Five DC Comics Titles That Deserve a Rebirth

With DC Comics teasing a “Rebirth” and rumors that a number of their titles will end this summer when the original New 52 launch books hit #52, we’ve been thinking about what we’re missing in the new DC Universe.

That’s not inherently a dig at the last five years or so of comics. It’s just that DC launched a universe with 52 titles — many of which were redundant, with certain charactes or concepts getting multiple monthly books. That means, out of their thousands of characters, there are still lots and lots of great concepts that haven’t been mined in any kind of depth in the post-Flashpoint DC Universe.

Who do we think deserves a shot in their own ongoing? Read on, and comment below.

GEN 13

We’ve seen some of these characters already, in some forms that might make a traditional representation of Gen 13 hard to pull off, but this is comics: that would take 3 pages to sort out and get things moving in the right direction if there was will to do so.

A team made up of teen metahumans who were essentially kidnapped by a shadowy, governmental organization and forced to “activate” their powers, it later turned out that Gen 13 had ties to the mysterious Team 7 – a book that came later in WildStorm but which has already had a shot in the New 52. With that book and later StormWatch being cancelled, WildStorm properties are basically extinct in the DC Universe, which calls into question the whole idea of the New 52 being a place where WildStorm, Vertigo and the DCU proper came together to form a cohesive whole.

You know what else is basically extinct? the Young Justice line. This would add to it in a meaningful way.

Also, short of Teen Titans, Gen 13 is probably the most recognizable brand of “teen” superteam that DC owns. The fact that it hasn’t been used yet is frankly a bit shocking.

TIME MASTERS

Rip Hunter, Booster Gold and Waverider (who’s actually a different reality’s version of Booster Gold, but who’s counting?) had one of the most compelling arcs of the Convergence crossover, and right now, Rip is appearing on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow while Booster is rumored to have a movie in development.

Throw in the fact that since the relaunch I’ve maintained that a time travel book would afford the characters an opportunity to explore the as-yet-unmined history of the reborn DC Universe (and a newly-infinite multiverse, for that matter), and you can start to see a skeleton of an idea forming.

There’s also plenty of time-traveling characters to choose from who haven’t been explored in the new DC Universe, and the opportunity to reinvent those characters to suit the needs of the book.

LOIS LANE

First thing’s first: we’re getting a bit of this in Superman: Lois and Clark, but that series hardly follows a normal person living in the DCU and working as a reporter. That Lois is kind of a lone warrior, fighting larger-than-life battles with no support system but her husband.

One of the things that modern comics have lost is the supporting cast, which is a shame. They lend the larger-than-life protagonists of superhero adventure comics a kind of grounding in reality that makes them seem more vulnerable and relatable, and so heightens the drama when those characters are in trouble.

Combine that with Gotham Central – one of the best books in recent memory at DC, which followed the impact of superheroes on everyday cops trying to do their job in the worst, most violent city in the world, and you have a possibility for a genre-bending look at journalism, sensationalism and superheroics in the New 52.

Imagine a Daily Planet-centric book starring Lois Lane…maybe even one that doesn’t have to have “Superman’s Girl Friend” in the title! Dealing with the never-ending press of super-science, magic and of a job where the globe could be knocked off the top of your building at any given moment by a rampaging monster has to be a fascinating and terrifying job. Why not let the readers in on that?

A little genre diversity doesn’t hurt, either…

MANHUNTER

This one seemed like a long shot when the reboot happened, given the fact that Kate Spencer’s backstory leans so heavily on the history of the (pre-Flashpoint) DC Universe…

…but since then, we’ve seen that elements of that backstory still exist–or at least, they can when needed. Cameron Chase’s parental backstory doesn’t make a ton of sense in the timeline of the post-Flashpoint DC Universe, but it’s there because it makes sense for the character.

Given that no previous version of Manhunter has taken hold with fans anytime recently in the way that Marc Andreyko’s take did, it’s arguable that she, like Jaime Reyes, can be inserted into the world of the New 52 as the first/only Manhunter without breaking too many hearts.

THE JOKER

With Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s epic Batman run coming to a(n at least temporary) close soon, it’s likely their take on the character’s greatest villain will get a little bit of tweaking from other writers eager to make their mark.

…So why not have it be somebody’s job, at a time when Suicide Squad is looming, to make sure there’s a fairly consistent take on the character across the publishing line?

Harley Quinn and Batman are the two biggest-selling books DC has on a month-in, month-out basis…and this guy is their cross street. It feels like a no-brainer.