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

[Trekker4747]

Well, I've heard about these comics for years so I finally tracked them (it) down and am going to dive in them.

I speak of All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder! Featuring the Goddamn Batman and Dick Grayson Age Twelve and from what I heard a lot of fucked-up stuff that has nothing to do with Batman at all.

 

[shivkala]

I'm pretty sure Guy's was a duplicate of Hal's and Hal has his own ring. I was just reading back through Rebirth and Ollie had a GL Ring that was given to him by Hal and when he went to the Watchtower, Guy made a copy of his ring. And Hal definitely got the ring that Ollie had on his finger.

Yes! Now I'm remembering, you're absolutely right! In Brad Meltzer's arc on Green Arrow, "The Archer's Quest," Ollie goes in search of items he had the Shade hide when he died. One of them was a duplicate ring (again, not temporary by any means) that Hal gave to Ollie during their trip across America (Dennis O'Neil's "Hard Travelling Heroes" story-line from the 1970's) for Ollie to use, "In case of emergency."

Ollie decided that Parallax's return in Rebirth was enough of an emergency and used it. I can't remember if it was Kyle's ring (which I think he gave the ability to make duplicates just before he gave up his Ion powers) or Ollie's that duplicated Guy's ring, but you are definitely right in that Ollie's ring flew back to Hal when he came back from the dead.

I think they should bring back the Will Payton Starman as written for the first 35 issues. The issue that Keith Giffen wrote (I think it was #35) is still the funniest damn comic I have ever read, even surpassing his run on JLA.

I just got that issue out of my LCS' $0.25 bin! Haven't read it yet, but I'm expecting a lot. And yes, you were right, it is issue #35, but it was written by Keith Giffen and Peter David.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Well, I've heard about these comics for years so I finally tracked them (it) down and am going to dive in them.

I speak of All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder! Featuring the Goddamn Batman and Dick Grayson Age Twelve and from what I heard a lot of fucked-up stuff that has nothing to do with Batman at all.

Ugh. I'm so sorry. They are pretty awful comics. And also, I'm a little sad that you put some money into Frank Miller's pocket. But, to each his own.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The Guardians sure seem like guys who would give 7200 GLs the power to create permanent power rings and hand them out to whomever they pleased (not). Kind of renders the whole ring-selecting-the-wearer process moot, too.

Even assuming Sinestro can create a permanent power ring (one which he can turn on and off, mind you, another non-standard feature), what does Hal think the Guardians will do about it when they notice that they now have 7201 ringwielders? Or do they never have roll-calls?

 

[shivkala]

Keep in mind, when most of these rings were created, the Guardians were not portrayed as they are now. Not that they'd ever been mistaken for the Smurfs, coloring aside, they weren't as borderline evil as they are now.

 

[Trekker4747]

Ugh. I'm so sorry. They are pretty awful comics. And also, I'm a little sad that you put some money into Frank Miller's pocket. But, to each his own.

Well, I bought them for the awful. (Next up is The JLA "Act of God" books) and, don't worry, no money in Miller's pocket I bought the books "previously owned" from a long box at Vintage Stock.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I don't think they're anywhere near "borderline evil" even now. They have, however, been cranky and unsympathetic control freaks at least since the 1970s.

 

[Trekker4747]

Okay, All-Star Batman is pretty terrible. Oy!

The artwork in it is gorgeous but the writing is atrocious.

I really like the look of the Batmobile, though. It looks like the product of a bizarre coupling of the Tim Burton Batmobile and a Citroen DS.

 

[Admiral_Young]

All Star Batman and Robin was a big WTF is this crap to a lot of fans. Hah. As I've often brought up Jim Lee was a trooper through this and probably was just as shocked as the rest of us. He thought they were doing something new and fresh, not a prequel to Miller's Dark Knight Returns universe. The art is great but not enough for most fans to accept ASBR. That being said I did like some of it and was looking forward to the sequel which was originally scheduled for Feb of this year but has since been abandoned.

 

[Trekker4747]

I really don't find anything at all to like about it beyond the art.

I mean, who is this guy? Because he's certainly not Batman as Batman was never a crazy pedophile.

 

[Hound of UIster]

It was written by Frank Millar, the fella we have been discussing in TNZ.

If you want to sample some of his better stuff read/watch Year One or the Dark Knight Returns.

