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

I don't think they should have rebooted Hawkman or Firestorm.

 

I don't think they should have relaunched anything, and I say this as someone who is enjoying a little of the 52 'Verse.

 

I disagree. Overall I think the titles came out stronger after the reboot.

For Superman, you now have Grant Morrison directing the future of the character as opposed to pre-reboot where New Krypton and the aborted JMS stuff had left a big mess. My only problems is that neither Cornell and Roberson got any recognition from DC for the amazing stuff they put out and that they got rid of the marriage.

Wonder Woman. Certainly Azarello writing the character with Chiang on art had made it one of the successes of the new 52. It probably has more momentum coming in than the last attempt that suffered from the writer not knowing what a deadline.

Batman. I'd say this is even since instead of Morrison they have the equally talented Snyder at the driver's seat.

Green Lantern. This was one of the properties that wasn't rebooted and I think that was a mistake. Geoff Johns it seems to me is burnt out and Red Lanterns/New Guardians/GLC aren't really inspiring either.

Aquaman. Definitely stronger with Johns.

Justice League. No change other than having the heavy hitters, there doesn't seem to be a change in quality in regards to the writing.

Teen Titans. I'm not fond of what Lobdell did to Starfire. Johns seems to be doing alright with Cyborg. But I'm not thrilled with what they are doing to Kid Flash/Wonder Girl/Blue Beetle.

Firestorm - one of the properties that suffered due to the reboot and DC thinking Van Sciver can write.

Hawkman - just another headache waiting to happen. If Hawkman is fixed, don't break him again! Is that so hard?

Supernatural/Horror side - One of the strongest aspects of the NuDCU in my opinion with some of the best writers that DC has.

 

I love a good barnacle scraping.

 

Story wise, I think they were fine and stuff wasn't anymore "overwritten" than over at Marvel. Granted, there were a few misfires (for example, it was clear they had no idea what to do with The Flash since Infinite Crisis), but stuff was moving along just fine.

Problem was, not matter how "good" stuff was, sales were not improving and DC kept losing out to Marvel (save for maybe Batman). I am sure a LOT of that had to do with the Marvel movie rush over the past ten years.

They needed something to renew interest. A "reboot" to, ideally, bring in/back readers and a huge marketing push was the gimmick they succeeded with before and one they are seemingly succeeding with again.

Hey, don't tell that to Adam West!

Seriously though, while Bruce might have been on the "older end" of his generation of superheroes, I don't think he was ever close to 40. I think it was more like 30-35.

 

I haven't read the posts recently, so I apologize if it has already been discussed, but has there been any mention of the purple lady this month? I have only bought the current Action, Justice League, and Green Lantern (and I'm enjoying GL so sue me) and I haven't seen anything.

 

I think she was only appearing in the #1s. Apparently, her story will eventually be dealt with in Justice League.

 

You know, I've been pretty hard on Justice League, but I will say it's better than 90% of the latest volume. The last volume was for the most part poor. That said it's no where close to JLA from the 90s-mid 2000s.

 

The numbers never make sense, it's pointless trying to add them up in a logical sense - he's whatever age they want him to be.

 

A few years ago they did a sub-plot where a social worker was trying to work out what actually happened to Jason Todd and thought that something funny had gone on. He and his partner go to Wayne Manor and Bruce answers the door in his dressing gown and behind him is a young asian girl who can barely speak engish (Batgirl of course), also in a dressing gown - confirming to the social worker that he's a sleeze...

 

There is no reason why most of the books couldn't continue with their 52 verse creative teams attached to them but still part of the previous continuity. Imagine Geoff Johns and Jim Lee on the Justice League rebuilding the big seven? He could still promote Vic up from the Titans. Sales on these books will eventually drop as soon as fan curiosity starts to dwindle on them. In terms of Superman I would have had Paul Cornell continue on Action Comics while giving Grant the opportunity to do his "All-Star Superman: Year One" as a prequel to All Star Superman. Would have Chris Roberson continue on "Superman" proceeding with a brand new story arc after "Grounded".

I dunno. I still feel like this was done as a sales grab and there was no real reason to relaunch a lot of the books. Again I am not saying that I don't like some of the books and their creative teams because I think I have been pretty clear about what I have liked so far. I am just being critical of the notion of the relaunch in general. Perhaps the sales figures in coming months will prove me wrong...Marvel has some pretty cool stuff on the horizon for November and beyond so hopefully they'll start challenging the New 52 a little more stronger.

 

Well, duh! It worked too!

The comic book industry is dying a slow death. Marvel and DC are desperate to get new/retain old readers. Stunts like rebooting or having "big events" are their best hopes at the moment.

 

Why would you want Morrison writing an Elseworld origin when he can rewrite the origin entirely in the main dc continuity? I am certainly disappointed that Roberson didn't get a book and the Cornell is stuck writing Stormwatch and Demon Knights, but Morrison on Action Comics is probably one of the best things coming out of the reboot.

 

I agree with you, Action Comics and Batman are the two best books out of the relaunch. My point though which I think is being missed entirely is that most of it has felt unnecessary. DC felt other wise obviously. I'm just making a personal observation and critique. I'm happy that so many are enjoying the relaunch...that's clearly what DC wanted as well.

Or as I've stated before DC could have kept the original numbering for Action Comics and had Grant do the new origin story. Kind of like what DC did with Frank Miller and Batman Year One originally before it became known as a graphic novel.

 

I don't get the impression that Cornell thinks he's "stuck" on Demon Knights, which is one of the better titles in the 52. The only title I liked more was All-Star Western - Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark were good runners-up. That being said, Perez was a weird choice for Superman.

I was underwhelmed by the first issue of Justice League, but really liked the second issue - especially the Flash/Superman fight and the cell phone conversation. I might be the only person who thought that only seeing the end of Batman's ineffective attempts to throw stuff at Superman was actually quite effective story-telling.

 

who is this Roberson guy you guys are talking about?

 

Chris Roberson. He took over on Superman and finished JMS's Grounded story line. He is currently writing the Legion of Superheroes/Star Trek crossover as well for IDW.

 

Well, I was buying one DC title occasionally before the relaunch, now I'm buying five or six...monthly, so far.

Saying that the writing on the pre-relaunch titles was not weaker than Marvel is damning with faint praise.

The simple, direct writing style of the new books that I've been reading is very appealing when it works. My one real disappointment with that aspect of nuDC thus far is GL.

 

interesting.

In one of the Robin miniseries, they had this tiny b plot running in the background, that social services was asking questions about why his ward/special-friend Tim Drake was covered in new bruises every morning.

It was far more intriguing than whatever the guts of that series was about, but never the less DC probably didn't want to write a how to manual for children to cleverly hide abuse from the prying eyes of the man.

 

Shit, he's a billionaire living in what is by its very premise the most corrupt city in America. Until someone actually turns up dead no questions will be asked.

Even then, the odds favor "death by accident/misadventure."