52 Pick Up: Analyzing DC's New 52 Creative Team Strategies So Far

     There are reports today that DC is doing some shuffling of creative teams around the New 52. This should come as no surprise, it is not as if the creative teams set forth in the initial announcements were set in stone. Just a few issues into the DCnU we saw changes announced on Green Arrow, Superman, and others. This time, however, things are a little higher profile. DC has taken two of the biggest writers in their stable and shifted them to two moderately successful titles. Newsarama is reporting that Peter Milligan (Red Lanterns, Justice League Dark) is taking over the soon-to-be Paul Cornell-less StormWatch with issue #9. Meanwhile, Comic Book Resources reveals that Milligan's old book, Justice League Dark, will be taken over by Jeff Lemire (Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Animal Man) that same month. UPDATE: Matt Kindt will be taking the reigns from Lemire on Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

     These are notable changes because, while earlier creative team changes dealt with under performing books, StormWatch and Justice League Dark were two of the more intriguing books of the New 52. On top of that, moving Milligan and Lemire represents the most high profile shifts in DC's creative teams so far. Until now, the biggest names to trade books were Keith Giffen and Rob Liefeld, one a beloved industry veteran and the other is, well, Rob Liefeld.

     The question, then, is: What does DC's creative team shuffling mean in the context of the New 52? It's difficult to say, really. Every move made by the company so far has been countered by seemingly contradictory choices. For example, earlier this month it was announced that China Mieville was writing a Dial H series for DC, but then the company followed that with the announcement that Rob Liefeld would be taking over three (!) books. Really, I don't mean to harp on Liefeld so much. I know its the trendy thing to do but I have nothing against him. All I am saying is that is that I had hoped to see more of the former than the latter in the world of DC's New 52.

     The reality is that DC's New 52 creative team policies have been a little hard to nail down so far. Some of the first replacement creative teams felt like they were more out of convenience than artistic direction. I like Giffen quite a bit, but Green Arrow and Superman are not really the kind of books I would have him to sink his teeth into. Meanwhile, Ann Nocenti, who will take over for Giffen on Green Arrow in March, seems like a politically motivated hire—attempting to appease the crowd that complained about the lack of female creative talent in the New 52. (That is, by no means, a knock on Nocenti. It's just an observation on DC's creative team strategies.)

     I guess the message here is that five months and a handful of creative team changes have not really given us a complete picture of the shuffling method the Powers-that-be-at-DC are using. There have been some troubling moves and some promising ones. Hopefully we continue to see a more consistent theme over the lifespan of the New 52 than we have seen so far.