Robb's Grade Card for the New DC 52

As many of you know, I am a huge DC fan. When the relaunch - reboot was announced. I was very hesitant, but open minded. I decided to read each number one and give an open and honest grade for their new introduction to me and the comic reading community. After the jump check out my letter grade for each of the 52.

DCnU: It Still Kind of Worked Maybe

Back in June, I wrote a story wherein I broke down and analyzed just how much DC's New 52 initiative actually "worked" on me, as a consumer.

Pre-New 52 I was buying 17 DC monthlies, not counting minis or imprint books under Johnny DC and Vertigo. I determined that, of the New 52, 21 of those titles would be making the cut for me. That actually ended up being 25. As the previews started rolling in and I was able to get a better grasp on some of these new titles, I swapped some I became disinterested in for others that suddenly grabbed my attention.

So all-in-all, I tried out 25 of the New 52. I'll bump that number to 26 if I can get my hands on a copy of Demon Knights which I suddenly find intriguing after listening to Monty and other reviews. 27, if you want to count this copy of Superman I borrowed from Robb, though I'm only reading it out of morbid curiosity and expect the worst.

But, having actually read these 25, I'm dropping 3 of them. Which, all-and-all isn't that dramatic. (though the reasons for dropping them might be)

That puts me at 22, which is a 5 book gain for me from what I was previously reading. (as though you couldn't do the math yourself)

Not a HUGE gain, but a gain. Softened, though, when you consider that I'm already predisposed to buying and reading a LOT of comics. (and 4 of those 5 are essentially Vertigo books turned PG-13) I'm not who this initiative is for and I've been very judgemental about it and just because these 22 books will be getting a 2nd issue pass from me doesn't mean they'll all make it to the 3rd. I'm still looking at these books with an extra critical eye and that's probably only amplified now that I actually know just what my problems are with these New 52 books. You wanna make this much noise about your comics, you put yourself under the microscope. That's just how it goes.

I'll likely revisit this subject a month from now and see just where I am again after New 52 Month 2.

I'm very interested to hear other people's perspectives on this very thing and that's hopefully something I'll be able to bring up and gauge when we have our premiere Comic Book Summit next week.

OCW - New 52 Superman

 

So a few weeks ago, I posted the "OCW" (Obscure Character of the Week) as the New Superman. Well I always intended to draw him, but all of us at CBXF are pretty busy. I've been posting sketches as I've gone. Then, I computer colored it. And now I can finally say I finished this today. I took inspiration from the classic "Neal Adams" Superman breaking Kryptonite Chains pose. (See image below) And I spent sometime trying to copy the colors and text to put my own spin on this cover. I'll say this... Some artist have drawn the new costume very well, others not so much. But you can count me as one who'd prefer to draw the "Pre-Crisis" costume over this one. The piping and belt are not easy and I find it hard to make this look like armor vs. making it look like spandex. All in all, it is still a cool design and I'm not one to stand in way of progress. I just wish the new Superman artists good luck in rendering all that detail.  

Friendly Fire Episode 14

Matt and Robb recorded some of their thoughts on the last issue of Flashpoint and the First Issue of the new 52!  What do they like and what didn't they like about this new direction of a franchise?

A New Direction, with the new 52

At the end of Flashpoint, DC showed me something important. What was it?  Let me first tell  you, the old DC Universe (Post-Crisis) had some standards. Batman was a loner, Superman was the guiding light of the heroes community. Hal Jordan is a cocky pilot, Wonder Woman didn't have pants. And Superman cried, more than Charles Ingles on Little House. I can't tell you how many covers and issues contained Superman bawling! So whats new and different about this NEW 52?  Check it out after the jump.

Thanks for 25 years of Great Comics!

 

All kidding aside, DC... I'm really going to miss this Continuity. These are the stories I grew up with and helped to make me who I am. Many late nights home reading, many great stories, many many fun characters, and a closet full of long boxes. Thanks DC! Thanks!

Another Comic Book Racial Outrage!

