DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)

Well I have just about read them all and have only been disapointed by a couple. Legion Lost, Grifter, Mr. Terrific and Hawk & Dove just didnt grab me on first readings. The art of H&D and LL was hard to get past and the stories in the other two just did not get anything exciting going. On the other hand Animal Man and Detective were both terrific books.

 

Majestic was in the DCU briefly in a mini by Abnett and Lanning years ago.

 

Did they keep him in space? That sounds like something DnA would do.

 

No he was a short-term replacement for Superman when Superman was somewhere else (I can't actually remember where) - and then had a mini-series set on earth where he got a secret identity. Then.. em.. he went home...

 

I really wish there was a Planetary book in the DCnU.

I know it's not feasible for Ellis to write it or Cassaday to draw it. But if it were written under Ellis' direction, I'd be all over it.

Elijah Snow and his team investigating the secret history of the DCnU. It would be fantastic.

I should note that Planetary barely fit in the Wildstorm universe to start with. Hell, Wildstorm rebooted before Planetary #27, and that didn't affect the ending of Planetary one bit, with the world now a technological utopia thanks to Snow and the Planetary Foundation using the Four's technology.

 

Rich from Bleeding Cool reports rumors of creative changes already in the relaunch creative teams...

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/09/19/rumours-of-dc-relaunch-creative-changes/

 

I'm thinking some guys just couldnt handle the multi book grind every month or a few issues in they and their bosses realized they really didnt have a handle on the character in question and needed to be moved elsewhere. Getting the books out on time at least for the first year should be something DC has high on its important list.

 

This is an interesting observation:

Most of the article is either a debunking or viewing with skepticism a lot of what's being rumored.

 

This too:

If true, it sounds like some titles should be viewed as mini-series rather than ongoing...

 

Which is a good argument for loose editorial control* and continuity only affecting one book, not for integration into the DCU, though.

*Although the fact it took ten years to push 27 issues isn't. Warren Ellis: a lazy jerk. "NO QUESTIONS ABOUT PLANETARY" "Finish your story, old man! No one cares about the Ultimate Fantastic Four!"

 

Supergirl #1 preview...the art looks good. Hopefully the story is as well.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/09/19/preview-supergirl-1/

 

I really don't like that costume.

 

Planetary was as close to a labor of love as you can get from a big publisher; there was very little money in it upfront for Ellis and Cassaday, so they would frequently chase paychecks, Ellis by writing other books, Cassaday with his artwork for Marvel and Dynamite and, later, his film work. It wasn't laziness but paycheck economics that caused Planetary to be spread across ten years.

 

This is the same team that brought up a run of Superman and Batman that was worse than Jeph Loeb. Good here is only relative in terms of the bottom of the slush pile.

 

Yeah I thought I recognized them. I don't like Kara's costume either. Interesting that it implies she arrives to Earth already in it lol. I'm guessing that these are like regular Kryptonian clothing in the 52Verse.

 

Krul is off GA.

My Pull List
BATMAN #1
BIRDS OF PREY #1
CATWOMAN #1
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
NIGHTWING #1
WONDER WOMAN #1

 

Stephanie Brown is back as Spoiler in Batman: Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes. It's not unexpected, but it is disappointing. I was hoping DC would publish it as a pre-Batgirl #24 comic, since the issue of Batgirl with Stephanie in London was to continue into the storyline with Bruce and Steph kicking ass at a boarding school.

 

Looking forward to the end of "season one" of Batman, Inc. I'm already going through Morrison Batman withdrawal. Disappointing but kind of expected with regards to Steph. I'm just glad she is in tact.

 

Full list of creative changes here

 

"If I graduate" from what?

In fairness, it's not like they had much say in how it looked.

The art is pretty decent, but doesn't really match the words. They say it's going through the mantle? That's not what an impact drilling through the mantle would look like, it'd be a bit bigger.

Also, Supergirl fights mechas yaaawwwn. And "A restricted area"? What is? Siberia? Earth? This is what second drafts are for guys.

Kara's narration is okay, though.

ETA: and about the art, I'm getting the distinct impression that Asrar is one of those guys who is much better at drawing people than he is things. I mean, that's illustrious company--Jae Lee can't draw shit except people (and gargoyles), and Pete Woods has a hard time of it too occasionally

My understanding was that Ellis got sick, and didn't have the thing scripted, and Cassaday had to seek work in order to live (although it doesn't appear he has to do so anymore, given his recent output has been--entirely?--incredibly bland covers, including that hilarious [yet still bland] one from JMS's Superman), and then when Ellis recovered, he actually lost a lot of interest in doing Planetary, and finished it begrudgingly.

Maybe it's a chicken and the egg thing. Like, he couldn't do regular work on Planetary because of money, but when people bitched about it, he started getting sick of Planetary.

Of course, given that Planetary was surely his best-loved work of the past ten years, if he wasn't making money off it, something's weird.