DC Renumbers Again in September, Launches Four New Series

DC Comics' New 52 continues to evolve, with the line celebrating its first anniversary with a month full of flashback "zero issues," as well as four new series launching - including one written by the creator of Jem and the Holograms. Admit it; you really didn't see that one coming.September will see all of DC's superhero titles renumber once again, this time only temporarily, to #0, for stand-alone stories set before the beginning of each series. "Some issues will tell the origins of a character or team, or in some case[s] where an origin has already been told, they will fill in the blanks in terms of questions readers may have about the New 52 DC Universe," Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras explained on the official DCU blog, adding "Each of these issues promises to reveal something surprising."

It'd be hard for any issue to be as surprising as discovering that Christy Marx, veteran comic, cartoon and video game writer (and creator of Jem and The Holograms) is writing a reboot of 1980s YA fantasy title Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld for one of DC's four new September titles, however. Marx' Amethyst will be appearing in new anthology title Sword of Sorcery alongside a revival of DC's 1970s Beowulf fantasy series by Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz, while the three other new series spin out of existing storylines from other titles: Batman's "Night of The Owls" crossover will result in a new Talon series by co-writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV with artist Guillem March; the ongoing mystery surrounding Pandora will continue to unravel in The Phantom Stranger by Dan Didio and Brent Anderson, with Justin Jordan and Jesus Merino's Team Seven will feature flashback adventures of an anti-Superman team of operatives including Steve Trevor, Amanda Waller and Dinah Lance.

Of course, four new series mean that four current series will end to make room in the schedule. So far, only Justice League International is known to be concluding; talking to Newsarama, DC co-publisher Dan Didio suggested that the three other titles being canceled haven't yet been identified: "At this time," he said, "we're looking at reviewing the rest of the line." According to unconfirmed reports, September's "zero month" will feature more than 52 titles, with the cancellations taking effect afterward.