DC RELAUNCH: Revisiting the New 52 six months later

1. 

   J_Michael_T on March 1, 2012 9:58 am

   Great insight into what’s been happening to most of us too. I buy more comics now than I did before the New 52 kicked off, but have reached the “ok, now which ones do I keep buying and which ones get dropped” stage.

   The two titles vexing me right now are the Legion titles. I am a “legacy” fan of the Legion (started way back in the ’70s) and I feel an “obligation” to pick up the tiles due to nostalgia, but I am switching to digital-only in what I feel may just postpone the inevitable.

   Overall I have enjoyed the opportunity to see a refreshed DC as many of us screamed for… Kudos to DC for trying :)

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2. 

   Mela on March 1, 2012 10:05 am

   I’ve overall been pretty happy with the New 52, even if the flagship title for my favorite DC group (the Legion) has been woefully mishandled. I think some of the 1st issues were too weak, though, since some of the ones I was on the fence with (Teen Titans & Voodoo in particular) have improved with every issue & turned out to be pretty damn enjoyable. I am sad to see OMAC in particular go, and I don’t like the current “let’s give Jaime yet another friend turned into a dark mirror enemy” storyline so soon after the pre-relaunch issues did it in Blue Beetle. But I’m on board with the multiverse stuff from Earth 2 and I still hope that they’ll revamp Legion to make it readable again.

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     J_Michael_T on March 1, 2012 10:08 am

     Definitely hoping for a “better” Legion treatment soon. Your post reminded me that I am excited for the Earth-2 books as I have always been a big JSA fan.

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3. 

   ikdks on March 1, 2012 10:42 am

   Concerning war comics, I was going to pick a couple of them up until I found out that they were all placed in the DC(n)U. The US was in two wars for almost a decade. War is a much more real thing to Americans then it was in the 80’s and 90’s.

   I was hoping that they would approach war in comics from a more literal perspective. A buddy of mine did two tours in Afghanistan, and Christ, the stories he tells me are insane. I think there’s a market for telling the real story of war with all its glory and horror, and the idea of guys in spandex running around in that environment seems a little, I don’t know, disrespectful.

   Having said that though, I hate it when angry nerds act as though “it wasn’t what I expected” is a legitimate criticism, so I’m not saying that. And maybe doing real war stories is more appropriate for one of the smaller publishers, but if DC had I title where they did it like the old Dragnet series, fictionalized stories based on real events, it would go to the top of my pull list.

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     George Chimples on March 1, 2012 2:13 pm

     The backup story in Men Of War didn’t have any supernatural elements, if I recall right. But it was a bit too generic, unfortunately.

     You make an interesting point. Personally, the immediacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can make it harder for me to consume popular media about them. I always think about the John Wayne Green Berets film and Vietnam – with things as complex as real life wars, it’s hard to take an even, reasoned view while they’re still ongoing. But at the same time, as you say, there are still plenty of stories to tell that need telling.

     Haunted Tank is going to be set in Afghanistan, at least… but yeah, it’s a haunted tank, so it will be a bit ridiculous. The War That Time Forgot is soldiers fighting dinosaurs, so obviously that’s very ridiculous. Don’t know what changes are being done to the Unknown Soldier.

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       ikdks on March 1, 2012 3:32 pm

       It’s kind of like the movie Shane. If you watch cowboy movies before Shane, when people got shot they would grab their side and slump over, but Shane was made after World War 2 when many average people had actually seen people get shot.

       Shane was the first movie to tie a line to a stuntman and pull him back off his feet to simulate the impact of a bullet. It was the first movie to show a guy go instantly brain dead when he was shot in the head. Like then I think we’re more sophisticated about what war really is, and some fantastic depiction would ring untrue.

       On the other hand a lot of hyper-realistic war stories tend to get political, and I don’t think modern audiences would be interested in a conservative of liberal screed on the subject either. Holy Terror wasn’t exactly a new classic.

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4. 

   Trey on March 1, 2012 11:15 am

   These are the issues I picked up which is good sinceI had stopped getting comics for awhile before that.

   ACTION COMICS
   ALL-STAR WESTERN
   BATGIRL #1 Dropped after issue 4 (Couldn’t get into it. I liked Cassandra Cain as BG and Babs as Oracle)
   BATMAN #1 (Still getting it but hated the arc. Wouldn’t be so bad if was shorter)
   BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #1
   BATMAN AND ROBIN #1 (Hate Damian with great nerd rage. Dropped after issue 4)
   DEATHSTROKE #1 (Dropped after issue 1. Liked it until he gunned down his team to show how bad ass he was)
   DEMON KNIGHTS #1 (still getting it . still a little confused. I think i’m only getting it because I like fantasy adventure. )
   DETECTIVE COMICS #1
   GREEN ARROW #1 (Cancelled after #3. Bad)
   GREEN LANTERN #1 (I dislike the focus on Sinestro. Hopefully Hal will get his drek together)
   GREEN LANTERN: THE NEW GUARDIANS #1 X
   GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1 (really? they were under Guy’s bar? Still buying it though.)
   JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 (I like it. Not sure if the first arc needed to be 6 issues. Needs Manhunter)
   JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1
   JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 (If this continues to be Justice Losers International I’ll drop it)
   NIGHTWING #1 (dropped after #4 . That’s the problem with long arcs. If I don’t like the story I won’t continue buying it.)
   SUPERGIRL #1 (On the fence with this one)
   SUPERMAN #1 (Didn’t like the arc but at least each comic stood on it’s own.)
   THE FLASH #1 X (Dropped after #4. Wally is my Flash. Sorry. I don’t see a point in going back to Barry after 15 years.)
   THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1 (Dropped after first issue. HATED it. Why go back to Barry but not to the orginal Firestorm?)
   WONDER WOMAN #1 (Dropped after Issue 3 . Think I need ovaries for this one.)

