So we just got some big news from DC Comics about their post-Convergence plans, and it looks like we will officially be saying bye to the “New 52” BUT not goodbye to the same continuity, which some people seem to be confused about. So lets break down the post-Convergence announcement and what the heck it means for the DC Universe.
DC and Marvel seem to have the same idea in mind, to make their comics more accessible to the wider audience, who are being exposed to their characters from the film and television universe. So now DC have announced their post-Convergence plans, which includes officially dropping the “New 52” brand. But the New 52 continuity isn’t cancelled, they are just dropping the name (purely for marketing purposes). Anyways I thought I would discuss what stood out to me from their announcement.
Here’s a list of the returning titles (the coloured titles are the ones I’m currently reading):
Action Comics by Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder
Aquaman by Cullen Bunn/Trevor McCarthy
Batgirl by Cameron Stewart/Brenden Fletcher/Babs Tarr
Batman by Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo
Detective Comics by Brian Buccelato/Francis Manapul
Batman/Superman by Greg Pak/Ardian Syaf
Catwoman by Genevieve Valentine/David Messina
Deathstroke by Tony Daniel/Tony Daniel
Flash by Rob Venditti/Van Jensen/Brett Booth
Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan/Brenden Fletcher/Karl Kerschl
Gotham By Midnight by Ray Fawkes/Juan Ferreyra
Grayson by Tim King/Tim Seeley/Mikel Janin
Green Arrow by Ben Percy/Richard Zircher
Green Lantern by Robert Venditti/Billy Tan
Harley Quinn by Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti/Chad Hardin
Justice League by Geoff Johns/Jason Fabok
Justice League United, writer TBD/Travel Foreman & Paul Pelletier.
Lobo by Cullen Bunn/Cliff Richards
Secret Six by Gail Simone/Dale Eaglesham
Sinestro by Cullen Bunn/Brad Walker
New Suicide Squad by Sean Ryan/Carlos D’Anda
Superman by Gene Luen Yang/John Romita Jr.
Superman/Wonder Woman by Peter Tomasi/Doug Mahnke
Teen Titans by Will Pfeifer/Kenneth Rocafort
Wonder Woman by Meredith Finch/David Finch
What stands out to me from this list is what’s missing, and that’s Supergirl! I have been really loving the New 52 Supergirl series, and am disappointed to see the title go. However I have a feeling the Supergirl series will come out soon, because if DC’s big move was to create a greater connection between their universe and the live-action universe, it would be silly not to have a Supergirl title, considering she’s getting her own TV show. So perhaps we can expect to see the relaunch of the Supergirl title around the same time as the Supergirl TV show premiere date.
Also 8 of the 25 titles are Bat-Family books, which isn’t really a surprise as Bat-related books typically sell well. However it is weird that there is no Batman and Robin book. I’m not sure if they plan on bringing that title again later, but this just continues my discussion about the necessity of the Batman and Robin team-up in the current continuity, that I discussed about in an earlier post (which you can read about here if you want).
Well those were the returning titles, and here are the brand new post-Convergence titles:
Bat-Mite by writer Dan Jurgens and artist Corin Howell: Whaaatt??? Yepp, Bat-Mite is getting his own series! So for all those complaining that the DC Universe had become too serious with the New 52, here’s a title for you!
Batman Beyond by writer Dan Jurgens and artist Bernard Chang
Bizarro by writer Heath Corson and artist Gustavo Duarte (six issue mini-series): Again whaat??? Along the same lines of Bat-Mite, this title will be a lighter (mini) series. And it’s not surprising to see the announcement of a Bizarro series get announced, with all this promotion for the Bizarro Lego Justice League animated movie that’s about to come out.
Black Canary by writer Brenden Fletcher and artist Annie Wu: This is interesting, Jim Lee said with the announcement that “fans of the ARROW television show may want more stories about BLACK CANARY. Now they can find modern, fresh takes on the character in the pages of her standalone series both in stores and digitally.” Those of you who do watch Arrow, and have read the character of Black Canary in the comics, know how different the two characters are. So it will be interesting to see how they characterise Dinah’s character in her new comic, and if they want it to reflect Arrow’s Black Canary a little more (errr hope not though).