All-Star Batman is written in pretty much the twilight of his career when he can barely hold a thought and believes all the dark people are out to kill him.

And the editor on that book continues to be one of the absolute worst things to happen to the Bat franchise and continues to be Miller's enabler and partner in that he has gotten Holy Terror (a piece of absolute racist garbage about Muslims that was drawn by Millar) published.

 

[Trekker4747]

I suspect the noir style he eid for Sin City and The Spirit has more to do with his take on Batman, and yeah I've seen the thread in TNZ.

 

[Derishton]

Okay, All-Star Batman is pretty terrible. Oy!

The artwork in it is gorgeous but the writing is atrocious.

I really like the look of the Batmobile, though. It looks like the product of a bizarre coupling of the Tim Burton Batmobile and a Citroen DS.

I still think the Green Lantern issue is pretty horribly uncomfortably funny.

As for the 52, I finally bought Aquaman #1. Really funny. Typically fantastic Reis art. Might give the second issue a chance, although the toothy "villains" aren't very inspired. Demon Knights 3 was great.

 

[Trekker4747]

Aquaman 2 is pretty good and toothy sub-oceanic creatures actually are pretty decent. Book 2 also is a lot more toned down on the exposition stuff and gets more back into the meat, and more Mera.

As someone who's never given Aquaman more than a second thought the new books are quite good and worked well for me and will likely keep following it.

 

[shivkala]

I really, really wanted the "New 52" Aquaman to be similar to the Batman: The Brave and the Bold Aquaman, but apparently, people are not ready for awesomeness on that scale. That being said, the current title is enjoyable.

I am enjoying Green Lantern, but then, I'm a GL, specifically, a Hal fan. I love Hal even with (because of, perhaps) his faults. Love the Sinestro/Hal team-up.

I got caught up on Stormwatch this weekend and enjoyed it. I never read any of the Wildstorm stuff, but once I finish other series I started in TPB such as Sandman and Starman (both of which, I started collecting over 10 years ago!). Then, I might pick up The Authority and my opinion might change, but as far as being new to all of these characters (J'onn being the exception), I am really enjoying it.

As far as the oft-discussed Action Comics, I felt like issue #3 was rushed. I really like Morrison's comics and I realize that his style often leaves a lot off-panel, but this issue shifted from one scene to another too quickly, with no transitions or segues. It also seems derivative of Secret Origins. I'm not arguing that Morrison ripped Johns off, or anything, but they both hit upon some of the same notes, such as Metallo.

 

[Derishton]

It also seems derivative of Secret Origins. I'm not arguing that Morrison ripped Johns off, or anything, but they both hit upon some of the same notes, such as Metallo.

That's really the trick with doing yet another Superman origin; Morrison avoids it for the most part by refusing to show the Smallville years, but so many of the beats are still going to be the same: especially since each version, in a shared and constantly-updating universe, is going to carry elements of every previous version (not just accidentally, but as part of the method).

 

[Captain Craig]

I suspect the noir style he eid for Sin City and The Spirit has more to do with his take on Batman, and yeah I've seen the thread in TNZ.

I've been reading that TNZ thread also.
Going over just as I expected it would.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

"Popular Comic Book Creator Revealed To Be Not Really Very Bright" - aside from being overlong, that's also really a "Dog Bites Man" headline.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I am enjoying Green Lantern, but then, I'm a GL, specifically, a Hal fan. I love Hal even with (because of, perhaps) his faults. Love the Sinestro/Hal team-up.

That's funny. I'm kind of a "everybody but Hal" fan, myself. I've always found him to be rather dull in comparison to the other three mains, and his recent behavior has been downright obnoxious and stupid. When Guy Gardner looks level headed in comparison, you know there's something wrong.

 

[Admiral_Young]

There are similarities in most Superman origin stories. Metallo's origin has been pretty much the same for years now. Only in this case Luthor wasn't directly performing the procedure which results in the fusion. Also I don't think Morrison has refused to show stuff from Smallville, that part of Clark's past hasn't been relevant to his story yet. We're only at issue three of an eight issue arc and Morrison likes to pace himself and have reveals, like we did with Krypton. I'm sure that Smallville will be touched on at some point. I might he even referenced the Legion founders in issue one and I expected him to ignore that part of Clark's history.