I'm a pretty big fan of legacy heroes. I even made a list. So while I'm positive about many of the changes and titles in the revamped DC universe, I am very sad that a number of iconic "second generation" characters are being officially ousted (e.g., Wally West, Donna Troy), demoted to old roles (e.g., Babs Gordon, Renee Montoya, Stephanie Brown), or just quietly ignored (e.g., Cassandra Cain, Connor Hawke). Meanwhile all the Robins and all the Green Lanterns cruise right along untouched.

Here's a quote from Didio about the two that are being officially nixed, Wally and Donna (discussion thread here):

Tweets:

SpeedsterSite Brandan

just had an excellent talk with Dan Didio. EXCELLENT. when I get a chance I'll update you all. I'm much less angry now

SpeedsterSite Brandan
a lot of you will not like the quotes from Dan. And not just Wally fans. #Donna

SpeedsterSite Brandan
@bottlecitykanga I tried bringing Roy into the convo but he didn't bite. I agree with you completely

SpeedsterSite Brandan
Yeah, I probably won't make it into this justice league panel so here goes some highlights of my conversation with Dan Didio

SpeedsterSite Brandan
You will not be seeing Wally for the foreseeable future.

SpeedsterSite Brandan
Dan stated that the Perez era TT were very difficult to deal with because of their age.

SpeedsterSite Brandan
Dan specifically stated that Wally's kids were a big reason why he's off the board.

SpeedsterSite Brandan
When asked why iris and jai were aged up in the first place, Dan admitted poor planning

SpeedsterSite Brandan
Dan mentioned that Donna Troy is off the board as well, especially because her similarities to Diana are too great.

SpeedsterSite Brandan
He said its hard and very difficult to accept but eventually the perez era will be gone.

SpeedsterSite Brandan
On a lighter note, Dan assured me that many creators (specifically @jamesdrobinson) are definitely involved in the future of DC

SpeedsterSite Brandan
When kyle rayner's new book was brought up, Dan said it's much easier to branch out with green lantern than most titles

SpeedsterSite Brandan
Dan also said that they realize they are pushing the limits of the bat books and that they may be "dwindled"

SpeedsterSite Brandan
we were able to record some of our conversation so hopefully the audio isn't horrible.

Also, he gave me two poker chips. Lol

(Tweets were collected by one RobStaeger over on the Bendis boards.)

A number of people have pointed out that the obvious solution is to just, you know, change these characters to be more unique and not clash with the creator-favored Silver Age-era characters, but even that makes me nervous that they'll lose what makes them special. If you can have how many Robins and how many Green Lanterns, why NOT two Flashes? Heck, there are so many Amazons I don't see why you can't have one more with Donna Troy.

But then, there's another solution. Why not dedicate one of the 52 DC universes to highlighting these second-tier replacements as if they were in the leading spots? After all, the JSA has already been slated for future release as an alternate-universe title:

James Robinson confirmed that he is working on a new Justice Society project with artist Nicola Scott, and that the parallel world Earth-2 will make a return. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. "We don't want them to just be cameos and then forgotten," DiDio said. "We've waited on JSA because we really wanted to get the details right. We were hammering out the characters as late as yesterday."

(Comicbookmovie.com)

Certainly there's room for a universe of younger heroes if there's room for a universe of older ones!

There's a few ways they could do this:

1. "As things were" - Basically how things were before the reboot except focusing on these characters. I personally would find that unfulfilling and really, what's the point of the revamp then?
2. "Young'uns stepping up" - The older heroes are either retired or dead but effectively gone, and each of the new heroes is carrying on their legacies.
3. "From scratch" - The most daring approach, what if these heroes were the #1 version of their character in this universe? What if Wally West was the only Flash? What if Dick Grayson was Robin in a world without Batman? How would things be different?

I think there's definitely room for a concept like this, especially if they build it from scratch as that would allow for new, unique origins. The characters I'd want to see in the roles I'd want to see them:

• Wally West - Flash
• Donna Troy - Wonder Woman
• Dick Grayson - Robin (or Batman depending on how it's handled)
• Connor Hawke - Green Arrow
• Mon-El - Superman
• Babs Gordon - Oracle (wheelchair optional)
• Cassandra Cain - Batwoman
• Stephanie Brown - Batgirl
• Renee Montoya - The Question
• Garth - Aquaman (although I like the name "Tempest")
• Ted Kord - Blue Beetle

As for the "young JSA" characters, such as Power Girl, I assume they'll be included in the Earth-2 setting as sidekicks. So I'm less concerned about fitting them in.

Would anyone else be interested in a book like this? Maybe "Earth-13" or something?