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

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JD, Aug 30, 2011.

  1. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm hoping a lot of these books eventually just get cancelled. I'm looking at Red Lanterns, Red Hood, Hawk and Dove, Captain Atom, Firestorm, Static Shock, Deathstroke, Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, Blue Beetle, Grifter, Blackhawks, Terrifice and Voodoo in particular. The salvageable ones like Detective, JLD/JLI, Titans and Legion probably need change in writers.
     
  2. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    A lot of them will be, and they'll be replaced by other some of which will be canceled, etc until they have a more stable line.

    This whole nuDC 52 thing is working really well, so far. Didio's got nothing to "admit" here, and they're not going to go back to the old status quo for the simple reason that it was failing. At this point Didio's bosses wouldn't stand for it.
     
  3. Allyn Gibson

    Allyn Gibson Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Given that DC has solicited all 52 through issue #5, I think that prediction is highly unlikely to come to pass... :)

    On a different note, Red Hood and the Outlaws #2 was pretty enjoyable. You don't even need to have read issue #1, and the sexualization of Kory from issue #1 doesn't carry over into issue #2. I really like Lobdell's characterization of Jason as, essentially, a harder-edged Bruce Wayne (and Red Hood: The Lost Years is still in continuity), and there's something fun about Roy Harper as a slacker fratboy hero. Plus, Rocafort draws a lovely Talia al-Ghul. :)
     
  4. Myasishchev

    Myasishchev Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I still think a book about Roy teaching Connor the joys of heroin would have been more fun.

    Anyway, I assume that Captain Marvel backup and any new book that winds up spinning out of it's still gonna be called Power of Shazam? It amazes me that DC still permits Marvel to call that shot, given how much leverage DC could theoretically exercise (and since 85 could have exercised) against them. An infringement claim against the Squadron Supreme might be waived by now, but it sure would be unfortunate if someone filed for an injunction to prevent republication of that famous book about the guy who says a magic word and is granted powers. Maybe we'll let you call it Power of Kimota when we're done.

    Also, I was reading some more crap about Red Hood, and it occurred to me: isn't the point of casual sex that you can tell the people you're fucking apart? I mean, there's no use in having two identical sexbots. Well, there's one use, but that didn't come up in the book.
     
  5. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The reviews of Justice League #2 are pretty positive - I'll read it this evening.
     
  6. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    DC and Marvel have ripped off each other so much that your proposal idea would only cause volleys of countersuits from Disney.
     
  7. Myasishchev

    Myasishchev Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I dunno. It seems most of it went Marvel's way. I'm not really familiar with any long-running DC expies on the scale of Squadron Supreme. One-shot and clearly joke characters may be protected by parody, and a character like Mongul was obviously influenced by (and created by the same guy as) Thanos, but he's not very similar. Squadron Supreme is way infringing though. Just tolerated.

    So is Miracleman; explicitly so, since Mick Anglo just slapped a new name and costume onto Captain Marvel and somewhat retooled the concept to make him more British, more sciency and not in direct defiance of the infringement suit already leveled against Fawcett.

    While it's probably the case he failed to distinguish the character any further from Superman (than he already was, the appellate order viz. National Comics Publ. being a shit of a decision), but he definitely failed to distance him from Capt. Marvel.

    In any event, I'd offer a nominal sum to license the name first.
     
  8. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Captain Marvel has always been a hardluck case in the copyright arena. When he was first developed by Fawcett he was going to be "Captain Thunder" in "Flash Comics" or "Thrill Comics". But Fawcett was beaten to the punch by other comics using those names so they had to settle on "Captain Marvel" and "Whiz Comics". Marvel staked a claim on "Marvel" back in the late thirties with "Marvel Mystery Comics", so once the Captain Marvel copyright lapsed they could claim that only Marvel could use "Marvel" as a comic's name. Which is why the Shazam comic of the seventies had to drop the "Captain Marvel" tagline on it's covers.
     