DC showed another teaser today. This time its for the new Justice League International line-up. In this new image we have seen many possible additions to the team. But staring at the picture, I came to the conclusion maybe something isn't quite right. With the Ultimate Marvel controversy over a Half African-American/half Hispanic Spider-man... and DC's casting Perry White with African-American actor Lawrence Fishburne, I see this latest teaser image as more "Nick Furried" racial swapping. I have a theory who else has changed... after the jump, see if you don't agree.

Super Female Heroes: GIRD YOUR LOINS

If you recall our last Friendly Fire podcast (watch it HERE) we had a bit of discussion about Supergirl's new costume and how some of us have a bit of a problem with the abandonment of the skirt. Particularly in the way the outfit is cut. ...Y'know... Down there.

CASE IN POINT.

Supergirl artist Mahmud Asrar posted this beautiful splashpage from the upcoming reboot/launch and while it is a wonderful drawing, I feel CREEEEPY that I can see that much of her bare pelvis.

And I am a girl.

Albiet a weird one.

But c'mon guys. Pants or tights or SOMETHING.

Especially with Supergirl. I will allow that there are some characters who allow more wiggle room (so to speak) when it comes to how sexualized they can come across. In Power Girl, it's kind of part of her charm. But Supergirl is wearing the "S." That carries with it a level of dignity and respect. And also, she's at best, what, 19?

Certainly the rebooted Supergirl of The New 52 could be a whole different creature; older, sexier. I hope that isn't the case because that's really not what I'm looking for in the character of Supergirl, but we won't really know until sometime next month.

It just seems like we've traded the often WAY too small belly shirt for an outfit that causes me to ponder Kryptonian grooming and, er... maintenance.

So... Thanks and you're welcome.

SDCC - Home-Con 2011

Alas, whilst I did not attend the San Diego Comic-Con this year (because it is an exhausting madhouse and also I'm lazy) I did participate in the much more relaxing and casual and--well, I'd say "clothes optional" but, well... You can almost get away with anything at Comic-Con. Except for Electrical Tape Suspenders Girl. They sent her away one year. BUT ANYWAY. Where was I? HOME-CON.

I attended Home-Con. Which consisted of me sitting in front of my computer eating microwaved leftovers and drinking Canada Dry while following along with live-blogs and YouTube clips and RSS feeds beamed to me from the con floor. Catching all the news and panels and cosplay photos I can possibly stand to shove into my eyes and brain.

It looked like people had a good time. All those tens of thousands of people. And nobody got stabbed with a pen, did they? Did The Lizard push you?

What stood out to me, this year, from what I have seen on the Internet, while cosplaying as Tracie In The Clothes She Slept In?

DCnU... getting closer. Robb's thoughts

Ok, SDCC is coming up and it feels like the waters are calming a bit since the DC re-launch news hit. I've had time to fully absorb this information, look at the new teams and (as Tracie and I discussed at great lengths) look over each book's new creative team. So what do I think?

More: PRO(test) or CON(vention)

Earlier Monty Posted some "protest" posters... I've decided to add a few more. But if you'd like to read the actual story, Check out this link!

PRO(test) or CON(vention)

In case you missed the story on Robot6 here there is going to be Protesters at SDCC... Oh, I'm not talking the Westboro Baptists, I'm talking nerds who are upset about the DCnU (is that what we are calling it?)

We aren't taking one side or the other in this "crisis," but we thought we'd lend a hand.

Just realized why I was unsure about Nightwing's new costume

I just stumbled on this image... and I was like, "OH YEAH...right. Ugh."

New JL images for the DCnU

Check out the story here at Newsarama. 

MAUK TRIAL: Senioritis at DC? [UPDATED]

There are a couple odd moves from DC that I saw hitting the web today that I can't help but voice my opinion over.

(Though I feel a little bad that this post will be following Robb's Green Lantern review because it will seem like we're picking on DC today... But Comicbook Crossfire is here to opine and discuss and these are the things that're weighing on our minds)

DCnU: It's Working, I Guess

Whether I felt underwhelmed or outright perplexed by a great number of the series and creator announcements coming out of DC's huge September relaunch, upon closer inspection, I suppose I could say that... it's working.