   In my opinion, I think it would have been better if the entire universe was started over. Now it seems like JL and Action are in Year 1, most others in Year 5 with GL and Batman titles in year 10+ . If they wanted to bring back Barry, Hal, and reboot most of the universe they should have just started over full bore.

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     ikdks on March 2, 2012 9:46 am

     It’s all about the Robins. Making Dick 10 years old again, no Red Hood, no Red Robin, no Damian, they would have had to give up too many characters. It wouldn’t have been worth it. A little awkward consistency is the price we pay for keeping all that backstory.

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     • 

       Trey on March 2, 2012 11:05 am

       How many Robins do we need?

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       • 

         Stephen Schleicher on March 2, 2012 11:37 am

         An army…

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       • 

         E. Hobbs on March 7, 2012 12:43 pm

         One Flock

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5. 

   LemmyCaution on March 1, 2012 1:18 pm

   I think Demon Knights and Wonder Woman are the only titles I consider must-reads. I really wanted to like the Legion stuff, but I just don’t. Liking All-Star Western and Animal Man. But Demon Knights is where it’s at for me.

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6. 

   alvarlux on March 1, 2012 4:04 pm

   I was a big Marvel reader and would pick up the occasional trade or event for DC but the NEW 52 has definitely got me following some titles.

   My favorites right now are probably Teen Titans, Red Hood and Suicide Squad

   Biggest issue I have with it so far has been the feeling like these are very much different worlds – Like in Firestorm every issue there is some new terrorist or villain that is a clone of Firestorm – How has this not been a concern for Stormwatch or JLI/JLA?

   Flash also seems to keep adding new super powers – is he the new Superman? “Oh crap, he’s too powerful – we’ll need to nerf him and hope no one notices…”

   As I start reading issue #6 for some of the ones I am still following pacing seems to be catching up with a lot of these titles… Demon Knights came out really strong but now… they’ve been bogged down during the same night telling back stories that hurt the mysterious strangers working together aspect that made me enjoy the title to begin with.

   Other titles have completely put me off with the art – OMAC, Batwoman, Hawk and Dove (Dear god why does Leifeld get still get work?)

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7. 

   Kirby on March 1, 2012 4:31 pm

   For me the best series has surprisingly been Swamp Thing. All-Star Western would be great, if they could be in the West. Demon Knights needs better pacing. Supergirl’s been good, if a bit of a rehash of older stories. The possible saving grace of Keith Giffen keeps me on Superman for one more issue. Blue Beetle, broke my heart to drop (because of love of the character), but that was awful. Ressurection Man really enjoyable. Aquaman I feel is some of the best Johns has put out in the past few years. Justice League Dark meh, probably dropping soon.

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8. 

   Monte on March 1, 2012 4:48 pm

   Most disappointing thing in the new 52 that happened for me actually took place in BATWOMAN #6, where DC took J.H. Williams II off art. (first 5 issues of the series would make an amazing trade paperback)

   I picked it up on Matthew’s recommendation, and am giving it two more issues before I drop it completely.

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9. 

   OSPerry on March 1, 2012 5:35 pm

   I’ve been collecting since the 80’s regularly with a 67%-33% Marvel DC ratio, and this is still pretty much true even after the New 52. I think I picked up 2 additional titles… Batman and Action.

   I’ve been buying titles with Booster Gold since he debuted. I’m not a super fan or anything, but now its become more of a completionist thing with me, but I’m thinking of dumping JLI. (poor booster) Where is Skeets by the way?

   I think there are some cool ideas being bantered about in this new 52, but I agree on “Now it seems like JL and Action are in Year 1, most others in Year 5 with GL and Batman titles in year 10+” That is a spot on observation. I think they should have taken the whole thing back to year one, or put everyone at year 5… but it does seem discombobulated. Why can’t publishers like Marvel and DC just halve the number of titles they produce, and put the best writers and artists they have on them… seems to be a lot of mediocrity and subpar work out there from DC and Marvel.

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10. 

    Walsh on March 1, 2012 7:42 pm

    For me, the New 52 has been an out and out failure.

