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

[23skidoo]

I'm not sure they could really ever get ME back. I quit comics with a whimper, not with a bang. The day didn't come when I loudly proclaimed "I'm done!!"

The days came when I realized I hadn't been to the comic shop in a few weeks....and then the time between visits grew longer until one day I realized that I hadn't been in several months.

I haven't gotten to that point yet, but I have found the number of weeks where nothing of interest has come in has increased. Since quitting DC I pretty much buy a handful of independents/licensed titles and that's it. My plan to "defect" to Marvel never happened because there's not a lot there of interest anymore either. As for DC - 8 months or so after quitting over the reboot I don't find myself missing it a bit. And reading some of the reviews I think even if I hadn't been turned off by the destroying of the Oracle character/cancellation of 90% of the titles I liked and ending the original runs of Action and Detective, I'd have probably signed off by now anyway.

My point being that if tomorrow they announced the "52 Reset" - as in everything returned to 2011 status quo and Action and Detective renumbering to 910 or whatever, I'd probably still not go back.

Alex

 

[Admiral_Young]

I just thought of a question for those who have still been reading Red Hood and the Outlaws. Has the book mentioned where Sasha is? For those who don't know, she was introduced in Batman and Robin and is Jason's sidekick, named Scarlet. She was deformed by Professor Pyg and Damian attempted a botched save of her which kind of led to her deformity. The last we see of her before Red Hood and the Outlaw starts is that she chooses to remain with Jason at the end of the arc which is collected in the Dark Knight, White Knight trade. I'm assuming that at some point prior to the start of the Red Hood and the Outlaws that Jason dropped Sasha off somewhere. Deciding it was perhaps too dangerous for her to be his sidekick. Unless of course this has indeed been addressed in the book.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm pretty sure Sasha is never mentioned. Maybe that storyline disappeared from continuity?

 

[Admiral_Young]

I wouldn't be surprised if she was dropped...that would be too bad though as I dug the idea of Jason having a sidekick. Morrison basically wrote the two of them as the Anti-Batman and Robin.

 

[Hound of UIster]

I just thought of a question for those who have still been reading Red Hood and the Outlaws. Has the book mentioned where Sasha is? For those who don't know, she was introduced in Batman and Robin and is Jason's sidekick, named Scarlet. She was deformed by Professor Pyg and Damian attempted a botched save of her which kind of led to her deformity. The last we see of her before Red Hood and the Outlaw starts is that she chooses to remain with Jason at the end of the arc which is collected in the Dark Knight, White Knight trade.

No she didn't. She fled Gotham after Jason was captured by Dick and put in prison.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Uh...no. You'd be wrong. The last image from that two parter is Scarlet and Jason inside a Helicopter heading towards an unknown location. I'm talking about issues 23-25 of "Batman and Robin" the arc was called The Streets Run Red. I literally just flipped through the issues shortly before posting my first post. You're probably thinking of the arc before that. This one starts with Jason requesting a transfer from Arkham Aslyum after a conversation with Bruce.

 

[JD]

There aren't any new fans to be had. Comics have successfully turned themselves into a small niche market.

I'm a new fan who's just recently started reading comics, but at this point other than JL#1 I haven't any other New 52s, and at this point based on comments here, and the stuff I've read on other sites I'll be sticking to the older stuff. I've just found a lot more of the stories and stuff that I've read about from the old continuity more interesting than what I've read about the New 52 stories.

 

[Admiral_Young]

DC New 52 C2E2 panel coverage summary. Not really much out of the panel in terms of announcements or news.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=38169

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Been catching up - finally made it to Superman #7. I like the new creative team. I've gotten to like the new costume - and particularly the way it works - a lot. The characters are a great deal livelier and more fun than in the past few iterations, and that's coming more to fruition with the new writer than it did with Perez.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Well this is interesting. For all his arrogance and bravado Rich has been pretty accurate on a lot of projects over the year or so I've been following Bleeding Cool since he broke the New 52 story. He was correct on Before Watchman as well months before it was officially announced by DC. This though sounds like DC wants to do their own kind of X-Men: Schism but using the Trinity. LOL. It sound intriguing but we'll have to see next summer. It doesn't appear that there is going to be any event this year, but just self contained arc related events in the various books. Such as The Night of Owls, Who Sunk Atlantis. Etc. Thoughts about this?

