The New 52

[The Sevenshot Kid]

A while back I started a thread about DC's decision to relaunch all of their titles and now the time has finally come where they've begun to do just that.

The first title to be released was Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. It's not bad but it's nothing really special yet. In simple terms, the first issue is a buddy cop film with Batman and Green Lantern set five years in the past right before the formation of the League and relatively early in the superhero timeline. Superman makes a brief appearance at the end that includes a callback to an earlier joke in the issue that I found fairly humorous. The villain of the opening arc is revealed in a way that's both slightly perplexing but logical enough not to make the reader drop the book in disgust.

There's another minor intro for Cyborg before becoming, well, y'know, Cyborg. Other than that, the rest of the League doesn't really show up. The writing is pretty good, par for the course with Geoff Johns, but the art isn't all that special. This is highly subjective though since I've never been that big of a Jim Lee fan. The issue provides a good set-up that has potential to make something good so I'm pretty optimistic. If I had to rate it I'd give the issue a 4 out of 5 based on it's accessibility to new and old readers.

I'm still cautious about the new DCU but this issue has actually chipped away at my cynicism. I'll be buying a lot of these titles as they come out this month so I can see which ones are worth reading. I'll drop a mini-review for each one I get so you guys can decide if you're interested in what the relaunch has to offer.

Feel free to drop your own opinions on the titles and discuss what you think about them.

[Magus]

The only thing I have to add is a Batman and Green Arrow team-up would make way more sense than pretty much all the Batman team-ups in comics thus far. I'll read this and get back to you, though.

EDIT: Okay, what I find to be the worst thing about this is for something that isn't really much of a reboot, they did a crap ton of infodumping in this about the powers (for a comic book, I mean, which is mostly about dispensing with the talking). Also Green Lantern talking in the third person about himself (comes off as kind of a douche bag, all told).

The handholding must lull new readers into a sense of security and then WHAMBAM later on they find out Batman has had like, five Robins and the current one is his son to a villain they may or may not have ever heard of, and btw all that Brightest Day shenanigans happened too.

However, maybe stuff is going to happen "five years ago" a lot. So that might be good. They could always run a "past" and "present" concurrently in the comics.

So in a way it's good, in other ways, it's kind of silly.

As for Jim Lee, his art is just...it is. It's all pretty good and anatomically correct and all, fairly interesting visually, but there's nothing really special about it in any way shape or form. I think in a way that's its strength, you don't really notice it, good or bad, so you can be drawn into the story better. There's nothing about it that sets it apart uniquely, it's just all around great. Compare to like, Rob Liefeld for instance, you can immediately recognize Liefeld by how astronomically horrible his art is. BUT it is certainly different. There are other artists who are pretty good but the characters stances are stiffer, less fluid...with Jim Lee you can just focus on the events of the story.

ANOTHER EDIT: Okay, I can find two flaws with Jim Lee: too many lines/shading (it's too busy), and he enjoys gritted teeth almost as much as Rob Liefeld (but fortunately seems aware of how many humans actually possess).

Also the new Superman costume is pretty horrible, but that's not really his fault...wait, is it? Did he design it?

YET ANOTHER EDIT:

Hahahaha, omg, hahahaha what is up with this hahahaha Green Arrow redesign hahahahaha



Hahahahaha why hahaha who hahahaha who came up with this ahahahahahaa...

...BWAHAHAHAHAHA IT'S THE DUDE FROM SMALLVILLE RAHAHAHA

[Nique]

There are too many Batman comics running in the new 52. Like, a stupid amount of Batman comics.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Magus

Hahahahaha why hahaha who hahahaha who came up with this ahahahahahaa...

...BWAHAHAHAHAHA IT'S THE DUDE FROM SMALLVILLE RAHAHAHA

Maybe he finally realized being the one guy in Star City with a forked beard was giving his secret identity hell. As a fan of Smallville, I'm actually pretty cool with this design choice.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Nique

There are too many Batman comics running in the new 52. Like, a stupid amount of Batman comics.

I can already tell you which ones will be good and which will be shit.

Good:
- Batman
- Detective Comics
- Batgirl
- Batwoman

Shit:
- Batman: The Dark Knight
- Batwing (the title alone spells certain doom for this book)
- Birds of Prey
- and most likely Catwoman

One the Fence:
- Red Hood and the Outlaws
- Nightwing

[POS Industries]

Originally Posted by Nique

There are too many Batman comics running in the new 52. Like, a stupid amount of Batman comics.

And yet with all those Batbooks, they somehow managed to cancel all the ones I was reading. Go figure.

Originally Posted by The Sevenshot Kid

Good:
- Batgirl

Haha, no. There has so far been nothing about this, from the basic concept to Barbara's costume design (though everyone's new costume design looks awful so in this case it's par for the course) the first few preview pages they released, that has suggested that this series is going to be any good whatsoever. I will grant that it does appear to have the best art out of any Batgirl title ever published, but so far that's the only improvement I'm seeing so far.

After the release of the preview, it has been suggested that Gail Simone is actively sabotaging the book in an attempt to give it a quick death, seeing as her stance on putting Babs back in costume was staunchly in the negative (and rightly so!) right up until the moment she was put on this book. Of course, I don't necessarily subscribe to that theory myself, since I'm well aware that Gail's writing is of inconsistent quality regardless of her motive, and it's more than likely that the task of taking a character whose personality has been built around being a brainy, paraplegic computer jockey for the past two decades and then suddenly transplanting her into the role of a roof-hopping, high-kicking costumed crimefighter is more than most writers could handle.