I decided to take a look at just how many DC monthlies I was buying currently. Not taking into account the plethora of Flashpoint tie-in minis, regular minis of interest, the Vertigo or Johnny DC books. (as those appear to be untouched by this initiative)

Taking those out of the picture, focusing solely on monthly, DC Universe-based ongoing series, I am currently buying 17 titles from DC.

Going into the September relaunch, it appears that number could grow to 30.

Now, financially, I'm a little wary of adding 13 new books to my monthly buys. Taking a closer look, at least 9 of those 30 books are ones I'm a little on the fence about. And I already whittled down a couple that I decided I was curious about, but not THAT curious and would be fine checking out a trade down the line or even taking advantage of a discounted digital copy in the future. Maybe that's an advantage to this new digital distribution for a fan like me. I still love my floppies (though I loathe calling them that) so of course I'm still gonna buy my copies of Action Comics off the shelf. But say a book like Voodoo catches my eye but I can't really rationalize it as a must-buy monthly read that I just HAVE to have the week/day it comes out. Surely I can be patient and wait it off until the digital copy gets marked down. I have boxes full of Superman comics but I've only ever owned a handful of Wildcats comics. I don't really feel any burning need to fill my closet (or, uh... floor) with copies of Voodoo. But it might be a nice book to read later on, on my phone or computer or that free iPad those banner ads and pop-ups keep promising me.

Still, September could be a pretty expensive month. But I envision myself being significantly more harsh on these new series than I've been in the past. Simply because DC is introducing 52 new books, all vying for my attention. Some of them receiving none of it whatsoever, a few demanding it, and the rest may come down to some harsh first issue scrutiny.

So let's say there are 21 DC books I will definitely be reading in September, baring the chance that one or more of them could surprise me by being terrible (or worse, boring). 11 of them are books I was already buying. 6 of those books have 1 or more creators still in place from before the relaunch. 8 of those 21 are books I've bought in the past. 9, if you count Jeff Lemire's Frankenstein, which I'm currently reading as a Flashpoint tie-in. And the Johns/Reis Aquaman and JH Williams III Batwoman are books I was already planning to buy as they were both announced long before this relaunch was revealed. So with that, DC has only convinced me to try out two new books: Swamp Thing and Animal Man.

Now, that's not a bad thing. I'm not saying that. I want you to consider that I am a person who already buys a LOT of comics and I've kept pretty steady at it most of my life. They don't exactly have to even work very hard to win me over. I'm already well invested. And they've taken a person who was already buying a good number of DC comics (even MORE, if we wanted to factor in all those Flashpoint minis and other peripherals) and gotten her to consider buying even MORE. So that's a win. What they're really going to want and, well, NEED is people who aren't buying DC books or aren't buying very many or don't buy comics AT ALL.

They can lure me into buying books I already have the inclination to buy because they've already got me. It's already in my veins. I'm the sort of fan who was just looking for an excuse to run back to Wonder Woman and all needed to say "Cliff Chiang."

They could've brought me back to Justice League by doing almost anything that seemed more interesting than what they were doing at the time. The fact that they're doing it with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee is actually shooting a bit higher than they needed to, for my purposes, but it's definitely the sort of move they needed to do to grab outsider attention. Which I hope the rest of these books are capable of doing. I have my doubts but I would love to be surprised.

So, look, skepticism or no, they've got me. Clearly there is already some small victory claimed with this fan and I'll be curious to see if it holds and how many other readers they can claim victory over come September.

Avenging Spider-Man #1 > All 52 New DC Comics

DISCLAIMER: The following is the opinion of one Tracie L. Mauk and does not represent the beliefs or opinions of her fellow bloggers and friends at Comicbook Crossfire.



Today Marvel held one of their regular Next Big Thing conference calls breaking the news that November 2011 would see writer Zeb Wells would be joining superstar artist Joe Madureira on an unexpected new ongoing series, Avenging Spider-Man, an in-continuity Marvel Team-Up-like series featuring Spidey teaming up with various fellow avengers for large scale adventures.

