f13.net

One week away from DC's weekly series 52, establishing the new history and status quo of the DC Universe.  From what I can tell, this series will feature a main story written by Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid (taking up 12 pages of the book I think), and a 10 page backup "The History of the DC Universe", written by Dan Jurgens.  After having read Infinite Crisis (have to catch up on OYL now) I'm actually looking forward to this a lot (as opposed to when it was announced when I thought it was an attempt to milk the readers dry).

One month in and surprisingly I don't have much to say about this yet.  It's not bad by any means, but even as a weekly the storyline seems to crawl.  The thing is I really like the basic concept of the book.  It kinda reminds me of Marvel Comics Presents, except with much better writers and the unifying thread that the stories are filling in what happened between IC and the "present day" DCU.  MCP for those who don't know was an anthology comic that had 4 stories per issue featuring various Marvel characters done by various (typcially not great) writers.  It drew readers in by always having at least one Wolverine story (and for a long time one Ghost Rider story as well), but also helped shine a spotlight on lesser characters like Speedball, Arabian Knight, and Two-Gun Kid.  52 in a way does the much the same thing but with writers like Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison.

Which is why I expected a lot more out of this book.  Johns, Morrison, and Waid among others, writing characters like Booster Gold, and Black Adam?  I was expecting a fun book, but 4 issues in and there's still mostly set-up.  Even as part of a 52 issue series, I'd like DC to pick up a little pace here.  If they're going to cover as many aspects of the New Earth as possible, they can't take a full month just to start to set-up the stories they've got going right now.

I'm rather surprised at the "gore" DC has put in this series.  I'm used to DC making sure most of their scenes take place off frame.
Yes it does it seem to be crawling although some one is going to beat the crap out of Black Adam soonish I would think.

Black Adam has gone pretty badass in this.

So far he's:
Ripped off an arm
Crushed a skull
Bisected a man

All with his bare hands.

I'm enjoying the book so far.  Though I'm only on week 3 still because I went to catch up yesterday and didn't realize they'd be shipping things a day late cause of memorial day.

I'm thinking of collecting more regularly, a bit.  Cable & Deadpool, 52, and Secret Six all have me wanting to follow them.

Geoff Johns did a really good job with Black Adam in JSA.  I'm guessing he's writing the parts involving Adam in 52.  Pretty much the whole run of JSA is worth reading (he shows up pretty early in the book and joins the team later), although the Black Reign arc where he takes control of Kahndaq is a paticularly good Black Adam story.

Yeah, Johns has had a good handle on the entire Marvel (as in Shazam) family.

I think 52 has been really good, and has constantly kept me looking forward to it. My only problem is that the History of the DC Universe backstory is really something that shouldn't be a backup. It's too short, and will read too choppy, which has always been my problem with backup stories. Telling a good story takes so long. I'd have rather they took the History and did a separate mini-series, because 52 has been real good, but real slow.

Still find myself liking this series, but I really think they went overboard turning Booster into an asshole.  He seemed to be busy enough fighting actual crime to the point where I don't understand why he'd have to hire people to pretend to be villains.  I think they could have been a lot more subtle in making Booster look like a jerk and it would have worked better.  Could have used a little bit more Black Adam in the 2nd month and a little less of Steel's niece.  The fallout from the space mission has been pretty good, with Animal Man and Starfire the only ones who seemed to get out ok physically, even if they are lost on another planet with a now blind Adam Strange.  And of course Lesbian Batwoman makes her appearance in a scene that probably would have read better to me if I hadn't been thinking throughout "hey, it's that LESBIAN BAT WOMAN that I read about in the news!"

Is that who she is? I never clicked ( then again no-one cares about lesbian Batwomen this side of the pond ). I cant understand what they did to Booster though, one minute hes sobbing like a little girl cos Blue Beetle is dead, then the next he is shilling himself to all and sundry.

Looks like next week is finally going to pick up with Black Adam again.

