Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Brave New World, the Atom, Martian Manhunter, Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fights, etc.

That's what I was thinking, TL.

That hairdo is pretty unmistakeable....

Jamie

It's gotta be him. Or he has the same barber...

And I forgot to add, "My wallet can't take this punishment!!!" I'm obviously going to have to cash in my kids' college funds a bit early.

Just as well, comics can teach you more about science than science class anyway.

I don't have kids, but at this rate I better not, since I'll barely be able to buy diapers and baby food and all that other stuff that scares the bejeezus out of me. I'd much rather waste it on DC's third, fourth and fifth waves of six new titles!

If you go to DC's site the coloring of this cover is different.

The "All-New Atom" is Asian and mystery man has red eyes.

Newsarama has the two versions of the cover side by side.

Okay so the Martian Manhunter is getting some kind of costume redesign. I notice something different in the Atom's eyes, but I couldn't say it's an ethnic depiction.

One of the versions is by Ariel Olivetti, who did the other?

He certainly looks Asian to me...I do want to see more of MM's costume, tho'.

Jamie

Catch it people, preview pages up here

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Atom has to be Asian now. And when did the Ray become black?</span></span>

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">Maybe it is just a suntan, result of using his powers? But was that Phantom Lady with him and Dollman? She must be at least a cup size larger than Power Girl.</span></span>

I demand a team up series between those two characters.

Since Brave and the Bold has been delayed, maybe they could continue to use the B&B abbreviation for this.

The Big and the Bouncy would sell huge.

Tamper.

Ok, only a page to go on for each of them so it's quite hard to make any real kind of objective judgments but...

Martian Manhunter looks very nice. I can't stand the character but the artwork is very slick and well drawn. I doubt I'll pick it up but it certainly looks nice.

OMAC. Eh. Can't really say much from one splash page, but I still think the OMAC design is ugly.

Freedome Fighters. Dear gods that's ugly. Most of it is just murky and the rest is far too garish. Plus the anatomy going on on that page is just so wrong that it's frightening. Ugly costume redesigns again as well.

Creeper. Could be interesting but much as I love Justiano on everythign else he's doen there's something a little too grotesque about that page. It's the one title that I'm most inclined to pick up but I dunno...

Atom. Well Gail hasn't gone far wrong with anythign else she's written and it's nice to see a title character who isn't caucasian (or at least I assume he isn't from that page) but the original Atom costume is so nice I don't know why they've messed it up so badly. really, really ugly redesign. But then again I'm so not a fan of Byrne's art that I shouldn't be surprised.

Shazam. Pretty art certainly, but again not much to go on from that page. Captain Marvel doesn't really ineterest me a huge amoutn as a character so I doubt I'll be getting the title, but like I say it looks pretty.

Bloody hell, I've just bothered to look at the credits properly. The art on Shazam is Howard Porter?!!? He used to draw some of the ugliest art around what with everyoen looking like they'd been coated in oil so they were nice and shiny and distorted. He must either ahve ahd awful inkers and colourists before, got great ones this time or drastically changed his art style. It does look like the art has been coloured straight from the pencils so maybe that's the difference but I wouldn't have recognised it as his art if the credits weren't there.

Here're my 6 cents -

MARTIAN MANHUNTER - Great character. LONG overdue for a successful solo series. Not sure if this is going to be it though. Haven't heard good things about the new writer and the art looks a bit blah from what little we can see. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt though as I don't like making judgements on creators when I'm unfamilar with their work. Also kinda like the idea of a new costume for J'onn, though I'm a big fan of his classic look too. Final Call - Wait and see.

OMAC - Is this a mini or an ongoing? Doesn't really matter. The OMAC's are soooooOOOoooo 2005 as far as I'm concerned. Over them. (Nice pic though.) Final Call - No thanks.

FREEDOM FIGHTERS - With respect to Bevis - "Ugly"!!??!! OMG! Daniel Acuna is the best new artist I've seen in the last 5 years! The pencils and inking and colours on that page are near-perfect IMO. Kinda wish it were Damage and Ray Terril underneath those masks rather than new characters and don't see the point of creating a new Phantom Lady when they could've just fleshed out Dee instead of killing her off but those are just minor quibbles. Final Call - Definitely on board for this one!

CREEPER - Love Justiniano but like Bevis says there is something a little grotesque/disturbing about that page. And I've never been a huge Creeper fan anyway. Even less interested now that I know its a total reboot/retcon of the character. Can't stand writers/editors that don't know how to handle the history of their DCU characters creatively. Final Call - Afraid not.

ATOM - Wow! I think that John Byrne art actually looks pretty good for once! He may actually have a few good years left in him after all. The redesigned costume is *OK* but those gold bits have GOT TO GO! Kinda wish they'd gone with something completely different though since its not Ray Palmer under the mask. Speaking of which - who is under that mask? Would be fantastic if it was an Asian male! I can't even think of one who'se been more than a background character in the whole DCU! Not sure about Gail Simone though. *Extremely* overrated writer IMO. Final Call - Wait and see.

