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

Well, I've got no particular problem with the one-sentence pitch as given for the Mikes' Supergirl ongoing. It'd be my one-sentence pitch too, and if you're going with the cousin from Krypton angle, i.e. not introducing weird new stuff like the Matrix and pocket universes and earth-born angels (...kay), it's almost necessary.

But what's "mysterious" about her origin? She's the last acculturated survivor of a dead race, who has powers, and is in tension with the other survivor, who is effectively human.

Supergirl's origin is kind of obvious, and if it's not, you're missing the point entirely--that should be pretty upfront, because the point is how she survived and everyone else died.

That said, I found an interview with the Mikes that actually sounds like they sort of get it, although they might be committing the mistake, as have so many others, of treating Supergirl as a "teenager." Technically true, but this has never, ever really worked, with the possible exception of David's run, which is really more like a Tangent Universe property. It didn't work when Binder did it, but at least that gets a pass for being Silver Age nonsense with no sort of psychological realism, but it really didn't work when Loeb and Kelley and Puckett did it. They leaven this impression with the notion that they at least seem to grasp that she's an alien, and that the "survivor of a planetary holocaust" aspect is a bit more important than the "young and stupid" aspect.

Some choice bits:

Oh God. They're bringing back Triumph, aren't they?

Actually, I'm strangely okay with that...

That line is delightful, in that it could be so easily taken out of context.

Yeah, I dunno if that still happened (well, it definitely didn't now). He wasn't even born in Metropolis anymore. DC hates John Byrne, you see.

 

Yeah unless they've completely changed Kara's origin. I believe in the second issue they tease a fight between her and Clark. This Superman seems to be angry (hence the pissed off heat vision eyes all the time) or implied or teased to be fighting people all the time

 

Viz. Kara vs. Kal, I'm just glad they didn't pry my really cool Perez homage idea from my mind.

Oh, and P.S., according to the scant preview images I could find the Mikes don't like compressed storytelling very much, and burn pages like they need them to stay warm. But I can weigh in more fairly on this on Wednesday.

 

The cloning of Superboy occurred before Luthor had to transfer his body.

 

IIRC It happened AFTER Funeral for a Friend which was long after Luthor changed bodies--that said, there's no reason CADMUS couldn't have obtained Luthor's DNA at an earlier point.

 

It's implied that it was done in secret. So it's probably logical to assume that when they cloned Lex the first time they were able to get the DNA at that point. Then when they obtained the Kryptonian samples afterwards they combined the two to create Connor.

 

Well, this is what I was referring to earlier. At some point (I guess in the Teen Titans according to a poster above), Superboy went from having NO Kryptonian DNA to having Kryptonian DNA. I was wondering if there was some way to reconcile the two versions, but it just seems as if it was a complete retcon of his origin.

 

^ Either way it doesn't really matter now.

 

Well, they are dumping everything he did on Hawkman.

 

^ That's true. Maybe the human DNA will turn out to be someone else's.

 

Yes, that is true. I was thinking about picking up the new Teen Titans series though. Anyone have an idea how much the two of these books are going to be connected?

 

^ The end of Superboy #1 number one implied that there will be a very big connection at least with Project NoWhere's intentions with Superboy.

 

You are wrong. The cloning of Superbody was done with the supervision of Luthor, in his original body, behind Westerfield's back.

 

^^^^ Right, this was the retcon I was asking about originally, which has already been explained. Back during the Reign of Superman era though, it was "correct".

Of course, everything has been changed now.

Do people feel the new Superboy is worth buying? I wasn't overly impressed with the artwork, but from what I've heard of the story, it sounds compelling.

 

^ I'll be following it and I was very hesitant at first. It's fascinating.

 

I enjoyed it. The curve balls in the first issue were fun.

 

Damn, I said that I was going to buy 10 comics with this relaunch and save some space for other titles from other companies, but now I am up to 12 and the list is threatening to grow.

 

I like the cover art. It's nice to know that there's a place at DC for people who can't draw ellipses.

And only halfway through, too...

Yeah, I've wound up buying a lot more than I planned to, along the lines of ten so far when I'd planned on roughly one, Batwoman, with a possibility of Firestorm (basically just to support Gail Simone in a way that didn't make me feel dirty, e.g., not Batgirl-related). DC: better at marketing than I ever realized?

Granted, the only one I'm genuinely excited about the next issue of is Animal Man (well, and Batwoman), and there are maybe a few I will pick up the second installment of. Not Grifter, of course. That piece of crap can't get cancelled fast enough. I think I was way generous to give it a D+.

 

I am not a fan of introducing the Wildstorm characters into the main DC universe as most of them are rip offs of DC characters anyway. They really serve the same role as Squadron Supreme over in Marvel.

 

I thought Grifter would work out, though.

I'm really surprised none of the Suicide Squad people are Wildstorm refugees. Rose Tattoo or Zealot, for example.

The really problematic WS people are the Authority and Majestic and to a lesser degree quasi-obscure properties like Sleeper. Then again, they publish Batman comics, I'm sure Sleeper could fit in somewhere. Ed Brubaker might get mad tho.