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

[Myasishchev]

It was DiDio but I don't know that he said what Wally was doing except that they had "retired" the character for now.

Yeah the forced mocking pages were a little overkill in Johns attempt to build up the fact that Arthur is a bad ass. I think most "true" Aquaman fans already know how bad ass he is. I suppose that the scenes in the restaurant were just Johns getting all the fans old jokes and mocking out of his system. What Johns really should have done is given Mera her own book. I would have read that!

I'd have read a Mera, book, yeah. I kind of expected her to be more in this, too. She comes in like "Oh right! Aquaman has a wife and this takes place in 'present day'! Shoot!"

I still overall did like it though.

So now all the first issues are out - what's going to be cancelled first?

I think Mister Terrific has to be up there.

Grifter. Mr. Terrific's gotten decent reviews afaik, despite a couple of exchanges of dialogue that make it sound more like Tyroc: The Series than any Mr. Terrific book. "HOW ABOUT JUST 'THANKS MR. BLACK MAN FOR SAVING ME'?" "IS THIS BECAUSE I'M A WHITE GIRL?"

See, it sort of works in Firestorm, because Jason Rusch is a kid, and kind of supposed to be an asshole with a chip on his shoulder from being a nerd instead of a jock so he blames it on racism through a fit of cognitive dissonance, but at the same time he winds up making a valid point even though his reasons are all wrong.

Whereas in the pages of Terrific I've seen it's 1)nonsensical, since he's talking to a black guy and 2)unpleasant, as Karen Starr is supposed to be a grown-ass woman with people skills.

Anyway, also Red Hood and the Outlaws. Catwoman will inexplicably survive. But I would bet a coke Grifter doesn't make it past 6. It's truly awful.

 

[Admiral_Young]

That'd be funny if all the Wildstorm books get cancelled first...

 

[JoeZhang]

^ On what basis? I thought it was a pretty decent book myself. All of them as mention seemed to have sold out so it's gonna take a few issues before we get cancellation announcements. In fact...I'd not be surprised if we continue to get more books.

That doesn't actually mean anything - this is how that trick works - with the titles that you don't expect to do very well, you underprint on the first run, they then sell out, you then print more.

Going back to Mister Terrific I just thought the artwork was something I'd expect from a small press not DC.

Talking of Wildstorm books, I actually quite liked Voodoo and it actually made me want to pick up the next issue - it's also weird how it had more flesh on display than Red Hood but because of context it didn't feel forced or exploitative.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I still think DC will allow each of the 52 to reach the end of their first arcs before making any decisions on what will go first.

 

[C_Miller]

I can easily see Grifter and Voodoo being canceled first. I also don't see much of a readership base in I, Vampire which was actually really good. In my ideal world, DC would let it run 12 issues and the writer would do his best to tell the story of the War of the Vampires in those 12 issues.

 

[JoeZhang]

I still think DC will allow each of the 52 to reach the end of their first arcs before making any decisions on what will go first.

Which is likely six issues? I think I remember Didio saying that they will chop anything that under-performs pretty quickly.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Interesting. I must have missed that comment...but yeah I think each book's arc is six issues. Some maybe four.

 

[C_Miller]

I hate to be a pessimist, but I have a feeling that a lot of books were created as kind of beautiful losers, to use a political science term. In politics you never want to throw out all of your cards (especially if you're bound to fail), but you always want politicians on reserve for the future, in some cases you want your best. So DC decided to lead out with several titles that they weren't especially confidant with to create room for new titles in 2012.

I think this cavalierness with canceling titles could backfire on them though. One of the things that I really liked about DC back in the day was their willingness to try new things and keep them going if they have good fan response. Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Shadowpact, Gotham Central and countless others lasted a lot longer than their sales would normally dictate due to good fan response. I have no doubt Xombie and THUNDER Agents would have been the same way. I think that if all of these obscure titles get quickly canceled without a proper chance, some of the fan base could turn very quickly and begin to wonder if it's worth it to get books when they first come out. I don't know, just a thought.

 

[JoeZhang]

It's actually the business model - they know before they launch that most of those titles will be cancelled or relaunched within two years - the trick is simply to pull the plug while they are still profitable and launch something else that you are pretty certain will fail.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

One of the things that I really liked about DC back in the day was their willingness to try new things and keep them going if they have good fan response.

"Good fan response" = buying enough of the books to keep the lights on.

It's actually the business model - they know before they launch that most of those titles will be cancelled or relaunched within two years - the trick is simply to pull the plug while they are still profitable...

Exactly so.

 

[Hound of UIster]

That said... is this Bart or Wally? If it's Bart, where's Wally...? IS there a Wally? I would be pretty disappointed if there was no Wally.

Currently not even DC knows.

 

[C_Miller]

One of the things that I really liked about DC back in the day was their willingness to try new things and keep them going if they have good fan response.

"Good fan response" = buying enough of the books to keep the lights on.

Right, but several years ago, DC kept a lot of books such as the ones I mentioned going even through low sales. The sales of Gotham Central never warranted it to last as long as it did. 45 issues, if I recall correctly. Manhunter lasted 38 through low sales. Blue Beetle lasted 36.

I guess another question is if they're going to look at it through a comparative lens. Like for example just cut the lowest selling ten or so after six issues or if there's actually a cut off mark that they're looking for. In the eyes of DC marketing, this relaunch was a massive success. All the books went to second printings and while I expect a drop off in sales, I'm going to hope that the quality titles remain strong.

I think there is a slight chance that if it's not a proportion and they're actually trying to hit a mark for sales that very few if none will be canceled after six issues. I actually can't wait to see the gross sales figures for September. I know DC is going to dominate the sales chart, but it'll be interesting to see where some of the sleeper hits fit in like Animal Man and Swamp Thing.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

One of the things that I really liked about DC back in the day was their willingness to try new things and keep them going if they have good fan response.

"Good fan response" = buying enough of the books to keep the lights on.

Right, but several years ago, DC kept a lot of books such as the ones I mentioned going even through low sales. The sales of Gotham Central never warranted it to last as long as it did.

Exactly. That means that the book didn't have "good fan response" unless you define that as a few people talking a lot.

Mikel Janin exclusive to DC Entertainment

 

[Nerys Myk]

The art in Voodoo was for the most part well done, though nothing about the character or story really grabbed me. I wasn't even sure why the character/book is called "Voodoo". So I checked the wiki and under abilities I found:

Telepathy, power beam[made of complete telepathic energy converted into force] the Sight (allows her to recognise Daemonite-possessed humans), time-manipulation, regeneration, can shapeshift into a beast-like form, Voodoo magic, and control over magnetic fields

Is there anything she can't do?????????? I think even Superman pales in comparison on the multipower front.

Though from reading the character history, they must have added the voodoo magic thing later, after actully thinking about the name.

 

[Hound of UIster]

The actual voodoo stuff was from her own miniseries by Alan Moore.

 

[JoeZhang]

since this is the de-facto DC thread:

DC Entertainment, the first publisher to offer more than fifty comic book titles on the same day in digital and print, is now taking the world of digital books by storm. The comic book giant has worked with Amazon to bring 100 of its original graphic novels exclusively to Amazon’s newly announced Kindle Fire, including best-selling graphic novels WATCHMEN, BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY and SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, which are available for the first time digitally.

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/09/2...00-graphic-novels-exclusively-on-kindle-fire/

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yeah, they have a press release up at the DC site, too. Interesting...

 

[Broccoli]

I bet Action Comics gets canceled first...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yeah...that's not happening.

 

[Broccoli]

Could you imagine the fan rage if it did?