By Todd Allen

More creator change announcements at DC today.  Ann Nocenti taking over Catwoman under unusual circumstances and Tony Daniels moving on to a higher profile title… for a little while.

The Nocenti move has a bit more eyebrow raising to it. DC has announced that Nocenti is taking over Catwoman with issue #0.  What’s so weird about that?  #0 was solicited as being written by the now-previous Catwoman scribe, Judd Winnick.  This is a fairly last-minute change.  Remember, Winnick was scheduled to write Green Arrow #0 _and_ Catwoman #0 when the September solicitations came out.

Several interviews have Nocenti back on Green Arrow after the #0 issue.  No artist has been announced on the Catwoman #0 issue or on the ongoing.  If this is too much of a last minute change, it wouldn’t surprise me if an extra artist or two gets involved as Nocenti’s run begins.

As for Winnick, Newsarama has him saying he’s still on Batwing and “writing and drawing an original graphic novel for kids.”  That graphic novel isn’t associated with a publisher right now.  Winnick also says people “can probably look for me in some other upcoming DC monthlies.”

Then you’ve got Tony Daniel.  There aren’t too many books bigger than his Detective Comics, but Daniel has landed on one.  Daniels will be drawing Justice League 13 and 14. What’s the hook for these two issues?  Let’s let Geoff Johns describe it:

“Tony and I will be re-introducing one of DC’s iconic villains – the Cheetah – and uncovering her mysterious connection to Wonder Woman and the Justice League,” added Johns. “For me, the Cheetah is up there with Black Manta, Sinestro and Captain Cold as one of the most iconic villains in the DC Universe, and she’ll become a major villainous force in 2012 and beyond. The fallout from JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 starts here as we head towards next year’s TRINITY WAR.”

Ah, the drum beat leading to an Event.  Is it just me, or did Johns cite the Super Friends as his source for iconic villains?

At any rate,  Daniel has moved on to DC’s #2 book for a couple of issues and is booked through November.  It’s a decent way to set him up for his next title launch.

1 COMMENT

  1. Todd, the last names mentioned above are spelled “Winick” and “Daniel.” You have errors above in the text.

    Thanks for the news. Always fun to watch the creators shuffle around.

  2. Cheetah is up there with Black Manta, Sinestro and Captain Cold as one of the most iconic villains in the DC Universe,

    Statements like that really show how out of touch Johns is with the world beyond the bubble of superhero comic book fandom. Lex Luthor and some Batman antagonists are iconic villains, but that’s the general limit of DC Comics villains’ penetration into the public consciousness.

  3. Nocenti was one of the best editors the x-books ever had, and her work on Daredevil, Typhoid Mary, and Longshot was spectacular.

    But the Batman/Catoman: Trail of the Gun LS was eye-stabbingly bad, and her Green Arrow run has been half-baked and incoherent so far. I’ve got no love whatsoever for Winick’s take on Catwoman, but this may turn out to be one of those situations where the ‘cure’ proves worse than the ‘disease’.

    I’d rather somebody with a stronger recent track record like Brian Q. Miller, Kathryn Immonen, or Marc Andreyko (in addition to/ instead of the new Black Lightning / Blue Devil project he’s working on) had been offered the Catwoman gig.

  4. ” Is it just me, or did Johns cite the Super Friends as his source for iconic villains?”

    He seems to have taken inspiration from “Super Powers: Galactic Guardians” by including Cyborg in the JLA.

  5. “Nocenti was one of the best editors the x-books ever had”

    Of course, back then, the “x-books” only consisted of two titles. A bit easier to manage things.

  6. Nocenti’s GA has been bad, so I’ve stopped buying. So no interest in Catwoman. I’m guessing she is only continuing to get work because she is a woman – and DC want to up their percentage to shut all the wingers up. Which is a shame, because they have been making progress lately on removing the crap writers – Daniel, Finch, Perez and Krul all spring to mind.
    Was going to pick up GA #0 for Winick – but if hes only on for one issue, whats the point??

  7. That cover by Daniel looks great – but John’s has been on a decompressed downward spiral of late. And his JL is even worse than Nocenti’s GA – so its a pass!!

  8. It makes sense that John’s is relying on the Superfriends. His strength begins and ends with his command of DC history. Once that was removed he needed some point to work from, Superfriends is still pretty widely known and makes an easy reference point for new readers. “I remember Black Manta in Superfriends now he is in Aquaman, oh sweet familiarity.”

