DC To Relaunch 52 Titles in September

Latest news from Bleeding Cool (who actually hinted at this weeks ago) is that DC have now confirmed the Justice Society will be returning in a new series by James Robinson and Nicola Scott, which will reintroduce Earth 2 to the DC Universe! So, it appears they are returning the JSA to their status quo from before Criss on Infinite Earths. What that means for the last 26 years worth of JSA history is unclear...

Justice League # 1

The cover showcases the new Justice League but the comic itself doesn't.
It's "When Batman Met Green Lantern". They trade a few blows, exchange backstories and... that's it.
Putting this comic out on its own as the showcase for the DCNU just doesn't work because most of the characters aren't even featured.

I think the comic works fine for newbies who have seen the Green Lantern or Batman movies (and I suspect that that is exactly who DC are aiming at) but there's nothing here to appeal to long time fanboys other than some nice Jim Lee artwork.

I'm not sure why Cyborg has been transplanted from the Titans to the Justice League.

As an aside, it seems to me that the TV and movie versions have directly influenced the appearance of the characters in te DCNU. Green Arrow bears a striking resemblance to the Smallville version. The new Superman costume (minus red pants) resembles the one in the forthcoming film. Even Wonder Woman was going to be in long trousers at one stage until the TV pilot wasn't picked up and they switched her back to knickers again !

I might pick up this week's Batgirl and Action Comics but overall I think the only way I'll persevere with any of these titles is either in TPB or if Titan start reprinting them in their UK comics.

The more I'm hearing, the less I'm interested. I'm still cautiously optimistic about the new JSA series that supposedly debuts next year, but it does seem that that's going to be set on Earth 2. I really don't think I'm likely to stick with any of the DCnU stuff. I'll try some of the first issues but if, as I suspect, this is a total reboot, I think they've just given longtime fans a perfect jumping off point...

Just a little nostalgiac treat for those who lament the passing of the DCU...

There are people paying upwards of £7.99 for a copy of Batgirl #1 on Ebay.

It's like the early 90s all over again...

I knew that would happen. And just like the 90's, in a few months it'll crash and burn when the speculators try to cash in on their 'investment'...

tony ingram wrote:I knew that would happen. And just like the 90's, in a few months it'll crash and burn when the speculators try to cash in on their 'investment'...

Over £100 already for a variant cover Action Comics # 1.
Insane.

I really liked the first issues of Justice League International and Stormwatch. I'll be buying them next month and I'm eager to see where they take the stories.

JLI, I have some slight hope for. Even if they have, allegedly, made Booster Canadian.

They have Canada in the future?

Apparently so. It seems it's more tenacious than one would think.

Hmm... actually, I'm okay with that. Booster is brave and good-hearted, and I'm fed up with all the best superheroes being from the USA. (Okay, Superman is technically from Krypton, but he was brought up in Kansas and his mum and dad are from Kansas so to all intents and purposes he's American.)

Lucy McGough wrote:Hmm... actually, I'm okay with that. Booster is brave and good-hearted, and I'm fed up with all the best superheroes being from the USA. (Okay, Superman is technically from Krypton, but he was brought up in Kansas and his mum and dad are from Kansas so to all intents and purposes he's American.)

Well, I would argue that the best superhero is actually not American at all...

Why is he holding a microphone? Is he about to prove how British he is by appearing on the X Factor?

Lucy McGough wrote:Why is he holding a microphone? Is he about to prove how British he is by appearing on the X Factor?

He is holding an enchanted quarterstaff granted to him by Merlin and the Goddess of the Northern Skies. You numpty.

Enjoyed the new Action Comics # 1.
This would have made a much better launch issue for the new DCU than last week's Justice League.

Unlike JL this manages to bring something fresh for long term fans to enjoy (so no retread of Superman's origin story here) whilst being accessible to new readers.
This new Superman is not the boy scout character he's always been up to now. Instead he's a touch more the Batman style vigilante, getting his hands dirty with some (by Superman standards) small scale crimes.

It's been a long time since I read any DC titles regularly but that final page cliffhanger does a good job in making me want to pick up Action Comics # 2 next month. So this is one example of where the "new 52" seems to have done its job.

