DC’s New Female Driven Titles May Get Them Back on my Pull List

I’ve said it before, but I sort of unceremoniously dropped DC around the time of the New 52. I wonder if I did the right thing, but then Marc Andreyko called the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell aspect of Kate Kane’s backstory dated and I felt the rage go again.

However, DC’s got several Bat books coming out in the fall that may have me adding them to my weekly pull list.

First off is Gotham Academy, a teen drama set at the titular school. Not much is known about the series outside of that, but they had me at teen drama in Gotham. Well, rather, they had me at Becky Cloonan co-writing the series with Brenden Fletcher with Karl Kerschl on art. I’m kind of sad that Cloonan isn’t doing the art as well because her one shot stories have shook me to my core, but Fletcher’s art for the first cover is pretty adorable and probably way more appropriate for the series.

Also in the fall, Genevieve Valentine is taking over for Catwoman starting with #35. It’ll be her first comic book, but Valentine caught my attention with her novel Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti. It was a weird and beautiful book about a circus at the end of the world that earned Valentine a Nebula nomination. Plus, I always appreciate women writing stories about women in comics. Not to mention that Garry Brown’s art doesn’t seem as… umm… disproportionate?

It seems like the biggest news of all came today though in the new Batgirl announcement. The bad news is that Gail Simone is leaving the comic to pursue other projects at DC (which have not been announced yet). She’ll be replaced by the previously mentioned Fletcher and Cameron Stewart, who’s writing work I’ve never read, so I’m not sure how to feel about it. From everything they’ve said though, their take on the series does sound like a lot of fun and something I should totally be reading.

The definitely good news is that two awesome ladies are taking over on art. Babs Tarr (who I previously mentioned in my HeroesCon post as the creator of the Bosozoku Sailor Scouts) is taking over on art with the ever fabulous Jordie Bellarie on colors. I have to admit, I’m most excited about Tarr’s design for Barbara’s new uniform. IT’S SO CUTE AND PRACTICAL. IT’S NOT SPANDEX! I MIGHT ACTUALLY COSPLAY THIS AT SOME POINT.

Of course, I’m sure there will be plenty of boys complaining. They’re probably the same that acted like Carol Danvers had been ruined forever when Jamie McKelvie redesigned her uniform. I just hope both of these Babs will get plenty of support otherwise.

All of these comics will hit the shelves in October, where I’m sure to give my thoughts on their first issues. I’m not sure if DC has me back all the way, but I look forward to giving these new teams a shot.