08-29-12_CBXF: Marvel & Joss Whedon's TV S.H.I.E.L.D. & DC New 52 (a year later)

He just deserves better. Superman and his future in the DC 52

Grant is leaving the Man of Steel. More specifically, the title Action Comics. And this makes me sad. He got the ball rolling. He kicked off a "new 52" Superman that is definitely different. But he’s leaving and I’m sad... and well... scared. Lack of communication and short-sightedness from DC frightens me. I say this because Yes, Morrison’s run on Action has been darn near pitch perfect. But the connection to the Man of Steel’s other title, “Superman” has been none! Even during the creation, interviews have revealed that George Perez knew nothing of what Grant was planning. So we have two different takes on a character “during a re-boot”?  Where was the symmetry? The title Superman is just poor. From art, to story, to use of villains. This is your flag ship character. And even though I am loving what Grant has done in Action, it doesn’t feel like a “larger” story arc. I hope I’m wrong. Morrison has a way of weaving in large/deep meaning tale, over vastly long periods of story telling. (ie. Black Glove, Final Crisis, Batman RIP) But right now, to me it feels like Grant just had an interesting take on Superman and told a cool story and really doesn’t have a larger plan. I find this future unacceptable. Because I don’t know what DC will do when Grant leaves.

Robb reviews Wonder Woman



If It Ain't Broke...

So, this morning's comic industry news has been filled to the brim with D(etective)C(omics) Comics playing musical chairs with their artists. (oh, and the Smallville Season 11 digital comic)

Take a deep breath and here's the rundown: 90's Animal Man artist, Steve Pugh, is taking over art on Animal Man; Animal Man's Travel Foreman is moving to Birds of Prey; Birds of Prey's Jesus Saiz is moving to Resurrection Man; Resurrection Man's Ferndando Dagino is moving to Suicide Squad; and whoever was drawing Suicide Squad is... not.

After reading all of this (and lord help us, let that be the last of these announcements, today) I find myself consumed with the question: "WHY?"

Pugh was already sharing art chores with Foreman on Animal Man, so that didn't come as too much of a surprise, but Jesus Saiz is PERFECTION on Birds of Prey. Absolute PERFECTION. Especially with the addition of colorist, June Chung. He draws strong, realistic women and that's SUPER important on a book like BoP. (and something it hasn't often seen, with artists like Ed Benes and Ardian Syaf)

So, why the shuffle? I know fan reaction to Travel Foreman on Animal Man has appeared to be split right down the middle. (I fall on the "Love Him" side) Potentially, bringing Steve Pugh to the book would appease everyone. Foreman has previously worked with writer, Duane Swierczynski, on Iron Fist, so that makes sense... but do they think that moving Saiz to a lower-selling book will improve sales? Did he simply want to try something completely different, having been a part of the last two volumes of Birds of Prey? Suicide Squad has already seen quite a shuffle of artists since it launched so one more makes little difference.

It just... seems strange and pretty needless, all the shifting about of artists.

But mostly I'm just upset about losing Saiz. I dig Foreman quite a lot and I'm sure he'll do fine on Birds of Prey... and he's definitely not in the "Image-style" school that Benes and Syaf travel in, but... and I can't emphasize this enough... Jesus Saiz is just SO perfect on Birds of Prey and it's become such a great female-focused action/caper comic, I'd hate to see anything shake the series.

The New New 52

Or rather, The New 6.

DC is still committing to publishing 52 ongoing books so when "Wave 2" hits in May, they're going to cancel 6 books and replace them with new ones.

The books being canceled are, somewhat unsurprisingly, Men of War, Mister Terrific, OMAC, Hawk and Dove, Blackhawks, and Static Shock.

There's some bitter disappointment for me, seeing Static Shock on this list as I've been really pulling for this series to succeed and I was hoping that the addition of new writer Marc Bernardin would bring interest and sales up on the book. It's a shame that DC isn't even giving him that chance. Static's a character that should and can succeed. Hopefully it won't be too long before they give him another shot.

It's interesting that Hawk and Dove is getting the axe when it's actually still selling better than, say Captain Atom, which remains untouched. I'd happily let Captain Atom or Green Arrow take the fall, if it meant a repreive for Static.

So what's replacing these titles? More of the same, with maybe one big surprise.

First we've got the return of BATMAN INCORPORATED from Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham. DC is calling this a "fresh take" so I don't know if that means they've had to reboot/retool some things thanks to the compacted timeline of The New 52 or what.

Next, we have the long-teased EARTH 2 by James Robinson and Nicola Scott. Robinson could really use a win and EARTH 2 sounds as good a chance as any. Nicola Scott is brilliant and definitely raises the level of this series.

WORLDS FINEST is kind of an odd choice, featuring Huntress and Power Girl, trapped in "our world," trying to get back to their home in Earth 2. It's being written by Paul Levitz, who's currently penning the Huntress mini (which I guess now counts as a prelude) and drawn by the rotating art team of Kevin Maguire and George Perez.

The big surprise is DAIL H from novelist China Miéville and artist Mateus Santoluoco. I was a huuuuuge fan of when DC last tried to reboot the Dial H for Hero concept under writer Will Pfeifer and artist Kano. It's a fun concept with a lot of potential. Last time around they took it in a Twilight Zone meets 100 Bullets sort of direction. I'll be curious to see what they do with this.

G.I. COMBAT sees DC trying again to make the war comic work. In place of Men of War and Blackhawks, we get a bit of an anthlogy series split between THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT by J.T. Krul and Ariel Olivetti, UNKNOWN SOLDIER by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and artist Dan Panosian and THE HAUNTED TANK with writer John Arcudi and artist Scott Kolins. If there was just a Haunted Tank book by Arcudi and Kolins, I'd be all over it. Otherwise, I'll pass.

Finally, we get THE RAVAGERS, a Teen Titans/Superboy spin-off which, like Titans, sees the return of two more 90's Marvel stalwarts, Howard Mackie and Ian Churchill. Just who the "four superpowered teens on the run" are meant to be is up in the air. I'll be surprised if it's Fairchild and her ilk because you'd think if they were going to put them in their own book, they'd go with the Gen 13 title people already know. But odds are, with the title, Rose Wilson will be among them.

After hearing so much talk and promise of Wave 2 I was expecting more. More books, more creators we've been waiting to hear from. Anytime someone would ask about this writer or that artist, DC would just reply "Wave 2." We already knew Robinson and Scott were accounted for in this wave (and that Batman Inc would return), but for the rest, we've got more from Krul and the Gray/Palmiotti team, Levitz spinning his Huntress into an ongoing and the only real surprises being China Miéville's DIAL H and the return of Howard Mackie, which is someone everyone speculated/joked about when all the 90's Marvel hires happened in Wave 1.

I'll give EARTH 2 a chance, if just for Nicola Scott, but also in the hopes that James Robinson can recapture that spark he once had; The prospect of Kevin Maguire drawing Huntress and Power Girl is mighty tempting but I don't know how interested I am in the characters being reverted back to their pre-Crisis status somewhat (and I didn't read Levitz's Huntress mini); I'm super curious about DIAL H and just mildly curious about RAVAGERS, just because I read and enjoy Titans and Superboy. The addition of EARTH 2, DIAL H, and RAVAGERS only makes up for the loss of Static and the fact that I dropped Firestorm and Nightwing.

So I guess we're breaking even again, DC.

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.

Tracie's Pull List - Week of September 7, 2011

Last week may have been the kickoff of the new DC Universe but this week is where it REALLY gets rolling and this new universe takes shape.

Also some other comics exist.

What're you looking forward to, tomorrow?

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?

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.