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

New 52 art designs that Jim Lee revealed. I kind of like that one Superboy one over the costume they settled on.

EDIT: Forgot to post the link sorry:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/10/16/redesigning-the-new-52-dc-universe-with-jim-lee-and-friends/

 

Agreed. It just feels super 90s. Seeing as both Brett Booth and Scott Lobdell were creators of the 90s, that makes sense. That's the general feeling of the DCnU to me. While there's a lot of quality out there, it just doesn't feel as modern as it should with Jurgens, Giffen, Lobdell, ect. all heading up multiple books. It's not that old creators are bad. Grant Morrison got his start at roughly the same time, but his style has changed with the times and remained relevant. Giffen, Jurgens and Lobdell all feel like throwbacks.

 

I absolutely agree with you about the problem of the NuDCU. Aside from Snyder they are not taking a gamble and using their new talent on their top books. Instead they are going with the proven talent whose writing has gone stale (Levitz/Jurgens) or was never good in the first place (Daniel).

I frankly don't Giffen. He did pretty well on Doom Patrol. It's Jurgens and Lobdell that I primarily have problems with. Jurgens because he is honestly not a very good writer seeing how stale his Booster Gold and Vanishing Point was. And Lobdell only works in small doses. Handing him the entire Titans-YJ portion of the DCU was a mistake especially given the fiasco with Starfire.

 

Yeah, I feel it's a little unfair to lump the master craftsman in with the assembly line workers, even if they are the same age.

At the same time, I really feel that I'm being unfair for saying that about the man who wrote and drew Superman #75. I dunno if I could really defend Jurgens' oeuvre as a whole (the inferior Booster Gold-type product peddled by his purported creator is seriously depressing), but at the least, that's a case of an artist exceeding his limitations and doing something for the history books. Not just because of content, but because it's the single best-executed issue of Superman ever. Take that, Alan Moore. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is simply not as good.*

*Actually, on that note, its depiction of Superman as a moral coward who decides to make two people miserable because he can't bear to "hurt" either, apparently completely oblivious to the fact he's hurting them presently and in an ongoing way... well, while it's effective, it's sort of weird, a completely post hoc explanation for why Superman was a dick all those years, trying to convince the reader that he didn't get off to the idea of two women fighting for and pining over him, and it doesn't totally work. Especially when he lets Lana die (you cannot tell me dude was not aware of what was going on; if Lana can hear him, he could hear her--and are you telling me that under siege conditions, he was not checking on everyone in his care at regular intervals?!). But, that's creative problem solving, right? Got rid of that pesky Olsen too. What an asshole.

This has nothing to do with anything, it's just I reread it recently and that's what jumped out at me. You know what does totally work? An all-splash issue that concludes with Superman dying in Lois' arms and does not make you ask "Why was Superman moping when Lightning Lord burned Lana Lang to death and Brainiac put a fist-sized laser hole through Jimmy's elastic torso?"

 

He'll look just like the normal Captain Marvel... but with wrinkles.

 

Mary Marvel will that 'crack whore' pinched face look that all of Frank's women do.

 

Gary Frank? Billy Batson? You do not yet know the face of terror.

 

I'd rather see Gary's Uncle Marvel.

It's hilarious watching Dudly's greying hairy paunch creep out from under that cumberbumd sash as he tries to save the day.

 

Green Lantern #2 is a B-, Superboy #2 a C+.

 

Saw some preview pages for Birds of Prey 2. Okay, the deal is Katana actually seems kind of great. And the aesthetic of her costume is pretty decent; even if it makes little sense in her context, it reminds me of Rai, and Rai was awesome. (Rai, however, had a reason to have a Japanese flag stapled to him, since he was a patriotic her, not a crazy lady who talks to her sword.)

 

Upcoming issues:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/...id-Wonder-Woman-Vs-Squid-Captain-Atom-Vs-Wolf

 

I agree that Giffen's good, but he's representant of a different time, one that I think we should move forward from. This reboot should have been the perfect chance to sideline some of the old guard and bring in the fresh new writers, like Giffen was in the 80s and Morrison. But they're using Lobdell, Jurgens, and Giffen as workhorses and that's in the opposite direction.