Constantine: The Hellblazer by Ming Doyle and Riley Rossmo: So they added a familiar subtitle to the comic. Which comes at an interesting time as rumours have been circling around that NBC’s ‘Constantine’, which hasn’t been performing too well ratings wise, will be rebranded on NBC’s sister channel SyFy, where it will be called ‘Hellblazer’. So if these rumours (which you can read more about here) turn out to be true, it makes sense to add the Hellblazer subtitle, to encourage a further connection between the comics and live-action series.
Cyborg by writer David L. Walker and artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado: Booyah! Finally Cyborg gets his own solo series in the new DC universe. I found it so odd that they announced a Cyborg solo movie, when the character didn’t even have his own solo comic series. But now Cyborg is getting some solo love, which will help popularize his character before his film debut in Batman v Superman.
Dark Universe by writer James Tynion IV and artist Ming Doyle: Now I don’t think this has been confirmed to be the Justice League Dark comic series, but considering every second week Guillermo Del Toro has been coming out and talking about his Justice League Dark movie, “Dark Universe”, it would be pretty stupid of DC to use this name for something that isn’t the Justice League Dark comic series. And if this is the Justice League Dark comic series, then that pretty much confirms that the Dark Universe movie is actually happening, because as of now, the Dark Universe movie has not been officially green-lit or announced by Warner Bros.
Doomed by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Javier Fernandez
Dr. Fate by writer Paul Levitz and artist Sonny Liew
Earth 2: Society by writer Daniel H. Wilson and artist Jorge Jimenez
Green Lantern: Lost Army by Cullen Bunn, art by Jesus Saiz and Javi Pina.
Harley Quinn/Power Girl by writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, with artist Stephane Roux (four issue mini-series): Okay this is amazing. I absolutely adored the Harley Quinn/Power Girl story arc in the recent issues of the Harley Quinn comic, so this mini-series is probably going to be awesome. The in your face nature of Harley Quinn paired with the say it how it is Power Girl is a great dynamic, so I’m excited to see more of their adventures (I wonder if they will return to Marvel universe again).
Justice League 3001 by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Howard Porter
Justice League of America by writer/artist Brian Hitch: Soooo this is an interesting title as well. DC released official art from this series, and the line-up is the exact same line-up of the main Justice League title. So a theory I’ve seen online is that the Justice League of America comic takes place in between the 5 year gap that the main Justice League comic missed. Or perhaps the roster will simply change after the first issue. Because it just seems like a waste to have two different titles with the same line-up of characters.
Martian Manhunter by writer Rob Williams and artists Ben Oliver and Paulo Siqueira: Phew! Martian Manhunter finally has his own solo series again. For the last few years I have heard the complaint over and over again about there being no solo Martian Manhunter series, so there you go!
Midnighter by writer Steve Orlando and artist ACO
Mystic U (tentative title) by writer Alisa Kwitney and artist Mauricet
Omega Men by writer Tom King and artist Barnaby Bagenda
Prez by writer Mark Russell and artist Ben Caldwell (six issue mini-series)
Red Hood/Arsenal by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Denis Medri
Robin, Son of Batman by writer/artist Pat Gleason: This title isn’t all too surprising, as the “Son of Batman” has his own animated movie universe with the Son of Batman movie and the upcoming Batman vs Robin movie. So even though there is no Batman and Robin book, all you Damian fans out there can see your boy in action, now in his own series.
Section Eight by writer Garth Ennis and artist John McCrea (mini-series)
Starfire by writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, with artist Emanuela Lupacchino: When I saw the official artwork for this story, and the writers on board, you can tell they will be going in a very specific direction for the Starfire series. With a more conservative costume (well as conservative as Starfire can be) and the writers of the Harley Quinn series on board, it looks like they will be trying to target young female readers with this book. And recently we heard that Starfire will be part of the roster that makes the live action Titans TV show, so perhaps they are prepping her for her role on the TV show. Also Starfire stars on the Teen Titans Go! series, so again they must be trying to create a greater connection between the comic series and the TV universe, to draw in that younger audience of Teen Titans Go! to the comics.
We Are Robin by writer Lee Bermejo and artists Rob Haynes and Khary Randolp
Overall I’m liking the sound of DC’s post-Convergence plans which will be kicking off in June. Most of the New 52 titles that I actually read are continuing on anyways, and a number of the brand new series sound quite interesting. DC talked about how the main focus of their post-Convergence universe would be on storytelling over continuity, and they really wanted to have a lot of diversity. Now many people seem to be confused when they talked about diversity. Diversity doesn’t just mean a diversity in race. I read a lot of negative comments after DC talked about their want for diversity, but when DC are talking about diversity, they mean diversity in different demographics. Now there are younger readers, and more female readers and brand new readers who are coming into comics because of the live-action universe. These comics are aimed at having the widest, most diverse audience possible. That’s what DC meant.