But if the number of preorders are any indication, this book's probably going to be around for a while anyway. Of course, before the relaunch, "Batman: The Dark Knight" was apparently both the highest selling Batbook and generally considered the absolute worst, so I'm not going to try to find any sort of logic here.

As for Batwing, I wouldn't necessarily say the title is what spells certain doom for it so much as lack of adequate promotion, not giving the main character time to build up any interest before giving him a solo title (as of right now he's just a guy that briefly appeared in Batman Inc and did fuck all), and having it written by Judd Winick pretty much means it's going to be utter joyless crap.

Everyone should buy Batwoman, though. It so far looks like it's easily going to be the best thing DC is putting out, and not even just by comparison to the complete horseshit they're otherwise shoveling. The art is breathtaking, the writing solid, the characters interesting. This is pretty much exactly what a comic book should be.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by POS Industries

Everyone should buy Batwoman, though. It so far looks like it's easily going to be the best thing DC is putting out, and not even just by comparison to the complete horseshit they're otherwise shoveling. The art is breathtaking, the writing solid, the characters interesting. This is pretty much exactly what a comic book should be.

DC needs to cook up some absolute editions for all of the Batwoman stuff because the art is absolutely gorgeous and needs to be seen on a larger and higher quality scale.

As for Batwing I'm just not feeling it. The idea of Batman is most suited to a crowded city-scape so having a Batman in Africa doesn't really make sense to me. Especially not with that awful costume. I like Judd Winnick but I don't see why he would get brought on this book.

I only have faith in Batgirl based on the art and not necessarily the writer behind it.

Originally Posted by POS Industries

But if the number of preorders are any indication, this book's probably going to be around for a while anyway. Of course, before the relaunch, "Batman: The Dark Knight" was apparently both the highest selling Batbook and generally considered the absolute worst, so I'm not going to try to find any sort of logic here.

Don't get me started on that book. Terrible art, terrible story, just terrible. How David Finch gets work is a mystery to me.

[Magus]

All I can say about Batgirl's "cure" is that since they are moving Batman Beyond into the regular DC Comics timeline with the inclusion of villains like Hush,, we knew she would be able to walk again eventually.

Personally I figured it was because in the future they actually invested in stem cell research.

EDIT: I bought the first few issues of Batman: The Dark Knight because my comic books store guy recommended it to me. In retrospect it's probably because it cost a dollar more than the other books. Personally it didn't seem to be very interesting so I dropped it.

ANOTHER EDIT: I loved the original Detective Comics run of Batwoman based simply on the gorgeous reds and blacks. The plot, though, was not the most amazing thing I ever read, personally...but visually it was an A+.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Magus

All I can say about Batgirl's "cure" is that since they are moving Batman Beyond into the regular DC Comics timeline with the inclusion of villains like Hush,, we knew she would be able to walk again eventually.

Personally I figured it was because in the future they actually invested in stem cell research.

EDIT: I bought the first few issues of Batman: The Dark Knight because my comic books store guy recommended it to me. In retrospect it's probably because it cost a dollar more than the other books. Personally it didn't seem to be very interesting so I dropped it.

My understanding is that they've always been able to cure Babs but she decided that she was okay with living with her disability. Which makes the decision to make her Batgirl again very perplexing. Like Dick Grayson outgrowing Robin, it seemed like Babs had outgrown being Batgirl and become more effective as Oracle than she ever could have hoped to as Batgirl.

I'm seeing that Wendy chick from the last really great Batgirl series becoming the new Oracle now that Babs has left the chair empty. All in all, I do feel like this was a bad choice.

[Magus]

Originally Posted by The Sevenshot Kid

My understanding is that they've always been able to cure Babs but she decided that she was okay with living with her disability.

Maybe they decided this was grossly unrealistic and made zero sense? I'm pretty sure she can still do surveillance and hack the web for Batman while being able to walk to the bathroom under her own motive power. Like if this was actually the explanation then they are silly, it would have made more sense to blame it on lack of technology and just pretend they don't know anything about magic (despite it cropping up all the time). Just explain it away the same way they do when people ask "Why doesn't Superman just kill all the Batman villains since they are all worthless mortals? It would take him one night, tops."

Also, I could maybe forgive the Green Arrow redesign if it weren't for the really dumb beard he now has. Oliver Queen doesn't deserve to have something that looks better on a frat dude.

Also goggles are dumb 95% of the time.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Magus

Maybe they decided this was grossly unrealistic and made zero sense? I'm pretty sure she can still do surveillance and hack the web for Batman while being able to walk to the bathroom under her own motive power. Like if this was actually the explanation then they are silly, it would have made more sense to blame it on lack of technology and just pretend they don't know anything about magic (despite it cropping up all the time). Just explain it away the same way they do when people ask "Why doesn't Superman just kill all the Batman villains since they are all worthless mortals? It would take him one night, tops."

This is totally off-topic but have you read any of the New Krypton stuff from the past couple of years? There's this great scene where all the Kryptonians head out and start murdering Superman's enemies as a thank you for fixing Kandor only for him to freak the fuck out. And their reaction to his freak-out is priceless. They basically tell him, "We're just doing you a favor, man. You don't have to be a dick about it."

Originally Posted by Magus

Also, I could maybe forgive the Green Arrow redesign if it weren't for the really dumb beard he now has. Oliver Queen doesn't deserve to have something that looks better on a frat dude.

May I refer you back to the previous fork beard that went out of style hundreds of years ago.