DC Rebirth Fantasy Draft Part 2

Quick recap; here’s a run through of all 32 upcoming titles that are part of DC Rebirth and my ideal creative line ups and story beats/team dynamics.  None of this is meant as a prediction, many of these would be impossible due to contracts with other publishers or an unwillingness to move back into work for hire with the “Big Two”.  It’s for fun, basically, so take it as such please.  Today, we are going from Earth 2 to Justice League America.  Friday I covered Action Comics through to Detective Comics, which you can view here.  Let us begin.

Earth 2

Writer: Ron Marz
Artists: Kenneth Rocafort (Pencils & Inks)
                Hi-Fi (Colours)

You’ll see Hi-Fi pop up for a fair few of these books, especially those with characters often depicted with bright costumes so let’s get that out the way right now.  Writing wise, I feel a book centred around the classic JSA, which Earth 2 should be, would be a pretty much perfect fit for Marz, I feel he has a firm grasp on legacy and on the classic DC characters from various interviews I’ve seen/read and from his work on Convergence.  Make this a big book, with a large rotating cast and a few core cast members.  Regulars should include Green Lantern, Flash, Wildcat, Dr Fate and Power Girl, all in their classic guises.  Then bring in some rotation, Liberty Belle, Stargirl, Hawkman/Hawkwoman, Hourman, The Spectre and more.  Kenneth Rocafort on art would be amazing, allow him the freedom to ink his own work too, bringing a distinctive style to the book to help it stand out from the regular Earth books.  He’s already shown his capability at handling a team book on Ultimates at Marvel so deadline keeping shouldn’t be huge problem.

 

The Flash

Writer: Dan Slott
Artists: Humberto Ramos (Pencils)
                Adriano Lucas (Inks)
                Michael Spicer (Colours)

Dan Slott on The Flash!  Right?  RIGHT?!?  It just seems such a perfect fit, a match made in heaven.  The Flash needs to be fun, it needs some light hearted moments, but we’re also talking about a character who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders when he perhaps doesn’t really need to.  With his high level powers, The Flash also needs some big stories.  On top of that, I think he has one of the most interesting rogues galleries in comics, who are equally important to get right.  Bring in Slott, he can handle all that and more.  Top it off with pencils laid down by Humberto Ramos, one of my favourite artists, who has not only worked with Slott before but has worked with a DC Comics speedster before and has a wealth of experience in drawing energetic, high octane action scenes and I think you have a real winner.  Bring in Lucas on inks, with a diverse history of work and the ability to bring out the best in every artist he’s worked with (check out Red Sonja for some wonderful ink work) and then throw in Michael Spicer, who has blown me away with his colour work on The Tithe, being able to bring the right palette for a scene’s mood and this would be a must buy for me.

 

Gotham Academy

Keep this one short and sweet.  It’s a title I don’t currently read, I would like to get started on it at some point but my pull list simply doesn’t have space on it for a book I’m only mildly interested in.  Point is, I know a few people who do read it, and they love it.  I’ve seen the response to it online to and it’s found it’s market, why change it?  Obviously the title would grow and evolve as time went on, but as far as the creative team goes keep it as it is right now.

 

Green Arrow

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: Rahsan Ekedal (Pencils & Inks)
                Jordie Bellaire (Colours)

Let’s take Green Arrow away from the darkness, let’s bring him back into the left wing everyman role he used to hold but with a bit of a twist.  We see him doing the superhero thing, yes, because he is a superhero and people would expect that.  But let’s have him taking down “evil” corporations through various forms of espionage.  Maybe they’re corporations that have got shady business practices, maybe they’re extorting less fortunate people in and around Star City, maybe it’s not the whole business he goes for every time but a key player within their organisation.  Play around with something like that, and if it goes in that kind of direction I’d like to see Brubaker on it.  Don’t give him that silly hat back though, keep to the hood.  But give him the goatee back.  Anyway, Rahsan Ekedal on pencils and inks because he’s a badass artist and has done a lot of work on comics based in urban environments already and I find his art to be very relatable, something I’d say the whole book would need to be.  And Jordie Bellaire on colours because I’d wager a fair bit of the book would be taking place at night, at least the superhero side of it would, and Jordie is very good at dark, slightly muted action scenes but can really bring out quiet moments with just the right colours.  Oh, get him back together with Black Canary too, DC!

