His granddaddy managed okay. So did THE 'NAM for the first year or two.
So who has noticed the hooded figure?
Just as an aside/hijack, the most cringeworthy-embarrassing book of the month had to be Veitch’s THE BIG LIE. Rick Veitch, second best Swamp Thing writer ever, has written the most…ungodly stoopid 9/11 truther book. My local comic shop guy was sharing it with a bunch of customers and was reading some of the dialogue out loud.
The premise: Some woman time travels back from 2011 to (she hopes) Sept 6, 2001. She ends up on Sept 11 instead. Her goals? First: Save her husband (who died), Second: Save everyone else by evacuating the building. All she has going for her is an iPad (that “just happens” to be loaded up with gigs of conspiracy-theory drivel as opposed to say…evacuation routes, etc.
Solid premise for a story. Husband doesn’t recognize wife (she’s 10 years older) and she doesn’t think to say, show pictures of them on her iPad (which is dismissed as a prop from a Spielburg movie(?)), or pull him aside and say “Honey, remember the time on our honeymoon with the whipped cream and the banana?”. No: she goes into full Jack Chick mode, spewing out dogma with every sentence. (“But honey, the building could NOT have come down–I did my thesis paper on it!”/“You don’t realize that there is data showing that the building had been mined (with huge red sticks of dynamite) and people saw explosions on every other floor and…<more gibberish for about 20 word balloons>.” People don’t talk, they spew lectures at each other
And the crazy is beyond words. Did you know the mayor of San Francisco was IN ON IT? Yes. The mayor of Frisco in 2001 was in cahoots with Bush (who was responsible for it all, of course)…or if not, Bush gave an early warning to the mayor of San Fran…because…um…he likes liberal black democrats and wants them to live and trusts them not to give away his evil plans? Even though no flights from San Francisco crashed into anything that day?
Terrible, embarrassing stuff.
And the other 3 books I looked at (I didn’t read 'em closely, so…)
JLI: Standard super-hero stuff. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but…meh. Too generic…except for the Batman stuff. Man, they’re going out of their way to do a Batman who’s not a psychotic douchebag. I love his characterization here. The smartest man in the room should be bright enough to figure out that working with people is better than working against them.
Swamp Thing. It was merely ok. And given that it had like a 30 issue build-up*, “eh, ok” doesn’t cut it. And again, the plot went no-where: it was yet another set-up for the next issue without resolving anything this time around. I feel like I’m watching LOST again. 
Plus the new Superman armor with the girly-sleeves that hang down below the back of the hand looks terrible–I hope it’s just this artist. If not, let’s get bell-bottoms and puffy-pirate shirts worked into his armor somehow too.
Batwing was pretty, but didn’t grab me.
And I briefly glanced at Green Arrow and thought “Meh”. I also thought “I’ve been standing here for 20 minutes. My groceries are melting” and didn’t read it. I do like that they’ve gotten rid of that douchy beard he had and that he’s not “Meathead” from ALL IN THE FAMILY any more. It looks like they swiped the character from Smallville and good for them if they did.
*26 issues of “Brightest Day” who’s only purpose was to bring Swampy back and set him up for a mini-series and a terrible 3-issue mini which was a placeholder/setup for this.
On the other and Marvel’s Sgt Fury had a blast in the '60s being in the same universe as the Marvel characters. It was a special treat when they showed up, and Lee was smart enough to really not overdo it. So it’s possible to walk that line.
The internet. The comic news sites are abuzz about her.
Link to earlier thread on the reboot :
Of the 14 titles released thus far, I have four on my pull-list :
Justice League
Justice League International
Stormwatch
Action
I picked up a few others yesterday off the rack :
Batgirl
Animal Man
Detective
Green Arrow
And I passed on :
Men of War
Static Shock
Swamp Thing
Batwing
OMAC
Hawk and Dove
I think that’s the list so far..
I’ve got five DC titles on my pull list right now, which is four more than I’ve had for the last three years, so I suppose that’s working OK. But I find everything Geoff Johns writes boring and I think DiDio’s vision is both schizophrenic and awful, so I can’t imagine I’ll stay with most of them.
–Cliffy
Is there a list of titles with authors, artists, etc. anywhere?
