DC Comics begins the second quarter of 2023 with the Green Arrow Family leading the way. DC’s architect Joshua Williamson will be bringing back Green Arrow in his own series with the rest of his family along for the ride. There are also big things in store for Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and more. Let’s take a look at what DC Comics plans are for April 2023 from their latest solicitations.
GREEN ARROW FAMILY RISE UP
With how Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths there was a big question mark around the Green Arrow franchise as DC Comics latest big event ended with Oliver Queen’s death appearing to stick. Now with the solicitation for Green Arrow #1 Oliver’s status has been confirmed rather than being dead to missing somewhere in the Multiverse. And based on the entire solicitation Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse will have Black Canary and Arsenal lead the entire Green Arrow Family in finding where Oliver is and bringing him back.
As we’ve seen with the modern day success of the Batman Family it is good move by Williamson and DC to focus on legacy by embracing how Oliver Queen has built an entire Green Arrow Family throughout his long history. We see from Izaakse spread cover that there the Green Arrow Family is one with many great and often forgotten characters. Williamson, who the company has designated as the DC Universe architect, will add to the importance of how moving forward the Green arrow Family will be spotlighted. This will help build out the Green Arrow franchise in the long term to hopefully once Oliver is found we may see the franchise support a second title, possibly an anthology series like Batman: Urban Legends, that makes sure this spotlight on all these characters continues.
CONNER KENT GOES SOLO WHILE STILL BEING SUPERBOY
Continuing the trend that the Young Justice generation cannot grow out of their original identities Conner Kent is getting his own solo series, Superboy: Man of Tomorrow. At least like Tim Drake we do see that Conner is not just being forgotten so there is that. Also to Kenny Porter and Jahnoy Lindsay credit they do seem to being using this series to address the fact Conner is a lost character.
There is a lot of story potential there since over the last few years we’ve seen other next generation Superman Family members like Kara, Jon Kent, Kong Kenan, and Natasha Irons all move forward. The same can’t be said for Conner as the last impression we have of him is from Dark Crisis: Young Justice where he wished to be in a universe where he never died no matter how terrible all the other heroes acted in that version of the DCU. That series ended without that part of Conner not being addressed or talked about. Hopefully Superboy: Man of Tomorrow addresses that and we actually see how Conner moves forward, possibly getting a new identity and growing out of just being Superboy.
BUILDING TOWARDS A BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW CROSSOVER
April is once again unsurprisingly filled with Batman titles. But one that catches the eye right away is the solicitation for Detective Comics #1071 that Lian Harper will continue to be part of the Batman Family as she still in search for who she really is, while still going by the names Shoes when mentored by Catwoman. Given the new emphasis on the Green Arrow Family it would not be surprising if this could mean we see a Batman and Green Arrow crossover in the future.
There are a lot of connections between Batman and Green Arrow franchises that goes beyond Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen as Justice League members. Barbara Gordon, Dinah Lance, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Tim Drake, Cissie King-Jones, Damian Wayne, and Emiko Queen have all worked together in the past. So a crossover between the Batman and Green Arrow titles could be in the works. The current story with Lian as Shoes could sow the seeds to all that.
On top of that we are seeing that Detective Comics #1071 continues the tease towards a change in how Bruce and Talia Al Ghul’s relationship. Here we see that something Orgham’s reveal will change how we view the League of Assassins and Talia moving forward. The League of Assassins does certainly need a refresh so this could be another thing that builds towards a bigger Batman event in 2023.
WHAT IS GOING WITH WONDER WOMAN FRANCHISE IN 2023
One of the many things that we don’t know how DC Comics plans to tackle is the Wonder Woman franchise in the post-Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths DC Universe. DC Comics bought themselves a bit of time with having Wonder Woman get her own spinoff Lazarus Planet event shared with Shazam. That still does not clear up how important Wonder Woman will be for DC Comics moving forward. Especially coming off 2022 where early in that year DC Comics tried to build hype around the Wonder Woman franchise with the Trials of the Amazon event. That did not seem to work as the first half of Wonder Woman has her in solo title and then getting a spinoff from Lazarus Planet, which was previously promised to be a two-month weekly event.
With how light on a diverse pool of titles that DC Comics has they really need to build up the Wonder Woman Family. We see that they are already trying to do that with both Superman and Green Arrow Families. There is no excuse that Wonder Woman can’t build excitement around all the characters in the Wonder Woman Family. Because if not 2023 will just be another year dominated by Batman Family comic books and people complaining why that is. The finger can only be pointed at DC Comics.
OUTSIDERS AND LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES CROSSOVER
While it is not stated in the solicitation for Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #14 the cover by Nikola Cizmesija does hint we could see The Outsiders and Legion Of Super-Heroes crossover happen in the series. That would lean into more of how Mark Waid and Dan Mora have used World’s Finest as a way to reexplore and modernize a lot of the classic DC Universe stories. This is hopefully what we do see with this latest story arc as the Outsiders and Legion of Super-Heroes don’t team-up. This is also a good way to further play into Superman and Batman’s legacies that the series has been highlighting as well.
KID FLASH ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
Big events take a lot out of our heroes need some time off. That looks to be what Wally West and Linda Park-West will look to do as they go on a date night together. But of course they can’t leave their kids Jai and Irey home alone. That’s where Kid Flash Wallace West comes in to babysit Jai and Irey like any good sidekick would do for their mentor.
This is certainly the type of fun story you want from comic books. Give us characters in different types of stories. Especially a series like Flash where Jeremy Adams has done a lot of work to spotlight the entire Flash Family having Wallace, Jai, and Irey star for story is a good change of pace. It will certainly challenge Wallace to test his superspeed in ways he likely didn’t expect while being a Speed Force babysitter.