Although DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio emphasized just last month that his goal is to keep the core DC Universe line at 52 titles, with new books introduced only after others are canceled, this morning's official announcement of four series debuts alongside the September "Zero Month" initiative will push the count past that magic number. At least temporarily.

IGN.com confirmed with DC that there will indeed be more than 52 in September with the addition of the "Night of the Owls" spinoff Talon, the fantasy Sword of Sorcery (anchored by "Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld" with a "Beowulf" back-up), The Phantom Stranger and the DCU/Wildstorm-merging Team Seven. Each title will debut with a zero issue, and then continue in October with #1.

However, that doesn't mean no New 52 titles are being canceled: The publisher already revealed that Justice League International will end in August with Issue 12 (artist Aaron Lopresti is now penciling the Amethyst feature in Sword of Sorcery), and it's likely it won't be alone for long.

"We've announced one cancellation already, which is Justice League International, and at this time, we're looking at reviewing the rest of the line," DiDio told Newsarama. "But one of the primary goals is to maintain the number 52 as the number of series that we'll be doing on a continuing basis. [...] One of the things we try to do in this case is, as the expression goes, [not] throw the baby out with the bath water. So if a series does go away, we want to make sure we have a proper place for the characters, because the idea of just bringing everything to an end or a close so that nobody else can use anything else from there is detrimental to the line and the universe that we're building. So the primary goal here is, even if a book comes to an end, that there's some aspect of that series that moves forward and still continues on."

DC has rolled out its "Third Wave" announcement with interviews across the Internet with Talon co-writer Scott Snyder, Sword of Sorcery creators Christy Marx and Aaron Lopresti, The Phantom Stranger writer Dan DiDio and Team Seven writer Justin Jordan. Check out the zero-issue covers for Batman Incorporated, Team Seven and Talon below. (Update: Now with full Talon cover and The Phantom Stranger promo image.)