This week's wasn't bad.  We get a bit more of an idea of the significance of the number 52.  (The two score and twelve walls of Heaven.)

I'm really here to talk about Secret Six, though.

This comic book is bad and I'm probably going to drop it.  There's one laugh in the book that almost made me reconsider, and I love the concept, I like the characters, but it's just poorly written.  Gail Simone is better than this, I can't figure out why she's doing so poorly.  Near the beginning of the issue, one of the characters is in a fight, seems to laugh off the damage being inflicted on him, and escapes.  At the end of the issue, he's in a hospital seemingly in a coma for no good reason.  Characters do confusing things for no real reason.  It's like Simone knows where she wants to go but doesn't know how to get there, so she just makes it happen.

The bits with Pistolera were great, though.  Especially the end of that.

Simone's work on Action Comics with Byrne right before Infinite Crisis made me reconsider her work as well. She's done good work, and then she did that. I haven't read the Secret Six issue you mean, though.

Her work on Deadpool and Agent X were just great, in a parody sort of way.  I still laugh when I read them.

But this doesn't have the charm it should.  She's great at writing anti-heroes, as she's proven, so why does this book suck?

Just out of curiousity did you read Villains United?

Issue 10 was my favorite of the series so far.  Always a big fan of Black Adam and I find mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent much more interesting than Superman.  None of that Steel/Natasha stuff, no Batwoman, and only 1 page of Booster Gold acting like an ass.  All in all it's good stuff.

Yeah, I did.  And I liked it.

I agree, this issue of 52 was very strong. Could've used more Black Adam Tearing People In Half, but he was at least in the book this time so that's good.

Plus, there wasn't a frame with Donna Troy shedding a single tear over Traumatic Event X this week (I've noticed just about each one until now has had a frame with her shedding a single tear).

Another good issue with plenty of Black Adam and Captain Marvel and no Batwoman or Steel's niece.  Isis could be a good addition to the Marvel Family and I hope at least one or two members of the family feature prominently in the JSA relaunch.  Somewhat looking forward to the "Trials of Shazam" mini, but Winick is very hit and miss to me.  The downside to so much Black Adam this week is that the Elongated Man/Cult of Conner plot was the only other plotline that really advanced, and even then only slightly.  Even with 4 issues a month of 52 most plotlines barely seem to get 1 months worth of plot developments.

Interesting interview regarding the death in week 15 (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=80918).  Spoilers involved of course.  I can't really say I agree with the line of reasoning here.

That's because Didio is a fuckhead.

Spoiler: Look at the Giffen-era JL or the superbuddies and about the only one not dead, crazy or otherwise fucked up is Guy Gardner...who is a favourite of (surprise!) Didio's. End spoiler.

After all, Didio was originally planning to kill off Nightwing in IC but was forced to backpedal because of fan outrage.

I didn't really have any problems with Booster's death. It was a bit needless, but no more so than Booster's. Didio wasn't responsible for Ice's death, though, at least not that I know of. Booster without Beetle really doesn't work very well. Not that it couldn't work well, but I doubt there was anyone at DC to champion him anyway.

I don't have a problem that they killed Booster, it's just the idea that the character doesn't work any more so it's ok to kill him off.  If it was Superman, they wouldn't just decide that the character "doesn't work" so he could be killed off, you find a way to make him work.  And to me, they were making his character work in IC.  He became a more heroic character, and Brother Eye wouldn't have been stopped without him.  It wasn't until the issue of 52 where he had to pay someone to pretend to be a Super Villian where his character became screwed up again because it didn't make any sense.  Even with time getting screwed up Booster still managed to find plenty of chances to be heroic, there was no cause for him to hire Manthrax other than to make his character less sympathetic to the reader so he could be killed.

Prediction: Ralph Dibny becomes the next Dr. Fate.