 

Green Lanterns

Writer: Devin Grayson
Artists: Ryan Stegman (Pencils)
                Norm Rapmund (Inks)
                Bill Baumann (Colours)

If what I’ve heard and can gather myself from what little we’ve been teased for Rebirth, Jessica Cruz is about to get a power ring upgrade away from the sentient and psychotic ring she has in Justice League right now and will be joining the Corps for real.  It’s a good move, and makes sense from a story standpoint, if she can resist the fear induced by Power Ring then she should be perfect for the Green Lantern Corps.  She’s going to need someone to take her under their wing, teach her the ropes.  Why not John Stewart?  He’s a cool, calm and level headed Lantern who’s not only seen major conflict with the Lanterns but is an ex-marine, he’s seen it all and has a lot to offer a new Lantern.  So we’ll have Jess who’s still unsure of herself, had a tough entry point into life as a superhero with Power Ring trying to take her over, being mentored by John.  I say give it to Devin Grayson, and if you require some solid evidence as to why, go read Nightwing: Renegade.  Ryan Stegman on art for his overall brilliance, Norm Rapmund for his experience with DC characters and larger than life characters and Baumann on colours for his stellar work on Green Lantern books previously.

 

Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps

Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artists: Ethan van Sciver (Pencils)
                Marlo Alquiza (Inks)
                Bill Baumann (Colours)

I’m not sure exactly what direction to take with this one, I don’t think Hal should be put back into a leadership role within the Corps, it’s been done already.  What would be more interesting is having him in a position where he’s got no jurisdiction restrictions, especially since 2814 is in hand with Jess and John, if we place Guy back into an honour guard position in the Corps then I think we can use Hal as a free roaming officer, going where he’s needed the most with a small team of his choice and teaming up with local Lanterns wherever he goes.  Brian Azzarello is very good at telling big stories, being mindful of what’s come before but also being unafraid to do something a bit different.  Ethan van Sciver is the only artist I’d want on a Hal Jordan book, team him up with Alquiza as they did such a phenomenal job on Rebirth and have Baumann on this GL title too to help keep everything tied up and coherent visually.

 

Harley Quinn

I know these entries might seem a little cheap and cheat-like, but can we please keep the creative team on Harley Quinn as it is right now?  It’s one of my favourite books on the shelf each month, Palmiotti and Conner are absolutely perfect for spinning new and interesting tales for Quinn and they’ve successfully taken her away from her tiresome dependence on the Joker.  Couple all of that with the wonderful relationship they’ve fleshed out between Harley and Ivy and frankly I see nothing that needs to change here at all.

 

The Hellblazer

Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Ray Fawkes

Let’s go full blown weird, fucked up John Constantine book.  Let’s not be afraid to explore his bi-sexuality, meet weird and interesting people and really allow him to grow as a character.  Bennett is the one for this, bringing this kind of story telling to many of her titles before.  Art wise, Ray Fawkes entirely painted, bringing an eerie style to a book already potentially packed with weird story beats and this one would be a real winner for me.

 

Justice League

Writer: Paul Dini
Artists: Emanuela Lupacchino (Pencils)
                Ray McCarthy (Inks)
                Hi-Fi (Colours)

Big name writer with an extreme amount of talent and clear love of the DC Universe, Paul Dini could reach such heights with a Justice League title and is one of the few writers I’d genuinely trust with such an incredible cast on a flagship title.  Lupacchino on pencils because she’s fucking awesome and I will not have anyone say otherwise.  There is simply no argument anyone can make here that would make me change my mind.  Ray McCarthy on inks, having already worked on Lupacchino’s pencils during Supergirl: Crucible I already know it would look stunning.  Hi-Fi on colour, every time I see Lupacchino and Hi-Fi on a cover I get excited because it just works so well.  This creative team would result in a series of incredible stories wrapped up in a beautiful, colourful comic.  As for the team line up, I would say Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.

 

Justice League America

Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: Maria Laura Sanapo (Pencils & Inks)
                Edgar Delgado (Colours)

Ok so, one thing I’d want to make clear from the start, this should not be exactly the same team as Justice League but telling a different story.  Justice League of America should be effectively the B team.  Not to take anything away from the characters or creators involved, but JLA should be a huge rotating cast of characters from arc to arc, with regular guests.  It would open up so many avenues and keep many currently fading characters relevant.  Maybe have a few mainstays but and have one of the main League members pop in every now and then and by all means have it cross over with Justice League, but don’t take the piss.  Just do it when you’ve got a really good story to tell, for the most part they should be able to exist on their own.  Creative team wise, Mark Waid can handle multiple characters and, given the room to do what he wants, can pull out some truly incredible stories.  Sanapo is a wonderful artist and I really hope she starts getting more work from either Marvel or DC, why not thrust her into the limelight with a book like this?  Having been on several issues of DC’s Bombshells we know Sanapo can handle an ensemble book.  Delgado on colours, I will simply point to the beautifully coloured Extraordinary X-Men as my argument here.

 

And that’s part two, what you think?  Monday evening I’ll be rolling out part three which will be the final 12 titles coming from DC starting with Nightwing and ending on Wonder Woman.  The most important title for me will be in Monday’s post and yes, I already know exactly who I’d want to see on the title in all roles but you’ll have to wait and see.