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

[OdoWanKenobi]

Today was a fairly heavy day for me:

Flash #0
Aquaman #0
Batman Inc. #0
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #3
Talon #0

Talon was the unknown entity here, and I'm pleased to say it was good enough to keep me reading. One more for the monthly pulls, I guess.

[theenglish]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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The Rob Liefield is an ass hole debacle continues as Brian Smith (an editor) at DC leaves.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/09/...-the-knife-in/

Liefeld left? Maybe I will start picking up Hawkman again. When is the first issue without him? Can we start a movement to make it the highest seller of that week?

[Admiral_Young]

There was a whole thing. He went on twitter and bashed people, including Scott Snyder. The zero issue was his last issue I believe.

[Derishton]

It wasn't intentional but I didn't end up buying any of the 0 issues: some because I had no interest (the nuBatson doesn't appeal), and some because I figure I can wait for the trade for revamped origins.

[Admiral_Young]

The website Comicosity has compiled a timeline of the 52'Verse updated through to the zero issues of this month. It's quite an interesting read.

http://www.comicosity.com/read-betwe...0/#assumptions

[Derishton]

Interesting. I still get annoyed when it's argued that Batman Inc is somehow in the wrong, but never mind. The solution would be to largely ignore it in the nu52 timeline. Probably related: I thought Night Force and the recent Shade were both outside continuity?

Any timeline like this will look weird because we know other events still happened: Swamp Thing, for example, clearly depends on the Moore run, but the timeline can't mention that because it hasn't been "confirmed."

[Admiral_Young]

"Multiversity" finally seems to be actually happening. This time we can except sometime near the end of next year.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/gran...kord-2013.html

[Kai "the spy"]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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"Multiversity" finally seems to be actually happening. This time we can except sometime near the end of next year.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/gran...kord-2013.html

Okay, that's a New52 book that I'll actually be buying in 2013. By now, I've dropped all the others except for "Action", and there I'm only waiting till Morrison's done with it.

It's not something I expect from them, but it would be nice if the pre-New52 universe would still be part of the Multiverse. If they'd have an "Earth 2"-like book in that universe, I would buy it.

[Derishton]

Kai "the spy" wrote:

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It's not something I expect from them, but it would be nice if the pre-New52 universe would still be part of the Multiverse. If they'd have an "Earth 2"-like book in that universe, I would buy it.

I like quite a bit of the new 52, but I'd buy a book like this, too.

I'm looking forward to Multiversity more than ever following this announcement. The Big Question: where will Captain Carrot appear?

[Agent Richard07]

Justice League Dark #0: We get to see how Constantine, as a young man, met and fell for Zatana. It was a great story about three young people delving into magic and friendship together. What happened to the third party? Read it and find out. I thought this was one of the better origin pieces done so far.

The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #0: I was expecting something that dealt with Professor Martin Stein developing the Firestorm protocol, but instead, we got a consinuation of the present storyline. The funny thing is that it serves as an origin piece and turns the preceding 12 issues into a prologue or a build-up of sorts. Issue #0 establishes what looks to be the status quo for the characters and the classic Firestorm costume is finally brought in.

[Admiral_Young]

Batman Incorporated #0: To me this was the most disappointing of the zero issues, and one of the most pointless as well. I got the feeling while reading it that Morrison probably didn't even want to write this issue but was probably forced to. Plus we're plagued with art from Frazer Irving. No thank you. The most interesting bits to me were the Wayne Enterprises board scenes with Bruce pitching Batman, Inc to the board. Other than that this was just meh to me.

Aquaman #0: This on the otherhand was excellent. We focus on Arthur's backstory and are introduced to the New 52 version of Vulko and Atlantis...which looks simply gorgeous on that final splash page. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Atlantis storyline.

Superman #0: This actually pleasantly surprised me. Lobdell turned in a decent issue as we focus in on Jor-El and Lara who were portrayed brilliantly, Kenneth Bocafort's art is exceptional all throughout this issue. I loved his work on Paul Cornell's Action Comics run, so putting him on "Superman" was one of the rare good decisions DC has made on this book so far.

[TemporalFlux]

Derishton wrote:

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I like quite a bit of the new 52, but I'd buy a book like this, too.

This is where I don't think that Didio appreciated what he was copying. When the Silver Age replaced the Golden Age, we were given Earth 2 as a way for the Golden Age characters to still have their place. Earth 2 was presented as a series of guest appearances, special events, back-ups, and even eventually a stand alone title or two. Earth 2 was not the star; it did not overwhelm the new direction; but it was still there for people who liked it. This approach even allowed for growth that would have otherwise never happened (I.e. the death of Batman, the marriage of Superman, etc).

The way Didio has handled the post Crisis DCU is really a spit in the face to people who liked it. Didio did not learn from the success of the original Earth 2 concept in bridging readers; to be frank, I'm not sure he even understands what Julie Schwartz and Gardner Fox were doing when they created Earth 2.

The post Crisis DCU should have been allowed to step to the background as the new "Earth 2"; they would no longer be the star, but it would be a treat when we got a glimpse back there every once in awhile.

[Nerys Myk]

What were Fox and Schwartz doing when they invented Earth 2? My understanding is it was a way to acknowledge the requests older fans had about the GA Flash. IIRC "Flash of Two Worlds" was intended to be a one-off. It proved popular so they did a sequel and then applied the concept to the JLA series. If they hadn't thought there would been good story in it or if it had flopped, they never would have done it or continued with it.

I'm a big fan of the Silver Age and the post Crisis DCU. My JLA collection was built around the JLA/JSA team ups. COIE really put a crimp in those and other Earth 2 stories, but I never felt it was spit in the face. They shunted most of the JSA off canvas. The GA versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Green Arrow were treated like they never existed. All-Star Squadron ( and later Young All-Stars) and Infinty Inc were canceled. ( even after being retooled). Still I didn't feel like a was spit in the face.

It was five years between Barry Allen's debut and Jay Garrick's return. It's only been a year since the New 52 started. I think they might want to take a little time for creating a "special place" were the previous continuity still exists.

[the G-man]

It should be noted, however, that circa the silver age (and, I think, well into the 80s), the publishers had reason to believe the readership essentially turned over every five years.

[Hound of UIster]

It probably did. The current situation is only a result of lack of new readership and just a seemingly endless turnover of old fans returning to the fold and then leaving.