SHAZAM - Two words. Judd. Winick. Final Call - HELL NO! (Porter's art does look amazing however. A 100% improvement over his JLA days!)

So all in all I guess I'm not as excited about the new DCU as I thought I'd be. Probably for the best anyway. I really need to start saving more money.

What I wanted to happen with Phantom Lady was for them to follow the Kingdom Come route (even though it has been over done of late) and actually have her being dead as a doornail after the events of IC but then have her come back as an actual phantom. It'd add a new twist to the character, fit with her name, and would mean that even though she got killed she could still be around. The only other ghost characters I can think of are Deadman and in a way Spectre (although his powers and stuff are slightly different from your regular ghost). From that preview page though I doubt that's the option they've gone for. It looks more like a completely new character to me. Of course I could be proven wrong.

I think the Freedom Fighters looked awful, as well. Everyone looks like they've been dipped in neon paint or something, and the anatomy is a bit on the exaggerated side. <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">I was also hoping that Damage and the Ray would be included, but that doesn't look like it's happened (the new Bomb's name seems to be Andy, and the Ray seems to have a completely different personality that the previous version, although that could just be the writer's interpretation).</span></span>

I'll probably still pick it up, but I have definite reservations now.

I saw nothing that would make me want to add any of these titles to my pull list. And why the hell does Gail keep teaming up with that hack? I've grown to enjoy her writing but I refuse to buy a Byrne book.

Waitaminute. Creeper is a complete retcon/reboot/ignoring of past history? It seems nothing can ever be done right anymore...

US&FF looks kinda fun IMO, but if that's not Ray Terrill behind the Ray mask, once more I'll feel like DC is shitting the bed. Hopefully that will not be the case.

The Atom actually looks great (wow--Byrne!), although I wish it was Ray Palmer. But with Gail writing, I'll still be grabbing this.

Looking forward to Martian Manhunter.

I agree with Blacula that the OMACs are very 2005. I feel like we should be moving on. Maybe they are going to introduce Buddy Blank and take it in a new direction? It *could* be interesting and has potential.

Here's my thoughts, take them for what you will...

MM: Not seen enough to be interested. I love the character but this looks an awful lot like his subplot in New Frontier.

US&FF: Interesting. I think that is still Ray, as he is a Legacy hero. Yes, the proportions seem off on PG but it does look nice regardless.

Atom: Meh. Ray had a nice simple costume and this new one is just too busy. And like LL, I love Gail but can't stand Byrne. I may be too harsh but I don't think he's grown as an artist since the '80's.

OMAC: Nice art. But I too am firmly in the OMACs suck camp. Could they get any less interesting? And why isn't Supes kicking the crap outta them?

Creeper: Pass....what too differentiate this character from the Spectre? It should be creepy, yet, humorous. This doesn't look like either.

Shazam!: Gorgeous art by Mr. Porter. I agree with the assessment Bevis made about his style change. It looks great. But as Blacula said, Winnick's on the book. So I don't have high hopes for it. Especially, recalling a Wizard interview a few years ago when he stated he didn't much like the character.

Granted, with only one page to go on it's hard to really judge but there it is.

As for the Flash preview, didn't they say something about the first Flash you see will not be the Flash in the book? I can't find the article but I'm wondering what's going to happen to Jay in this first story.

Jamie

See, I'm thinking that might actually be a bit of an IC spoiler. The fact that there's an OMAC book and that from that page they don't seem to be stopping Supes makes me think that maybe they've been turned into good guys or something. Course, that being said either as good guys or bad guys I have had more than my fill of bloody OMACs invading every single DC title of late so the less we see of them in the future the better imho.

That echoes what I've been thinking too, Bevis.

You know, since we're bringing back characters from the Multiverse, why not just bring back the original Omac and have him take those monstrosities on?

Jamie

When these were first mentioned, I thought they were mini-series. At least most of them. Only the MM and ATOM were ongoing.

FF looked cool, and I like the writers, so I will give it a try. But I do hope it's Ray Terril as the Ray.

MM has no appeal for me. I've always thought him a redundant Superman. And the writer didn't impress me on Gotham Knights.

OMAC is done. This mini is suppose to wrap them up and explain their place in the new DCU. Never was interested in them.

CREEPER looks cool, and I like the gruesome feel to the art. I always thought that was the Creeper's hook. I'm in.

SHAZAM has great potential. Winnick can be good or bad for Cap; his other mini was good but GA hasn't been lately. I'm streamlining and this will definitely get the tpb treatment.

ATOM has the most potential, and could be the biggest flop. Gail's writing guarantees it's a good read, but I don't always like Byrne's art.

I am not a virulent Byrne Basher, although I do think his art has declined a lot in recent years.

Having said that, this new Atom looks HORRIBLE! The costume is absurd. The Gil Kane design is one of the all-time great costumes. One tampers with it at your own peril. Grafting these gold, Greek-warrior looking doo-dads on to it is blasphemous and hideous. And every character Byrne draws these days looks one step away from emaciated Zombie-hood. Just horrible. What a shame.