Been about 15 or so since I seriously collected. Was a fan of John’s when he was a nobody who wrote the Wally West “Flash”, but wasn’t a fan of any “Rebirth” books and bending over backwards to pander to my age group at the expense of the fans who came after. I check the comic sites almost daily and comics from the Big 2 just look like convoluted clusterfucks. The only titles I pick up (if I don’t wait for the trades) are those in the “Black Hammer” universe. Because they’re usually mini-series, and it’s a pretty small little universe that pays homage to many classic characters from the Big 2, but with a more sophisticated, usually melancholy, vibe. Not grim n gritty, not quite Vertigo level, but *leans* in that direction.
I understand people not liked by what he did with the Flash but it had been over 20 years since Barry was the Flash. It’s did seem like the perfect time to bring him back
Nobody except a tiny minority was clamoring for Barry’s return. Most people felt he got a heroic send off and liked seeing the legacy carried on.
DC won some Eisners. - The Nice House on the Lake (Best new ongoing series) - Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons (Best single issue or one-shot; Phil Jimenez for Best Penciller/Inker, and well deserved IMO, that book was gorgeous) - Jen Bartel (Best cover artist, Future State Immortal Wonder Woman #1&2, Wonder Woman: Black & Gold #1, Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary) - James Tynion IV (Best writer, Batman, The Joker, The Nice House on the Lake, DC Pride 2021) Meanwhile, with issue #4 Dark Crisis will be re-titled Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths, and there's a new Batman/Spawn crossover coming written by Todd McFarlane with art by Greg Capullo.
And, I guess, lost in the shuffle of SDCC news, October solicits are out. - Riddler: Year One, six-issue prequel to The Batman movie, written by none other than Paul Dano himself, with art by Stevan Subic who's been doing fantastic work in European comics for a while and is now debuting in the US. Damn, this is tempting. But, fuck, $4.99 cover price, times six, I think it will be cheaper to wait for the collected edition. - Another tie-in miniseries for the Harley Quinn animated series. Still haven't gotten around to getting any of the stuff published so far. - Gotham City: Year One, damn, this feels like scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I know Bat-books sell better than anything else, but still. Even if I was still reading the regular Bat-books, I don't think I'd pick this one up. Other Bat-books launching are The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, Punchline, Batman Inc., and GCPD. Because there weren't enough Bat-books already. - Another Dark Crisis tie-in one-shot The Deadly Green featuring Superman and Swamp Thing. Fine, I guess. - Third book in the Wonder Woman Historia series, this time with art by Nicola Scott. Everybody, if you haven't picked up the two books already out, do so, this series is simply beautiful. - It's October, so of course there's gonna be a horror-themed anthology one-shot. And I still say nope. - Static returns, but while the first mini-series was titled Season One, this one is titled Shadows of Dakota. Eh, who cares, still gonna get this.
So much Batman, I'm so sick and tired of Batman . I haven't even read a batman related ongoing since the Detective Comics run with Batwoman/Tim Drake/Cassandra Cain/Clayface ended, but its just pushed so hard its gotten completely obnoxious, almost to the point of parody.
DC Comics has removed the word Comics from all of their social media and websites. Doesn't make you fear for what Warner's new owners are going to do to it at all...
At this point DC has just been going straight downhill for years, and with the current HBOMAX stuff I'm not surprised that weird shit is going on in other areas of DC. I guess this makes me kind of glad that the New 52 permanently killed most of my interest in any DC stuff released post August 2011, at this point my reaction to stuff like this is just a shrug and a "that's a shame".
I mentioned over in the movie thread that DC comics currently offer less variety of titles than at any point I can remember in the last fifty years. Right now there is no Green Lantern, Teen Titans, Aquaman, Suicide Squad, Justice League, Justice Society, Legion, Hawkman, Hellblazer among others. Most books being published are Batman related. There are also very few non-super titles out right now. With the ending of Swamp Thing next month, I will only be buying Action Comics, Superman, and Dark Crisis.
