Dan DiDio Out, Siskoid In

This week on Great Ceasar's Post, Maxo responded to yet another round of rumors that Dan DiDio would be canned from his position as DC Comics Editor-in-Chief by asking where we'd personally take DC (not that I think he's doing a particularly bad job). Playing editor is just my thing! I did it once before in a post that tried to come up with a Final Crisis strategy. It's almost a year later and you know, those ideas still seem good to me. But let's go further this time:

I would still call for a Final Reboot and ask writers to tie up storylines before the end of FC, still publish Reboot Month, still have characters' rebooted backstories detailed there without requiring any character to be reset at Year 1, and still launch every new series about an established character with a Reboot Special. Details HERE.

In addition...

-Publish a new version of Who's Who that takes the new history into account, with special minis to come for pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, post-Zero Hour, post-Infinite Crisis continuity (like Marvel Universe has done with decades).

-Keep events to families of books à la Sinestro War. Enough with the major crossovers. Make the Final Crisis truly Final for the foreseeable future.

-Better editing, definitely. Continuity between titles is very poor at the moment.

-We all have our own biases as far as artists, writers and characters go, so obviously, there are some people I wouldn't be giving work to - Benes, Meltzer, Starlin, Daniel, etc. - and others I'd try to attract from the competition: Fraction, Brubaker, Romita Jr.

-Flagship titles deserve the very best creators. No crap, and no stunts (i.e. non-comics writers).

-More Omnibus-format books, possibly with soft covers. Higher end than Showcases, lower end than hardcovers. (NOT EVERYTHING REQUIRES COLLECTED HARDCOVER TREATMENT!)

-The split between DC and Vertigo needs to be repaired. Not only do I see no problem with Vertigo stars appearing in DC books, I think it would oil the wheels for crossovers in the other direction. Vertigo needs an injection of new blood in addition to creator-owned projects.

-Get into that digital comics racket all the kids are talking about these days.

-Tie creators more closely to their books. When a creative team puts a definitive stamp on a title, why keep it going after it has left? Take for example the decline in both quality and interest in All-New Atom after Gail Simone left. Is Blue Beetle on its way there as well? The Darwyinless Spirit? Why take the risk? Ending the series (indeed, considering it a "limited" maxi-series) opens the schedule up to new projects and keeps the property open for either a properly planned relaunch or the creative team's return in mini-series or specials to continue the story. So I know people are sad to see Catwoman canceled, but if Pfeiffer was going to leave anyway, I would have to approve. (Obviously, this isn't a scheme for DC's big properties.)

-DC's recognizable properties (i.e. that have been successful in other media or are part of the cultural zeitgeist) should be kept in print as much as possible and given strong attention: And yes, that means Supergirl too.

Now for some notes on individual titles...

-Cancel and never again resurrect: Batman and the Outsiders, Titans (only needs one monthly), Infinity Inc., all those Confidential books, Superman/Batman.

-JLA: Off-track. Needs to be bigger and bolder, closer to both Morrison's run and the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. Leave the soap opera in X-Men where it belongs and make this an event book. Maybe then there won't be a need for extreme tonnage in event mini-series all year round.

-Teen Titans: This family of titles has gotten so far off track that we're better off reseting it entirely post-FC. If it could have a Year One vibe, that would be great.

-Flash: Hard to say before FC wraps up, but I wouldn't mind bringing Barry Allen back and retiring Wally, or rebooting him to Kid-Flash status for my rebooted Titans book. CSI with superheroics. Let's do it already.

-Legion of Super-Heroes: We'll see how the Legion Crisis shakes up the book, but I wouldn't mind the 80s Legion back in full force as per Geoff Johns' vision.

-Checkmate: Replaced by Suicide Squad. Now.

-Batgirl: Sorry, we don't need Cassandra. A book staring Barbara Gordon before The Killing Joke would be great, however. As the current Batman Confidential story arc shows.

-Shazam!: Jeff Smith needs to come back for more. (Though I'll gladly give Mike Kunkel's new series a chance. Captain Marvel really needs to show some face on the racks.)

-Aquaman: The real one, as policeman of the seas, please. Enough with the blond Namor trope.

-Hawkman: With continuity as confused as the Legion's, the Hawks need to be rebooted as the sexy married couple Kubert used to draw in the Silver Age.

-Also worthy of an ongoing series: New Frontier, something relating to the 7 Soldiers, Swamp Thing. I might also get behind Doom Patrol, Blackhawk and the Question (especially if it's a rebooted Vic Sage).

-Limbo characters I would like to see given a shot (either in DC or Vertigo mini/maxi): Green Team, Global Guardians, Prez, Slam Bradley, some would say Wild Dog is primed for a comeback.
What would you do?