It's time to be positive. A few weeks from now, the September relaunch titles are going to start rolling out, and we're probably not going to know anymore about them until there. Nothing more to speculate about or complain about. So I am just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best. These aren't just the titles I'm looking forward to trying but the ones I'm confident that I will enjoy come next month. 
 

I have to admit to liking this story from SDCC just for the poetic justice of it. Having a fan dressed as the Stephanie Brown version of Batgirl grilling Dan Didio and others about the changes they are making in September really is something you would almost think was just made up. To be honest, this kind of activism would usually bother me, but this is a special circumstance where DC is actively claiming they are pushing things like gender diversity in their new DC Universe. So in that respect, they do have this sort of thing coming. If you make big claims like that, you have to expect some questions and criticisms coming your way when it doesn't actually appear like you're living up to your claim. 
 
To be COMPLETELY honest, I really don't care about the ratio of female creators things. I just don't. I realize I probably should, but when it comes right down to it, I only care about creators who do quality work. I don't want creators given work for ANY other reason. But that said, I get why other people do care. And I do believe there is obvious sexism in the industry. All you need to do is look at Gail Simone's bibliography to see that. If she was a fan-favorite male creator, she would be already writing books like Batman & Robin or Teen Titans by now. Instead, Simone gets mostly female-oriented titles and titles featuring minor male characters. You can see where DC's mindset is at when instead of moving Simone up to higher profile titles in the relaunches they assign top talent like her to Batgirl and Fury of Firestorm. 
 
I'm more focused on the female character side of the argument, and in that, I'm much more in agreement with our real-life Batgirl. I've said before how I think DC gets an unfair break when it comes to their success with female characters in comparison with Marvel. What happened here highlighted that. At the con and in their non-apology apology on the Source, DC defends its track record on iconic female characters by naming names like Batgirl, Batwoman, Supergirl, Catwoman and Mera. I'm sorry, but that doesn't fly. For future reference, you can't defend yourself in this regard by naming characters who are spin-offs of iconic male characters. That just doesn't hold water. Hey, I love Batwoman and Mera. But don't give me lesbian Batman and Aquaman's wife as examples of your iconic female characters. Name me characters who do not depend on an iconic male counterpart to hold their own. DC could have named Mera had they not pushed her aside to bring back Aquaman at the end of Blackest Night and instead made her the lead of the Aqua-franchise. But they didn't do that. They showed their priorities and brought back Aquaman. Just as they show their priorities by launching the Savage Hawkman instead of the Savage Hawkwoman. 
 
There's still a lot we don't know about the New 52, but what we do know doesn't show a lot of progress when it comes to female representation. The Justice League is still extremely male dominated. It really doesn't have anymore females in it than the Brad Meltzer relaunch did. We also don't know whether Black Canary will at least get to keep her founder status. We're losing some female books but picking up pretty much the same amount. So that at least breaks even. But overall, it just doesn't feel like there's any notable gain when it comes to female diversity in the New 52. It doesn't feel like that was a consideration in the decisions they made. So I appreciate that someone publicly confronted them about this and got the issue enough attention that DC alleges it is going to address it. 
 
Will DC actually address it? I don't know. Honestly, their released statement doesn't sound all that different from what they were reportedly saying at the convention. We'll just see if they follow it up with anything substantial. They have already committed a lot of their creative talent to other projects, though. It would be really disappointing ot see them announce a bunch of half-assed titles that would quickly fail, only for them to shrug their shoulders and claim they tried. I would love if they'd launch a Question book. It seems only right since we have Captain Atom and Blue Beetle ones coming. If James Robinson is never going to bring back Jack Knight, maybe let him run with a Stargirl series and see what happens. I'd say they could finally give that Lois Lane series a shot, but if she really is just going to be an editor now, that's nowhere near as interesting as an investigative reporter. 
 
So I guess at the next con someone needs to don an afro wig and a lightning bolt track suit to ask about DC's commitment to racial diversity.

A lot of news came out of SDCC regarding DCnU. A lot of rumors or misinformation too. I've heard everything from that the original Titans never happened to that they still did. Everything's being condensed to a five year timeline, except for what's not being condensed to a five year timeline. Ryan Choi may be the Atom again. Lian Harper never existed because Roy Harper is too young to have had her (I guess puberty hit Roy pretty late). Man, I don't even know what to think about most of this stuff yet. It seems like everything I hear gets someone confused by something I hear later. 
 
But there is one thing I know what to think of. 
 
I read an interesting article at Newsarama about the mood at SDCC regarding DCnU. It described an exchange between Dan Didio and a fan who pointed out how making Barbara Gordon Batgirl again seems to run in the complete opposite direction of DC's stated goal to be more modern, diverse and relevant. It sounds like Didio... didn't disagree with this. Instead, he claimed the reason for Barbara putting on the Batgirl costume again was because DC wants the most accessible versions of their characters. Specifcally, Barbara is depicted as Batgirl in most movies and animated shows. Therefore, she is the most accessible to go with. 
 
