Batwing and Birds of Prey Both Cancelled

[nepenthes]

It's long past time for these books, especially BoP which was absolutely gutted by the (non-existent) conclusion of the first arc, failure to retain its artists and then the unceremonious jettisoning of its most appealing characters, Starling and Ivy. The series had absolutely nothing after that.

Batwing went from being a the first book to star an non-American Batman, and an African at that, to a book that existed to filll the niche that Nightwing traditionally occupied - the friendly neighbourhood Bat dude. Now that Dick's out of the doldrums and onto brighter things we don't need a knock-off hanging around and Gray and Palmiotti are free to do better things elsewhere. Catwoman or even better, and Batman Incorporated book would be right up their alley.

So is that four titles that Eternal has effectively replaced now? Dark Knight, Talon, BoP and Batwing.

[NewMutant]

Think this will happen after Grayson ends as a Secret Agent and returns to being a costumed vigilante, Helena will take the mantle of Huntress.

Yes please.

[oheysteenz]

The only thing I liked about N52 Birds of Prey was Starling. It was cool to see a NEW character that was actually interesting! But other than that they story was just lacking. -_-

[beetlebum]

After the changing of the mantle, I'm indifferent on what happened to Batwing. And Birds of Prey just didn't click for me.

It is a shame that all of DC's titles that are led by minorities beyond white women (WW, Batwoman, Harley, etc.) can't seem to survive. However, this should tell DC that if they are going to push for diversity, they need the book to be above and beyond the rest. And they need to shove the book down people's throats via advertising/hype.

But they only save that type of push for two characters: Batman and Superman.

Technically, Kate is a minority herself in several aspects.

The first of which being she's an ethnoreligious minority (Jewish) and a sexual minority as well (lesbian).

However, I get your point that it's unfair that some books get to survive, while others don't.

I wish Batwing could have gotten a bigger audience, but I admit to losing interest in it when David Zavimbe stopped being Batwing. Same thing with the whole making Ev Crawford an evil, traitorous bisexual, as -- not only did that story reinforce negative perceptions of biphobia -- but it also gave me the impression that the book was now beholden to shoddy writing and it was time to abandon ship.

Hopefully Batwing will continue to make several appearances in other books and they can redeem Ev Crawford someday. But for now, cancelling both Batwing and Birds seems like a mercy killing, if we're being honest.

[Eivion]

Really disappointed about ASW's cancellation. It was consistently a top five DC book for me.

I lost interest in Batwing the second they changed the lead.

[Punisher007]

If they relaunched BOP with a different creative team and a clearer direction, then maybe it could succeed again. Give it to someone like Jeff Lemire, or Charles Soule, or even Marjorie Liu (she's not doing anything at Marvel at the moment) and the let them do their thing. I actually liked Strix on the team, but I agree that Condor was annoying and that getting rid of Ivy and Starling were two big mistakes. I lost interest in Batwing when they unceremoniously dumped David and then flat-out insulted him and his fans to boot. You essentially removed the uniqueness of the book right then and there, which was the big thing that made it interesting in the first place.

[Dylan Davison]

If they relaunched BOP with a different creative team and a clearer direction, then maybe it could succeed again. Give it to someone like Jeff Lemire, or Charles Soule, or even Marjorie Liu (she's not doing anything at Marvel at the moment) and the let them do their thing. I actually liked Strix on the team, but I agree that Condor was annoying and that getting rid of Ivy and Starling were two big mistakes. I lost interest in Batwing when they unceremoniously dumped David and then flat-out insulted him and his fans to boot. You essentially removed the uniqueness of the book right then and there, which was the big thing that made it interesting in the first place.

While I did not care for the new writer, I don't think she was fully to blame as well. Editors were telling them what stories to write, how to write them and what should be in them. When editors have that much control its bound to cause problem. I actually understand some people liked the new person writing from other stuff she has done. As even the people who disliked Duane's BoP run love his other works. While they both had there problems, I am not sure full blame is on them.

But I myself was a fan of the Duane run.