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/04/17/dc-comics-bring-trinity-war/


Pulls for today:


-Batman #8 (Night of Owls begins I believe)
-Supergirl #8 (Last chance for this book)
-Wonder Woman #8 (Diana gets some weapons for her journey into Hades).

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Just finished the Justice League where Bruce follows Darkseid back to his own planet. Really enjoyed it, particularly the back-and-forth between Bruce and Hal. "Who's Bruce Wayne," indeed.

 

[Leroy]

This though sounds like DC wants to do their own kind of X-Men: Schism but using the Trinity. LOL. It sound intriguing but we'll have to see next summer. It doesn't appear that there is going to be any event this year, but just self contained arc related events in the various books. Such as The Night of Owls, Who Sunk Atlantis. Etc. Thoughts about this?

Without knowing any of the details, I really don't want to see DC try a version of Marvel's Civil War that's the story that drove me from Marvel, hero fighting hero gets old fast and I'm also tired of the character assassination (Iron Man) and literal assassination (Captain America).

 

[Agent Richard07]

Action Comics #2 to #8: Finally caught up. Lex Luthor comes off as an egomaniac and a very dehumanizing figure. It's one of the best written versions of the character I've seen to date. I also liked the side story with the Kents not being able to have a child. Other than that, I haven't been too impressed with this run. I liked the beginning with Superman in a tee shirt and cape, just new on the scene, but that was rushed to a conclusion with a clichéd battle with Brainiac. Oh, and what happens if he needs a replacement costume? I preferred it when he wore regular spandex that got torn and had to be replaced every now and then. And one other question... What does blue kryptonite do? They said it's the most lethal. Anyway, I'd be done with this title, but I might pick up the next issue. I'm curious about this "President Superman" business.

Batman: The Dark Knight #6 and #7: Story was losing me a bit, but I'm intrigued by this White Rabbit, so I'll soldier on for now. Once they wrap it up, I plan to drop this title.

Justice League #6: I finished up the first arc and I'm done. I'm all for humanizing characters, but this bunch is a little too rowdy for my tastes. My intention was to just sample most of these titles anyway.

Saucer Country #1: The governor of New Mexico has announced her run for the presidency, but there's one problem... She's confessed to her aides that she was abducted by aliens. It's a fascinating read, so I'll keep up with it to see where it goes.

Supergirl #5 to #7: Finished the first arc. I was planning to give up on the title, but I like Supergirl and want to see how she develops. Hope they keep those clichéd battles to a minimum and give us some real story. By the way, I thought the blue sun might depower her, but she still managed to take off and leave Argo City.

Wonder Woman #5 to #7: I like Wonder Woman, but the story is losing me and the art isn't the best. I'm still holding on though, especially since the hook with the amazon males captured my interest. Those women on Paradise Island aren't particularly nice or peaceful are they... Raiding ships, getting themselves pregnant, doing away with the men and abandoning the baby boys. None the less, it's an interesting deconstruction of Wonder Woman lore.

What I plan to get this week...

Birds of Prey #8
Supergirl #8
Wonder Woman #8

Non DC title...

The Shadow #1

Titles I would have gotten but dropped...

Justice League
Nightwing
Red Hood and the Outlaws

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Well this is interesting. For all his arrogance and bravado Rich has been pretty accurate on a lot of projects over the year or so I've been following Bleeding Cool since he broke the New 52 story. He was correct on Before Watchman as well months before it was officially announced by DC. This though sounds like DC wants to do their own kind of X-Men: Schism but using the Trinity. LOL. It sound intriguing but we'll have to see next summer. It doesn't appear that there is going to be any event this year, but just self contained arc related events in the various books. Such as The Night of Owls, Who Sunk Atlantis. Etc. Thoughts about this?