ACTION COMICS #1048 SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #16 WORLD'S FINEST #8 DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #5 DARK CRISIS: THE DEADLY GREEN #1 DARK CRISIS: WORLDS WITHOUT A JUSTICE LEAGUE – GREEN ARROW #1 DARK CRISIS: YOUNG JUSTICE #5 THE FLASH #787 FLASHPOINT BEYOND #6 MULTIVERSITY: TEEN JUSTICE #5 WONDER WOMAN HISTORIA: THE AMAZONS #3 BATMAN: FORTRESS #6 BLACK ADAM – THE JUSTICE SOCIETY FILES: DOCTOR FATE #1 DC VS. VAMPIRES #10 DC VS. VAMPIRES: ALL-OUT WAR #4 DC: MECH #4 THE JURASSIC LEAGUE #6 YOUNG JUSTICE: TARGETS #4 DC'S TERRORS THROUGH TIME #1 HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES: LEGION OF BATS! #1 THE HUMAN TARGET #8 BATMAN: THE AUDIO ADVENTURES #2 DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS #3 trade waiting: RIDDLER YEAR ONE, GOTHAM YEAR ONE, DC HORROR PRESENTS: SGT. ROCK VS. THE ARMY OF THE DEAD, BATMAN VS. ROBIN, BLACK ADAM, FABLES, TAYLOR'S NIGHTWING, WILSON'S POISON IVY, THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE
A few of those, particularly Teen Titans, Aquaman, and especially Justice League, don't have current titles because of the Dark Crisis crossover. And while there are no current ongoing books, Aquaman is starring or co-starring in two current mini-series, the JL vs LoSH miniseries is still going, and there are those Black Adam-movie prequel one-shots of the Justice Society members (not main comic continuity, but still). Looking at the current titles, non-Batman DCU books are: - Action Comics - Aquaman & the Flash: The Voidsong - Aquaman: Andromeda - Black Adam - Dark Crisis and related tie-ins - Deathstroke Inc - The Flash - Flashpoint Beyond - Human Target - JL vs LoSH - Monkey Prince - Multiversity: Teen Justice - Naomi Season 2 - New Champion of SHAZAM - Nubia, Queen of the Amazons - Superman: Son of Kal-El - Titans United: Blood Pact - Wonder Woman - Wonder Woman Historia Plus, a couple of non-main DCU books like DCeased, DC Mechs, and DC vs. Vampires. And again, main books for JL, Green Lantern and the rest will return once Dark Crisis is over. So, while it might be less variety than at any other point, I wouldn't call DC doomed just yet. I mean, I've heard that kind of talk for decades now.
Is anyone reading Dark Crisis? I just started reading the Flashpoint Beyond and won't start Dark Crisis until after I read through Aquamen--but are we looking at yet another reset of the multiverse? That would make five in the last fifteen years?
Not sure if they're going full reset. After all, both Metal and Dark Metal were nominally "Anti-Crisis" and reset the universe, but ultimately they were just as before with minor changes to the canon, similar to Zero Hour back in the day. What they announced at SDCC was that the classic multiverse would return (and that's the multiverse as in "infinite earths", no limitation to 52 worlds). The way they phrased it, it might even be the same Earths, as in pre-Crisis Earth-2 and so forth.
Both Stargirl and the Justice Society will get new ongoing titles by Geoff Johns in November, and it's about fucking time.
So I am here for this all day long: https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/08/18/dc-rewinds-to-the-90s-in-november Now, I don't actually know or care from Wildstorm, but I do know this: https://comicbook.com/dc/news/dc-announces-new-wildstorm-wildcats-series-amanda-waller/ Say no more! Or actually, do -- here's the book's co-writer on Lois: https://foreverwars.ghost.io/waller-vs-wildstorm-is-the-reign-of-terror-of-comics/ Lois Lane given the respect and prominence she deserves? Take my money, DC!
Just saw the article. Its that shitty Stargirl show spilling into the comics, complete with little kid versions of Hourman, etc. The JSA comic resurrects the shitty female versions of Wildcat and Dr. Mid-nite, obviously because of the Stargirl show, and for some reason Earth 2 Huntress is there, but possibly not the one from the New 52 Earth 2, even though thats their only choice for Huntress besides the idiot secret agent New 52 version. I'm still expecting the Power Girl to be the dumb party girl New 52 version, because Johns is just the kind of asshole to do that. The man who hasn't written a good comic in over a decade now getting to destroy the team that made him famous in comics. Its like if Disney had hired George Lucas to make the sequel trilogy.