Here's a place to discuss the new titles coming out of Convergence, and the new directions for existing titles. This first week saw the release of
Action Comics
Bat-Mite
Bizarro
Midnighter
The Omega Men
Batman Beyond
Green Lantern
Green Arrow
Justice League
Lobo
Which did you get? Did any of the books surprise you?
Replies
The ones I picked up were Action Comics, Bizarro, Omega Men, and Midnighter. I haven't read Midnighter yet -- a book I picked up purely on the strength of the 8-page preview, and the gorgeous art -- but I've looked at the other three.
With Bizarro, I really love the art. And I love the idea of Jimmy & Bizarro on a road-trip together. But despite that, I've never really found Bizarro particularly funny. I was hoping this one, with the overtly comedic art, would be the time it worked... and it does, to a point. There are some good gags here -- there's a running one about hot coffee that lands well -- but I'm still not 100% sold, just because the lead character isn't my cup of tea.
Action Comics is a good first issue to the new situation -- it doesn't make clear why Lois (presumably) outed Clark's ID to the world-- or even how she learned it--or why Superman's lost most of his powers. But it accepts the new status quo and moves forward. I really do like Clark here, and I like the firefighter who might wind up being his new love interest. She's got the initials, at least! I don't think I'll be reading *all* of the Truth crossover -- but if I read any of it, it'll be this book and, likely, Superman.
The Omega Men is deliberately opaque -- a strange choice for a first issue. Our pal Mart Gray on his Too Dangerous for a Girl review compared it to the 5 Years Later Legion, and it's a great comparison -- it really relies on the reader to read carefully and make some mental connections to see what's going on. This is another book I hadn't intended to buy until I read the terrorist-video preview, but I think I'll be giving this a few issues to see just how willing these revolutionaries are to play the bad guys.
I haven't read any of the new titles yet, although I did buy Action Comics at the store. (I bought all of the spankin' new titles through a half price bundle online, just to check them out, but they won't be shipped to me until the end of the month--which is fine with me because that's the earliest I'd probably read them anyway!) I'll make sure and chime back in when I've read something.
I read Action Comics this morning, and I loved it. Evidently, Superman has lost almost all of his powers (unclear whether this is a solar flash thing or what this time), he has been outed to the public as Clark Kent, and I don't care about any of that. Greg Pak has a clear vision for this story, unlike the "Grounded" story from years back. This Superman rides a motorcycle, is pals with Jimmy Olsen, and I want to see where this story goes next. Much of the public doesn't like Superman because of his "alien cooties" (the Doomsday virus), but not everyone. This has artwork by the incredible Aaron Kuder, one of DC's best finds of the past year or two. Highly recommended!
Ugh, Chris, I'm sorry for your experience. To me, Dan Jurgens's recent work is like eating unflavored oatmeal. I'm sorry; I hate to complain, but that's about the way I see it. Does DC have him under contract? I'm trying to figure out why they not only gave him this to write, but also Bat-Mite? Never would have put Jurgens on a humor title, but it will be interesting to see how that one turns out.
Never can tell. One director was absolutely horrible at making comedies (forget his name but he made some really awful Little Rascals films) but wasn't too bad at serious films. Algernon Blackwood wrote some great horror stories but his comedies are unreadable.
I'm sorry about Batman Beyond, Chris -- it's really baffling to me why they'd jettison Terry & his whole universe for the current scenario, considering he's got so many fans. The current series sounds like a fun premise to me -- I liked future Tim Drake from Future's End, I love Kamandi, and Bernard Chang is terrific -- but there's really no reason other than marketing for him to be Batman Beyond. (And even though it sounds like fun to me, I didn't pick it up last week... gotta draw the line somewhere.) It's sacrificing something perfectly good and workable for something untried and probably untenable. Hopefully the future will be reset by the end of the series.
This week's launches/relaunches, by the way, are:
Batman
Batman/Superman
Catwoman
Constantine: The Hellblazer
Detective Comics
Earth 2: Society
Gotham Academy
Harley Quinn
Suicide Squad
Red Hood/Arsenal
Section Eight
Starfire
Any interest in the new titles? Anyone going to try out a returning book?
I'll chime in on the new books as soon as I get them in the mail. As for the ongoing titles, I bought several today. I'll let you know once I've read them. It feels good to be excited about DC books again.
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:
Earth 2: Society #1: OK, but not enough to inspire me to pick up a second issue.
Starfire #1: Amusing. I'm currently leaning towards picking up #2 to see where they go with it
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