another misAdventure

"We are all of us living in the shadow of Manhattan."

Thursday, June 16, 2011

52 Pickup

For those of you who care: i.e. my friends who read comics.

Here's my thoughts on the 52 re-launch titles that DC Comics will be, um, re-launching in September.

I don't dread the re-launch. I don't celebrate the re-launch. It is what it is. We've gone through this before and it's hardly the end of the world, and eventually we'll accept the re-launch characters as the status quo. I'm not sure yet how much that status quo is even changing in Sepember.

The bottom line is that my DC consumption will be going down, but only slightly, and mostly because DC is providing me a jumping OFF point for several titles.

I'm looking for comments on these because I'm on the fence about a dozen or so titles, so you could sway my choice one way or the other.

Full lists of "buy" and "don't buy" titles after the jump:

OK, first the obvious, will-absolutely-get-regardless Superman and Legion titles: Superman, Action, Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Legion Lost.

I'll include Superboy in that, but I'll may need to hold my nose a bit.

Also a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned is Static Shock. I'm still complete on the Milestone-derived titles, and it's also written by a frequent Milestone writer.

My biggest surprise in the list of new titles: Resurrection Man. It's back with it's original writers, and I enjoyed it a lot during it's short run. So, that's a yes.

Ditto Animal Man.

The rest of the list I'm getting I don't have a lot to say about, other than I've picked most of them based on the writer or because something about it seemed intriguing. The rest of my "buy" list are: Batman, Batman and Robin, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Justice League International, DC Universe Presents, Stormwatch. OMAC, Blue Beetle, Suicide Squad, Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE, Green Lantern: the New Guardians, and Justice League Dark. The last three on that list were the closest to not making the list.

And here's the cut-off line:


OK, so I'm buying Batman and Batman and Robin, but not Detective or Batman: the Dark Knight. Why? I decided to add back a Batman book (I'd only been getting Batman and Robin), and decided Batman had more appeal to me. I may add the others, or I may drop Batman eventually. We'll see.

I'd dropped all the Bat-books about a decade ago because there were too damn many of them to keep track of (same reason I'd earlier dropped all X-books). That still seems to be the case, so these are all on the "don't buy" list: Batwing, Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Red Hood and the Outlaws.

OK, so why all the Lantern books except Red Lanterns? Well, that one probably came closest to the buy list of any of them. In the end, I find the Red Lantern Corps to be the least interesting of any of the rainbow lanterns, and I'm figuring this may be along the same line as the worst of the old Lobo books (all the gore, none of the humor). However, I have a harder time dismissing Milligan out-of-hand, so this one will probably get tried either digitally (when the price drops) or in trade paperback. I'll be looking for reviews.

I will not be looking for reviews of I, Vampire. Teen vampire fad pandering. If it had been the classic Andrew Bennett instead of a sparkly hunky teenager I may have given it a thought. No, probably still not.

I won't be getting Flash because I have little faith that Manapul can make the leap from artist to writer, and I think that Wally is the Flash they should really be using while Barry remained safely dead. I haven't been interested since Barry's return.

I think Brightest Day pretty much killed Swamp Thing for me, and little can live up to the Moore or Bissette runs.

I can't work up any enthusiasm for Fury of Firestorm, Green Arrow, Mister Terrific, Captain Atom, Savage Hawkman. They may get sampled, though.

Demon Knights - really? We needed another Demon story?

Teen Titans is pretty much dead to me. Maybe when Lobdell leaves they will get a decent writer.

I also don't care about Hawk and Dove, and even less about Liefeld. My bet is that this will be the lowest-numbered book to be cancelled, though maybe not the first.

No to All-Star Western. As long as we're just doing titles for trademark purposes, why not make this Weird Western Tales? That's the traditional Jonah Hex title, and a western set on the east coast is certainly weird.

The stuff that I have zero affection for the characters, and can't get excited by the creative team or the description: Grifter, Voodoo (who?), Deathstroke, Sgt. Rock and the Men of War, Blackhawks.

If something becomes a breakout critical hit, I'll have the cheaper digital issues to fall back on, or trade paperbacks.

So, "Yes" (initially) to 25 titles. I figured the other day that as of a few months ago I was probably getting around 30 DC titles per month. Hard to say since there were limited series in there, but those pretty much always come and go anyway. I can't count a more recent month since there have been so many recent title cancellations. I figure I'm either close to the same ballpark or down just a few titles. Sounds about right right now.

OK, Comments please! Convince me I'm wrong on some of these, one way or the other!


1 Comments:

  • Well I wish I could help you decide, but I don't read any comics. This would probably be a good time for me to get in on a fresh run ... but 52 comics seems overwhelming. I don't know where to begin.

    By Anonymous Narf, at 9/16/2011 12:51 AM  

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