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/04/17/dc-comics-bring-trinity-war/

Yes. Wait until you've read the Free Comic Book Day book before you speculate about what The Trinity War is.

On a different note, I was disappointed in the first chapter of "SHAZAM!" in Justice League #7, but I liked the second chapter in Justice League #8. I'm now curious to see where Johns goes with this, though I still want a good shot of Billy in the suit.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Picked up Batman Beyond Unlimited #3 today and realized that this really all the DC that I really need. For $3.99, I got a Batman story, a Superman story and a Justice League story. Perfect.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Justice League #8: Ugh, that's it. I'm done. This book is just stupid. The characters are all being written as incredibly unlikable, and I just don't give a crap.

Batman #8: Night of the Owls begins, and it is awesome. This is a pure action book, but it kicks every kind of ass. Alfred putting out the call to the whole Bat family at the end, even Jason(!!) shows that some serious shit is going down.

Nightwing #8: And the serious shit continues here. The last couple pages are pretty striking. That's a hell of a problem Dick has here. Yeeeeeeouwch.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #8: Ah, ok. Jason wasn't a target of Alfred's broadcast, but was eavesdropping. This book has gotten a lot better since issue 1, but it still seems like this team is not actually a team. It's always Kori and Roy are off doing one thing while Jason is off doing another. I'd like to see them all fighting together for once. Maybe they'll get the change against Mr. Freeze or the Talons. The bit between Jason and Tim was nice. It's an odd change of pace seeing Jason be civil to any of the other Robins.

Green Lantern Corps #8: More nazi-I mean Alpha Lantern problems. Yay. I also think that Guy had better be wary about the promotion he's getting. I forsee the Guardians trying to force him onto the surgery block next. Looks like John didn't get off as easy as I thought, either. Good. They kicked Hal out of the Corps for less.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I saw Rich's report about the Trinity War...very interesting indeed. Looks like we're finally going to get to the bottom of what Pandora's agenda is and her connection to the New 52 timeline.


Supergirl #8: I've been extremely patient with this book and it showed a lot of promise with the opening arc and the art is pretty good and consistent, but there are still a lot of problems with this book. I guess the military who we can assume have worked with Superman by this point and are familiar with him and his costume can't decipher that Kara has a similar costume to him, and she just saved their asses as well. Kara's new friend who seems to be the New 52 version of Dazzler lol...is kind of interesting and i'm guessing she is going to room with her and she is going to teach her about Earth custom and we're going to find out why she has a gift with languages, but I just have run out of patience with this book. There seems to be a lot of stupid people in the New 52 as opposed to the DCU. I might pick this up again during the Superman Family crossover later this summer but it's dropped now.

Batman #8: Prelude to the Night of Owls and oh man has business picked up!! Yeah I've been critical of the whole Court of Owls arc but it is very clear to me that Snyder is weaving an even larger tale here. This is just the start of something bigger. The art is simply awesome. Greg Capullo is really killing it here, just some beautiful art. I might have to start reading the other books that I dropped in order to follow the rest of the arc.

 

[Saga]

yeah, kinda feel the same way about Supergirl. feeling that way about a lot of books at this point. of the DC stuff i read tonight i thought Nightwing and Wonder Woman were pretty good. everything else was just...there.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Wonder Woman still continues to be one of my favourite books, and in my top three. I was hesitant over the direction of the book, but it has really worked out right now, and Cliff Chiang's art while not for everyone works with the story tone of the book. I really like Diana and the ongoing story we're dealing with her.

 

[Guy Gardener]

DC doesn't feel real to me without 70 years of history to prop it up.

Why is Green Arrow acting like a young Booster Gold?

Actually he reminds me of Spider-Man's early audition with the fantastic Four, in the 60s, when he changed his mind after they told him there was no pay cheque... Which in the story line of "Ben Billions" we found out that Pete was on the money about the money and Reed just forgot to tell his friends that they were being paid a salary.

Where's Jim Lee?

I made an invested commitment to this book because it was going to be beautiful.

Bait and switch.

(Again.)