The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#215) -- DC Reboot

Last Friday you posted your reboot of the Marvel universe. What about 

the DC reboot? What would your version of that have looked like?

Personally, I would have loved to see the New 52 as a way of breaking from the silver age just as it broke from the golden age, and keep the names and replace the heroes completely (keeping some of the already third or fourth generation ones already established, such as Wally and Kyle and the new Blue Beetle).

In light of that, I was thinking that (and this would be radical indeed and either win me publisher of the year or get me run out of town on a rail) the New 52 should have included:

Superman - with Superman permanently off-planet and his costume and role being usurped by Shazam or Apollo

Batman - the son of Kirk Langston, more Manbat than Batman, but with all his intellect intact, under the watchcare and training of Nightwing, Dick Grayson, against the Ghul Organization run by Damion Wayne

Wonder Woman - Donna Troy, the cosmic defender of the universe, so gifted by the Titans of Greek Mythology

Green Lantern - Kyle and Bleez, leading a new Corp of all colors, and with the Guardians at his beck and call, kept in a jar like Candor
 

Flash - Wally, just doing his thing

The Metal Men - A group of androids from the Victorian era are resurrected by the souls of dead heroes of the silver age (Hal Jordon, Barry Allen, Kara, Ollie, and Tora)

Challengers of Doom - when an accident erases both the Challengers and the Doom Patrol from existence, their significant others and spouses and kids band together to track them down, come hell or high water

Primal Force - Jack O'Lantern, Mind Bender, Letifos, Damage, Wylde, and Katana explore the dark edges of the DC universe

Birds of Prey - Hawk, Dove, Hawkgirl, and Red Robin on the chase for the assassin known only as Hawkman
 
The Books of Magic - featuring Deadman (a suicidal teen who kills himself to temporarily become ghostlike), Kid Faust (the preteen granddaughter of Felix Faust), Ragman, Zatana, and The Enchantress (June Moon's daughter) on a quest to destroy all magic in the DCU in order to save the future of the world from Trigon and his army of demons

Red Robin and the Outsiders - Red Hood, Red Robin, Nightwing, Azrael, Batwing, The Spoiler, The Huntress (Cassie Cain) and the new Batman harness the power of the Wayne Foundation to fight super-powered terrorism on a global scale.

The Justice Society - featuring Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle and the Tangent Universe Joker

The Joker - featuring the Tangent Universe Joker and her best friend and confidante Ms. Martian

Swamp Thing and the Guardians of the Green - Featuring Swamp Thing, Aminal Man's daughter, Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy, and (what?) Alec Holland

Infinity Inc. - Damage, and all new Doll Girl, Wyldeheart, Amazon (Cassie Sandsmark), Superboy, Impulse, the new Obsidian, Chameleon Boy, and Knockout take on the challenges the Justice Society is too busy to be bothered with

Green Arrow - Arrowette is all grown up and taking care of the streets of Star City with a vengeance.

Supergirls - Power Woman oversees the training of a team of four recently rescued teenaged alien females who each have one of the Kryptonian powers thanks to implanted fragments of the planet Krypton put into them while being experimented upon by their Dominator captors

Chameleon Boy - Trapped in the present from the future, a Durlan teenager tries to fit in among humans.

Plastic Man - Undying, this former joke is now an elder statesmen among the new batch of heroes.

Blackhawks - Genius pilots build space-age jets that look like bi-planes and use them to become heroes in a world where they're seen as interlopers by the real police.

Action Comics featuring Hourgirl and Wildcat - A young model finds a necklace that grants her 1 hour of superpowers and ends up in a love-hate relationship with a burglar named Wildcat, who is one hell of a scrapper with an actual nine lives. Can she reform her, or will she have to take her to prison?

A Man Called Hex - Old west tales featuring Johan Hex and other DC old west characters.

Detective Comics - Renee Montoya (the Question) and Harvey Bulloch work with a varying cast of costumed heroes to teach them the ins and outs of detective work and make them more effective crimefighters.

DC Presents - for stories to introduce other characters

The Suicide Seven - A brand new Red Bee, Shining Knight, Vigilante, Captain Boomerang, H.E.R.O., Phantom Lady (Tinya Wazzo, transplanted from the future), and Countessa Vertigo are a team of Marines trusted with the missions that normal soldiers might never survive.

