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

Wonder Woman was the best comic of the week. Shit really hit the fan.

Batman is a close second.

UXF and UXM aren't even trying.

 

i thought the latest Uncanny X-Force was ok. still think Uncanny X-Men is one of the strongest X-books out there. i've really enjoyed each issue. todays issue had some nice character interactions.

 

I've not read my other pulls yet, just Batman #5, and thought it was really great. Fairly light in story and such (this is really a series that needs to be expanded to more pages) but the execution of Batman dipping into madness is well executed with the "sprialing" layout of the book. I find it interesting that some people's reviews on it graded it down because the book is unreadable -or more difficult to read- in a digital format.

That's why you should buy physical copies, the medium they're meant to be seen in.

 

Not everyone lives close to a comic shop. Digital distribution has been a boon to me. I can actually keep up on comics now.

 

Supergirl #5: I'm actually really enjoying this arc for the most part. It still is strange to me that after encountering Kara in the first issue that Clark hasn't attempted to find his cousin. I get why the writers are doing this, it isn't about Superman, this is Kara's book, but she has moved from one "adventure" to another since she first landed on Earth. I suspect we're going to have a much more grounded second arc. Or at least it should be or I'm going to probably drop this. The scene with Zor-El was pretty good. The villain, this Reign is meh. Most of the new New 52 villains have been meh to me so far. The art is great and the costume redesign has grown on me.

Wonder Woman #5: Oh man. I am loving this book. It is easily my third favourite book of the New 52. I just love the dynamic created, the new characters, the inclusion of the Greek Gods. It has a Hercules/Xena feel to it...only better. I actually dug the art work in this issue. The artist almost gave a Frank Quietly touch to Cliff Chiang's designs that works nicely. Can't say enough good things about this book.

Batman #5: As great as this is...I kind of feel like Snyder is starting to tread on old ground. Bruce just faced a psychological attack on multiple fronts from Dr. Hurt. Not to mention what we just learned about Levithian as well. My one fear is that this is a rehash of R.I.P. I would disagree with Trekker that the story is light. It's pretty dark actually. I will say that it seems like we're missing an issue here or two. It started out innocently enough and has been slowly descenting into chaos and turmoil. It actually reminds me again of the first arc of "Batman and Robin". It will be interesting to see just how Snyder manages to pull this off since it would appear we're going to be sticking with the Order of the Owls for quite some time still. I don't know that there is enough to be an ongoing story line but Snyder hasn't disappointed yet. He's earned my patience.

 

I didn't mean light in tone or anything like that but light in actual story nothing progressed in Batman #5. It was a very good issue and very well executed but at the same time it felt like a "filler episode" you get before Sweeps Week when something really happens.

Anyway, Batman #5 is my #1 issue of this week. I really did enjoy it and wait to see what happens next. (I suspect that The Owl's stabbing of Batman at the end of the issue was a product of Batman's madness and not something that "really happened." What happened to Batman in this issue actually partly made me think of the "Scarecrow Delirium" segments of the Arkham Asylum game. I do think the art was slightly lacking in this issue, there were times if I couldn't tell if Batman's left eye was heavily damaged, he was suffering from pink-eye or the iris was almost closed shut due to the bright light.

Catwoman #5: I thought this was a good issue with some really good art and the splash-page mid-book where Selena is fleeing the police on a motorcycle was good. The book has certainly dialed back on the sexual suggestion it was criticized for in the first issue (though this book does have plenty of cheesecake panels during Selena's massage scene.)

Supergirl #5: I'm liking this book but at the same time the story has gone pretty much no where. Look at where all of the other books are at this point, a couple of them having wrapped up their first arcs and here we have this book where all that's pretty much happened is Kara has awakened on Earth, been captured by one of our villains and now has escaped from another villain residing on a preserved chunk of Krypton. Hell, Kara still doesn't know her entire power set and doesn't even speak English yet. The story really needs to pick up the pace a bit.

Wonder Woman: Well, it seems like finally "something" has happened in this book of note and we get to see something with Wonder Woman rather than her alter-ego Diana. I'm still not loving the art and coloring in this book it's not quite graceful enough. Sure, it's not terrible, but still I think it could use some polish and grace to it.

A good week of pulls all-and-all.

 

Supergirl is going along at a good pace. Events are less important than the manner in which they're dramatized. I've never paid much attention to this character before, although I've read comics featuring her in one way or another ever since her original introduction, but she's rapidly becoming one of my favorites now.

 

I found this earlier today on Blastr.

 

So they just noticed comics contain sex an violence?

The Starfire bit was pretty funny. Why didn't they show the character's original costume from the 80s? The one that looks like a metal bikini?

 

I love how they spend the whole story talking about how horrible it is for kids and that they shouldn't be exposed to it, and then the the first thing they do is they show it to kids.

 

And as I tell the BBJer's in the Lit forum, there is no such thing as bad publicity. That story just sold more comics for DC than it prevented.

 

So this is indeed the new DC Comics logo. It will be introduced in March. I still think it is ugly.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dc-entertainment-new-logo-120119.html

 

Yeah...not good.

 

I like how the article describes they wanted an living entity, something that could capture the power of their characters and story telling. LOL. Yeah. Nope. The swoosh was better than this. This is just a piece of corporate generic crap. There is nothing iconic about this logo at all.

 

That whole news report was one giant face-palm. Are adults not allowed to read comics and enjoy them? Are they supposed to be only for kids? Interesting how they're so quick to judge these comics, their creators and their content but not once the parents who supposedly allow their child to view these comics.

Sensationalism at its best is all over that story. Also interesting how the DC, edgier, comics was intercut with shots of the far more tame Archie comics and they even showed scenes from the decades old Batman TV-series and then compared to the far more recent, critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning, Nolan movies.

The New Logo:

Yeah, it looks like crap. Nothing iconic or stand-out about it, I could design them a new, better, logo inside five minutes in Paintbrush. This logo is just more generic "corporate logo wallpaper" that really doesn't stand out as anything interesting at all. Hell, it'd take straining to even recognize it as "D" and "C."

 

Agreed.
Not an attractive logo.
That first one looks like a Machinists logo.
The second like a new logo for GE or Solyndra.

 

Those are just terribly crappy logos. I mean, sheesh. Nothing about them screams to me "DC", comic books, superheroes, or some 80 years of defining popular culture.

 

I wouldn't want those logos on any of my products...

 

This took me about 5-10 minutes to make in MS Paint.



I was envisioning something a bit more dynamic with a few more details and touches, but my skills are limited.

 

^ That is actually better than what they made up...and the character reminds me of "Sherlock" for some reason lol.