DC Comics has finally released their April 2014 solicitations for their New 52 publishing initiative and beyond.
Below are the Top 5 clusters of DC solicitations! (A similar analysis of Marvel’s April solicits is available here.)
(5) 4 Series Launches
Looks like DC is launching 4 new ongoing series in April 2014:
(4) 6 Surprises
There were 6 solicits that surprised me in DC’s April 2014 New 52 solicits
- Action Comics #30 that has the debut of the post Forever Evil villain Superman?
- All-Star Western #30 has Jonah Hex back in the past despite being one of the 10 major time anomalies currently in the DC Universe (DCU) that seemed to work well with DC’s The New 52: Futures End weekly series
- Aquaman and the Others #1 sets up DC’s New 52: Futures End weekly series?
- Justice League #30 that has Lex Luthor AND Captain Cold join the League; Announcement here
- Stormwatch #30 sets up DC’s New 52: Futures End weekly series?
- Teen Titans Annual #3 seemingly has a stunning betrayal from within the team
(3) 6 Series Cancellations
There were 6 solicits that surprised me in DC’s April 2014 New 52 solicits
These first 3 were huge surprises, but when reading the solicitations, they make sense story-wise.
- Nightwing #30
- Suicide Squad #30 which looks pretty cool with Black Manta on the team
- Superman Unchained #9
The next three cancellations were expected.
- Justice League #13
- Stormwatch #30
- Teen Titans #30; Announcement here
(2) 8 Characters Debuts
Despite all the cancellations and launches of ongoing New 52 series, there are also quite a few characters making their DC Comics New 52 introductions in April 2014.
- Aquaman #30 has the debut of Hercules
- Batgirl #30 has the debut of pre-New 52 Secret Six’s Ragdoll
- Justice League 3000 #5 has the debut of the 31rst century’s Firestorm
- Flash Annual #3 has the debut of Wally West and seemingly Future Flash John Fox; Announcement here and even more here
- Larfleeze #10 has the debut of Green Lantern G’Nort
- Batman Eternal #2 has the debut of a yet-to-be-named classic Batman villain in the DC New 52
- Batman Eternal #3 has the debut of Stephanie Brown; Teaser here
- Forever Evil #7 has the debut of Ted Kord, a pre-New 52 Blue Beetle, who will have an ongoing Justice League role; Announcement here
(1) New 52?
After counting the cancelled titles and accounting for the new ongoing series, at the end of April DC Comics will actually be the New 41. They have 11 more ongoing series to launch to live up to the branding they launched with: New 52 = 52 ongoing series.
I raised the 52 counting issue in October 2011 as DC excluded its 5 mini-series from its inaugural New 52 advertisement checklist. As it turned out, limited series didn’t “count” for the New 52 branding. With that in mind, even 52 week spanning weekly maxi-series are not ongoing series. They are limited series so don’t count towards the New 52 branding.
Thanks for reading. All feedback welcome. :)
