What's a must-read in 'The New 52'?

[Captain Comics]

As some of you know, I fell off the DC comp list with The New 52, and decided that was a sign from Zeus to start trade-waiting. And with the April solicits, I see decision time has arrived.

That is to say: Which trades or HCs will I buy? I'm certainly not going to pop for all 52, so I have to pick and choose. So let me ask you, Legionnaires:

• Which titles are so intrinsic to New 52 continuity that they are musts?
• Which titles are just so flaming good that they are musts?
• Which titles lend themselves to collections the best?
• Which titles can be "safely" skipped?
• Which titles are YOU buying?

And so forth. Sound off, folks! Which New 52 titles would you choose for the Captain Comics bookshelf?

[Figserello]

Well, thanks for not pointing out that I don't have a leg to stand on, not having read any of it.  When I get it from the library though, and come back to this argument ...

 

I'm really disappointed that the sales have already fallen to just about what a Johns/Lee Justice League reboot would have been before the Nu52. 

 

Somehow a lot of money and potential was wasted here, and I'm pointing my finger at the content.

 

 

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

I sure lambasted the last issue, because nothing happened in it. It was a perfect example of decompression for the sake of filling a trade. However, this book has had some high points, in particular the intro of Wonder Woman. It's a more comedic take than her solo title. I love the idea that people are different in different settings.

Figserello said:

 Somehow a lot of money and potential was wasted here, and I'm pointing my finger at the content.

 

[Captain Comics]

Weird. I just counted more than 30 books that I haven't been talked into buying. Those will be the first superhero books published by DC in more than 40 years that I won't read.

It's a strange feeling. But I imagine I'll have more time on my hands!

[Figserello]

Not even the car-wreck that was Static Shock?  I thought I did a good job selling that one...

 

Well, as you've mentioned, they aren't producing some of these things for us anymore.  And they kind of broke the spell of the whole 'keeping up with an alternative universe' thing by chucking it all out the window so unceremoniiuosly in mid-flow and starting over again for completely non-story related reasons.

 

 

[Captain Comics]

Maybe I'll pick it up on the discount table ... :)

[Figserello]

And 22 series is a damn sight more than appeals to me, I have to say.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I liked the last issue. I thought it was the best yet. Horse races, I suppose.The team finally comes together, Batman & GL have a moment and Batman goes off to Apocalpyse to rescue Superman and realizes he's gotten more than he's bargained for.

 

I'll find an article to support this but I remember when the new 52 launched, Jim Lee said that he and Geoff Johns were purposely making Justice League more decompressed than usual. I think it was to introduce new readers to the decompressed style and ultimately make for a satisfying story to read in trade form.

JeffCarter said:

I sure lambasted the last issue, because nothing happened in it. It was a perfect example of decompression for the sake of filling a trade. However, this book has had some high points, in particular the intro of Wonder Woman. It's a more comedic take than her solo title. I love the idea that people are different in different settings.

Figserello said:

 Somehow a lot of money and potential was wasted here, and I'm pointing my finger at the content.

 

[Lee Houston, Junior]

Even with my future involvement of three (Captain Atom, Justice League Dark, and Savage Hawkman) questionable at the moment, 30 DC titles* in a month is a new all time high for me, for I usually average in the mid-twenties, not counting mini-series and specials.

I do read books from other publishers, and was sincerely hoping that some of the titles I am not reading (like Superboy and the Teen Titans) would have been better than they are. But we can't have everything in life.

Can't wait to see what happens next at DC.

YOUR OPINIONS MAY VARY.

*I consider the cancellation of OMAC and Mister Terrific versus picking up World's Finest and Earth 2 an even exchange, and obviously can't count The Unwritten since that is a Vertigo release and Batman Beyond Unlimited hasn't started yet.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Cap, all I can tell you is what I'm buying and not buying:

• Catwoman -- BUYING. Yeah, I admit it; I was drawn in because the first issue ended with a bang (hee hee). I hadn't read any previous version of the title, but I'm liking the devil-may-care aspect of the character, as well as the "how does she get out of THIS" factor.
• Batgirl -- BUYING. It's Gail Simone; I'm sold. She gets Barbara Gordon, and I'm liking her take on the rookie hero finding her groove, being just a little bit in over her head. Let's be clear, I DON'T like losing Oracle -- but in the DC Comics Universe, it never made any sense that Barbara should have remained in that wheelchair. However, I have long held the view that DC could (and should) have fixed Barbara's injuries but have her continue as Oracle and not go back to being Batgirl. She was older, and wiser, and could have left that part of her past behind with no shame or regret. Having fallen into the trap of thinking that an ambulatory Barbara would go back to being Batgirl, I'm fine with it because they rebooted the character to someone younger.
• Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Incorporated, other Batman-featured books -- NOT BUYING. This is the character I most wanted to get a reboot, and they didn't do it! Batman, the character, and Batman, the title, has long been on a course that I don't like and don't want to follow. I have tried from time to time, and I just get reminded of why I can't do it. I most particularly don't like that Bruce Wayne has been reduced to Lamont Cranston status, a suit of clothes Batman wears on missions, and not a fully rounded character in his own right; I don't subscribe to the "Bruce Wayne is a daytime mask for the Batman" view. You can go months and even years and not see Bruce Wayne's face in a Batman book, let alone doing something that has nothing to do with Batman. And I think there's something wrong in that there's no place to provide stories of the classic Batman-Robin team, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Damien does not appeal, at all. In short: a relaunch that offers more of the same is a relaunch I don't want.
• Batwoman, Batwing, Nightwing, other Batman-family books -- NOT BUYING. Nothing against them, but I can't afford everything!
• All-Star Western -- BUYING! I've got every incarnation of Jonah Hex's titles, so I certainly wasn't going to pass this up! I'm liking the odd-couple pairing of Hex and Dr. Arkham, and since thought balloons are out of style, I like having some insights into Hex's mind from a participant in the story. I also like that we can have continued stories, but I wish they could feel free -- in this title and others -- to mix story arcs and done-in-ones; there doesn't have to be an either-or about that! Oh, and being the old-fashioned sort, I'm okay with backup tales, too.
• Action Comics -- BUYING. I'm intrigued by this take on Superman's early days, although I still think the Li'l Abner look is silly. There's some flair and some verve that's been missing from the character for too long that's nice to have again.
• Superman -- BUYING ... FOR NOW. I'm more interested in the new status quo -- Lois Lane a top media executive, Jimmy Olsen being Clark Kent's pal, synergies between Galaxy and the Daily Planet -- than in the superhero stuff, which, so far, has been kind of dull. One thing though: DC is hammering a bit too hard on the notion that Superman is an alien. We always knew he was, but his appeal is always that he was one of us, the best of us. But with Luthor routinely calling him "the alien," Gen. Sam Lane out to destroy him, and Galaxy reporters taking the "Superman: Threat or Menace?" approach to coverage, it's all ... well ... alienating.
• Wonder Woman -- DIDN'T PASS PROBATION. I tried -- I gave it four issues -- but just wasn't interested in getting the fifth. I liked Brian Azzerello's work on Hellblazer, and I'm still savoring 100 Bullets, but this take on Wonder Woman the character, and Wonder Woman the title, just left me cold. I miss Gail Simone. I also think not having Steve Trevor, the robot plane and, most of all, Diana Prince is throwing out the baby with the bath water.
• Men of War -- NOT BUYING. I'm a DC Comics war comics nut from way back, and I love me some Sgt. Rock. I had no qualms -- none -- about taking it out of World War II. But making the guys here mercenaries -- What's that? They're "military contractors"? Same difference, if they aren't actually members of Uncle Sam's Army -- just doesn't sit right with me. Pass.
• Blackhawk -- NOT BUYING. See above.
• Suicide Squad -- NOT BUYING. I thumbed through the first issue on the stand, came across the torture, and put it back. Not for me. Plus, no Gail Simone.
• Birds of Prey -- DIDN'T PASS PROBATION, BUT I CAN BE TALKED INTO CHANGING MY MIND. I gave it three issues, but it didn't grab me. It didn't help that there's no Gail Simone Oracle, nor that the first storyline -- the Birds are on the run from someone out to kill them -- was just like the next-to-last storyline in the last series! But I always liked the concept and I hear good things, so I can be persuaded to give it another try.
• The rest -- NOT BUYING. Nothing against them (most of them; I wasn't that interested in Red Hood and the Outlaws in the first place, and the bad buzz put me right off) but I can't afford everything!

[Figserello]

• Suicide Squad -- NOT BUYING. I thumbed through the first issue on the stand, came across the torture, and put it back. Not for me. Plus, no Gail Simone.

 

I'm not too interested in this myself.  Looks like a terrible version of the previously charming Harley, and then I'm even more prejudiced against it because it would seem to be for this that Secret Six got the chop, in terms of the characters used.  (I know Secret Six really got axed to make way for Batgirl in Simone's schedule.)

 

However!  Seeing your props for Gail Simone and presuming you were a fan of Secret Six, your statement above is somewhat ironic.  The same Simone started off Secret Six in Villains United with a storyline where the team bond by being tortured together.  I'm no fan of torture myself, but that one storyline probably did the most to get me buying DC comics again in the run up to Infinite Crisis.  I loved it!

 

This also leads me to the question of whether Beechen was stealing or 'paying tribute' when he had his replacement Secret Six team bonding by being tortured in his first storyline...

[Philip Portelli]

Strangely enough, I am enjoying Suicide Squad. I'm thinking that what we have is Harley Quinn III (I being the animated version and II the comic one seen in Gotham City Sirens), not to mention a revised Amanda Waller (same attitude but hotter---did I just write Waller and hotter in the same sentance???) But I find the new El Diablo intriguing and Deadshot is still the same seemingly amoral assassin that has that streak of good in him. But I do miss Cat-Man, Rag Doll and Scandal Savage.

[Figserello]

And Floyd's exceptionally boffo handlebar moustache. 

 

Why do DC always have to be behind the times?  Just when moustaches are coming in again for the hipster-about-town.