DC New 52 Revisited

When DC Comics decided to do a hard reboot of their comic book universe, the buying public stood up and took notice. Many new and lapsed fans came back to take a look, and many current fans went to the web to complain. I gave my first impressions here.

I initially planned to provide another review after six months, and then again at a year, if I was still reading. It has been 8 months, so I am a bit behind.

Changes

My initial impression was that they did not go far enough, and that still stands. A few titles have been canceled due to poor sales, and new ones issued. The cancelled titles are: Hawk & Dove, Men of War, Mister Terrific, OMAC, Static Shock, and Blackhawks. These cancellations are not very surprising to me, as two of them are war comics (rarely good sellers), and the rest are second-tier and not well-known characters in the pantheon. The new titles to replace them are: Earth 2, World's Finest, Dial H, Batman Incorporated, Ravagers, and GI Combat.

My initial response to the new titles is: didn't you learn from the six you cancelled? GI Combat will sell poorly (another war comic), Ravagers will have to have excellent writing and art to do well enough to keep, Dial H is more of a mini-series title than an ongoing. Batman Incorporated takes a bad idea from the previous universe and brings it into this one; Batman funds a global bunch of Batmen to take on crime around the world. It didn't sell particularly well last time and it won't sell particularly well this time.

The two standouts are Earth 2 and World's Finest. These titles, and Earth 2 in particular, are much more along the lines of what DC Comics should have done with all of the new 52 from the start. These titles are a completely new, fresh, from-scratch retelling of the creation of the Justice Society and introduction of Huntress and Power Girl into the new DC universe. Earth 2 feels completely different yet totally the same. Where the characters come from and how they got their powers is totally new. How they are starting to interact is also fresh. World's Finest is strongly written and has decent art and is interesting in showing the dynamic of these two characters as a team.

I have cancelled Firestorm, Nightwing, and Action Comics due to poor writing, poor editing, and/or boring stories. Nightwing was "gigolo in skin-tight costume screws women and occasionally fights crime," and it just wasn't holding my attention. Action Comic has one of my favorite characters, Superman, but the stories were told poorly, there were many plot holes, the art was childish and inexpressive, and it, too, did not feel like it was going anywhere. Firestorm was just too busy, what with there being more Firestorm-powered characters than normal human beings in the comic.

Titles

These are the titles I was/am getting and a brief impression:

• Action Comics: Bad writing, poor stories, and bad artwork made me cancel this. There are multiple moments where you can look at one panel on a page and the next panel has nothing to do with the previous and the story just skips ahead. Cancelled.
• Animal Man: One of the standouts from the new 52. Tight writing with good direction, decent artwork, and a good feel for what it wants to be (a superhero horror book) and where it wants to go.
• Batman: Good writing and art. As mentioned above, I would have preferred a complete reboot of this title, a cleaning of continuity and history, and a more modern approach to the background and character.
• Captain Atom: One of my favorite characters. DC changed him quite a bit; this is the one case where they may have gone too far. The character is so powerful it isn't really a superhero book any more, and he rarely fights super villains and hasn't interacted with any other heroes. They need to depower him, get him interacting, and improve the artwork on this one. I bet this is firmly on the "cancellation" list for DC, as its sales are pretty low. On the Cusp.
• Detective Comics: Pretty much "Batman, the Second Book." Good story and art keep me buying it, but I can't say for how much longer.
• Earth 2: Excellent. Good story, good art, and what the new 52 should have been from the start. Worth getting, so far. I look forward to each new issue.
• Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men: The problem with this title is DC took an accident that produced one, unique character and made it a virus that anyone could get. There are a dozen or so Firestorms running around in this title and the convoluted intrigue subplot was hard to follow and not very believable. Cancelled.
• Justice League: A solid title. I like what they've done with the characters, I think the art is fine. Some of the stories jump around a lot, and I hated the "suddenly, years later" jump that DC did. They need to take a look at Morrison's run of the mid/late 90s to show how to write these characters and have them interact. Right now, GL is a big jerk, Superman is a blank slate, Flash is "law boy," and Batman is pissed on. Doesn't make a lot of sense, especially after being together as a team this long (after the jump).
• Nightwing: As mentioned before, there just wasn't enough here to keep me reading. I like the character a lot, but was bored with his taking over the Haley Circus and his "Saiko" (Psycho) nemesis plotline and his interaction in Night of Owls and revelation he was supposed to be an Owl. Cancelled.
• The Ray: (Miniseries) With as well-received as this title was, I'm surprised it didn't get picked up for one of the new ongoing titles when DC cancelled some other titles. Good art, good writing, and a good revamp of a character had me reading and enjoying it.
• Superman: I keep getting this one, and hope it improves. Supes is a favorite of mine, but I still don't get the costume. I want to see more from one of the flagship characters. A new writer and artist is coming on board soon, so maybe things will improve. (I keep thinking that Superman and Justice League should be quarterly comics; that way, DC can solicit and choose to publish the best stories for both, rather than trying to come up with ongoing stories each and every month.) On the Cusp.
• Static Shock: I like this character, and he just didn't take off. The writing was horrible, the artwork was horrible, and I stopped getting it after 2 issues (and looking at the third). DC agreed and cancelled it, too.  He should probably join Teen Titans as an ongoing character. Cancelled.
• Teen Titans: Overall impressions are good, but the title jumps around a bit and is uneven. The cross-over with Legion was pretty poor, and the new Ravagers spin-off will likely go nowhere. We need a bit more back-story on some of the characters to start working its way into the title, like Wonder Girl. 
• Wonder Woman: One of the better titles of the New 52. The artwork is hard to take and overly stylish, which I wish they would change, but the amount of change to the character and the current stories are both well done. A bit more clarity on some of the introduced characters, so that readers can start to identify them and who they are in the pantheon, would be nice (I think the smoker is Achilles, but I can't be sure).

Overall

I am likely to continue to cancel titles rather than to add more titles. DC Comics had the rare opportunity to do something really good, unique, and lasting by changing their entire lineup, reinvigorating it, and bring it into the new millennium. Instead, it mostly just reissued new #1s and kept the same stories and characters. For example, as mentioned in my first post on this, Batman was a prime opportunity to really use the movies and today's technology to bring the character forward and make him new while also cleaning up years of convoluted history and back-story for him and the many other characters in Gotham City. Instead, they pretty much kept all of the characters the same and slapped a new #1 on the front cover. The Bat-universe will now have: Batman, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batman: Detective Comics, Batwoman, Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Robin, Batwing, Batman Incorporated, Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Teen Titans, and Birds of Prey. That's fully 25% of their 52 titles based on one character and his support crew. When you take the four Green Lantern family titles, the four Superman family titles, and the various comics that have some or all of these three characters or their family in them (like Justice League, Teen Titans, etc.) into account, about half of all of DC Comics new titles deal with just three characters and their family members. Way to diversify.

I will likely become a (mostly) lapsed comic book reader again in the near future. The overall changes are not enough, the titles in general are not strong enough, and I'm already seeing similar stories to what I read for almost 30 years. When you couple that with Marvel Comic's soft reboot of their line (coming shortly, as of this writing) and that company's event-driven sales tactic, I can better spend my money elsewhere.

What I may do is buy the comics digitally, after waiting a few months for the title prices to drop. But, more than likely, I will just slowly winnow the list down to a few titles, like Earth 2, Animal Man, and Wonder Woman, that are the best, and cancel all the rest.