DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)
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Speaking of Karl Kesel, apparently, he's selling off his comic collection to cover the costs of adopting and getting treatment for his new, baby son. There's an article here with more of the story. Truly heartwarming.
The parents of the infant in question wanted his son to grow up being raised by a comics loving family. The baby was born addicted to heroin, so not only did Karl and his current wife (I was surprised to find out that it wasn't Barbara, apparently they divorced a few years go) adopt the baby, they are doing everything they can to raise money to cover the costs of taking care of the kid. Luckily, the baby already went through detox and is home with the Kesels now. They are hoping insurance will cover the medical bills, but are not 100% sure.
Just the kind of heartwarming story we need to balance out the Liefeld stuff. I really wish I was in a position where I could donate to this cause.
I think that's a good example of how easily we can become biased. To me, DC's jab was good natured. To Gerard all those years ago, it was mean-spirited.
Liefeld's indefensible - seriously, not touching alcohol has done nothing for your temper, so maybe you ought to have a nip of something mellow. But I did laugh at Snyder's question about what kind of book a "Batman sells Batman" book would be. It's called "Dark Knight". It was terrible for most of the first year. It still sold.
Wow. Those tweets were awesome. Thanks to all who posted where to find them.
It was fascinating getting a peek behind the curtain. I do have to agree with Liefeld to some extent-and Synder eventually does too-on the one point that Batman does sell pretty well on its own, despite the level of creative ability overseeing his adventures. That being said, I do think Synder has been pretty good, though the Night of Owls ended on an anti-climatic note.
It was fascinating getting a peek behind the curtain. I do have to agree with Liefeld to some extent-and Synder eventually does too-on the one point that Batman does sell pretty well on its own, despite the level of creative ability overseeing his adventures. That being said, I do think Synder has been pretty good, though the Night of Owls ended on an anti-climatic note.
Batman only sells well now because they continued putting hot writers and artists on the book for several years straight along with having major Batman related events. Prior to this, its sales were lagging.
^ Agree one hundred percent. It really depends on the writer for me when I'm following it. If "Batman" was being written by say Scott Lobdell or Tony Daniel...it'd be dropped in a heartbeat.
Pete Woods has a different take on Liefeld's twitter rants from yesterday. Says there is a plan in effect for the New 52 and that there have been compromises made, and that the communication part is 90 percent the fault of the creator and not the editor (not sure that I agree with this, but I understand what he's saying).
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08/26/pete-woods-joins-in-the-liefeld-debate/
Pete Woods has a different take on Liefeld's twitter rants from yesterday. Says there is a plan in effect for the New 52 and that there have been compromises made, and that the communication part is 90 percent the fault of the creator and not the editor (not sure that I agree with this, but I understand what he's saying).
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08/26/pete-woods-joins-in-the-liefeld-debate/
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Not a fan of his work at all. However, it sounded as if he had some legitimate points about DC (points I've read others, including George Perez, make as well). As such, I can't blame him for getting riled at Breevort. However, I can't fathom what set him off at Snyder (even if I agree with him to some extent that Batman's built in audience is going to guarantee a writer a certain level of success no matter who that writer is).
The second Justice League team that was previewed in the New 52 Free Comic Book Day issue, has been announced. Written by Geoff Johns, art by David Finch. Very interesting indeed.
http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/08/26/justice-league-america-geoff-johns-david-finch/
http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/08/26/justice-league-america-geoff-johns-david-finch/
Yeah. I don't understand why Johns is characterizing these characters they way he has done in "Justice League". Arthur is not the way he is in JL in "Aquaman" for instance. It really was the thing that turned me off the most about "Justice League" is the attitude of the characters. Johns is better than that IMO.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...a Geoff Johns Justice League has been high on my list for years, especially when he wrote them in "The Secret of Barry Allen" in 2005. He nailed their characterizations in a scene that lasted only a few panels.
"Crisis of Conscience" in JLA was pretty good, but too beholden to bridging Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. I was never a fan of the mind wipes/lobotomies by the JLA. However, that arc was really well written and the characters (when not possessed by Despero, that is
) were well written.
