Sunday, January 15, 2012

First Casualties in DC's New 52 Line-Up


Well, the cancellations are starting to arrive.  I knew it would.  Everyone did.  No way was DC Comics gonna rearrange the worlds and come up with 52 lightning strikes in their new titles.  However, I really thought some of these would make it.

Hawk & Dove was one I thought might make it.  Solid writer (Sterling Gates), and the concept is still playable in today's world.  But Rob Liefield is the catalyst for this one, in my opinion.  Fans either love his stuff or they hate it.  I just didn't care for it.  The artwork was too sketchy, and didn't draw the eye well enough.  Look at Hawk's head on this cover -- way too small for the body, and everybody has those rounded hips.

Interestingly enough, Liefield is being left on the last three books for the art and the writing.  And he's being shuttled onto three of the surviving books, The Savage Hawkman, Deathstroke, and Grifter.  He's doing the art and writing on Deathstroke, and plotting the other two.  Gonna be interesting to see what happens to those titles.


This was another potential survivor in my books.  DC Comics has a successful history with war books, and these issues were about today's military.  Maybe too real?  People want more fantasy in their war stories?


Don't know what went wrong with this one either, so now I'm curious enough to read the books.  Shoulda been a contender.  The new Mr. Terrific has been a fan favorite from the JSA title, and there's a lot of science background that can be used.



Honestly, I don't know why they revamped this title.  Never cared for the concept even when Jack Kirby did it with that outlandish mohawk hairstyle.


I was really surprised at losing this one.  My son is really disappointed.  Static Shock is one of his favorite heroes.  I didn't particularly care for the artwork, but Chandler was okay with it.  This one should have made it with the younger readers, but maybe there aren't enough younger readers, or readers young at heart?


Loved the idea of the Blackhawks, and I loved Lady Blackhawk in the Birds of Prey title that Gail Simone wrote.  In the 1980s, DC Comics tried to update the concept and move the series into the present.  It was interesting, but it didn't work.  Howard Chaykin did a three-issue prestige series that performed a little better.  I think this is one of those series that will always touch the hearts of old readers and when pulled out for special stories, not an ongoing series, the 'Hawks can fly again.

So what are the six books replacing these?  Glad you asked!  Tune in tomorrow!


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