Once more DC is releasing another 13 new number ones this week. How can anyone possibly be expected to determine which of these new books they should really buy? There’s just so many of them! To make your life easier, I’ll offer my ill-informed, not-quite-expert opinion on what titles are worth picking up today and each week during this first month of the “New 52.”

So this third week of the “New 52″ DC Universe is the first where there are more books I’m not interested in than ones that I am. Having said that, two of the books I’m most excited about are hitting the shelves today. In my opinion there are four new DCU books that are probably going to be worth checking out and two or three others I’m at least curious about.

Batman #1 – This is the book that I (along with many other people) expect to be the best title of the entire DC relaunch. Scott Snyder is coming off a fantastic run on Detective Comics and is teamed with Greg Capullo of Spawn fame drawing his first DC book as far as I am aware. Snyder’s Swamp Thing #1 was one of the best books of the relaunch so far and I can’t recommend his recent Detective Comics work with Jock enough. Snyder says he intends to pit Bruce Wayne against the city of Gotham City itself. This should be great.

Wonder Woman #1 – Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang bring us a new Wonder Woman title that may or may not feature the main character in shorts or long pants or both. So much of the discussion about this book has focused on her stupid pants when it probably should have been on Azzarello’s promise that the book is a horror take on the character. I can’t imagine what that’s going to be like, but am excited to find out. Then again, Joe Michael Straczynski promised us that his recent run on Wonder Woman would feel a lot like Sandman and we saw how well that turned out. Azzarello is fresh off the Flashpoint: Batman miniseries which was the highlight of that entire event and Chiang’s preview art has looked great. Hopefully, this will live up to my expectations.

Nightwing #1 – I have serious questions about this book: Who is Kyle Higgins? Why does Nightwing look like Robin from the Batman and Robin movie without his cape and who thought that was a good thing? Why is Dick not Batman and teamed with Damian? Having said all that, I’m a HUGE sucker for fan of Nightwing. One of the biggest. Of course I’m in. Kyle Higgins worked on Gates of Gotham and that was a decent series and his Deathstroke #1 wasn’t bad, so I’m cautiously optimistic about this series. I just hope they handle Dick’s transition back to the role of Nightwing well, otherwise it’ll be hard not to see it as a demotion.

DC Universe Presents #1 – I kind of resent the use of this title. DC Universe Presents as a series title is clearly a reference back to the old DC Comics Presents… series only more awkward to say out loud. That title should be reserved for a Superman team-up book in my opinion. Having said that, this new anthology series will open up with a story focusing on Deadman about whom there is rumored to be a TV series in the works. It wouldn’t surprise me if this story gives us our first hints of what such a proposed television show might feel like. Also, I wonder how much of it will flow out of Brightest Day as he’s still dating Dove over in Hawk and Dove, whereas Firestorm and Hawkman seem to have been completely rebooted… Again.

The other books I’ll be buying that I’m more suspicious about the quality of follow below.

Green Lantern Corps #1 – This has been a strong title for years. Peter Tomasi is returning to it after spending most of the last year on Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. The book will follow Guy Gardner and John Stewart’s adventures in space. I’ve enjoyed this title since it’s launch, but for some reason I’m not really excited for it. I think there may officially be too many Green Lantern books. This series could be interesting if the rest of the Corps remain furious with Stewart for killing Mogo and that is an ongoing struggle for him.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 – Jason Todd’s resurrection has sucked since the beginning. Now he’s leading a team that includes Starfire (REALLY?) and Arsenal (or Red Arrow or Speedy or whatever he’s being called now). I’m not really sure why. And is that a big red bat on the Red Hood’s chest? Is he part of Batman Inc. now? Wait, does Arsenal have two arms again? I at least plan to read the first issue to see what’s happening here. I’m not convinced I’ll be sticking around. Then again, I enjoyed writer Scott Lobdell’s New 52 debut on Superboy far more than I expected. Maybe he’ll win me over here as well. I hope they at least retcon away the stupid Superboy Prime cosmic punch that led to Jason’s resurrection. Maybe they could use this opportunity to ditch Cry For Justice as well.

Catwoman #1 – In case you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of the Batman family of titles at DC. I was also a particularly huge fan of Ed Brubaker’s Catwoman run. What I’m not is a fan of is Judd Winick. I’ve particularly hated his work with the Outsiders and Jason Todd. This issue has to be awesome to get me to stick around for number two. I do like a good Catwoman heist yarn though.

Those are my picks for this week. Can I just say I wish there were some DC Dark titles shipping this week? Just saying DC, this week feels unbalanced since all that are shipping are superhero titles. You should fix that in the schedule moving forward.

Below is the entire list of new DC Comics #1 titles shipping this week according to Previews:

BATMAN #1

BIRDS OF PREY #1

BLUE BEETLE #1

CAPTAIN ATOM #1

CATWOMAN #1

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #1

NIGHTWING #1

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1

SUPERGIRL #1

WONDER WOMAN #1

Read more about DC Comics’ “New 52″ on MyLatestDistraction

and keep up with each week’s picks for September:

Week Two / Week Four (coming September 28th)

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