there’s a Brightest Day after the Blackest Night. It’s a biweekly, 26-issue series written by (who else?) Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, starting this April. Also big news, the cover artist will be newly exclusive David Finch. Speaking of exclusives, Tomasi just extended his exclusivity with DC for a few more years. Hooray!
- Besides the new biweekly, you can also expect several other titles to display a Brightest Day banner. The relaunched Flash series with Johns and Francis Manapul, Titans with new creative team Eric Wallace and Fabrizio Fiorentino (and fictional team leader, Deathstroke), Justice League of America with ultra-secretive new characters and one more I’ll get to later.
- Johns is also taking on something even more positive and uplifting than something called Brightest Day. He’s joining the Tiny Titans crew, Art Baltazar and Franco for issue #25 titled…wait for it…”A Brightest Day In The Afternoon.”
- I bet you thought DC was taking it easy with a biweekly this time around, right? How about two biweeklies? The second will alternate with Brightest Day and is called Justice League: Generation Lost. Who does it feature? Justice League International members Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Fire, Ice and Rocket Red. This one is being penned by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick. “He had me at Giffen,” said Winick. Giffen and JM DeMatteis are also taking over Booster Gold. AND Paul Levitz is relaunching Legion of Super-Heroes in the spring.
You’d think we’re done. We’re not done. I saved my favorite bit of news for last. The Birds are back.
Not only are they back. They’re back with Gail Simone and Ed Benes. Can you even comprehend how happy this makes me? Well, maybe you should refresh your memory. “It’s going to be a blast. It’s Black Canary putting her boot in bad guys’ faces and the Huntress taking no *&^% from anyone and Oracle being smarter than anyone else in Gotham,” Simone told Comics Alliance. “It’s classic ‘Birds of Prey’ but maybe just a little tougher and a little naughtier. I’ve been given some really surprising approvals and I think long-time readers and newbies will find it quite unlike any other comic on the stands.” Birds of Prey is the other Brightest Day influenced book to be announced.
With all the resurrected titles hitting the stores this month (Suicide Squad, Power of Shazam, Starman, etc.) and now the Birds of Prey ready to strike again, I query you dear readers: If you could resurrect one title, not just for one issue mind you but for a new ongoing, which would it be? Go back as far as you like (I know some of you have been reading comics a LOT longer than I have). And don’t feel like you need to limit yourself to DC either. I’d bring back Catwoman and possibly Checkmate.
I would absolutely love for Rucka to bring back Checkmate. It was easily one of the best books I've ever read and I was saddened to see him leave. The guy who took over for him ran it into the ground so quickly it was canceled after one arc. =/
The Conway/Milstrom version of Firestorm. It had all the same joyful hallmarks of early Spider-man and the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle.
Simply put: it was fun instead of dark. Simple instead of needlessly mired in complexity. Smart without being buried in introspection.
It was every joyful thing that comics have left behind.
Yes!!
Birds of Prey was my favorite comic.
I was deavistated when it was cancelled.
If I could bring back 1 comic book series,(besides Birds of Prey)I would pick Catwoman.
Sticking with the DC theme, I only have one answer.
Kesel.
Grummett.
Superboy.
I still miss the kid as he was meant to be.
I always really wanted to see how far Milligan and Allred could have taken their X-Force book. The idea that that was going to be an ongoing for years had me excited. Ah, well…
Also, Gail Simone's take on the BoP sounds pretty radical!
YAY for BoP!!! :D
happyhappy
The Question (with Vic Sage)
There's a few – like Thacher says, Hitman – but that's one of the few books that ended pretty definitively and the way it should have ended. Same for Starman.
Other gone-before-their-time books I can think of include Young Heroes In Love, Chase, Resurrection Man, Power Company…
…but I'd have to go with Bloodhound, a book that never reached an audience and a character that will never be seen again as he's co-owned by creator Dan Jolley.
Guess what Andy? You've sort of got your wish. DC is doing a Teen Titans graphic novel with Wolfman and Perez:
http://www.comicbookresources.com:8080/?page=article&id=24424
Birds of Prey would have been my choice but dern DC beat me too it. But I want my Nightwing back, I don't care if he has bigger better things to do right now.
Starman, definitely, since JLI's coming back soon… Either that, or Grant Morrison doing a follow-up to Flex Mentallo… Really loved that book… ><
Young Justice. So many great characters. I miss Cissie King-Jones and Bart Allen.
If we're sticking with DC, I'd say Checkmate as well, but only if Alan Scott was at the forefront. But overall? Silver Surfer ;)
James Robinson's Starman, absolutely no doubt. It was just such a great book, I wished I'd found it sooner.
For me, it would be James Robinson writing Starman again. That series was just simply perfect on so many levels. It's nice that he is at least revisiting Opal City for at least one more issue.
I'll settle for the Teen Titans – if someone ever gave them the respect that Wolfman & Perez lavished on the team.
Thank God the Birds are back!
No contest… Dr Fate!
Can I resurrect New Fun Comics?
I have two Zot and Birds of prey which is now a reality so excited!
Hitman, even though the series ended on such a powerful & appropriate note.