Well... the helmet of Dr. Fate came to Ralph and said he could be the next Dr. Fate if he went through these trials, and Dibny said "Okay" so..... not sure I'd call that a prediction so much as a "unless there's a big obstacle in the road, this is what they're pointing at".

I don't remember that. I thought Ralph only went to the helmet to bring his wife back, and if that took being Dr. Fate for a bit, then he'd do that but not be Fate permanently.

Maybe I misread, I don't feel like shuffling through to find out.  But ever since he went off with the helmet I just assumed he was training to be the next Dr. Fate.

I seem to recall news of an upcoming Fate series (or possibly mini).  My memory is hazy but I'm pretty sure Ralph isn't going to become Fate, at least not permanently anyway.  On the other hand it does look like Renee is going to become the new Question (which I'd been thinking might happen for a while now).  It'll be a shame if they kill off the Question though, especially since they're doing a pretty good job with him right now.

Always amazes me how people die from cancer in comics, but manage to recover from hole-blown-through-chest.

 :-D

Unless you're black and giant.

Give it a few.

He's probably thankful he doesn't have to be a part of the storyline anymore.

So, Supernova's identity has been revealed and... well, a lot of people online already guessed it.  I'm, not exactly thrilled by the way this particular plot thread has been handled, but it does make for an interesting turn of events.

I dug the Supernova reveal because of who he was. I really didn't want to see that character go away. It did kind of break one of the rules of time travel, but meh, I can live with it.

Friend of mine already guessed it several weeks ahead of time, and he stopped reading 52 a few months back.  So... yeah, a little telegraphed.

Well at least they've finally seemed to wrap up the Steel storyline.  Somewhat off the subject, I've been thinking that DC really lost a lot of the momentum they built up with Infinite Crisis.  Botched relaunches like Wonder Woman (Heinberg showed with Young Avengers that he can't really maintain a monthly schedule due to his work in TV), Flash (creative team has been replaced 9 issues in), and Aquaman (Kurt Busiek is leaving in the middle of his story that introduced a new Aquaman), half-hearted hints about the meaning of "52", and rumors of another year long, weekly series directly following the end of 52, have all served to dull my interest in the new DCU.  I'm back to having JSA as the only DCU book I enjoy reading on a regular basis.

I think the after effects of 52 have been mixed, but I wouldn't call the DCU botched. The new JLA is fucking awesome if slow-moving, Superman has been of a better quality than it has in years, maybe decades. The Wonder Woman book has been good, but yes the schedule has been fucked. Green Lantern's been good, the Titans and Outsiders have been good, and Nightwing is finally good now that Bruce Jones is off the book.

But yes, Flash has been shitty shit shit shit, and Hawkgirl has been almost as bad. Both books have the same problem, their writers' style is so choppy it reads terribly. I don't know what happened to Walt Simonson, he used to be so good, but both he and Chaykin have been abysmal on Hawkgirl. Batman has been strange, not terrible but seemingly without direction.

I think the 52 series has been great. It's slowed in some parts, but the Steel/Luthor fight was well done, and the Booster death/rebirth surprised me. I suppose I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. And you must admit, they've coordinated a 52-part weekly series better than Marvel has done with a not-quite monthly 7-issue series and spinoffs.

Oh, I think they've done a great job with 52.  If the rumors of another year long weekly series are accurate though (rumored to be called Countdown, starting with issue 51 immediately following the end of 52, and counting down to zero) I'd have to say enough is enough.  True though that there's no way that Marvel could pull something like this off right now.

Titans is good although I think the pacing is a bit slow.  Green Lantern... I loved Rebirth, and I think the current series is ok, but I think having Ion and Green Latern Corps out there waters down the concept a bit (although bringing in the Green Lantern from the Tangent universe in Ion is kinda cool).  Nightwing I should probably start reading, because I've always been a big Marv Wolfman fan (Tomb of Dracula, Teen Titans, Vigilante, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the guy created Nova and Bullseye among other well known characters).

