DC Introducing Four New Books, Three More Books Getting the Boot

And The New 52 continues apace!

We will say this: we like how DC has planned ahead on possible cancellations, with books getting tied up in other titles. For example, fans of Mr. Terrific can find out what he’s up to in “Earth 2″ (currently, getting his ass handed to him by Terry Sloan). That said, it’s a little sad that books like “OMAC” and “Mr. Terrific” got turfed.

Anyway, what’s replacing “JLI”, and three other titles which haven’t been announced yet, but which we can guess from the announcements?

• “Talon”, a “Night of the Owls” spin-off, but at least it’s an original property and, even better, written by Scott Snyder.
• “Sword and Sorcery”, starring obscure and weird ’80s character Amethyst.
• “Phantom Stranger”, and apparently they are going with the whole “he’s a repenting Judas Iscariot” backstory. And, hey, the Spectre’s in it! Likely this will be setup for that Trinity event they have coming in 2013.
• And “Team Seven”, which DC’s been teasing for a while, featuring Steve Trevor, Amanda Waller, and John Lynch as the Three Nick Furies, with Black Canary, Deathstroke, Grifter, and Slaphammer (OK, Alex Fairchild, but “Slaphammer” is funnier to say). They’re called by their “civilian” names in the press release, so we’re assuming this is an espionage book.

DC won’t confirm what’s going by the boards, but frankly, out of this list, it’s not that hard to guess that “Grifter” and “Deathstroke” are kaput; this isn’t the ’90s, we doubt DC thinks they can carry solo books and a team book. As for “Sword and Sorcery”, something tells us not to get too attached to “Demon Knights”, especially now that Vandal Savage is getting his very own “Silence of the Lambs” in “DC Comics Presents”.

We’ll see come September.

image courtesy DC Comics