This September, DC Comics is going to do a company wide reboot/revamp/rejiggering in terms of their characters and continuity. They will end all of their current comics and start again with #1 issues for 52 different series. Some characters will stay the same, like Batman, while some will be given new origins and histories, like Hawkman.

I am completely in favor of this change.

I have never been a faithful follower of the DC universe. Make Mine Marvel. I am absolutely gung ho for really only one DC character (Robin), but I have no great connection to any of the others or their histories. So starting again with stream-lined or slate-cleaned continuities and characters isn’t a big deal to me. Sometimes I hate change when it comes to comic book revamps, but this time I don’t.  A big reason for that (besides Robin/Tim Drake staying mostly the same) is that this gives me a chance to pick up some books I never would in current continuity. I’ve dropped plenty of DC comics over the years, and I’d be more than happy to start reading them again with these new revamps.

So here as the 6 titles I am most looking forward to in the revamp. Later I will write about 6 titles I don’t care about.

My Picks:

Teen Titans #1

1. Teen Titans: This title will be the home of my favorite DC character, Tim Drake. When the reboot was first announced, I was hoping that Tim might be put back as Robin under Bruce as Batman. That is the ideal team for me. Give me that in a book and I will be a fan for life. Instead, they’ll be keeping Damian as Robin. As much as I love Robin, I’m just never going to be completely sold on Damian in that role. Fortunately, when Tim stopped being Robin, he became Red Robin. The name sounds like a mouthful, but at the very least he kept the word ‘Robin’ in there. Tim isn’t Dick, he doesn’t want or need to come out of Bruce’s shadow and become his own unique superhero. Tim should always be Bruce’s partner. That’s why he became Robin, that’s one of the things I like about Tim. It’s more important for him to be Robin than it is for him to be Tim Drake.

And as for people who read my previous entry, a few more interviews with the writers have pretty much confirmed that Tim’s history as Robin will remain intact.

I’m also looking forward to the new interactions with the rebooted Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Superboy. Should be fun. Plus I so far like Red Robin’s new costume. I’m glad he ditched the Kingdom Come costume, even if this one is still based off it. The idea that he got that costume from when Jason Todd went jaunting through alternate realities, only for Todd to throw it in the trash and some other chump character to use it for awhile, was too stupid and convoluted.

Justice League #1

2. Justice League: I started reading Justice League after the One Year Later event, when Red Arrow was the newest member. I wanted to get on board with the Justice League title and be privy to all the big adventures of the main superheroes in DC. It should be the perfect book for anybody to pick up and read. It should be just straight superhero awesomeness. But somewhere along the line in that previous reboot, Justice League became the place for event tie-ins and stories that were essentially ads for other events or other series. It no longer told its own Justice League stories.

And all the major players left. Superman and Wonder Woman were busy with their own story lines and couldn’t participate, or some crap. Either way, it stopped being interesting and so I dropped it fast.

So now we’ve got this relaunched Justice League, and it stars all the big DC characters! Batman! Superman! Green Lantern! Flash! Cyborg…!? Of course they need to have some new team members to keep things spicy. And Cyborg is as good an addition to the Justice League as anybody. Plus DC has mentioned that the team will pick up other members as weeks go by. Hopefully they will be interesting characters. I don’t have any particular interest in any of these heroes (except maybe Batman and sort of Green Lantern), it’s them as a team that I’m interested in. I want some big, badass DC superhero adventures! Plus it’s written by Geoff Johns, more on him later.

Aquaman #1

3. Aquaman: I have never in my life read a single Aquaman comic book, or even a comic starring Aquaman. But darn it if I don’t love the character and his classic underdog status. Everybody hates on Aquman, it’s practically a cliche to laugh at Aquaman. That has endeared the character to me. He’s not as bad as people make him out to be. He’s telepathic, has a cool costume and is king of the seas. A lot could be done with this concept. This is the #1 book that I would have never picked up in a million years except for the fact that it’s part of this big reboot. I’m curious and interested to see where it goes without all the garbagey years of Aquaman continuity hanging over its head.