  9. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Duplicate
     
  10. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    So basically it sounds as if the argument is more about protecting the word "Marvel" as a trademark in marketing comics than an issue of copyright infringement.
     
  11. Bob Karo

    Bob Karo Captain Captain

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    It kinda depends on who's writing. Batman doesn't seem to have a problem with Alfred's current background, or him grabbing a shotgun or maybe a big bore double now and again to protect the house. He's been shown to practice with small arms to know how they're operated and their capabilities. Hell, go far enough back and he'll mow down mobsters with a submachine gun. He's never been shown to think less of the honest cops carrying. How often is Jim Gordon shown without a shoulder holster?

    He also killed a God. With a gun.

    Think of the "no guns, no killing" rule as more of the line in the sand. He knows what he's doing is illegal. It's necessary because the threat has become too much for law enforcement to manage. Now, he can't just go and off every bad guy who jaywalks either. Where does he draw the line? Where his actions can have irreversable consequences. It's an arbitrary line, but that's the one he drew. He expects those who follow his lead to stay on the right side of it.
     
  12. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yes. When written right the "no guns, no killing" rule is simply a personal code that HE lives by in order to avoid going completely over to the dark side, not something he expects everyone he knows to abide by.

    As you point out, if he was that fanatical about it, he'd have to be enemies with Alfred and Gordon.
     
  13. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That's the way I understand it. Trademark is a lot more "black and white" than copyright in terms of what's permissible and what isn't (I think). Marvel owns the trademark so Marvel can dictate what appears on the cover of a Capt. Marvel comic.

    With copyright there is certain latitude in the law that allows for similarity of works, parodies, fair use, etc.
     
  14. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    @the g-man thank you. You got it bang on. I don't know why some fans have such a difficult time with this particular aspect of Bruce's character and moral code. It is also the main reason why he has had such a problem with Jason Todd. That isn't how he raised him or why he gave him the skills he did.

    I just came back from the comic shop. It was actually busy this morning which surprises me because the afternoon and evenings are usually the busiest times of the day on new comic day their. It was nice to see though.
     
  15. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Both Fear Itself and Justice League come out today.
     
  16. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I love the character back-and-forth in JL #2:

    "Barry, you're exposing your identity!"

    "And you just called me 'Barry,' genius."
     
  17. C_Miller

    C_Miller Captain Captain

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    This Justice League just isn't for me. It's definitely a big budget action movie, but in a laughable way. These aren't characters, they're caricatures at least Batman and Green Lantern are. I actually really liked how Barry was written this issue, but he was the only one. And on top of it, I just am not finding this story compelling. Probably because nothing has happened so far. That and it took me about two minutes to read. But I just can't continue with it at $4 a pop.

    Now, on to what I did like. I loved Wonder Woman and I think I can safely say I loved everything about it. Just a perfect comic, IMO. I think that may have a lot to do with the fact that I have never been a fan of WW. From what I can tell, it's very different from how she usually is. I also really dug Nightwing. It was the opposite of WW. It seemed like a classic Nightwing comic from yesteryear.
     
  18. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Call me crazy, but I'm kind of liking Catwoman. My primary comic shop was out of sleeves so I had to go to another shop to buy a bunch and to make the credit-card minimum I also bought Batman & Robin 1 and 2. Don't care much for it. I get that Robin in most interpretations is usually young but normally he's early/late teens in this comic Robin is a child. Which is a bit much for me.

    Batman #2: Good.
    Supergirl #2: Really liked it, the battle and talk between Supergirl and Superman was good.
    Wonder Woman #2: Okay. I'm not usually a big follower or one who likes Wonder Woman, I'll likely just follow this through the first arc.

    Next week I'm likely to get Superman #2 and The Dark Knight #2.
     
  19. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Damien's age is constrained by timeline since he is Bruce's son with Talia so he can't be more than 14.
     
  20. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Oh, is Wonder Woman #2 out? Wonder Woman #1 for $1.99 on Comixology, here I come! (Will I like digital comics? Or my first encounter with the Nu52? Time will tell!)