There is logic to this. On a basic level, that makes perfect sense. Why wouldn't you want your characters accessible? Why wouldn't you want people who enjoy your movies and shows to also be able to enjoy your comics? 
 
The problem is that I don't think what Didio says is true. Unless I am completely mistaken about some things. 
 
In September, who is Robin? Is it Dick Grayson? In most other media, Dick Grayson is Robin. Dick, like Barbara, is clearly the most accessible by that measure. Sure, you've seen him be Nightwing a couple times. But he's almost always Robin.  He's Robin right now in Young Justice, But... he's not Robin in September. He's Nightwing, a far less accessible version of the character that people would only be familiar with from a couple animations. Okay, okay. Tim Drake. Tim has appeared as Robin in animation, and some portrayals of Robin, even when it's meant to be Dick, clearly lean toward Tim. So the second most accessible version of Robin would be acceptable, I guess. It's in the ballpark. Oh, wait. He's not Robin in September either, is he? ...Jason Todd? He's hardly accessible, though the Under the Red Hood animated movie he starred in was pretty popular. No, no. He's still the Red Hood in September. Oh... that's right! In September, Robin is Damian Wayne. Robin is Batman's 10 year old son that no one who doesn't follow comics has ever heard of. Robin is, in fact, the LEAST accessible version of the character by Didio's perspective. 
 
Maybe that's unfair. It's just Robin. Why expect what applies to Batgirl to also apply to Robin? Or hey, maybe Robin is just a fluke. 
 
Let's look at Teen Titans. That's an obvious candidate. I mean, Teen Titans just had its own animated series a few years ago and under the name Young Justice, it's basically the focus of the current hit DC animated series. So the Teen Titans relaunch must be totally accessible to people who have been watching those shows, right? I can watch an episode of Young Justice and then look at the relaunch of Teen Titans and... wait, no. No, I can't. I barely see any resemblance. I don't think it could be any more inaccessible. You would think if accessibility was even remotely a factor that the cast would similar in membership and design to what people see on Young Justice. In fact, you would think they would consider using the same title. That would be far more accessible than having fans of the show look at the cover of Teen Titans and say "...Okay, I'm pretty sure that's Kid Flash and... um..." 
 
Well then. Clearly, accessibility isn't a consideration there either. 
 
Remember how Wally West was the Flash in Justice League Unlimited and how pretty much every animated depiction of the Flash since then has clearly been Wally even when it's technically supposed to be Barry? Well... oh, why bother. You all know exactly how this one turns out. 
 
But Didio is saying that accessibility matters so much to him and DC that it's worth making this drastic and controversial move with one of their most prominent female characters. This can't be out of nowhere. This can't be new. This must their position in general. Come on. Remember that decade where John Stewart was by far the most accessible Green Lantern due to Justice League Unlimited making him the most well known Green Lantern in the mainstream up until Ryan Reynolds showed his face? It's not like during that time Didio oversaw the return of Hal Jordan to the role of the main Green Lantern while John Stewart was buried as the only of the four human Green Lanterns to not regularly appear in anything for years. It's not like a big part of the justification for having Hal Jordan still be the main Green Lantern in the new history of the DCU, founding the Justice League and everything, is because starring in other media projects suddenly counts when it'sHal Jordan when it didn't for John Stewart. That would just be... silly. 
 
I'm thinking Didio is confusing "most accessible" with "most personally nostalgic for."

I could wait until both events are over to do this like a reasonable and patient person. But... I don't really want to. Also, both events crossed their halfway points last week so that seems like a good point to check in on how they are doing. 
 
Admittedly, neither event really had me excited before they began. Let's start with Flashpoint. The build-up to Flashpoint was crap. Simple as that. Geoff Johns was obviously trying to replicate his success with Green Lantern on Flash, complete with Flashpoint being the Sinestro Corps War to the Flash. Except Flashpoint came way too soon for that. Johns told one story arc before leaping into the Road to Flashpoint, which was completely empty filler. How am I supposed to care that Reverse Flash is further screwing with Barry Allen's life when what Barry's life is hasn't been developed? Flashpoint had no momentum going in. Even worse, DC announced this huge number of tie-in titles paired with creative teams full of unknowns and editors. No, my expectations for Flashpoint were not high. 
 