Batman I quickly lost interest with.  Superman is better than it has been in a long time although I almost wish they hadn't given him his powers back so quickly.  I've only read the first issue of JLA so far.  I could tell that the pacing was going to be slow so I've held off on reading it until a few more issues are out.  I suppose I'll have to start reading it when the JLA/JSA crossover starts up, which I'm looking forward to probably moreso than anything else going on in DC right now.

I quickly lost interest in Blue Beetle and the Atom, which is a shame because I like the Giffen and Simone.  It looks like Giffen is off Blue Beetle anyway though with issue #12.  Shadowpact I thought was complete crap.  I've only read the first issue of Trials of Shazam so far and had mixed feelings about it.  Maybe Geoff Johns just writes the Marvel Family so well though that I'm just not interested in Judd Winick's take on the character.

Simone's really hit a wall lately with her writing.  Used to be my favorite writer with her run on Deadpool/Agent X, but Secret Six was just... not well done at all.  Sucked, because I really liked the concept and most of the characters were cool, but it kinda sucked.  Most of the dialogue felt awkward, and things happened in the story that really made no sense.

Blue Beetle is good, if you can take that interpretation of the character. The latest issue is good, and Giffen had nothing to do with that issue. I like Shadowpact, but I've always loved Blue Devil so I'm a bit of a sucker for any book he's in. Trials of Shazam is an interesting take, but I don't have any of the problems with Winnick's work that others seem to have. The new Atom book is just strange. I'm glad Byrne's off the book, as I can't stand his artwork, but the new guy looks a bit like him so it's not that much better. The stories have been just a little bit off, not terrible, but not great either.

I agree that another 52-issue weekly series on the heels of 52 is a BAD idea. Wrap the story up and move on.

Blue Beetle just didn't grab me after having read the first few issues.  I like the design of the character, but everything else felt a little flat.  As far as Trials of Shazam goes, I have nothing against Winnick's writing in general, although his run on Exiles has been the only book of his that I ever read on a regular basis.  Maybe I just don't like the idea of it being a 12 issue mini, meaning it will take a full year to establish the new status quo of the Marvel Family.

lol, (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=101741) scheduling (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=101324)!

See this is the kinda shit I'm talking about:

Wait...there is a new (reboot?) Wonder Woman comic that began with a 5-parter, but the 5th part isn't actually being delivered at all? Auspicious start!

I also like the Newsarama note at the bottom - June, August, November, February - what the fuck? Does anyone even remember what happened in part 1 anyway?

WHAT... THE... FUCK?

Both editors involved should be fired. That kind of stupidity should not happen, period. It's bad enough that Wonder Woman has taken so long to come out, but to just not finish the original arc and start a new arc in its place?

WHAT... THE... FUCK?

That's amateur hour. That's Image Comics first year worth of stupid all in one go. Waiting 3 issues to finish a story in Action Comics? Do you just NOT want to sell comics? Do you hate readers?

DC's new 52 issue weekly series "Countdown" has been confirmed. (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=102140)

And hey, it starts off with a character dying!  That's... great...

Again, WHAT... THE... FUCK?

I can safely say this is not going to be anywhere near as good as 52, mainly because none of the writers are of the caliber of the 52 writers. As for that teaser image, Barda and Mister Miracle? Are those two appearing like that even in continuity anymore? Didn't 7 Solders change all the Mister Miracle stuff?

Arg.

EDIT: And what the fuck is up with Ra's Al Batman in the background there?

I'm not sure, but Red Robin from Kingdom Come is also there.

Paul Dini is good, but much, much weaker when not working with Bruce Timm.  Most likely will not pick this up.

Week 44 was pretty good.  It's a shame what happened to the Black Marvel family.  Unlike Captain America, they probably won't be brought back anytime soon if at all.

