Top 10: DC Relaunch Titles

Recently, I found myself at FanExpo with a buddy myself. I spent quite a bit of time trying to convince him to get back into comics, and one of the conversations that came up was about the cool new books in the DC relaunch. Now that we're only a week away from Montreal's own ComicCon, I thought I'd give you comic fans out there my Top 10 list of books you should be checking out in the relaunch (in no particular order).

#1 Action Comics - Grant Morrison wrote an absolutely amazing Superman story already with "All-Star Superman" and now's his chance to play with Superman in the actual DCU proper.

#2 Wonder Woman - Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang are two amazing talents; they've described the book as a mythological horror, which is EXACTLY what I've been wanting from Wonder Woman forever. At Fanexpo, Azzarello said he had a specific story in mind that he wanted to tell, so I'm guessing his run won't be too long. I'm glad it's going to have a proper beginning, middle and end.

#3 Batman - Scott Snyder's Detective Comics pre-reboot was absolutely amazing, and his Batman looks just as good. I'm a little upset that Jock and Francesco Francavilla aren't going to continue working with him, but the art I've seen from Greg Capullo looks absolutely amazing.

#4 Swamp Thing - This is going to be another one by Scott Snyder, and I've yet to read anything by him that I haven't completely loved. He's easily one of the best new talents to come along in years, and everything he writes is an absolute must buy.

#5 Frankenstein - Jeff Lemire wrote a Frankenstein mini during Flashpoint and it was one of the best things that the event produced. I haven't read "Flashpoint #5" yet, but it seems like some stuff that happened is going to carry forward, Frankenstein included. I'm really, really excited for more Frankenstein.

#6 All-Star Western - This basically sounds like the new Jonah Hex book; the same writers are involved here so there's no reason to expect anything less than something fantastic. Moritat is drawing this too and I've loved his work on Elephantmen; I can't wait to see him draw Hex and an old timey Gotham.

#7 Stormwatch - Aside from the last arc of Action Comics, Paul Cornell has never let me down. This book is bringing some never before seen characters into the DCU (Wildstorm's Stormwatch) and partnering them with one of my favourite DC characters, Martian Manhunter. I don't fully know how this is going to play out yet, since DC been fairly quiet about all the new series, but they seem to be a new team meant to police the new superheroes.

#8 Animal Man - Like Swamp Thing, this book is tied in to the "Dark" side of the DCU. Jeff Lemire is writing this, too. Apparently, the series will focus a lot on Buddy Baker's family, and if Jeff Lemire is good at one thing, it's family dynamics (aside from small-towns and hockey). The "Dark" section of the DCU is easily the segment I'm most excited for.

#9 Blackhawks - Mike Costa wrote the amazing G.I. Joe Cobra series that focused on the black ops side of the G.I. Joe universe, so I'm sure he's going to write a great black ops DC book. One of the things I'm most excited about in the new DCU is that there are more non-superhero books than before (although still not enough for my tastes).

#10 Justice League Dark - I'm not really excited about the new Justice League book, despite the all-star team of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, but JL: Dark? That, I'm super excited for. Deadman, Shade, Constantine and more mystical DC people on one team? In the corner of the universe I'm most excited for? Yeah, I'll be getting this.

-Ryan "Gobo" Closs