DC Comics: Rebirth

[kirk55555]

Miller and Romita have been talking about Superman: Year One since last year. I liked their collaboration on The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (which was a far better "death of Jason Todd" story than A Death in the Family was), and I'm curious what they'll do with Superman. Something Miller has said repeatedly is that we shouldn't take his characterization of Superman in the Dark Knight series as how he sees Superman. The Superman of Dark Knight is, by the design of the story, an antagonistic character. As the hero of his own story, the Superman of Superman: Year One will be a very different character.

Well, his Batman has only gotten worse over time, his Wonder Woman is literally the worst version officially printed by DC comics, and his superman is easily bottom 5. He's also, like I said before, a bigoted, sexist jackass who hasn't written anything even remotely acceptable since the late 80s. So, I don't see him pulling a 180 with Superman. At best, it will be crap that his editor manages to remove most of the unprintable offensive stuff from. At worst, its All Star Batman with a different hero.

But, I suppose at the very least DC will keep it from being another Holy Terror, since even dC's weird love of Frank Miller didn't allow him to print that offensive trash as the batman astory it was originally intended to be.

 

[JD]

I haven't really heard any good things about Miller's recent stuff, so I'm going to wait to see what kind of reaction it gets. The others sound like they have a lot of potential though. I'm both surprised, and not surprised to see Deconick on a Wonder Woman book. After the reaction to her work on Captain Marvel over at Marvel, putting her on a WW book seems like a good move, but I didn't realize she wrote for DC.
I don't know if anyone else is interested, but the e-book version of Wonder Woman: Warbringer is on sale for only $1.99.

 

[TheSeeker]

So I don't understand DC's numbering system for Detective Comics. They've gone back to legacy numbering for the regular series but they are relaunching the Annual at #1?

 

[theenglish]

I'm a little disappointed that the months and years have been removed from the covers. It may be a small thing but it was a clue I would use to determine where in continuity individual stories took place.

 

[TheSeeker]

You can still find it in the indicia. Or do you mean it was just easier to look at the cover?

 

[theenglish]

I buy digital--it is not there.

 

[TheSeeker]

Interesting. I didn't know that. I'm still old school. I buy the physical copies.

 

[TheSeeker]

So I just read Action Comics #1000. Not bad. Some great stories in there from all eras, and a nice tease of what is to come from Bendis. My only real complaint is the cover. Not only do I feel like it is an uninspired piece by Jim Lee, but I also don't care for the colouring. His suit just looks too purple. Wish I had gotten one of the variants.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I liked Action #1000. The strange thing, to me, about the lead story by Dan Jurgens was how much it felt like a story set in the pre-Flashpoint universe. There are things about it that clearly mark it as post-Flashpoint, such as costumes worn by other heroes and, of course, Jon Kent, yet it seemed to me to be something that could have been published, without change, circa 1998.

I didn't know how much I needed to see Lois Lane wearing a Superman shirt under her top until I saw it. Of course Lois was the original Superman fan. Of course she's going to be a Superman fan on Superman Day.

"The Car," the sequel to the cover to Action Comics #1, was quite touching.

It was great seeing Jerry Ordway on pencils again.

 

[The Realist]

I got the '80s variant at the comics shop, and have ordered the retailer exclusive cover that Artgerm did because I love his Supergirl sooooo much.

What we got from Bendis wasn't much of a story, but it did give a taste of his characterization of Supes and his dialogue style, both of which I rather liked. Also enjoyed the two women discussing Superman's red trunks ("I think they mean hope" ). A few other neat touches as well, like Superman narrowly halting himself short of taking out a crowded bookstore. I am hoping Bendis has better things in store for Kara than swooping in just to get her ass handed to her, however.

 

[TheSeeker]

I liked Action #1000. The strange thing, to me, about the lead story by Dan Jurgens was how much it felt like a story set in the pre-Flashpoint universe. There are things about it that clearly mark it as post-Flashpoint, such as costumes worn by other heroes and, of course, Jon Kent, yet it seemed to me to be something that could have been published, without change, circa 1998.