That’s just… lady, it doesn’t matter if he thinks a rogue swarm of rust pixies are going to bring the tower down, get him the hell out first, then you can worry about your thesis.
I’ve bought all 14 of the new number 1s so far, just out of curiosity, and I’ll probably buy the others for the same reason. There’s nothing I’d like better than to find some DC books worth following again, and this provides a handy opportunity to take a snapshot of the company’s current offerings.
So far, I’d divide them up like this:
Animal Man - a pleasant surprise. Levine’s an interesting writer, and I love the art. Is this going to form a pocket universe with Swamp Thing?
Swamp Thing - See above. Less enjoyable than Animal Man so far. Moore’s great coup with this book was getting rid of Alec Holland, so why do we need him back?
Action - Nothing like as good as Morrison’s All Star Superman so far, but he’s always an interesting writer, and I like the idea of getting back to Supie’s social conscience.
Batgirl - Liked it, but would appreciate a lighter touch. Does she have to be fighting psycho killers too? Also, did Flashpoint get her out of the wheelchair?
Detective - Just another dark Batman comic. Predictable, dreary and trying too hard to shock.
JLA - efficient enough at what it does but resolutely inspired.
Batwing - Nice idea to set a superhero book in Africa, and here the violence feels less tacked-on. I applaud the idea, but don’t much like the art.
Men of War - I’d hoped this might prove interesting, but it didn’t. If you’re going to do a war book, DO A WAR BOOK. Not a war/superhero hybrid.
Everything else so far - Green Arrow, Hawk & Dove, JLI, Omac, Static Shock and Stormwatch - was awful. Or, to put it more kindly, not for me.
Up to now, then, that’s Action and Animal Man I’ll be buying again, plus (maybe) Swamp Thing and Batgirl. Out of 14 titles so far, I guess that’s not bad.
Also, why does Superman - of all people - need armour?
Read Action 1 online yesterday and I enjoyed it. I’m still fairly indifferent to the “New 52” but that was a good start to Superman. JLA wasn’t bad either.
So he doesn’t end up stark naked?
(I know, tactile telekinesis)
Action: Ho-hum. Seemed like Batman wearing a Superman costume. Morrison is my favorite writer; I’m sure it will improve. But didn’t do much for me, and while the final reveal was nice, it wasn’t first-issue nice. I’d have been more interested if we got straight to him in captivity – something I’ve pretty much never seen before – instead of spending this issue getting to that point.
Batgirl: Even ho hummier. I like Simone about 70/30. There were particular moments I liked but very little gelled. I agree with Alan that it’s a mistake to start the book without any explanation of how she’s back on her feet.
I may be biased against the title – the Puckett/Scott Batgirl title featuring the mute Cassandra Cain is one of my favorite superhero books period. For all Barbara Gordon is the “original” (sorta), Cassandra is my Batgirl. I understand that character was put through the wringer long ago, so it’s not Simone’s fault, but I still see her as a replacement. (Also, while I never read any of the Stephanie Brown Batgirl issues, I thought that was a great costume.)
In completely unrelated news, I bought the first TPB of the new Shooter Doctor Solar series, and it’s great. Shooter’s been writing some version of this story for at least 25 years – more than one featuring a version of this same character – but he’s extremely good at it.
–Cliffy
Actually, that was his rebuttal to her “evidence”. Totally unclear in my post, sorry about that.
She says: Here’s my data dump. Here’s videos on my iPad. Here’s scans of newspaper clippings on my iPad. Here’s tv broadcasts on my iPad. Here’s about 8 comic-book pages full of crazy blather about how Bush hates liberuls and Leo Sayer and Bush probably planned it and here’s the statistics that I just happen to have memorized about how many people have died from BUSH’S WAR (because all of that’s totally relevant to getting the building evacuated)! Look at my iPad!
Hubby’s douchy coworker: Ha! That company (Apple) is on the verge of bankruptcy. This PROVES it’s a fake!!!11!!! This is just a movie prop with a…capacitive screen which doesn’t exist commercially in 2001. So…yeah.