    I had to drop Wonder Woman because each passing issue made me want to put my fist through a wall. Abyssmal, utterly abysmal. Meanwhile, over in Justice League, Geoff Johns STILL can’t write her for s**t.

    I was buying the Huntress mini-series and thought it was decent…until they sucker-punched me with it apparently being Helena Wayne the whole time. Sorry–no Bertinelli, no sale.

    Beyond that, I couldn’t care less. So, in nutshell, DC’s dead to me for the foreseeable future.

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11. 

    Frank on March 2, 2012 8:17 am

    For me, the New 52 was an opportunity to shuffle my pull list. Prior to the New 52, I used to get 7 DC titles. I took the opportunity to drop all the Bat titles.
    After Flashpoint, I am getting Flash, GL and GLC, though the latter two are ‘on the bubble’. I am considering picking up World’s Finest when it debuts.

    I really wish I had the budget to pick up more…

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12. 

    David on May 16, 2012 4:21 pm

    Let me start by saying I’m a life-long DC fan. Before the new 52, I bought about 40-50 DC titles each month. (Some were duplicates to give away but still I enjoyed them enough to do so). My Marvel haul was roughly 3-5 books each month.

    Despite my initial reservations about the new 52, I decided to give it a go and sample it. I began with 22 of the new books.

    Justice League- I enjoyed the first arc for the most part. It read well for an origin story but the big “ooh” moments really didn’t impress me much because I’ve read so many of these types of stories before. Yet another Justice League origin, but a decent read. I give DC props for the origin beginning with Darkseid.

    Action – It didn’t appeal to me at all. I dropped after the first 3 issues.

    Green Lantern – Too Sinestro-oriented. Dropped after the first four issues.

    Superman – Same fate as Action.

    Aquaman – This has been one of the biggest surprises for me. I’ve never been much of an Aquaman fan, but I’ve enjoyed this take on the character.

    Teen Titans – I don’t enjoy it as much as the previous incarnation. At some point, I’ll probably drop this title for the first time in decades.

    Wonder Woman – Another book I didn’t think I’d enjoy as much as I did initially. It seems to have lost some steam though. I am dropping it but haven’t gotten around to doing so yet.

    Batgirl – I love Barbara Gordon – as Oracle. DC gutted one of its strongest, and most interesting, female leads in favor of more “Bat-action”. Sadly, this one will also be dropped soon.

    Swamp Thing – I enjoyed this one initially, but it’s not a must-read. Probably will drop soon.

    Justice League Dark – I’m in the minority but I enjoy this book.

    Justice League International – Another one bound to be dropped soon.

    Birds of Prey – I’ve enjoyed the Birds of Prey since the original Dixon mini years ago and have purchased every issue since, so of course I had to try the new one. The heart of the book is gone without Oracle. Again, a watered-down version fails. Black Canary as a villain fails here too (although it harkens back to her original origin). I can take Katana or leave her in the mix. No preference either way. I enjoy Poison Ivy thrown into the mix. I’m not sure how believable it is, but I like it. I also enjoy the new character, Ev. Still, I much prefer the previous incarnation of the team. I’ll probably keep the book on my pull list though.

    All Star Western – I loved the previous Jonah Hex series. Gray and Palmiotti still have an excellent grasp of the character. I dislike Hex being tied to the Gotham City (and by extension, Batman) myth though. Still, I’ll keep it as long as it doesn’t get too bad.

    Legion of Super-Heroes – The Legion is my first love in comics. I was stoked when the original team returned in the Lightning Saga and glad they were one of the properties that escaped the radical makeover. I enjoy the new series but feel it’s lagged the last few issues. The book would be stronger without the two tales per issue format we’ve seen lately.

    Legion Lost – I’ll continue to buy as a Legion fan, but this is awful. I would not buy if it weren’t a Legion book. And some of my favorite characters are included in this title!

    Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E – I love this quirky, offbeat book. Apparently, I’m one of the few so my guess is that it will drop me before I drop it.

    Firestorm – One of the worst comics I’ve ever read. Definitely will be dropped.

    Resurrection Man – I enjoyed this from the onset, but have lost interest. I will drop it.

    Voodoo – Another book I enjoy, but it will also likely drop me before I drop it.

    Mister Terrific – As a long-time JSA fan, I had to sample this one. Unfortunately, one issue was all it took to realize it was a stinker and I dropped it.

    Static Shock – I wanted to like this book, but it has been a great disappointment. The only reason I haven’t dropped it yet was that my comic shop has a policy of three months warning on drops. Given the timing of the cancellation announcement, it didn’t make sense to even bother.

    Blackhawks – There’s a nostalgic side of me that loves the old Blackhawks books. I have a complete run of the 1970’s series, the Showcase anthology, multiple Silver Age issues, etc. This was an abomination. Glad to see it failed.

    So 19 books, and I will likely continue with nine. Of those, several are candidates for cancellation. I’m going to try Earth Two and World’s Finest, but I’m expecting to be disappointed. I’m thinking it’s about time to leave the hobby I loved for so many years. It’s too expensive to not enjoy it thoroughly.

    Reply

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