Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Random DCnU Revue

So, the DCnU is still kind of bumming me out and I think its because I'm buying too many of their titles. The next wave of cancellations may be coming soon, and on the bubble are Batwoman, Batwing, Frankenstein, GLC & New Guardians, and all three Justice League titles.

Like Lash, I like that DCCP exists, but I can't commit to every story. Deadman rocked, the Challs has been surprisingly good, but I have no interest in the Vandal Savage's daughter stuff.

I'm buying more books than I did before, so I guess I can't decry DcNu too much (though I finally dropped Batman and Justice League). I've just been so slammed at work and life I haven't had much time for reviews here. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up at some point.

After having finally culled my pull-list down to more manageable levels, I am feeling less "oppressed" kinda, and more excited about reading them now. I made the official cut to Superboy, Supergirl, Resurrection Man, Wonder Woman, Voodoo, Batwoman, Green Arrow and maybe a couple more today. MANY books unbought from my pull, but it was just a must in order for me to be able to get back to enjoying comics...

That's what I'm feeling. "Oppressed" is the right word. There's a lot of comics by DC that aren't 'bad', but they're just not my cup of tea. And honestly, who the hell would want to buy 52 comics from the same company. Or even 40? 30? Each week, as I've trimmed back more and more Marvels and DC's, and then spent the money on Image, Dark Horse, Vertigo, etc., I've gotten more and more excited about comic books in general.

So much so, I even now follow the Image Comics twitter feed! (And mad props to them, they freely promote all kinds of creator-owned non-Image series too).

Now that it's 8 months in, I will say that I do admire the balls it took for DC to do the whole NEW 52 thing. It proved that a struggling company can make a huge splash and still take over the top 10 comics 8 months later.

It proved Aquaman can outsell X-Men.

So yeah, it's a good thing probably, but it also showed that you can't throw 52 new number 1s out there and KEEP them successful for any length of time... RIPieces, Liefeld's Hawk and Dove.

As a comic fan I was glad to be part of the "experience", but next time: Next time, I can make choices more suitable for me...

Now that I have added SUPREME to my pull, it feels like the Image explosion all over again (THREE Image comics on my current pull!!)

The New 52 kinda was DC doing its own version of the Image Explosion, now that I think of it...

After reading JL DARK up through # 7, I have decided to drop it from my pull list. The crossover with I Vampire is the final nail in the coffin built by the announcement of Milligan's departure.

Same here! I just added two more officially (Hell Yeah and Danger Club). Plus, you're totes going to add Saga once you read #1.

I had my CBS drop New Guardians yesterday and it felt very good. Yet another series I hemmed and hawwed over but now I really can't tell why I didn't just drop it.

I just came back from an extended trip to Africa and got to read issues 4-7 of my comic book pull in one go. In hindsight I think that I should have given up on some titles sooner, but a few others gave me nice surprises. Here is the status quo after issue 7.

1. DROPPED BEFORE I LEFT
I Vampire, Resurrection Man, Suicide Squad, Stormwatch, JLI, Red Lantern, Frankenstein, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Catwoman, Superman

2. SHOULD HAVE DROPPED BEFORE I LEFT, doing so now
The Ray, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Flash, JLDark, Wonder Woman, Voodoo, Batwoman, Action, Nightwing

3. ONE MORE ISSUE to sort-of finish the storyline, but essentially they are gone:
New Guardians, Birds of Prey, Firestorm, All Star Western (also 2 of my three Marvel titles: Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates)

4. PROBATION:
Red Hood, Detective, Justice League

5. LIKING AND KEEPING:
Demon Knights, Superboy, GLC, Batman, Supergirl, Blue Beetle, Green Lantern, Teen Titans, Batgirl, Aquaman, Legion Lost, LSH (also Ultimate Spider Man, which I am loving)

So there have been a couple of major fallings-from-grace, notably my two top titles in previous lists, Action and JL. I guess once the origin stories were done, I didn´t care anymore. Superman just bores me, he always has. Other big falls include Batwoman (absolutely love the artwork, but ultimately don;t care for the character) and Nightwing.

