So I spent some time yesterday on Father’s Day with my Dad and we went over the DC relaunch and decided which comics we were going to buy. For the most part he generally follows my recommendations (especially on comics I think look good that he doesn’t care about) but he’ll occasionally add some to the pull list no matter what I think one way or another. (For those who don’t know, my Father and I collect comics together and split them 50/50).
I figured I’d not only list them but give some commentary for shits and giggles.
Definitely on Pull List(1) Legion of Super Heroes v7 #1 (Paul Levitz/Francis Portela)
(2) Legion Lost v2 #1 (Fabian Nicieza/Pete Woods)
(3) Aquaman #1 (Geoff Johns/Ivan Reis)
(4) Flash #1 (Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato)
(5) Fury of Firestorm #1 (Ethan van Sciever/Gail Simone/Yildiray Cinar)
(6) Savage Hawkman #1 (Tony Daniel/Philip Tan)
(7) All-Star Western #1 (Justin Gray/Jimmy Palmiotti/Moritat)
Naturally, we’ll get the two Legion titles, which I’m excited for. Aquaman & Flash look like they’ll be good and I have high hopes, and I’m really excited about Gail Simone doing Firestorm, which may deliver at long last the Firestorm title I’ve been waiting for (and with Ronnie!). I’m hesitant about Hawkman because of Daniel’s writing on Batman, but I love the character and am willing to give it a chance. All-Star Western is just a continuation of Jonah Hex, DC’s best comic book for the last 5 years so that’s a no-brainer.
(8) Justice League #1 (Geoff Johns/Jim Lee)
(9) Justice League International #1 (Dan Jurgens/Aaron Lopresti)
(10) Justice League Dark #1 (Peter Milligan/Mikel Janin)
All three Justice League comics look pretty good and have me curious. Not sure I like the broad changes to the JLA’s past yet again, but I stopped caring about JLA history in the early 90’s when DC did. JLI and the ‘Dark’ JLA comic look like they could be fantastic.
(11) Green Arrow #1 (J.T. Krul/Dan Jurgens)
(12) Captain Atom #1 (J.T. Krul/Freddie Williams)
I’m very hesitant about J.T. Krul’s writing, but I realize I’ve never really given him a chance since everything he’s done has been post-Lian Harper’s death and I’ve never given his stuff a real look. Regardless, I love Jurgens artwork (much more than his writing) and we’ve never not collected Green Arrow, so we’re going to get that. And Captain Atom is one of my father’s favorite characters. So certainly we’ll give them both a shot.
(13) Detective Comics #1 (Tony Daniel)
(14) Batman #1 (Scott Synder/Greg Capullo)
(15) Batman: Dark Knight #1 (David Finch)
(16) Batman & Robin #1 (Peter Tomasi/Patrick Gleason)
(17) Nightwing #1 (Kyle Higgins/Eddy Barrows)
(18) Batwoman #1 (J.H. Williams III/W. Haden Blackman)
All four main Bruce Wayne Batman titles are a no-brainer for us; Batman is one of my favorites characters and also my father’s (the real Batman, that is
). We’ve always collected all the Batman titles and our collection goes back to the mid-50’s strait through (and further back with gaps). And all four look pretty good; the weakest being Tony Daniel’s ‘Tec, but its not bad enough where I’d drop it (and I love his art but I really don’t think he’ll be able to do both for long). I’ve actually liked Finch’s Dark Knight as well when it comes out every quarter
. I can’t wait to get a Nightwing comic monthly again, since that’s the role Dick Grayon belongs to. And Batwoman is a must-have because its been one of the top quality comics around when they were doing it in Detective.
(19) Swamp Thing #1 (Scott Synder/Yanick Paquette)
(20) Animal Man #1 (Jeff Lemire/Travel Foreman)
Also can’t wait for the relaunches of Swamp Thing and Animal Man, two characters / franchises I like quite a bit. Snyder & Paquette are a powerhouse creative team on Swamp Thing and Lemire has really impressed me on Superboy and the Atom background with his quirky style.
(21) Action Comics #1 (Grant Morrison/Rags Morales)
(22) Superman #1 (George Pérez/Jesus Merino)
(23) Superboy #1 (Scott Lobdell/R.B. Silva)
(24) Supergirl #1 (Michael Green/Mike Johnson/Mahmud Asrar)
The Superman comics look to be very interesting and I’m curious how they’ll be. I’m hesitant about Superboy and Supergirl’s new status quo’s, but I don’t really know anything about it. I’m also hesitant about Perez writing Superman as I’ve never been the biggest fan of his writing. Despite all that, I’m anxious to see if they can make Superman a good, solid franchise again, because its suffered for a long time. I have no problem with the dissolution of the marriage.
(25) Green Lantern #1 (Geoff Johns/Doug Mahnke)
(26) Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 (Tony Bedard/Tyler Kirkham)
(27) Green Lantern Corps #1 (Pete Tomasi/Fernando Pasarin)
I continue to enjoy all three main Green Lantern titles and will definitely keep them up. I hope they are less crossover-driven than they’ve currently been and the Johns GL title can reclaim some of its former identity, but overall, I’m enthusiastic about them.
