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

I can't hear the word 'Shazam' without Gomer Pyle's voice in my head.

 

redesigning the costume and changing his name seems a bit too much for me. who cares what non-comics fans think. yeah, i know, they're trying to get new readers and what not. i doubt if any kids who saw JLU, Batman: The Brave and the Bold or Superman/Shazam were confused about Captain Marvel.

 

They can't really use the Captain Marvel name due to Marvel Comics I believe. I understand the reasons for abandoning the name. Hardcore fans will know who he is though. They've had to use Shazam for ages now because of legal reasons. I hope Johns doesn't write Billy like a caricature of himself like he's doing with everyone else in Justice League. It will be interesting to read what the rest of you think of the back ups since I'm dropping the book.

 

Return of Ra's wasn't Morrison's or Dini's idea, it was Dan Didio's and he forced the idea on the pair of them. It was literally an editorial event that came out of nowhere. And it suffered even more because of Morrison being prone to change stuff at the last moment such as with the League Sensei and Ra's being father and son.

Court of Owls has its origins exclusively from Snyder's current story and it's a very natural extension of what he and Higgins were doing in the Gates of Gotham story with Gotham's past and that of its elite families.

 

yes, i know DC can't use Captain Marvel on the cover of a book due to legal reasons, but hey, Power of Shazam! ran for 48 issues. doesn't seem like the name issue confused those readers.

 

Not to mention the last time we did see Marvel I believe it was Freddy.

 

Totally just a guess, but maybe it's more than just about the readers and is a decision made higher up, at least in terms of aligning all of the media properties together?
Movies, TV, games, it's probably easier in many respects to brand him as Shazam these days on all fronts and move that ball forward.
They're changing the logo, changing their books, updating EVERYTHING for all forms of medial, I'm sure there's a lot more going into all of these decisions that we're not being told, as is true with most businesses.

 

I imagine getting the property streamlined is precisely why. I shouldn't be surprised that is a point from Diane Nelson to complicate all the characters. In Wonder Woman, for instance, Donna Troy appears to be gone, Diana has a daddy Zeus, and Cassie has her powers through her armor, seemingly, but I haven't followed Titans to know what's up with her.

 

Law firms can't incorporate.

Whoosh, right?

And it's utterly ridiculous that they'd roll over, given that--I've said this before--TimeWarner could sue Disney for about twenty different copyright violations, principally regarding Miracleman (or "Marvelman", bleh), but also Squadron Supreme. There's no good reason Marvel shouldn't do the gentlemanly thing and permit the use "Captain Marvel" on the covers--at least when one of their potentially most profitable properties (I mean Miracleman back in print is gonna be, I expect, Watchmen-level sustained profit) is an avowed, straight-up fucking knockoff of that same Captain Marvel. It's like DC has no lawyers. HEY, DC, GIVE ME A JOB! I CAN DRAW AND COLOR TOO!

 

Men also can't swing from building to building on a thin piece of string, yet Batman and his cronies do it all the time.

Comics!

 

Ever wonder just what the line is attached to in some of those shots? A passing 747?

 

Nah, that's what all the airships are for you can see e.g. in the opening of the 90s animated series.

 

I remember thinking something similar when playing "Spider-Man" on X-Box after the first movie came out. There's points in the game when you are web-swinging through the city but the web extends up to the top of the screen apparently not attached to anything and even in places where all of the buildings are BELOW you!

 

Yeah, I remember when one of the others came out they were talking about how the webs actually attached to the buildings. I think it was either the Spidey 2 game, or Ultimate Spider-Man.

 

Got to

Justice League Dark #5 - Right off the first page the issue had me with hints to stories I'll never see in Animal Man, Frank AoS and Resurrection man(books I also get) as it relates to the chaos surrounding Enchantress/June Moon and the chaos going on. A good issue and the Enchantress/Shade lip lock was more amusing than sexy, I assume that was the intention, but was fun. Seeing Boston jump into Constantine then jump back out quickly was a good case of "look before you leap". Xanadu made the case for them sticking together to thwart a growing threat she sees in the cards. This escapade drew them together and as the last panel showed she has seen the next threat. So will Constantine be back? He clearly left the hodge podge gathering all soddy.

and

I, Vampire #5 - first issue I'd call GREAT! Issue 3 began to lose me but has rebounded nicely. A good portrayal of Batman never hurts. For some reason he didn't yank his cowl off to win anyones trust. Odd really. Looking forward to seeing the confrontation with Mary next month.

 

Rich's articles can be difficult to read at times he likes to be have attitude and be goofy and what not in them, but if I read this correctly George Perez had he continued on "Superman" he would have had New 52 Clark deal with the loss of Lana Lang.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/01/29/george-perez-death-of-lana-lang-that-wasnt/

We've not seen Lana yet in the New 52 as the article states.

 

George Perez's departure was hardly a great loss to the Superman franchise.

 

I wonder if that was a Perez-only story idea, or a DC editorial story idea. If it came from the higher ups and that story line will play out elsewhere, that is quite the spoiler/hint of what's to come. Then again, she's found herself dead before.

 

Lana was killed off in the regular DCU a couple of years ago. After becoming the Insectoid Queen I believe after losing the trust of Kara whom she was mentoring at the time.

 

I, Vampire and Justice League Dark were both good; I think the former was weakened by the Batman appearance, which seemed rushed somehow. Lots of great moments in JLD, including one the month's two Xanadu revelations (the other is in Demon Knights, of course). Speaking of ...

Aw yeah Demon Knights ... awesome. Savage, in turns out, is exactly the amoral dick you thought he was. For a whacky funny book, a lot of people ... including kids ... seem to die in it. The connections with Stormwatch are more apparent all the time.