Who Was Who Is Who #3

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, and with DC's New 52 well under way (how long are they keeping that title do you think?) I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see who's made it over to the new DCU, who might make it and who hasn't got a Barren Earth's chance.

AUTOMAN - yeah, this robot isn't going to make any sort of come-back.

AZRAEL - no, not the Jean-Paul Valley ex-Batman one but the original one from the Teen Titans. The one no-one remembers. Or cares about. So no, I don't think he'll be turning up.

BABE - not the pig, the big purple alien from Atari Force. Just those two words mean we'll never see him again.

BALLOON BUSTER - unless Men of War starts doing World War I stories, I think it's unlikely Balloon Buster will be taking to the skies any time soon.
BARON BEDLAM - a Geo-Force villain. Does that give any indication to the likelihood of his return?

BARON BLITZKRIEG - and another Baron although this one has a slightly stronger chance of showing up. Linked with the All-Star Squadron, Blitzkrieg was a recurring villain in that series so, depending on when James Robinson's Justice Society title actually takes place, there's is an outside chance we might see the Nazi hero take up arms against them again. Wouldn't bet on it, though.

BARON WINTERS - pretty sure that the collection of Night Force will be published sometime in 2012 which may garner a little more interest in dear old Baron Winters. Maybe look for a cameo in Justice League Dark?

BARREN EARTH - a spin-off alternate future from Warlord. Don't think we have to worry about this one.

BATGIRL - okay, so we all know about this one by now, yeah? Among the biggest surprises of the New 52 was dear old Barbara Gordon climbing out of Oracle's wheelchair and taking up the cape and cowl once more. It garnered lots of strong reactions which, I have to admit, didn't really touch me. Not a huge Bat-fan so didn't really have a big stake in whether Barbara was Oracle or Batgirl. So far, at least at the time of writing (early December) most critics seem to be liking the book so maybe all's well that ends well, eh?

BAT LASH - as I mentioned about Arak, Son of Thunder last week, not so long ago I would have seriously doubted the possibility of Bat Lash turning up in the New 52. As it is, I think we can pretty much guarantee he'll be seen in the pages of All-Star Western before the year's out.

BATMAN - now of course there was always going to be a Batman in the new DCU. It would be foolish to suppose otherwise, but while we already have the new Batman wandering around in the pages of his 84 titles as well as sundry Justice League books, I'm wondering, like Baron Blitzkrieg up there, whether we'll see the Earth-2 Batman. If James Robinson (and I apologise for bringing this up in pretty much every one of these articles so far) is re-doing Earth-2 and the JSA, theoretically there's going to be nothing to stop him using a Batman in his title. Unless DC editorial subscribe to that ridiculous idea that we readers can't handle the idea of two different versions of the same character and veto the use of an E-2 Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman etc. My guess is that we won't see an Earth-2 Batman in the new JSA series for that very reason.

BAT-MITE - sadly, I think the days of Bat-Mite are long gone.

BATWOMAN - and here's another one that's already out and about. True, it's a different person under the cowl and she doesn't sport the wildly impractical red handbag with a shoulder strap that's eight feet long, but the character's survived in essence.

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Summary: one possible (Baron Winters), three all ready out there (Batgirl, Batman and Batwoman) and one prediction by the end of the year (Bat Lash).