Arthur and Hal are perfect examples of how Johns is writing great characterizations of the same characters he has in Justice League who seem "off." Now that the whole "it's five years earlier" excuse is gone, it's even worse.
"Crisis of Conscience" in JLA was pretty good, but too beholden to bridging Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. I was never a fan of the mind wipes/lobotomies by the JLA. However, that arc was really well written and the characters (when not possessed by Despero, that is
) were well written.Arthur and Hal are perfect examples of how Johns is writing great characterizations of the same characters he has in Justice League who seem "off." Now that the whole "it's five years earlier" excuse is gone, it's even worse.
I know exactly how you feel. I believe I've mentioned a couple of times in this thread and in the original news thread how excited I was for Johns and Lee on "Justice League". By all appearances it should have been the special thing that it was marketed as, but instead it has turned out to be my biggest disappointment of the New 52 for the reasons I've explained above, and in other posts in the thread on it. Jim Lee is nailing the art work, but the writing is simply is not there. I think it's going to remain dropped for the time being.
I've noticed that Lee seems to bring out the worst in a lot of DC's writers: Loeb, Miller, Azarello now Johns. It's almost as if his art is so pretty that the writers either think that will carry the book or they try to write for Lee's 'strengths' (Loeb admitted as much, in fact) more than for clarity of story.
I believe House of UIster has mentioned a few times in the past that Lee is , or is thought to be co-plotting the book with Johns. I've not seen mention of this at all myself, but it probably would explain a lot of things. Perhaps we'll see a difference if the rumours about his departure in the creative musical chairs in January are true.
Justice League Dark #12 - was another good read. I continue to really like the art on the book. I'm not as keen on some of the characters I'm being introduced to, name only till now. Has the House of Secrets always been able to essentially travel and move about? I didn't have any real connection to the character who died cause he shows up for 2 pages and then is dead. This will be my last arc on JLD I guess so I hope it's awesome!
All Star Western #12 - The relaunch of Jonah has been great, kudos to the team. While I enjoyed the 12 issues with a few sidebars elsewhere I'm curious how much longer they can keep Jonah in Gotham. This issue seemed to indicate he was pulling out but that happened once before and the intro to issue #7 had him pulled right back in with Arkham on a mission.
The backup story that concluded a two part story with Dr.13 was fun. Not sure if he's a new character but I liked how the story took us to Slaughter Swamp wich I had also just read about in JLD#12. The #0 issue will be my last one for this title, it should be a stand alone tale.
I,Vampire #12 - This was my first introduction to Stormwatch and I found Apollo and Midnighters banter to be fun. Can't really talk about the contents without spoiler code but trust me it was good. Tig getting bit was a bit of justice but that didn't last long. The ending sure leaves plenty of questions on the table. Great art in this book is also being maintained.
All Star Western #12 - The relaunch of Jonah has been great, kudos to the team. While I enjoyed the 12 issues with a few sidebars elsewhere I'm curious how much longer they can keep Jonah in Gotham. This issue seemed to indicate he was pulling out but that happened once before and the intro to issue #7 had him pulled right back in with Arkham on a mission.
The backup story that concluded a two part story with Dr.13 was fun. Not sure if he's a new character but I liked how the story took us to Slaughter Swamp wich I had also just read about in JLD#12. The #0 issue will be my last one for this title, it should be a stand alone tale.
I,Vampire #12 - This was my first introduction to Stormwatch and I found Apollo and Midnighters banter to be fun. Can't really talk about the contents without spoiler code but trust me it was good. Tig getting bit was a bit of justice but that didn't last long. The ending sure leaves plenty of questions on the table. Great art in this book is also being maintained.
Greg Capullo talks about the Joker arc in "Batman" and Dan DiDio says "sure" when asked if Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain are coming back.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08...ut-no-one-at-dc-is-talking-about-rob-liefeld/
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08...ut-no-one-at-dc-is-talking-about-rob-liefeld/
Nice to hear they are considering bringing back a Red Robin solo title. Tim Drake deserves so much better than the god-awful Titans book.
I still really want a solo Damian title. I think he's ready to support one, or at the very least a mini-series of his own. I agree about Tim.
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