Legion of Super Heroes - Jump 1000 years into the future where the Time Trapper has been defeated along with most of the universe, and in an effort to reform searches the cosmos for any young people with great power he can form into an army to replace the hive mind that is ruling most of sentient space.

Amethyst - a full reboot on the princess of Gemworld, taking it back to the original idea

Shade and Jack - An elderly Jack Knight is rescued from a heart attack by Shade and given the opportunity to be a younger man again -- as long as he uses the staff (without it, he risks aging again and dying again).

Lanterns Inc. - a book of tales featuring various members of the The Lantern Corp.

The Thunder of Shazam! - Re-introducing Thunder into the modern timeline as the new heir to the power of Shazam while Billy is playing Superman.

Catwoman - The daughter of Catman is an assassin who specializes in capes.

Deathstroke and the Titans - Rose Wilson trains a new generation of teen heroes.

Resurrection Man - featuring Deadman (see The Books of Magic)

Adventure Comics featuring Beast Boy - An eight year old foster child can command the entire animal kingdom. Can he learn to be a hero to a world that doesn't want him?

Agents of C.Y.B.E.R. - featuring new versions of Voodoo, Spartan, Zealot, Void, and Grifter as secret agents infiltrating the world of the super-powered teams.

Aquaman - A cop discovers he has the power to manipulate water and make it do his bidding. He adopts a costume as Aquaman to clean up the streets in ways he never could during the day job.

Kobra - A young woman is sacrificed to an ancient snake goddess but is reborn as the living embodiment of the goddess with all her powers.

Blue Beetle - keep the same as now

There you have it. My plan for either killing or re-inventing the DCU.

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#214) -- Marvel Reboot

With all the information online about the Marvel Comics 

reboot, what would you do if you were editor's chair?

Okay. Here's what I'd do. Cancel all titles, and make a clean break with a hard reboot like DC had between the Golden Age and Silver Age. Sure, longtime fans would hate me at first, but I think we might win them over eventually. 

The Abominable Hulk

The bloodline of Bruce Banner can’t be stopped either, and when the aging daughter of Bruce and Betty Ross dies during childbirth, the baby is a tiny bundle of green. Raised by S.H.E.I.L.D., the child grows up to become one of the agencies top agents. But on his 21^st birthday, everything starts to change as he begins to begin transforming into an even more powerful monster with a terrible rage. Can he control his changes or will he become just another monster to be hunted down by his friends?

The Amazing Scarlet Spider

Andrew Osborne Reilly is the grandson of Harry Osborne and the son of Ben Reilly. Now he’s being trained by Kaine to take over the mantle of the Scarlet Spider so that Kaine can finally die and rest. Or so he’s been told. But the truth could be far more sinister.

Avengers

Marvel’s greatest new heroes band together to battle the foes none of them can handle alone. The Hulk, Nightdevil, Iron Maiden, Marvel 3, Foom, Scarlet Spider, Gorgilla,
Sif and Hammer are the Earth’s mightiest heroes.

Brotherhood of X

When the Legacy virus returned with a vengeance, mutants died. Period. All of them. Now, a full generation later, some teens are having signs of mutations again, and it’s up to Jubilee and Random (thanks to the Scarlet Witch) to train this new generation of mutants and help them learn how to defend and protect not just themselves both all of humanity. Only, other ex-mutants are also tracking them down to build a new army of mutants in the name of the long-dead Magneto.

Deathlock vs. The M.A.C.H.I.N.E. Corps

In a bunker beneath Mt. Rushmore, a computer awakens and runs the Pym Protocol. It brings back to “life” three powerful androids: Vision, X-51 and Jocasta. Their purpose: To hunt down and destroy the human training to become the new nuclear-powered Deathlock.

The Fantastics

While trying to cure their mutations with gamma rays, teen super-scientists Angelique, Hammer, Silk and Bubble trigger a second mutation that traps them in severely mutated forms. Hammer becomes a man of living metal with no sense of touch. Angelique’s arms mutate into wings and her feet become like those of birds. Silk loses her 3^rd dimension and becomes a living flattened figure with the consistence of cloth. Bubble’s body breaks down into a mass of attached spheres, and within each sphere is the power to alter the laws of physics, but only within the space of the sphere.

