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    Top 10 Most Interesting Stories to Come Out of the DC Relaunch

    We're a third of the way through DC's New 52 relaunched titles and Comics Bulletin has put together the top news stories that have come out of the event.

    • 10. GD Gate

      10. GD Gate

      In a nutshell, the owner of a comic shop in North Carolina took offense to a single panel of Action Comics #1 where Superman says "gd." The owner took this to be an instance of Superman taking the Lord's name in vain and proposed a boycott of Action and writer Grant Morrison. Weirdly, the owner of the shop went out of his way to say he was okay with the uber-offensive Garth Ennis titles Crossed and Preacher, which prompted Reddit's comicbooks subreddit to create the image seen above, which compares a page of Crossed to a page of Action. However, all was cleared up when Grant Morrison took to DC's official blog to say that the "gd" was in fact a sound effect and by no means religious in any way, shape or form, thus ending what will hopefully be the dumbest controversy to happen in comics this year.

    • 9. "Flashpoint Lady"

      9. "Flashpoint Lady"

      After Justice League #1 came out, observant readers noticed that the hooded woman from the finale of Flashpoint had a mysterious appearance in the title. Soon, comic news sites were running the rumor that the "Flashpoint lady" would be appearing in every single first issue of the New 52 and readers everywhere began looking for her appearances. Theories abound about what the presence of "Flashpoint lady" even means with the most widespread being that she's a deus ex machina for DC in case their relaunch fails and they need to return their titles to their status quo. Others have suggested she's going to play a part in the first "event" in the new DCU.

    • 8. Justice League #1: Best Selling Comic of 2011?

      8. Justice League #1: Best Selling Comic of 2011?

      DC has already began trumpeting the success of their relaunch, claiming that Justice League #1 is the "best selling comic of 2011" and stating that several other #1's have gone past the 100k sales mark. There's no questioning that the relaunch has driven the company's highest sales in some time, but are they correct in stating that Justice League is the highest selling comic of the year? Well, it turns out how you define "comics," as one manga managed to make DC's numbers look paltry earlier this year. In August, the 63rd volume of the wildly popular manga One Piece managed to sell 2.1 million copies in 4 DAYS. That feat goes to show how much farther the Big Two have to go before they even come close to reaching the numbers of the most popular manga.

    • 7. DC Starts Advertising on TV

      7. DC Starts Advertising on TV

      In order to get the word out about the New 52, DC took the bold step of paying for tv ads and even giving retailers incentives to run the ads in their areas. It was an unusual step for the publishers, as historically comic companies have eschewed television advertising. But many found the ads to be curiously sterile, as the dialogue free, music heavy spots were light on the excitement, instead just showing pages from the comics in a slightly animated style.

    • 6. 2ManyFirestorms

      6. 2ManyFirestorms

      The early buzz on the relaunch was that it was a rushed affair, a move by a desperate publisher that knew it had to take a big gamble to reignite interest in its titles. One of the early victims of that rush was Brian Clevinger, the creator behind popular indie title Atomic Robo, who was offered Firestorm for at least six issues and even paid for his first script. Unbeknownst to Clevinger, DC had also told Gail Simone that they wanted her to take a stab at the character and present a pitch in competition with Clevinger, who she was informed knew he was competing for the title.  After the fact, the two creators spoke to each other and were surprised to learn that they'd both been misled. Neither has hard feelings towards each other over the incident, but Clevinger was left frustrated by DC's behavior.

    • 5. Retailers Take Advantage of the Relaunch to Rip Off New Customers

      5. Retailers Take Advantage of the Relaunch to Rip Off New Customers

      While much of the talk about the DC relaunch has centered around what it could mean for local comic shop owners, particularly the digital plan DC unveiled to go along with the event, some retailers have taken this as an opportunity to confirm some people's worst fears about comic shops. Reports have been coming in about retailers overcharging customers for relaunch titles based on what the books are already going for on ebay. It's the type of thing many are familiar with from the speculator boom era of comicdom, in the '90s, but it's nonetheless a baffling bit of behavior from retailers trying to get sympathy for their dwindling business.

    • 4. Batwoman's Epic Gestation

      4. Batwoman's Epic Gestation

      Even before the relaunch, Batwoman was a hotly anticipated title that fans continued to eagerly await the release of. But after Batwoman #0 was released, DC suddenly put on the brakes and decided that Batwoman would be shelved until the relaunch, allowing the book's creator J.H. Williams III time to get a headstart. Now that the relaunch has begun, we'll finally be seeing this book and the only question that will remain is whether the wait was worth it. We've got our fingers crossed.

    • 3. Batman: The Dark Knight Reboot Gets Rebooted Again

      3. Batman: The Dark Knight Reboot Gets Rebooted Again

      Notoriously deadline averse superstar artist David Finch was running into issues getting Batman: The Dark Knight out on time prior to the relaunch and already it looks like he's having issues keeping the book on schedule. As the writer and artist on the book, Finch has at least been up front about being the reason why the book struggled to come out on time at the beginning of 2011 and now solicits are showing that Paul Jenkins will be joining as co-writer on issue 2. The whole affair has left some fans concerned, especially since DC has mandated that its creative teams have three issues in the can immediately and Finch has had trouble enough with one. Which is probably why the series, already a reboot pre-relaunch, is being rebuilt.

    • 2. Creative Team Musical Chairs

      2. Creative Team Musical Chairs

      But Dark Knight isn't the only title going through creative problems. Several of the new relaunch titles will see their creative teams shifting after their first issue, with Mister Terrific facing the most problems as it's already gone through three solicited art teams. Similarly struggling are Swamp Thing, Action Comics, Green Lantern Corps, and Voodoo, which will have changes to their teams with issue 3. It's probably not the kind of start DC was hoping to have and the consistency issues could have some affect on the series' success with new fans.

    • 1. Batgirl Takes on DC's Girl Problems

      1. Batgirl Takes on DC's Girl Problems

      Of course the biggest story of the relaunch is how one female fan took on DC directly at SDCC back in July. The fan, who goes by the name Kyrax2, questioned DC's top figures during panels at SDCC about the lack of female creators on the relaunched titles. The story soon spread around the comic news sites and turned Kyrax2 into a folk hero of sorts for fans wondering the same thing. Soon after, DC responded with a press release promising that more female creators would be involved with upcoming projects, but outside of Nicola Scott's collaboration with James Robinson on JSA and Amy Reed's work on Batwoman, DC has yet to come through. Kyrax2, however, will soon be speaking at a panel at Geek Girl Con in Seattle alongside Gail Simone and has joined Comics Bulletin as a columnist.