[SpOck]

While I did not care for the new writer, I don't think she was fully to blame as well. Editors were telling them what stories to write, how to write them and what should be in them. When editors have that much control its bound to cause problem. I actually understand some people liked the new person writing from other stuff she has done. As even the people who disliked Duane's BoP run love his other works. While they both had there problems, I am not sure full blame is on them.

But I myself was a fan of the Duane run.

I also like Duane's run. It's just sad that he was held back so much by editorial, because he's a great writer. If you don't believe me, check out Judge Dredd at IDW. It's so good.

[Arnoldoaad]

Seriously, I don't even know how Batwing was able to survive for so long with its abysmal numbers, DC really wanted this title to last.

Because it had ¨Bat¨ in the title
that helped

I do so hope they relaunch Birds of Prey with a writer who is able to tell capable stories without so much editorial interference.

very few writer would had been able to do a good job with such a huge editorial interference
It was not this writer´s fault

Really disappointed about ASW's cancellation. It was consistently a top five DC book for me.

I lost interest in Batwing the second they changed the lead.

I completely agree with this, Im going to miss ASW more than the other 2 and Batwing lost me when they brought Luke in out of nowhere

this with the addition of his involvement on Batman Eternal might indicate that his days could be counted

[Dylan Davison]

I also like Duane's run. It's just sad that he was held back so much by editorial, because he's a great writer. If you don't believe me, check out Judge Dredd at IDW. It's so good.

Oh I believe you. I love X from Dark Horse!

[Robotman]

BoP relaunch with Helena B please.

Hells yes! Add Helena Bertanelli and Vixen.

[Punisher007]

So I ask yet again, why are they still calling it the New 52? It's not new and there haven't been 52 titles for awhile now. As for the possible replacement books:

1. Black Canary (bring her back to the awesome badass that she was pre-reboot).

2. Zatanna (the dark line needs more books and she could be the face of it).

3. Shazam (still waiting on that one Johns).

4. New BOP (give it to someone like Jeff Lemire, or Charles Soule, or Marjorie Liu and then let them do their thing).

5. Red Robin (Tim Drake needs more love in the New 52).

6. Poison Ivy (she's got the potential to be DC's version of Magneto, plus she's just cool).

[Dylan Davison]

I said this other places, but now is the time to give Ivy her own ongoing! The way Gail left her was great for a ongoing. Or at least on a team book.

[Diggy]

Surprised they all lasted this long. Oh well, they had a good run. RIP.

[RobinFan4880]

So I ask yet again, why are they still calling it the New 52? It's not new and there haven't been 52 titles for awhile now. As for the possible replacement books:

1. Black Canary (bring her back to the awesome badass that she was pre-reboot).

2. Zatanna (the dark line needs more books and she could be the face of it).

3. Shazam (still waiting on that one Johns).

4. New BOP (give it to someone like Jeff Lemire, or Charles Soule, or Marjorie Liu and then let them do their thing).

5. Red Robin (Tim Drake needs more love in the New 52).

6. Poison Ivy (she's got the potential to be DC's version of Magneto, plus she's just cool).

For the same reason Marvel is branding their things "Marvel NOW!" - it is a catchy name that has captured the imagination of the public.

Before the cancellations DC was putting out 51 issues a month. After these cancellations (and Unchained, Suicide Squad, Nightwing,Teen Titans and Larfleeze), we will be down to 40. We will pick up five new titles (Infinity Man, Grayson, New Suicide Squad, New Teen Titans and Star Spangled War Stories) and a weekly, so that is +6 issues a month, which puts the total to 49*. This is not including any annuals, miniseries or event books (which do count towards the 52 total).

Regardless, DC does not need to maintain an arbitrary 52 total comic books. They don't even have to be in the ballpark. The 52 deal could easily be hand waived as actually meaning the New 52 multiverses (which will now be explored more fully).


*Technically we will get 4.334 weekly titles a month since there are 4 extra weeks in a year above and beyond the simple 4 weeks x 12 Months math would imply.