DC Comics is ditching its heroes

DC Comics will be making some major changes to its characters and its monthly titles in March that may shock readers.

For one thing, Superman is leaving the long-running Action Comics, and DC's beloved "Trinity" of characters — Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — is leaving the Justice League as well.

To some readers, taking Superman out of Action Comics — which is where the Man of Steel made his premiere in June, 1938 — is like taking apple out of apple pie. And giving new versions of the Nightwing and Flamebird characters a starring role in that title might not last long. After all, DC did try making Action Comics a weekly magazine once before — and gave Superman very little story space — and that experiment failed miserably.

Superman is even leaving his own self-title comic. Apparently he is leaving Earth for a time and will be replaced by fellow Kryptonian hero Mon-El, who was recently released from his imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.

(Superman will eventually be shown in an outer-space saga, which does show some promise.)

DC officials also need to remember that the last time the company's Justice League comic starred a third-string group of superheroes it didn't work out so well either.

Meanwhile, Batman is either dead or is missing in DC Comics right now, and that character void continues at least through March.

"Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" is the title of a two-part story running in the Batman and Detective Comics titles in February. In March, the three-part "Battle for the Cowl" story line follows characters who try to succeed Bruce Wayne as Batman — including Robin, another Nightwing, Jason Todd and Batgirl — as well as possibly either Catwoman or Two-Face!

Of course, Bruce Wayne will return to reclaim his Batman costume sooner or later. It is just a question of how long that will take.

The company is also wrapping up its dismal, seven-issue Final Crisis miniseries Jan. 28. DC ought to permanently ban the word "crisis" from use in any of its comics once the miniseries is over. Final Crisis was terribly written, has no magic and may be the worst series featuring DC's entire universe of characters. (The original Crisis on Infinite Earths was first-rate; a second Infinite Crisis was also successful, commercially and creatively.)

By the way, one Final Crisis spin-off — Legion of Three Worlds — concludes in March. The miniseries features the Legion of Superheroes. Three of those characters — Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl — will appear in the CW "Smallville" series Jan. 15 as well.