Then again, I'm not sure Fear Itself really had any build-up to even judge. It looked pretty blatantly like a thrown together Captain America/Thor event to futilely capitalize on the summer's Marvel movies. Plus, the hype for it got more aimless as the event neared. The God of Fear will return, and the heroes will face their fears. Well, no. Not that God of Fear. Not the one Marvel has been developing in the years leading up to this in Mighty Avengers, Dark Avengers, Siege and Secret Warriors and who has been set up to make a big return as a true god of fear. This will be a new Asgardian god of fear, basically made up on the spot for this story. ...And okay, the heroes won't face their fears, exactly. More like just... fear. Vague, ambiguous fear. It's just going to be generally tense, and they're going to have to deal with it, okay? So not only was the hype weak and aimless, but Marvel also announced that Matt Fraction would be the writer. Fraction is not really known for his strong and tight plots. In fact, the second his name was attached to Fear Itself I said there was no way he would be able to tell a big story in six issues. Then Marvel announced Fear Itself as a seven-issue event. I was not exactly enthused about this upcoming event. 
 
Three of five issues of Flashpoint have now come out, as have four of Fear Itself's seven. Which of the two has overcome my low expectations and become the superior major event so far? 
 
It's Flashpoint. It's Flashpoint by a mile. Let's just be upfront about that right away. 
 
So the build-up to it sucked. Flashpoint didn't need it. Geoff Johns had the deck stacked in his favor. It's a big alternate reality story where he gets to play with any and all characters he wants. I'm a sucker for alternate reality stories. Lots of people are. An alternate reality story is one of those easy win kind of stories, if you put the right amount of thought behind it. Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert have. We have Thomas Wayne as Batman. Cyborg is now Mr. Truth, Justice and the American Way. Abin Sur is still a Green Lantern. Aquaman is a global warlord. Deathstroke is a pirate! It's inventive. It's fun. 
 
Though if you look at it as the Flash's own Sinestro Corps War, then it is kind of a failure. Honestly, does anyone really give a crap about the Flash's part in this story? All of the new, alternate characters are more interesting than Barry. Bart and Wally are non-entities in the story. Flashpoint really isn't doing a damn thing for the Flash franchise. 
 
I almost want to say that even the tie-ins are better than expected, but I'm not sure if that would be true. There were some on the list that I expected to be good. Emperor Aquaman, Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager, Batman: Knight of Vengeance, Deadman and the Flying Graysons. I figured Secret Seven would be good even though it wouldn't interest me personally. They all have held up so far. There were even some surprises. Citizen Cold, Hal Jordan and the World of Flashpoint have actually been better than I expected them to be. But then you have ones like Wonder Woman and the Furies and Lois Lane and the Resistance as surprise disappointments. Plus, expected disappointments like Abin Sur: the Green Lantern, Green Arrow Industries and Legion of Doom. So I don't know what to say about the tie-ins overall yet. 
 
But oh, Fear Itself. It had me optimistic with its first issue. I thought it was good, and I thought that it just might turn out to be a solid story event after all. ...This has not been so. It turns out this is Matt Fraction trying to tell a Geoff Johns-style event, which is kind of funny. I mean, the merchandising rich gimmicks are there with the Worthy and the Mighty. Unfortunately, Fraction just can't do it as well. I have nothing against gimmicks. Gimmicks can be really fun when developed well. The Worthy aren't developed at all, though. The Worthy are character redesigns, cool new names and no discernible character traits whatsoever. Hell, the Serpent, the main villain, isn't even a developed character yet. Odin's evil brother? Really? Tell me there's more to this coming. Tell me we aren't just going to go with the laziest thing possible. 
 
The tie-ins are worth mentioning too. Fear Itself's tie-ins have got to be the most exploitative, cash-grabbing tie-ins of any Marvel event. Hey, say what you want about hating tie-ins. But at least with Civil War, Secret Invasion and Siege there was some reason and logic to the madness. How could the SHRA not impact so many Marvel titles? With Skrulls invading and infiltrating everything, it's easy to have them appearing in a ton of titles. Siege didn't have that same logic to it, so... it didn't do it! It was relatively restrained in its tie-ins. Fear Itself is half a dozen guys running around with hammers. Come on. That is not really tie-in material. Marvel is bending over backward, slapping together any and every tie-in it can think of. The Deep, Youth in Revolt, Fearsome Four? I think at some point Dracula is going to fight Hulk? What? 
 
That's it. Midway through, Flashpoint clearly stands as the better event. I usually side with Marvel on these too, but they have not been on a roll with events lately. Fear Itself seems like it's going to end up in the same sad category as Shadowland and the Thanos Imperative.

This is something I've seen brought up every now and then over the years. It's the idea that DC does a much better job promoting female characters than Marvel does, or simply that DC has better female characters than Marvel. It's easy to understand where this impression comes from. Take a look at any given time and you will probably see DC publishing significantly more solo titles with female leads than Marvel. That almost settles the case right there. DC actually has female characters sustaining their own titles, so there must be something better that DC is doing. 
 
But taking a closer look at what most of these titles are, I don't think that's actually true. 
 