But what do you think about DC’s post-Convergence plans? Are you looking forward to any of the new titles? Or do you think this is a clumsy move by DC? Let me know!
Categories: comic books
Girl-On-Comic-Book-World 
Here’s hoping that Starfire is a success. Once again, I love that Amanda Conner cover. It’s so fun and cute.
Meredith & David Finch are STILL on Wonder Woman? No no no no no!
I really cannot imagine Bat-Mite, Bizarro, or Midnighter lasting very long. I think it would have been a better idea to do these as miniseries. At the same time, the Legion of Super-Heroes still have not yet gotten a new series? That’s messed up. A lot of long-time Legion fans, myself included, are very disappointed.
We Are Robin… does there really need to be a Robin team book? How many damn Bat-titles does DC need to publish?!?
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Haha I know that cover is great!
Yeah I was actually really surprised to see they were still on after all the negative backlash. I still weirdly have faith in Meredith Finch though, so I’m holding out hope her writing improves.
I think Bizarro is a mini-series, but I agree all 3 of those should be mini-series. And it’s crazy they aren’t doing a Legion book yet, but if all those rumours about a Legion moving getting green-lit at Warner Bros come true, then you will defs get a Legion title.
As for We Are Robin…yepp, but the cover does look pretty cool, I gotta give them that
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This DC post convergence line up looks quite good. Not too sure about a Robin team book, there seem enough Bat-Books already. Out of all the new books, Dr Fate sounds good, always liked the character, so will be interesting to see how that works out.
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Yeah, I guess there’s always going to be a lot of Bat books as long as they keep selling really well.
I’m really excited for Dr Fate as well, a lot of the titles sound interesting so far, just hope the creative teams are good 🙂
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Indeed, hope the new creative teams are good as well, lots of potential.
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Martian Manhunter is back! Finally!
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Yes! I wonder now that he has his own solo series, if he’s going to join the main Justice League again
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Well that didn’t take long New 52.
Diversity is a great thing in comics though, I wish DC the best!
A part of me still misses pre-52 continuity very much but a few Convergence stories will have to do… 😦
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Haha fair enough, you’ll have a few Convergence issues to keep you happy. But I’m excited about the new titles as well, will be interesting to see how things go 🙂
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it’s kind of about time they drop the New 52 brand. I mean, they’ve been using it since 2011 and a number of titles have been cancelled, started or restarted since.
I hope this doesn’t mean they’re cancelling Supergirl, because besides Tony Bedard’s run, I’ve been enjoying it since it began. it feels like the series just picked up steam again with the new creative team.
Of the new titles, the ones I’m most interested in are Starfire and the Bizarro mini-series.
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Also, notice- no Superboy. The New 52 people at the helm of Superboy and Supergirl from the get go had no connection to the essence of those characters and that is why they ultimately failed.
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I know it’s such a shame, I feel like they probably have plans for those characters, just a little later in the year
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Right now I’m only reading Justice League, Sinestro, and Aquaman as far as series that began with New 52 imprint. I kinda thought that after Convergence they’d try to merge pre-New 52 and New 52 continuity together or something. There are things about New 52 I REALLY don’t like, such as New 52 Wally West and Martian Manhunter getting into a fight with the Justice League for some reason (seriously it was a 2-page spread and never explained why that happened but it “justifies their reasons for not having more members”). Only new comic that interests me is Dr. Fate. Red Hood and Arsenal oughta have their own solo books, but I guess it’s kinda funny that their teamup title is similar to Superman/Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Jason Todd should be like DC’s Punisher, having a sort of relationship with Batman similar to Punisher and Daredevil. And why is Arsenal still wearing that stupid trucker hat? I saw a preview of the series and he still makes unfunny jokes! Why? Sure, Roy Harper kinda went on a downward spiral before New 52, losing his arm and daughter, but he got redeemed in the Convergence: Titans story. It’s something that the pre-New 52, Young Justice, and Arrow versions of Roy Harper are more compelling than New 52 version, yet DC still goes with that one!
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