(28) Blue Beetle #1 (Tony Bedard/Ig Guara)
(29) Hawk & Dove #1 (Sterling Gates/Rob Liefeld)
(30) Wonder Woman #1 (Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang)
(31) Mr. Terrific #1 (Eric Wallace/Roger Robinson)
(32) Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #1 (Jeff Lemire/Alberto Ponticelli)
(33) Grifter #1 (Nathan Edmondson/Cafu)
(34) Voodoo #1 (Ron Marz/Sami Basri)
This next batch are all ones I certainly intend on trying out and have real hopes for. I collected the first Jamie Blue Beetle series and the character has grown on me, and I hope Bedard can add the little something extra that series really needed. I’m actually kind of excited for the Hawk & Dove series because I really like Sterling Gates’s writing, and the though of me actually buying a Rob Liefield book has me smiling—I certainly intend to review if with an open mind (but will get critical if it calls for it of course). We’ve never not collected Wonder Woman and see no reason to stop now—Azzarello seems like the oddest fit ever for her series but maybe that’s what is needed? Or maybe that will really be a disaster? I’m at least curious to find out. Love the character Mr. Terrific and love that he has a series but Eric Wallace has me hesitant; on the other hand, I’ve enjoyed Roger Robinson’s Solar and Azreal work so that’s a plus. I like Lemire and Morrison’s Frankenstein revamp in Seven Soldiers so we’ll try it out, but this could be the one that ends up cancelled.
I know nothing about the Wildstorm characters but feel I have to pick up Grifter because I’ve loved Nathan Edmondson on “Who is Jake Ellis?” and loved Cafu on Thunder Agents; either of them would get me to try anything by any publisher so this is a must buy. I know nothing about Voodoo but I like Ron Marz and think he writes great female protagonists, so I’ll at least sample it.
(35) Teen Titans #1 (Scott Lobdell/Brett Booth)
Teen Titans was a comic I definitely wanted to put the kibosh on, but it’s the one example where my Dad really wanted to keep going with it and eventually see how it is. So I’ll at least be able to read it and review it; I plan to give it a chance, as I will anything I buy. But if I really don’t like, I’ll write the same type of review I gave Countdown.
Series I know that despite what I say, I’ll buy the first 1-2 issues:Knowing myself, I know no matter what I say, curiosity will get the best of me and I’ll buy the first issue, possibly the second. So it will be like Lash’s 1,2,3 rule, with 3 being very difficult to attain.
(36) Red Lanterns #1 (Peter Milligan/Ed Benes)
I’ll probably at least try out the first issue for curiosity’s sake since its got Milligan and Benes but I’m not totally enthusiastic about another GL title, this one focusing on the Red Lantern’s, who have been a bit one-note.
(37) Stormwatch #1 (Paul Cornell/Miguel Sepulveda)
(38) Suicide Squad #1 (Adam Glass/Marco Rudy)
(39) DC Universe Presents #1 (Deadman arc; Paul Jenkins/Bernard Chang)
(40) Birds of Prey #1 (Duane Swierczynski/Jesus Saiz)
(41) I, Vampire #1 (Joshua Hale Fialkov/Andrea Sorrentino)
I have no great knowledge or love of Stormwatch and don’t like Cornell’s writing from what I’ve seen, but I’m curious about the premise and Martian Manhunter. There isn’t much to make me excited for the Suicide Squad relaunch but yet I love the franchise and premise so much that I’ll probably get the first issue. I like Deadman and really wish an anthology could survive in this market but I haven’t liked anything Jenkins has done since the late 90’s. I’m not exactly enthusiastic about the new BoP and am all but ready to move on, but Jesus Saiz has been hotter than hot in recent years and is drawing me towards sampling it. And I, Vampire is just something I have to see.
Not even going to bother with:(42) Blackhawks #1 (Mike Costa/Ken Lashley)
(43) Men of War #1 (Ivan Brandon/Tom Derenick)
As I’ve said, these are set in modern times with mercenaries and aren’t even war comics. I’d buy almost any Rock or Blackhawk comic book by just about anyone…except when its like this.
(44) Batwing #1 (Judd Winick/Ben Oliver)
(45) Catwoman #1 (Judd Winick/Guillem March)
Not only am I buying more than enough Bat-comics already (6 of them), but with Judd Winnick writing? More than enough reason to skip.
(46) Batgirl #1 (Gail Simone/Ardian Syaf)
I love Gail and I like Syaf’s art a lot but at the end of the day, I find the entire premise and change from Oracle to Batgirl so distasteful that I just don’t want anything to do with this series, more so than many others I’m giving a big chance to, like J.T. Krul and Rob Liefield.
(47) OMAC #1 (Dan Didio/Keith Giffen)
Didio = Hard Pass
(48) Red Hood & the Outlaws #1 (Scott Lobdell/Kenneth Rocafort)
Jason Todd = Hard Pass
(49) Deathstroke #1 (Kyle Higgins/Joe Bennett)
(50) Static Shock #1 (Scott McDaniel/John Rozum)
(51) Resurrection Man #1 (DnA/Fernand Dagnino)
(52) Demon Knights #1 (Paul Cornell/Diogenes Neves)
All four of these have really nothing wrong with them but the cold fact is I’m already buying 35 definitely and 41 possibly and have to draw the line somewhere. So characters I have no investment in like Resurrection Man and Static, are out, and creators I’m not thrilled with like Cornell are out. And Deathstroke was a series we collected way back when but he’s just grown more and more unlikable in the intervening 15 years.
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