What are some of these titles? Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman. Batwoman is new to the list, but both Batgirl and Catwoman have histories of having lengthy series. You can go ahead and include team titles like Birds of Prey and Gotham City Sirens too, because they both also relate to my point here. These are all Bat-titles. They are all part of what is probably the most powerful sales machine in comics. The Batman Franchise. That is the reason these female characters succeed on the market where others fail. It isn't based on the merits of the female leads and how well DC has developed them. Their Batman connections give them a leg up. 
 
Even though Superman is not as powerful of a seller as Batman, the same franchise principle applies to why Supergirl endures. 
 
Marvel doesn't have the same method to exploit. They have never really had that same "character family" franchise mechanic. The Spider-Man franchise sells only Spider-Man comics. Oh, Marvel managed to keep Spider-Girl going for a long time, but it was a struggle every step of the way. The new Spider-Girl can't get any traction either. It just doesn't work for Marvel. They don't have a Batman franchise. They do have an X-Franchise, but that exists for team books and has only had limited success with any solo titles. Is it really fair to say Marvel doesn't handle female characters as well as DC because they don't have a "Batman"-style method of selling them? 
 
I just don't see the legitimate success DC is making with female characters. You can point to Power Girl and Zatanna now. You won't be able to in a couple months, though. They gave it a good shot with Manhunter, but that isn't around anymore. There's always Wonder Woman, and that is one thing DC really deserves credit for. They made the bold move of establishing a major female hero early, and now it is just an accepted part of the public consciousness that she should have a steady series. Marvel didn't do that, and that ship has sailed. 
 
But it doesn't seem fair to me to hold it against Marvel when they can't make Black Widow last or end up having to cancel She-Hulk again. DC only has its success because it has cultivated franchise sales machines in Batman and Superman and not because of any superiority in their female characters. Put a female character who doesn't easily apply to one of those two franchises in DC's hands, and they fail just as much as Marvel. The closest times Black Canary has come to having her own ongoing series are Birds of Prey and sharing a series with Green Arrow. Zatanna's current series is about to come to an end. Wonder Girl has never really had an ongoing series like all her male teammates have and like other teen females like Batgirl and Supegirl have. These things should not be the case if DC was genuinely better at handling female characters than Marvel.

I was and remain very skeptical about DC trying to successfully incorporate Wildstorm into their shared continuity. DC's track record at this leaves a lot to be desired. Their failures in getting any real traction from the Milestone and Red Circle characters are still in recent memory. Static seems to be the only one left of them. Going even further back, DC is arguably still struggling to make successes of the Fawcett and Charlton characters as we await news of what DC is going to try next with Captain Marvel and new attempts at Blue Beetle and Captain Atom series. 
 
So I am very skeptical about this Wildstorm business, but from the very start, I've believed that if anything Wildstorm has a chance at making it in the DCU it is Stormwatch. As a concept, Stormwatch doesn't depend on being the biggest and baddest in the playground like the Authority does. It doesn't depend on a lot of Wildstorm mythos like WildC.A.T.S. does with Daemonites and Kherubim.  It does not depend on something that makes it redundant like Gen13 does with being another teen book. Stormwatch can exist as a unique team in the DCU. 
 
I'm a little biased when it comes to Stormwatch. When I think of Stormwatch, I think of Warren Ellis. Actually... when I think of Wildstorm in general, I think of Warren Ellis' runs on Stormwatch, Authority and Planetary. That is the peak of what Wildstorm had to offer as far as I'm concerned. So when it comes to Stormwatch specifically, I think of how the team was under Ellis. A team of superhumans run like a military unit by a Weatherman. That is Stormwatch to me. These guys are professional badasses. They are more a trained strike team than a superhero team. 
 
Some of what Paul Cornell has to say makes me feel he's on the right track, but other things he says leaves me worried. 
 
For starters, is Cornell writing Stormwatch or the Authority? Because the characters he talks about make it sound like the Authority under the name Stormwatch. Apollo, Midnighter, the Engineer, Jack Hawksmoor. Great characters, but that's the Authority. He has also mentioned all of these new characters he plans to use. No offense, but why should I care to read about them? This is a Wildstorm book. There are plenty of Wildstorm characters to modify and incorporate into the DCU.  I am really not interested in a bunch of new characters instead, especially when I haven't heard enough about Stormwatch characters being used. 
 
I want to know if we can expect anything with Stormwatch mainstays like Battalion and Synergy. Is or was Henry Bendix involved with the team? What about characters like Winter and Fuji? Does this Stormwatch even have a Weatherman? If the answer to all these things is a negative, then my last question is what makes this Stormwatch without a Weatherman or many of the major members? 
 
Like I said, I think Stormwatch can really work as part of the DCU. But not if it isn't done right. Not if it is Stormwatch in name only. I'm still a little hopeful that Cornell will pull this off, but it would make me feel a lot better to hear him talk less about the Authority and new characters and more about Stormwatch.