Summary
- Wesley Dodds: The Sandman delivers a tense and engaging mystery that sets it apart from other Dawn of DC books.
- Birds of Prey brings together a non-traditional yet entertaining team with humor and dynamic fight scenes.
- Unstoppable Doom Patrol showcases the weird history of the heroes in a surprisingly poignant series full of laughs and growth.
When the dust from Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths settled, DC Comics started a new initiative to give its heroes a brand-new start. In 2023, the publisher launched the Dawn of DC, a yearlong initiative to show off the company’s greatest heroes on exciting adventures. Many heroes got new creative teams while others got their first series in years. There were a lot of books published under the Dawn of DC banner, but only a few stand out as the best. Read on to discover the 10 titles that truly captured the Dawn of DC’s spirit.
10 Wesley Dodds: The Sandman Perfectly Captured Golden Age Noir
Creative team: Robert Venditti, Riley Rossmo
Building on the events of Justice Society of America and Stargirl: The Lost Children, DC created a line of comics showcasing Golden Age heroes. One such comic carrying the New Golden Age branding was has stolen Sandman’s research and is producing terrifying and destructive weapons. The series has a tense atmosphere and gives fans an engaging mystery that really helps the book stand out from other books carrying the Dawn of DC label.
9 Birds of Prey Brought a Beloved Team Back
Creative team: Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero
It had been some time since the Birds of Prey were together, but Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero revived the team and brought them to the forefront of the DCU. While the team featured iconic member Black Canary, fans were initially perplexed at the non-traditional line-up. However, the creative team knew what they were doing by placing bombastic personalities like Harley Quinn and Big Barda together. While it’s still early for the revived Birds of Prey, fans have taken to the book, praising its humor and dynamic fight scenes.
8 Unstoppable Doom Patrol Put DC's Most Underrated Heroes in the Spotlight
Creative team: Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham
The World’s Strangest Heroes finally returned after an extended absence with Unstoppable Doom Patrol by Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham. The miniseries spins out of Lazarus Planet and sees the team take on a new mission to protect the new metahumans produced by the Lazarus Event. The book respects the Doom Patrol’s vast and weird history and adds a new chapter that feels natural and original. Unstoppable Doom Patrol has plenty of laughs, but it’s also a surprisingly poignant series, showcasing how much the team has grown as they embark on their most noble mission yet.
7 The Flash Took a Daring New Turn
Creative team: Si Spurrier, Mike Deodato, Jr.
Some Flash fans may have been disappointed by the sudden switch-up to The Flash’s creative team. But Si Spurrier and Mike Deodato, Jr came out swinging with this new era for the Fastest Man Alive. Wally West starts experiencing glitches that key him into the hidden layers of reality all around him and lurking in those layers are terrifying, extra-dimensional threats like the Uncoiled. It’s a bit different from the previous, more straightforward take on the Scarlet Speedster. But its experimental storytelling and trippy, otherworldly art helps give The Flash a truly unique feel.
6 Action Comics Highlighted Superman's ing Cast
Creative team: Various
Action Comics was one of the first to lead the way in the Dawn of DC. The title primarily built on Superman’s "Warworld Saga", but the book was revamped to be an anthology. In addition to stories about Clark fighting crime with the expanded Super-Family, Action Comics also featured prequels to books like Power Girl, Steelworks, and Kneel Before Zod. The book also highlighted characters that rarely get the spotlight like Super-Man and Superman’s children, the Super-Twins. While Action Comics is heading for another revamp in 2024 with the Superman Superstars initiative, 2023 can be ed as a year that Action Comics honored the entire Super-Family.
5 Spirit World Showed the Importance of New Heroes
Creative team: Alyssa Wong, Haining
Spirit World was one of three titles published as part of DC’s We Are Heroes line, an initiative that emphasized new Asian heroes. Spirit World starred Xanthe Zhou, a spirit envoy who crosses paths with Batgirl, only for Cassandra Cain to become trapped in the land of the undead. Xanthe teams up with fellow magic John Constantine to retrieve Cass from the Spirit World. The series was lauded by many for its art and for prominently featuring a non-binary protagonist.
4 Green Arrow Gave Oliver Queen His Due
Creative team: Joshua Williamson, Sean Izaakse
Green Arrow’s adventures were just getting started when he went missing in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. The series followed Oliver and the struggles his family went through to bring him back home. The book was a fantastic balance of drama, comedy, and superhero fare and it also served as a fantastic character study into Green Arrow. Both his flaws and his strengths were laid out as Oliver wrestled with the idea of whether he was worthy enough to be with his family. Longtime Green Arrow fans got exactly what they were looking for in the book that wore its love for Oliver Queen on its sleeve.
3 Wonder Woman Showed Diana at Her Best
Creative team: Tom King, Daniel Sampere
Like The Flash, Wonder Woman also got a new creative team with Tom King and Daniel Sampere. Together, they created a book that explored themes of bigotry and paranoia as the world gets caught up in a wave of hysteria after a rogue Amazon kills several men. In addition to being a phenomenal contemporary read, the book excels at showing what makes Wonder Woman the iconic hero she is. Whether she’s taking on the entire might of the United States Army or simply making a sick boy’s day, each issue showcases the very best of who Wonder Woman is.
2 Shazam! Brought All-Out Family Fun
Creative team: Mark Waid, Dan Mora
The Big Red Cheese’s latest series scratched the itch of many fans who missed seeing Billy Batson and his extended family. Shazam! saw Billy step back into the title role of the Earth’s Mightiest Mortal and ever since then, his life has been filled with silly, over-the-top adventures. The Dawn of DC promised a lighter DCU and nothing fulfills that promise more than a series that sees superheroes rescuing space dinosaurs or fighting talking gorillas on the moon. Shazam! embraces fun and gives readers a lighthearted series filled with whimsy and classic comic book charm.
1 Superman Defined the Dawn of DC
Creative team: Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell, Gleb Melnikov, Nick Dragotta
Out of all the series that carried the Dawn of DC banner, few embody the spirit of the initiative more than Superman. Not only is it a good jumping-on point for new Superman readers, but it makes some ambitious shake-ups (most notably the Man of Steel working with Lex Luthor to change Metropolis for the better). The series has also planted the seeds for the next Dawn of DC phase by slowly teasing big plans for Brainiac in the coming year. As Clark continues to uncover mysteries within Metropolis' history, Superman stands out as the guiding light in the Dawn of DC.
DC Comics published dozens of books under its Dawn of DC banner, but these 10 stand out as the ones that truly captured what the initiative was all about.