  9. I jumped on board Green Arrow when I heard Nocenti would be writing it, thinking I might get a story with engaging new female characters, even if they were villains.

    What I got was mindless male sex-fantasy, pretending to be something clever. I jumped right back off again.

    I suspect going with the flow and giving the boys exactly what they want is the safe way to keep getting work. Catwoman will be a perfect, latex-fit narrative for her.

  10. I definitely have major hasitations hearing that Ann Nocenti is on Catwoman only because I think her Green Arrow has been pretty terrible (and I was really looking forward to her taking GA over–turned out to be a major letdown). Oh well, I’ll give her a chance on Catwoman I guess.

  11. Talk about an overblown PC clusterf*ck. Catwoman was a good book, it had interesting characters and the art was good. This is coming from someone who hates Judd Winick, I even hate his name. The book was fine and had an interesting first arc. She slept with batman and everyone lost it. No one claimed batman was being used or mistreated, so why shouldn’t a woman enjoy sex and be empowered by the freedom from a ridiculous double standard?

    As for the cover, it was meant to be sexy, she is portrayed as a sexy woman. Spiderman covers aren’t anatomically correct either, they are simply visually interesting, e same as the Catwoman cover. If you can’t handle sexuality from a woman, whether male or female, see a shrink and stop judging everything and reading into every little thing and enjoy life.

    PS. Other then myself, everyone I knew who read the book was female, for whatever it’s worth to you, so clearly something we seeing done that was enjoyed by women.

  12. Re Trail of the Gun being eye stabbingly bad. I’m glad it’s not just me. While I’m not a fan of Winick’s take on Catwoman, I don’t see this as an improvement.

  13. Ann Nocenti always been a good writer, I still remember her daredevil in the 90’s as one of the more realistic and intriguing comics in that period. I don’t follow dc comics (except for some graphic novels and mini series) so I didn’t read GA, anyway I don’t see why a bad narrative arc (probably not the only one she wrote in 20 and more year of career) for many reader equates she’s unable to write.

  14. Nocenti on Daredevil didn’t she have him face Mephisto in hell. My god after Miller’s run to go that was like shifting into reverse on the highway.

  15. Well it’s been stated that she’s a very polarizing writer–when people read her work, especially male comic book fans–they either like it or hate it.

    Jesse”. My god after Miller’s run to go that was like shifting into reverse on the highway.” I like to give her credit for being the only long term Dardevil writer who actually had a vision for the character that was distinct from Frank Miller’s or Stan Lee’s. For over 25 years we’ve seen various writers, do their best to ape Frank Miller and fall flat on their face and watching fanboys lap it up.

    Ruggeder
    07/07/2012 at 5:11 am

    Talk about an overblown PC clusterf*ck…. She slept with batman and everyone lost it. No one claimed batman was being used or mistreated, so why shouldn’t a woman enjoy sex and be empowered by the freedom from a ridiculous double standard?”
    Women engaging in casual sex is still frowned upon by many people in society. Women have yet to be treated just like men . No one who regularly attends church wants to have to have a mom or sister who has a reputation for engaging in casual sex frequently.

    “PS. Other then myself, everyone I knew who read the book was female, for whatever it’s worth to you, so clearly something we seeing done that was enjoyed by women.” This statement is like ” Some of my best friends are (insert minority group here).”

  16. Sabertooth, That’s cool just not for me. I think you have to give Mark Waid some credit on his direction. I think it’s the best reboot without being forced. But I am stating what I would imagine everyone knows, also I actually prefer Brubaker’s DD he kept Miller’s dark tone and I actually think surpassed it.

  17. GUESS I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS READ A WONDER WOMAN COMIC. CHEETAH IS AN ICONIC VILLAIN. SHE IS TO WONDER WOMAN LIKE BRAINIAC IS TO SUPERMAN, LIKE THE RIDDLER TO BATMAN. SHE IS THE ONLY WONDER WOMAN VILLAIN TO SHOW UP OUTSIDE OF COMICS CONSISTANTLY OVER THE YEARS IN VIDEO GAMES AND ANIMATION. I WILL MISS WINNICK ON CATWOMAN. GREAT WRITER, GREAT CHARACTER. I’M SO FEARFUL FOR MY GIRL SELINA. GREEN ARROW HAS BEEN AWFUL, AND WITH DC CANCELING BOOKS LEFT AND RIGHT THEY DONT NEED TO BE LOOKING AT MY GIRL. PLEASE COME BACK SOON WINICK.