I've got to wonder why DC thought it would be good to not only release all four issues of the four part World War III mini on one day, but to also release have this week's issue of 52 more or less tell the abbreviated version of the same story.  The issue of 52 is decent enough, but an extended fight against Black Adam does not a four part story make.  What's worse is that they try to turn it into a story about Martian Manhunter as well, with really ham-fisted internal monologue about his observations on the nature of humanity.  In short, it's a crap payoff to the Black Adam story that ran through 52 in that it tries to make up in length what it lacks in quality.  There isn't a single memorable moment in the whole mini.

I liked issue #50 of 52, but I have agree with you about the WWIII issues. They seemed superfluous. The events they were mean to explain (Jason Todd in New York killing people as Nightwing, Manhunter leaving the DA's office, etc.) seemed like they could have been handled better in a one-shot, maybe a larger than normal sized one-shot. The artwork was very mediocre on all of them, as if they really were rushed into it. The Martian Manhunter change didn't really fit for me, and the way that MM's miniseries fell apart in the end doesn't help.

But I'm still loving 52.

An evolved version of Mr. Mind was certainly an odd choice to be the villain in the final issue of 52.  The sequence with Mr. Mind damaging the 52 identical Earths and causing them to revert somehow to more or less their pre-Crisis forms (we see the return of Earth 2 minus Superman, who died in IC, Earth 3 returns with the Crime Syndicate, and I think there was an Earth that appeared to be the Wildstorm Earth) was a little bit odd and could have been explained better.  Other than that though they did a good job with Booster Gold, Supernova, Skeets, and even the brief appearance from Blue Beetle.

I thought Mr. Mind was a fantastic choice, because they took a goofy Shazam villain and made him menacing. You could tell Johns has a great love for the Captain Marvel family. The only disappointment I had was about the ending with the Question and Batwoman. It felt kind of unfinished.

Yay for the multiverse.  I want to see me some more Crime Syndicate stories.  Ultraman is so much better a name than Superman. 

Fell completely flat for me.  Once again everything in the issue felt rushed, tons of shit happens with barely any explanation, and I'm definitely not a fan of DC's use of their multiverse- I'd rather they just kept to the one planet.  This "Superman 1, Superman 2, Superman Prime, Ultraman, Superman Low Fat, Superman WD40, Superman Prias, Superman Maximum Absorbancy" shit gets tired quick.

I understand the whole canon/non-canon thing. Why just not have an editor decide if a story is canon or not and have a mark on the title page and be done with the whole multi-verse thing? I have no problem with a story just being a story.

How about they stop rewriting the universe and tell a story in the universe they have?

I LIKE the mulitverse. I liked it before the first Crisis and didn't really feel it needed trimming. I like it now.

The biggest disappointment of the 52 series for me was the One Year Later stuff. Not a lot of it has been explained reall well at all, especially in the big core books. Wonder Woman's continuity since the new series started has been a goddamn crime, and I blame it all on editorial. I hope it'll get better once Gaile Simone comes on. The new Flash book with Bart Allen still hasn't made a lot of sense, but I think this new writer might be able to make it bearable. Grant Morrison's Batman book feels like an Elseworlds story for some reason. Nightwing was SHITTY SHIT SHIT SHIT until Marv Wolfman took over, and both Titans and Outsiders were good but very disjointed. Hawkgirl has been fucking awful and isn't getting better. Aquaman has been confusing.

They are starting to get back on track, though. The Outsiders has been good with the Iron Heights thing. Justice League and Justice Society have been fucking fantastic, as has the Legion book.

Well, I, and every regular comic reader I know at this point, are entirely sick of the goddamn multiverse and wish they'd just be done with it already.

With the JSA, Captain Marvel, and the Freedom Fighters on the main Earth, I'm not sure what purpose the multiverse serves now other than Crime Syndicate stories and easy crossovers with Wildstorm.

I wish they would just decide whether they want it or not. It seems like a new batch of editors come in and say "let's get rid of the multiverse" then a couple years later someone else says "hey let's bring it back again!!!"

That's pretty much what happened, only about 20 years separated the editoral stints you are speaking of.