What We Learned From DC's MAY 2013 Solicitations

DC's May 2013 solicitations are now out, and stop us if you've heard this one before but it's another newsworthy period for the publisher.

As revealed last week, six titles Deathstroke, Fury of the Firestorm, The Savage Hawkman, Ravagers, Sword of Sorcery and Team 7have been cancelled. Also last week, two new ones The Green Team and The Movementwere announced. Then add plenty of creative team changes, like Justin Jordan on board Superboy and Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray on Batwing to all of that. And oh yeah, did you hear about Geoff Johns ending his nine-year run on Green Lantern?

That's a lot right there, but the solicitations themselves contained even more tantalizing tidbits of information. So let's take a look.

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Yeah, that info has been floating around for four days now, but with the first in-print issue solicited for May, it's worth musing a little on the significance of seeing Parker and Samnee two creators currently working on Marvel titles at DC. Sure, it appears to just be a short story, and both have already been working outside Marvel recently (Parker on Willow at Dark Horse, Samnee on Rocketeer Adventures at IDW), but it's rare enough, at this point, to see names at both Marvel and DC at once that it's worth noting though, with Pete Woods illustrating Avengers Assemble and Vibe issues scheduled for this month, it looks like it's becoming more common.

DC has advanced solicited Animal Man and Promethea omnibuses with their May solicitations; out in July and September, respectively. Animal Man will collect all 26 issues of Grant Morrison's pre-Vertigo stint on the title, and Promethea is the complete 32-issue run of the Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III series.

What was not announced was a release date, but, hey, now we have one: The Wake #1, the first installment of a 10-issue miniseries, is scheduled for May 1.

On the docket: Annuals from Earth 2, Catwoman, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Batman: The Dark Knight, with an Alex Maleev cover seen here.

Several of the Batman family titles are promising some sort of a surprise: Nightwing #20 has a "key figure" in Dick Grayson's life returning from the grave, Batman #20 sees a "strange visitor" leading to "the team-up you've been asking for since the start of The New 52," and Batgirl #20 looks be introducing (reintroducing?) a female version of long-running Bat-villain The Ventriloquist.

Jurgens had been writing and drawing Firestorm; DeFalco writing Hawkman and Superboy. There's no word yet on if they've got new projects coming up at the publisher Jurgens has been a fixture at DC since the '80s; DeFalco is closely associated with Marvel but has written more for DC in recent years. That doesn't mean they don't have anything in the works at DC something could very well be announced for June just that nothing has been announced yet.

A veteran creator not seen in DC's May solicits is Fabian Nicieza, who had taken over writing Batwing. In the "B&B" Q&A column on CBR, DC editor-in-chief Bob Harras said, "I do want to stress that Fabian [Nicieza] was there to help us out during transition time; he's a great guy and really helped us out there."

Kot is taking over for Adam Glass (who had written the title since #1), Green is coming on board following Henrik Jonsson. Kot wrote Change for Image Comics, and Green recently illustrated several Animal Man issues.

That'll change in May, with the character making his New 52 debut in Superman #20. Though the significance of Hammond surfacing first in Superman rather than a Green Lantern book remains to be seen, one thing is sure: The issue also features Orion of the New Gods, as seen on the cover.

Power Girl's classic costume, though iconic, has frequently been criticized for being sexist at worst and impractical at best, mostly for what's been described as the "boob window." Transitioning the character into a less revealing outfit as part of The New 52 was seen as a progressive move, and it's possible that some will view this development as a step backwards.

From a storyline standpoint, it may also be relevant: Could this be a sign of more pre-New 52 elements returning to DC's current continuity? It's something to watch out for, at least.

Turns out, the books one of the most popular and acclaimed sects of DC's publishing line are facing a total creative team overhaul. Along with Johns leaving Green Lantern, the May solicitations revealed that Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin are wrapping up their stint on Green Lantern Corps (Tomasi's GLC run, like Johns on GL, pre-dates The New 52), Tony Bedard is leaving Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Peter Milligan is stepping away from Red Lanterns.

That leaves some huge question marks for the future of Green Lantern come this summer, but we'll likely start getting some answers in the next few weeks. Until then, speculate freely.