I felt the same. I stopped reading around 97 and to me it felt like a story from that time to me. Ionly started reading again with the New 52 reboot.

I didn't know how much I needed to see Lois Lane wearing a Superman shirt under her top until I saw it.

Agreed. I loved it too.

"The Car," the sequel to the cover to Action Comics #1, was quite touching.

This was one of my favourites. It was a nice follow-up.

It was great seeing Jerry Ordway on pencils again.

I thought the same as I read it. I felt very nostalgic reading it.

A few other neat touches as well, like Superman narrowly halting himself short of taking out a crowded bookstore.

That was a great sequence.From the all black panel, to him slowly coming to, to his just stopping in the nick of time. It really felt like something we haven't seen before and I got a real kick out of it.

 

[The Realist]

I was just reading fans on another forum discussing the merits of Bendis's purported big plot twist/reveal, and it occurred to me how little I really care about such things. The plots of Superman stories, like pretty much all superhero comics, are basically going to be some mishmash of fisticuffs and arcane lore that don't in themselves hold much interest for me. What matters to me is character and tone and humor and heart. Get those right, and I'm not much concerned about the latest convolution of how Krypton exploded or whatever.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

My only real complaint is the cover. Not only do I feel like it is an uninspired piece by Jim Lee, but I also don't care for the colouring. His suit just looks too purple. Wish I had gotten one of the variants.

Almost everybody I know ordered a different variant. They were almost all better than the regular cover, and free to order at no extra cost. So why not?

 

[TheSeeker]

So far I've read the first two issues of Justice League: No Justice and have been pleasantly surprised. I was skeptical going in because I really didn't like Metal, but the new JL might just be worth checking out. It's got to be better than the last arc written by Priest. That was just awful.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Diane Nelson steps down permanently from position as President of DC Entertainment.

She's been with DC since 2009. Before that, she headed the Direct-to-DVD department Warner Premiere, where she oversaw the first few DC Universe Animated Movies. And before that, she worked on the Harry Potter franchise.

 

[theenglish]

So far I've read the first two issues of Justice League: No Justice and have been pleasantly surprised. I was skeptical going in because I really didn't like Metal, but the new JL might just be worth checking out. It's got to be better than the last arc written by Priest. That was just awful.

This was the last Justice League arc. OMG, it was like fan fiction. The art was terrible--I remember there were entire sections where Jessica's chest logo was just a blank circle.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I kinda liked Priest's ideas on his JL arc.

In the past few days, I read TPBs of Aquaman, volumes 3 and 4. Abnett is a real master in writing the political drama, making this one of my favorite DC books at the moment.

Also got my monthly subscription package yesterday, so I'll be busy catching up with what happened in the past month (and with No Justice and the launch of Man Of Steel, what a busy month it's been).

 

[theenglish]

I kinda liked Priest's ideas on his JL arc.

The ideas, some of them, were really interesting and original. The concept of a worker who had intimate knowledge of the JL and their systems AND who was a fan trying to help them was actually interesting. It was the execution that was awful and the whole story of the downed satellite was awful.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Considering they wanted to have a new HQ for Snyder's JL, the satellite crashing on Earth was probably an editorial requirement. And thinking how well Priest started his run and how it ended in a bit of a mess, and also keeping in mind what a great writer Priest usually is, I think there was quite some editorial messing about.

Okay, this is totally just my theory, but here it is:

This arc was supposed to lead directly into No Justice, which depended on DN: Metal being over. So, I think DN: Metal went a little (or more) longer than intended, and the editor kept going to Priest telling him to stretch his arc for yet another issue. So Priest put more and more stuff in, trying to promote his main book Deathstroke while he was at it, putting the conclusion on the back burner until you totally forgot about The Fan until he showed up again at the very end.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

CBR| Geoff Johns Steps Down as DC Chief Creative Officer

He wants to return to proper writing instead of just overseeing. His coming projects include the screenplay for "Green Lantern Corps", as well as comics "Three Jokers", a new ongoing "Shazam", and the new imprint "The Killing Zone" for lesser known DC characters.