Positive surprises? Liked GLC, which I had intended to drop, absolutely loving Blue Beetle. Superboy and Supergirl are intriguingly still in the list, I am enjoying them a lot. Teen Titans is also much better than I expected.

I'm on the fence about Justice League Dark -- I find the premise interesting, but it's been 7 issues and it just doesn't feel like anything has happened. I do love the cover art, though.

I'm also on the verge of dropping Legion Lost. I like the art, but the story has dragged and been choppy. Not even the presence of some of my favorite Legionnaires is really doing it for me.

Action went completely bizarro for two issues (and not necessarily in a good way), but I'm intrigued by the return to the original storyline, so I'll keep it for now. Ditto for LSH, which has been uneven.

Justice League International has been bland and kind of generic, but I like the art enough to stick with it for now.

I also just picked up All-Star Western for the new story arc, which seems promising. I especially like the Nighthawk/Cinnamon back-up so far.

I just started reading Justice League for the Shazam back-up, which I'm enjoying.

Ray's a four issue miniseries. It ended last month.

First Roy, then Lilith, and now Grunge.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=12025

DC Comis Presents The Challengers of the Unknown DCnU-style continues to surprise me. Namely by being really good and interesting! I really half-expected to dislike it.

This is the closest thing to the Challengers I remember from the 70s relaunch since... the 70s relaunch!

Solicits for the next issue don't fill me with joy... YES MORE CHALLS DIE! THE QUESTION IS WILL ANY BE LEFT?? or something to that effect.

I'm about to the point where I need to stop reading DCnU solicits (see the LSH # 7 thread).

FRANKENSTIEN AOS continues to be a lot of fun for me; just finished # 7. I also must admit I enjoyed the artwork this issue. It was a nice change from the previous stylized, murky art. I was enjoying that murky art, yes, but... well, now I'm enjoying THIS take, now that it is here.

And "Ray Palmer's a badass"... who couldn't love that quote?

^ That quote brings back unfortunate memories of one of the worst lines from that execrable Justice League: Whine About Justice book,

"He's a hero. I'm Ray Palmer. Welcome to pain."

(whereupon Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi proceeded to torture a helpless villain) but I'm sure the quote was delivered better in this Frankenstein book.

Yeah the quote in Frankenstein is totally amusing, and not a complete character departure for the person who says it.

Random Thoughts:

Every month Frankenstein falls to the bottom of my read pile (I usually read favorites first) and then every month I read and remember why I like it so much. Having read stuff by Matt Kindt before, I think the transition in writers will be pretty seamless.

My thoughts on DC Comics Presents are just like Lash's. Surprisingly, I'm really enjoying the Challs story (though the solicit doesn't exactly make me jump for joy). But the upcoming Daughter of Vandal Savage arc (not Scandal) has me considering sitting those issues out. The Deadman arc was one of the best things to come out of the DCnU.

Recent Deathstroke solicits show Rob Liefield writing & drawing in a big Deathstroke vs. Lobo brawl. And it's actually better looking than a lot of other things on their solicits.

Never bothered with the Ray or Nightforce after their #1's.

The Shade has been nothing short of fantastic. Having my boy Javier Pulido stop in for two issues was icing on the cake.

Batwing's initial story-arc was (8) whole issues. That's just too long. As much as I liked the series initially, I just stopped caring about the story at some point. I'm thinking I might have to give it the axe.

The Flash is still my favorite of the DCnU.

Also: the latest All-Star Western's back-up features Nighthawk and Cinnamen. Utterly terrific! Now thats how you do a back-up! And the art by Patrick Sherberger? An artist I'm going to keep an eye on.

I've been meaning to ask you if you were getting this, Des... I know what an UBERfan of Darwyn Cooke you are and his art on #4's Times Past story was awesome.