Plus the writer is Geoff Johns. I am a huge Geoff Johns fan. The man has done no wrong on the Green Lantern mythos as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never read his Flash stuff, and I think bringing back Barry Allen was dumb, but Johns has all the good will in the world as far as I’m concerned. Seeing him tackle Aquaman with a totally clean slate to play with is very enticing to me.

Unless it’s not going to be a clean slate. Johns may throw in all manner of Flashpoint or Brightest Day crapola. Then I’ll be dropping the book ASAP.

Red Hood #1

4. Red Hood and the Outlaws: Jason Todd is another one of those characters that people just hate, and for good reason. Nobody liked him back in the 80s, in fact they voted to kill him off. And since he came back in the most ridiculous way imaginable, he’s been nothing but a dead weight dangling around the neck of the Batman Family. Here was a guy trained by Batman, a former Robin, who turned into a Punisher of sorts. How is that not cool? How could DC drop the ball on him? He could have been a badass ronin super villain, the Punisher but with the flash and pizzazz of a former Robin.

He could have been somebody! Instead he was hobbled two and fro. They tried to force him into a square hole in Countdown and then just let Grant Morrison and whoever else jumble him up afterwards. He is the living embodiment of Batman’s greatest failure! He could, in theory, take Batman in a fight! He could take anybody in a fight! He’s the perfect dark foil to Batman, Nightwing and most of the Bat family.

But he’s been wasted. Hopefully that will change with this new series. Red Hood would be a great anti-hero. And teaming him up with Arsenal and Starfire is a pretty cool idea. I have no clue what Starfire is doing with them, but it’s still cool. They’ll be these rebellious young adults doing superheroics there way. I’m excited by that idea. And thankfully they ditched that stupid red cylinder helmet that Jason wore in that Grant Morrison arc of Batman & Robin. That costume was just STUPID! The red helmet and biker look is much cooler.

Suicide Squad #1

5. Suicide Squad: I am a huge fan of Gail Simone’s Secret Six. Ever since it’s marvelous debut as Villains United way back during Infinite Crisis, her team of Catman, Scandal, Deadshot, Ragdoll, et al has been brilliant. Never before have I seen a team book better capture what it’s like to be a part of a family. Their cohesion and camaraderie has been second to none. Everybody on the Interwebs loves Secret Six.

So of course it’s getting cancelled.

In its place we’re getting Suicide Squad, a revamp of a title from the 80s and 90s that was popular at the time. Secret Six was always the spiritual successor to Suicide Squad anyway. So even though Gail is no longer writing it, we already know its starring Secret Six characters Deadshot and King Shark. Plus Harley Quinn all tarted up in a new outfit. I like Harley. And I prefer her without the Joker around. She’s much more interesting as her own character than as his sycophantic love slave. She can’t rise above her status if she’s at the Joker’s side. Unless every single time she breaks free of him, which they can’t do. So letting her spread her wings is cool.

And maybe Catman will appear in the series somewhere.

New Guardians

6. New Guardians: I absolutely love everything there is to do about the New Guardians and the multi-colored Lantern Corps. Everything. I love the Blue Lanterns, the Red Lanterns, the awesomeness of Sinestro, the mystery of the Indigo Tribe and everything there is about Larfleeze. It’s a fantastic concept and DC has done a fantastic job with the characters and the concept since their introduction. So even though we didn’t get a cover about this series, and we don’t know who exactly will be in it, I’ve very excited to see.

It also stars Kyle Rayner, arguably my favorite Green Lantern. I don’t care for any of the Earth Green Lanterns. They’ve just never leaped out to me as interesting. But out of them, I’d pick Kyle as my favorite. So it’s cool that he’s going to be the GL in this series. I hope we see more Larfleeze and Sinestro and Saint Walker. While I don’t know how well they’ll be in a team dynamic, I bet they’ll be able to bounce off each other nicely.

The writer, Tony Bedard, had some success on Exiles back in the day, and I was a huge fan of Exiles. So I’m definitely excited to see what happens.

Honorable mentions: Batman, Batman & Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, Batwoman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Red Lanterns, Green Lantern Corps., and maybe Action Comics with Grant Morrison.

Here is a full list of all the 52 titles that will be released.