Goblin Force

Is it a strange coincidence when the twin granddaughters of the original Hobgoblin and the grandson of Flash Thompson meet at college? Or is it the machinations of someone who wants them together for some ulterior purpose? And when they “accidentally” discover a lab filled with Hobgoblin and Green Goblin armor, what then? Will they turn hero, villain, or just college kids out for a wild ride?

Hydra Unhinged

Thomas Martin was just a grunt at Hydra until the day he let it slip that he had doubts. That’s the day Hydra killed his family. Now the former Hydra grunt fights alongside other secret defectors to bring down the organization from the inside.

Iron Maiden

Emily Jarvis knows her grandfather worked for the Avengers back in the day, and she learned a great deal at the side of her godfather Tony Stark, Jr. But when Tony’s life is on the line, Emily must rebuild and upgrade the Iron Man armor to protect Stark from those who would make him a target. 

Man-Thing and the Monsters

The nexus of all realities is coming apart. And only the Man-Thing can repair the damage. But he’s not exactly himself. And only the monsters of the new Marvel Universe can put him back together in time to save all of well, everything. See The Frankenstein monster, Morbius the Living Vampire, the new Ghost Rider, Gorgilla, Grottu and Werewolf by Night work together (we hope) to restore Man-Thing and save the world.

Marvels

The Warriors were a street gang who was just like any other gang—at least until the day they were captured by Kree and subjected to tests that killed most of the gang. Those who escaped found themselves changed and charged with new powers, and are taking the fight to the far corners of the galaxy to exterminate every Kree they can find. As Marvel Prime and Marvels 2-6, they are torn between the responsibilities of using their new powers for good and getting vengeance.

Nightdevil

Evading the Legacy virus, Nightcrawler escaped into the dimension through which he teleports and remained there until he died. His son, however, born blind from the atmosphere and chemicals in the dimension, ventures to the regular world to search for his mother. Questions abound, the chief one being why did she leave his father for the regular world so many years ago?

The Power of Foom

Isaac Benton is a normal preteen boy. Fin Fang Foom is a dragon. When Foom is sentenced by the celestial courts for his crimes, he is bound to the form of Isaac Benton. Now the two much learn to co-exist and share one life to meet the terms of the sentence, and to protect the boy and his family from Foom’s enemies that see him as an easy target.

Punisher America

When the registration act was re-instated for good, the U.S. Government needed someone to enforce it. That man is Punisher America, judge, jury and executioner. With legal backing. But who is he, or was he? Not even he knows. And when he learns the truth, his vengeance will hit every level of the government.

The Sensational Spider-Woman

Who is the amazing six-armed woman swinging above New York’s skyline in the traditional red and blue costume of the long-dead Spider-Man? And what is her tie to the Parker bloodline? And why do the Fantastics and the Avengers want to capture her?

Sif, Goddess of Thunder Everything

Ragnarok has hit, and it leaves Asgard devastated. The sole survivor of the gods, Sif must master the power of Thor and the other dead gods in order to rebuild that world of the Norse gods. Only, fighting villains is a lot easier than creating a religion based on old warrior gods. But without faith, her world will never return.

Thunderbolts

Having been plucked from an alternate timeline and kept alive in stasis on Murderworld, the T-bolts are back and on the run from Mojo and his cameras. Citizen V, Baron Zemo (What?! Both? Yeah.), Songbird, Mach-12, Atlas, Jolt, Techno, Meterorite and Hawkeye journey through the galaxy to try to return to Earth, even if it’s not the Earth they remember. But when they’re caught in the middle of a galaxy-spanning war, will they be forced to choose sides and delay their journey home?

X-Mutants

A band of former mutants who lost their powers in House of M, led by Marrow and Spike, search the decimated wastelands of what used to be the Australian continent for the lost fragments of the Phoenix Force to repower the mutant race. Along the way, they encounter monsters and mutations brought about not by atomic testing like the old movies, but by the infusion of Phoenix energy in the land ecosystem itself.