I agree on Action, I was pleasantly surprised by it. Likewise Swamp Thing was pretty good (I'm a fan of ol' Swampy from way back so I had high hopes for this anyway), Hawk & Dove was OK, and I was amazed to find I really enjoyed the Kirbyesque OMAC. Others, though...JLI has inexplicably ditched all previous continuity despite having spent the last year building it up again (why?), Green Arrow is clearly modelled on the Smallville version, which I'm not keen on, Stormwatch...well, I don't know what to make of Stormwatch. And Barbara's magical and as yet unexplained cure in Batgirl, I feel, is a mistake. The most significant positive portrayal of a disabled person in comics, just gone. What were they thinking? I haven't read all the rest yet, but so far I have very mixed feelings about all this.

tony ingram wrote:And Barbara's magical and as yet unexplained cure in Batgirl, I feel, is a mistake. The most significant positive portrayal of a disabled person in comics, just gone. What were they thinking? I haven't read all the rest yet, but so far I have very mixed feelings about all this.

My Batgirl # 1 hasn't arrived but my only reason for trying it is that Barbara Gordon is back. I was never a fan of developments in The Killing Joke and was surprised when it became part of mainsteam DCU continuity.
For all that having a disabled superhero is a valuable role model, I tend to subscribe to the view that when every other character who has been wheelchair bound (Professor X, Bruce Wayne etc) gets "cured" eventually, why do we expect Barbara to be the only one to remain in a wheelchair forever ?

I think the problem arises in the way DC have done this reboot. It's a partial reboot so titles that were flagging either creatively or in terms of sales have been totally rebooted whereas titles which were doing well have largely been left alone. Consequently, because Batman titles have been doing well, Batgirl has been crippled for three years and then cured again where a complete reboot (where The Killing Joke might still take place some time in the future) would have been a much cleaner way of doing things.

This is what realy bugs me, the fasct that it is neither one thing nor the other. Batman and GL are left alone, Swamp Thing is left alone, but JLI and everything connected to it is completely rebooted. So the last year or two of Generation Lost and Booster Gold are now irrelevant (not to mention the original JLI series) but other story strands from Brightest Day are still in continuity. It makes no sense! If they'd made it a complete reboot, at least then older fans would have had a clear jumping off point, which would have been fairer on them...

In Stormwatch #1 someone mentions that J'onn used to be in the League. Which league? He won't be in the Justice League - not even the extended line-up - so does that mean that there was a previous JLI? Booster's comments on this are ambiguous:

"A clean slate? A whole new launch here, from the Hall of Justice? I've always dreamed of this day!"

Nobody mentions Max Lord, but if there's an OMAC comic then that means he's still around in this continuity, right?

And I'm guessing that the existence of Gavril Ivanovich (Rocket Red) means that Generation Lost is still canon, because that was when he was introduced.

Fire defends him when Lady Godiva is sarcastic - so does that mean that she and Gavril still fancy each other, as was established in Generation Lost?

(I'm liking Lady Godiva... she told Batman to "sod off" and still has the use of her legs .)

Well, the OMAC title seems to be a completely new version loosely based on the 1970's original, so I'm guessing Max Lord's OMAC's are no longer in continuity. And Gardner claims to have only worked with Booster 'once or twice before'.

I read DC Retroactive: Justice Leage America the same day, and was reminded what the JLI was like when done right...

Oh well. I like this JLI and I'll go on reading it

Lucy McGough wrote:Oh well. I like this JLI and I'll go on reading it

I'll give it a few issues to see if it wins me over. That's more than Green Arrow's getting.

I spoke to my local comic shop owner today. He ordered 25 copies of JLI. He's sold two so far, the same number as he's sold of Static Shock.

I hope it does win you over.

Dan from Millennium Comics (Northwich and Warrington) says that the new DCU has been selling like hot cakes.

What's wrong with Green Arrow? Is he still Oliver Queen? Has he ditched the stupid beard?

Lucy McGough wrote:I hope it does win you over.

Dan from Millennium Comics (Northwich and Warrington) says that the new DCU has been selling like hot cakes.

What's wrong with Green Arrow? Is he still Oliver Queen? Has he ditched the stupid beard?

The beard was a classic look! An yes, the last major bearded DC hero is now beardless for no apparent reason, a slap in the face to us beardies everywhere. He also appears to have turned into his counterpart from Smallville and lost his entire supporting cast, including his wife. Along with Superman and Flash, that's three married superheroes whose marriages have been erased. What's wrong with being married?

DC appears to think that marriage is for boring people. Clearly none of them have been married. It's the only possible explanation.

Either that, or they think that we think that marriage is for saddoes, so they're massively patronising their audience.

Somewhat hilariously, given their stated aim to be more inclusive, they have also erased the marriage of Apollo and the Midnighter; the only gay marriage in comics!

I guess Apollo and Midnighter will get back together again eventually, same as we know Clark and Lois will.

Batgirl # 1

Well, this is a strange one.