And saying that Jurgens shouldn't be grouped into that group because he wrote Superman #75 just proves my point. It came out in 1992. My point isn't that these writers are bad (although Lobdell leaves a bit to be desired in some cases), my point is that they represent a different time and still write like they're from a different time.

This was a great chance to go with new writers who have little experience in the business. Damon Lindeloff is a big comic book fan. See what he can do. The Lang Brothers who wrote A Very Potter Musical (which is actually a well written parody with fast humor and a lot of heart) are massive comic book fans. Would have loved to see what they could have done with JLI or something like that. It might not all work (but to be fair, neither did a lot of the DCnU), but the point is they're taking chances and trying to remain fresh.

 

Lindeloff isn't a good comics writers.

DC needs is to use the guys they have writing for Vertigo or poach over the indy writers that work for Image. Instead of relying almost exclusively on Morrison and Johns, they need to get some of the new talent writing for their A-list characters. Of the current slate of breakout writers for DC, most of them with exception to Snyder are all on low selling or C-list characters. Why not put Cornell on Superman? He did wonderful work with the Lex Luthor stuff. Instead he is writing freaking Etrigan and Stormwatch. Or get Lemire to do Legion or Titans instead of Levitz or Lobdell? Fresh blood is certainly more welcome than the same stale thing.

 

Yeah, if Cornell wanted to do Superman, there is no reason on God's green Earth not to have let him. George Perez, while a fine human being and with some competent projects in the past, has never been considered a writer of particularly great note.

Also, Pete Woods on Superman forever.

 

More upcoming issues (Superman titles this time):

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48241

Maxima is back with a whole new look.

 

I have to say that from the number 1s that I have read, the Justice League International has been one of the positive surprises. I like the art and the story/character seem interesting. I have never much read JLI before, so I am happy to be on board now
As for Justice League..interesting but slow start somehow. Was bit surprised that only about half of the team was featured on the first issue..but I can see why they went that route. Some nice dialogue between Bats and Green Lantern.
I have also been very pleased of Supergirl and Catwoman.
CW has a very cool art and story seems to be in a nice start.

Wonder Woman has been bit "meh" so far..cant say that I like the artwork much either, I guess it takes a bit time to get used to.
I decided to collect Batgirl and Superman via trades, since I cant really afford everything.

 

I love the "baby Kal-El" cover for Action #5. Classic stuff.

I'm hanging in with Superboy for Fairchild's sake. Waiting for her to hit puberty.

Putting it that way sounds...actually, there's just no way to make that sound okay. Forget it.

 

^ I loved the baby Kal-El in his ship cover, and I guess that explains the 52 cape thing. Morrison wasn't kidding when he said Clark's cape is like his baby blanket heheh. I see Maxima is in Supergirl #5. Interesting. I'm really pumped for the Captain Marvel back up stories (no matter what you Gary Frank haters say ) Oh and like Dennis I am hanging in with "Superboy" because of Caitlin.

 

He's written comics before? I was just throwing out good writers in other mediums who have done some interesting things. I'm loving your suggestions though. Keeping Cornell on Superman would be fantastic. Jeff Lemire on anything would be good. It would be nice to see DC making some power plays on Marvel to get some people after losing Rucka and Waid. I'd personally love to see Jason Aaron do something. Perhaps have kept Snyder on Detective Comics and have Aaron do Batman. Then have Morrison and Cornell on Action Comics and Superman to have the Superman titles be the best they can be. Azzarello is about as fresh as they come with Wonder Woman. While Flash was very good, why not put Jeff Lemire (who seems to be good at some weird stuff ala Frankenstein) on Flash. Harken back to the old days when it was high concept Sci-Fi.

What happened to Brian K. Vaughan? I think he'd excel on Teen Titans, maybe not for a super long open ended run, but maybe like a year or so. What's Matt Wagner been up to? He used to be fantastic and recently even did some great early Batman stories. Maybe put him on Detective.

What's more all of the writers I mentioned are fresh and have a relative fresh outlook or are good at adopting one. From what I have seen from Giffen, Lobdell and Jurgens in the DCnU, they are not.

 

The lack of proper radiation shielding makes me angry.

Well, not really.

Also, Fairchild? Why? I bought like two issues of Gen13 so maybe I'm just ignorant. Anyway, Freefall was hotter.