This marks the first Marvel work for Madureira since 2008's Ultimates 3 and first "ongoing" since 1998's creator-owned series Battle Chasers. (I am, regrettably, using the term loosely, in that instance)

Your mileage will undoubtedly vary but for this blogger, whose comic fandom and own artistry was dramatically and fundamentally changed when Madureira hit the scene in 1994, the announcement of Wells and Madureira on Spider-Man is more exciting than any one of the 52 new books DC is rolling out in September.

Now, before you even begin to feel the itch to click "reply" and start snarking on how soon before delays start to plague the book or even type the words "video games," stop. I don't want to hear it. I've been listening to that stuff for over a decade and so has he. The creators have had TONS of lead time and I'm sure Joe, as much as anyone, would hate to see this dream gig suffer under delays.

But I don't even want to talk about that, much less think about it. I learned long ago not to worry about that sort of thing and just enjoy what I'm given, when I'm given it. For my money, Joe's artistry is the type that, as long as he is enjoying what he is doing (and you can absolutely tell when he is), he can take as much time as he needs to give us a product he is proud of.

But back to my title remark, this is exactly the kind of move I wanted to see DC roll out when they announced they were going to wipe clean their entire publishing schedule and start fresh with 52 new #1 issues in September. They started strong with the initial announcement that Geoff Johns and Jim Lee would be launching a new Justice League #1. It was an expected move (and something that's been in the rumor mill for around 2 years now), but it was a team book featuring their most popular characters, written and drawn by two of the biggest names in comics. (and chief architects at the company today)

As further announcements started rolling out, they were largely more of the same or sometimes downright perplexing. Why was DC pushing a huge relaunch, grabbing all kinds of headlines and attention, but pulling so many of their punches creatively?

The most startling announcement I can think of offhand was Rob Liefeld returning to Hawk & Dove. And it was startling in a sense that I don't imagine DC was aiming for.

Sure, we get books from top creators like Gail Simone, Grant Morrison, Brian Azzarello, Judd Winick and newer stars like Scott Snyder, Francis Manapul (but can he write?), Cliff Chiang and Jeff Lemire. But they were already doing regular work for DC. Outside of Liefeld, Greg Capullo and Paul Jenkins, where are the big scores from other publishers? (do Ig Gurara and Travel Foreman count?) Where are the hot new indie darlings like Jonathan Hickman or Nick Spencer? You have Josh Fialkov on a shirtless vampire comic but is that going to do it? Nathan Edmondson's getting some great press for Who Is Jake Ellis? but is bringing Grifter into the DC Universe going to raise his star?

Marvel's pairing a talented young writer like Zeb Wells with an artist who was one of the biggest things in comics when he was with the company and whose creator owned series held strong in the Diamond Top 10, despite long delays.

Where's the star power, DC? You seem to be rewarding a lot of, shall we say, underwhelming creators who were delivering the same underwhelming work BEFORE the relaunch, but there have got to be big name creators out there dying to handle some of the most popular and well known characters in the world or those extremely talented writers and artists who're just needing their one shot at the big time to really explode on the scene. (oh--and the women--WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?) Is it too much to want Wednesday Comics quality line-ups tackling these classic comic characters?

It's puzzling to me. Sure there are plenty of DC books I'm going to end up buying or pensively taste testing (I am kind of a slave to the medium) but as much as I hope Grant Morrison gives us All-Star Superman 2.0, that Geoff and Jim make the League feel big and important again, and that Azzarello gives us a Wonder Woman as compelling as Chiang's gorgeous artwork, I can't say that I'm more excited for any of those books than I am to see Wells and Madureira on Spider-Man. And it has nothing to do with being more of a Marvel girl than DC, if they had announced Wells and Mad doing a Bat-book or Teen Titans or even Metamorpho, I'd be just as pumped. (well, okay, I'd probably way more psyched for Spider-Man than Metamorpho, but it'd still be danged cool to see)

Though Madureira at DC would certainly do nothing to shift the I Love the 90's feel and resulting snark directed at these September launches and new DC Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras.

Ah well. Bring me gorgeous double-page spreads of moloids attacking marathon runners while Spider-Man fights alongside Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, and (a) Hulk.