Where Justice League # 1 and Action Comics # 1 were designed to introduce the iconic DC characters to a new audience, Batgirl #1 spends pretty much the whole issue addressing how Barbara feels about the events of The Killing Joke. They may be three years ago by DCNU chronology but they are twenty odd years in real terms and consequently ancient history. A very odd way to launch a new book.

It looks like the soapy shenanigans with Barbara's new flatmate will be a regular feature of the book too.

Don't think I'll be sticking around for the ride.

MLP* wrote:Batgirl # 1

Well, this is a strange one.

Where Justice League # 1 and Action Comics # 1 were designed to introduce the iconic DC characters to a new audience, Batgirl #1 spends pretty much the whole issue addressing how Barbara feels about the events of The Killing Joke. They may be three years ago by DCNU chronology but they are twenty odd years in real terms and consequently ancient history. A very odd way to launch a new book.

It looks like the soapy shenanigans with Barbara's new flatmate will be a regular feature of the book too.

Don't think I'll be sticking around for the ride.

I was very disappointed with this one. Barbara simply being back on her feet again due to some unexplained 'miracle' is just a cheat.

Suicide Squad #1 is the most appalingly written, unpleasant piece of plotless crap I've read in years. Not one character even remotely resembles who they're supposed to be.

Superman #1
I quite liked the way the central theme of the comic, with the demolition of the "old" Daily Planet, was a metaphor for the launch of the DCNU.
I also appreciated the fact that it was very densely written so I was actually inclined to buy it, rather than skim read it in under a minute and put it back on the shelf as I did with Supergirl #1.

Sadly I did not find the threat faced by Superman or the soapy storyline with Lois and her boyfriend very compelling, so I doubt I will be back next month.

Also, from the October Previews it looks like UK Titan reprints will reach the new 52 with the Dec issue of DC Universe. (looks like reprints of Action Comics, JLA and Green Lantern.)

tony ingram wrote:Suicide Squad #1 is the most appalingly written, unpleasant piece of plotless crap I've read in years.

Have you read Red Hood and the Outlaws #1?

Yes. And I'll admit, that comes close.

tony ingram wrote:Yes.

I feel your pain

Okay, I've read Suicide Squad #1 now and it was dreadful. Are we supposed to be rooting for these characters? They were horrible. And Amanda Waller now resembles a blow-up doll.

Lucy McGough wrote:Okay, I've read Suicide Squad #1 now and it was dreadful. Are we supposed to be rooting for these characters? They were horrible. And Amanda Waller now resembles a blow-up doll.

My feelings exactly. I think Waller's new look is actually based (like Green Arrow's) on the version from Smallville.

And why are King Shark's eyeballs now on stalks?

Don't know. Don't care. All he does is shout about meat. He's not a character; he's a noise.

He used to be a character. In Secret Six, he was a character, as was Deadshot.
That's the very well written and critically acclaimed book that they cancelled in favour of this mess, by the way...

Truly, DC moves in mysterious ways.

Like Twister, but less fun.

They've revised Wonder Woman's origins (she now has a father), and it's annoying a lot of people.

What is the point of that? Wonder Woman was supposed to be the child of the Queen of the Amazons, created without the need for a father! That was kind of the point!

William Moulton Marston would be spinning in his grave...

Wait until they tell him that she's no longer into bondage and doesn't lose her powers when tied up by a man!

Ah, Dr Marston. Where would we be without his peculiar brand of progressive feminism...

We shall not see his like again

Lucy McGough wrote:We shall not see his like again

And if we do, chances are he'll end up working for the Daily Sport rather than in comics...

Flicked through Suicide Squad #2 to see how much worse it could get. Amanda Waller's sexy clone must have had a lobotomy to go with her liposuction if she thought those losers would make a good team. King Shark is a talking animal - completely uncontrollable - Harley Quinn is clinically insane and the pyrokinetic guy is racked with Catholic guilt. Soldiers they ain't.

One good line in the issue though - they're fighting some zombies and a chap says to Harley, "If they're looking for brains, you're safe."

I used to like Harley. The reboot seems to have taken away everything about her that made her a fun character, though. and her new look is horrible. I won't be buying #2.

Picked up Action #2 which is another great read. I see the indestructible cape is back but the "personal force field" from the Byrne era is not.

While I was there I picked up Justice League # 2 and Superboy's Legion so clearly DC's diabolical marketing strategy is working a treat.

Justice League again has some wonderful artwork but again seems to be written for the trade with not much to make it a satisfying read in its own right.

Superboy's Legion is wonderful. Alan Davis has long been my favourite superhero artist and this collaboration with Mark Farmer is some of their best work. Pure fun.