It sure was! That issue rocked my face off. Almost all the art has been superb so far--Cully Hamner and Javier Pullido also brought their A game.

Also, each new artist essentially exists as it's own arc, so it's all done in ones and 2-parters with an over-arching story.

Ok, so for almost a year now I've kind of been in "I don't care" mode when it comes to comics. All I've been buying are occasional trades from amazon. Most of those archives, showcases, essentials etc. no monthlies whatsoever.

And then, last week, I bought on a whim DC's HUGE New 52 omnibus. It reprints all 52 first issues from last September. I've been reading, and I must say I'm impressed with much of it. I doubt I'll ever buy the "pamphlets" on a monthly basis at a CBS again, but I will be buying the trades of many of these books.

I know it's stupid for me to talk about books you all read 8 months ago..... But what the hey. Here's my impressions so far:

My favorites? Hands down AQUAMAN and WONDER WOMAN. I love that aquaman is a badass, but he has the same lameass rep in the DCnU as he does in the real world.
I also love that he is *not* all animal rights-ish He eats fish and makes it clear he does *not* talk to them. He just controls them. As for Wonder Woman, love the art and the portrayal of the mythology. Love the Gaiman Endless-esque Greek gods. As far as reboots go, a Huge improvement on the mind numbingly boring and wordy Perez reboot.

Justice League International was just bland and cliché ridden. Too bad, cause I love these characters. This book also
suffered from the "some histories have been rebooted and some haven't" syndrome. Do these heroes have a shared history anymore? Was there a Global Guardians? Do Fire and Ice even know each other anymore? Meh.

I was shocked how much I enjoyed the Green Lantern family of books. A franchise I never read much. GREEN LANTERN CORPS seems to be a "buddy cop" book staring Guy
Gardner and John Stewart. It's fun. And is it just me, or is Guy Gardner pretty sexy these days? I'm not sure what's going on in NEW GUARDIANS with Kyle Ryner and all those
rings, but I want to find out.

The RED LANTERNS fascinated me when Mera was one
back during blackest night, and I'm still intrigued. But I feel like Milligan is missing an opportunity. The book is about rage as a driving force. That's cool. But everyone's becoming a
Red Lantern because their race was decimated in a intergalactic war or something. That's boring. Of *course* someone in that
situation would be enraged. Mera was a fascinating Red Lantern because her rage stemmed from long unspoken blame and resentment. I'd *love* to see a human become a Red Lantern and their motivating rage be no more than the ennui and alienation of modern life.

Certain titles are intriguing enough to make me interested in books I would normally ignore. SWAMP THING for example. I love the idea that plants are violent and vicious, only on a scale so slow we can't perceive it. But will one neat idea hold my interest in the long run? I kinda doubt it.

Still a lot more to read, but I'm looking forward to revisiting many of these titles. Kudos to DC for daring to try something drastic and following through.

Always cool to hear fresh perspectives on comics, old or new, I say, KidChaos! Bring 'em on!

I agree. Great to read your thoughts, KidChaos.

RE: DC Universe Presents #8 - A solid, if not spectacular, finale. Didio and Ordway succeeded in giving us a version of the Challengers of the Unknown that has potential. I hope to see more of them.

LOVED reading your take on the books that excited us so much awhile back, Kid C! Legion World demands Kid Chaos' presence!!

Thanks guys!

Reading all the # 1's in this omnibus has jazzed me up for comics again!

I don't think I'll go back to buying monthly pamphlets. There's only one CBS left in town, and the guy is kind of a creep who owns it....

If I can figure out how to download digital comics on my iPad, I would love to buy them that way. I'm working the midnight shift at the nursing home here and some nights are soooo slow. Catching up with some of the new 52 I like might make the nights go by quicker!

Anways, I still have most of the omnibus to get through at home. I was reading the Batman section tonight, my god, Bats got three times the titles as poor superman! I'm curious if the Batman titles will be well written enough to overcome my history of lack of interest in the character...