Non douchey coworker: Then truth or lie, we have been placed on the horns of an ethical dilemma. If this woman’s story might even possibly be true, we must evacuate! (very close quote–the dialogue was so bad that people in the store were laughing out loud. the “horns of an ethical dilemma” thing stuck with me) My heavens! Our connection to the FBI just called to say that the entire system is blinking red! We must evacuate!
Hubby: ah-HA! This imposter is NOT!!! my wife! She’s an actress! She didn’t know that I’m a structural engineer who wrote his thesis on the WTC. Here, let me give you about 3 pages of incorrect info-dump. Now that I have, the ONLY way the building could come down is if there was bombs placed on every floor!
Douchey co-worker: Guards take her away!!!
Futurewife: You MUST believe me! NOooooooo…
Hubby: Well that was weird.
Non Douchey co-worker: You saved us much embarrassment. Oh wait. I will invest in Apple. Ooops! There is a plane that just happens to be heading right towards our window!
Plane: BOOM!
Hubby: It was my wife! Gee whillikers!
Non-Douche:I’m glad we survived so we can thank her once we get out!
Hubby, pointing to a bunch of dynamite strapped to a column that no-one ever noticed before: None of us are getting out. 
Uncle Sam, tear in his eye: People always believe THE BIG LIE!!!
Yeah, they released complete lists a few months ago when the reboot was announced. Should be able to find an archived copy via google.
I think you’re in the wrong thread Fenris.
I had been out of the comics game for a while, but I thought this would be a good jumping on point, both because of the reboot, and because I could buy them digitally. But so far it’s been a disappointment all around.
The new books are… OK. But so far they just seem different, not better. I would expect something that defines our era or is forward looking. But it all seems like a weird throwback.
And the art is almost universally depressing. In some cases the art is not bad, but the style is too grimy for my taste. And in the case of Action it’s bizarrely bad. Jimmy Olsen looks like Tropic Thunder’s “full retard”.
And the digital aspect is a bust. Supposedly the price of paper is what drove up comic costs but you wouldn’t know it looking at the costly digital versions.
And only some of the titles are available on Wednesday. If they cost the same and I have to buy in print to get some of them on Wednesday, then I might as well just trek out to the comic store for all the titles. And, the comic app is deadly slow. Buy a few more servers already.
I’ll probably give it another few weeks, but the prospects do not look good.
There’s definitely no vision here. Both in terms of storytelling, and even marketing strategy. It’s all a muddle.
Here is DC’s official list. If you click on a title, it will take you to the page with the credits and the description for the first three issues of each series. [There is a video on the page, but it doesn’t play until you tell it to on my computer.]
I think it’s good that they’re trying to come up with another explanation for the costume than “his mother made it”. In this case, they’re saying it’s a traditional ceremonial costume on Krypton. There’s no reason they wouldn’t wear armor on Krypton, being under a red sun and all. Besides, Superman soes get beaten up occasionally. Maybe if he’d worn that armor when he met Doomsday we’d have been spared that horrible storyline that turned me off comics for over a decade.
Aesthetically, the new costume is growing on me. I like the way it looks in Swamp Thing, although the artist there can cannot draw Superman’s face. What bugs me is that Jim Lee gave every superhero the exact same high-tech-armor-with-heavy-seams look. Are they all wearing Kryptonian outfits?
I don’t own the thread just because I’m the OP, but I don’t mind the hijacks (no pun intended) so far, including Fenris’s description of The Big Lie.
I’m not sure what you were hoping for, jackdavinci. It’s the same characters produced by the same people, mostly. New storylines for new readers, but it’s not meant to be a whole new style. They do want to keep the readers they had.
The art varies quite a bit between books, so I don’t know what you’re looking at. These are mostly adventure stories, so of course, there’s some gore and some grit. Maybe you’d like some of the all-ages books DataZak recommended if you want a lighter touch. I haven’t read them, but I’ve heard some of them are quite good even for adults.
All of these comics are available digitally on the same day they’re released in the stores, starting at 2pm Eastern Time. Is it possible you were looking at some non-DC titles? Or maybe you were looking for titles that come out later this month. I’d hoped to get some of these from my FNCS, but it’s too far away, so I ended up buying all of these digitally. I’ve been very pleased with the app. If it was slow when you used it, maybe that means they’re having more success than anticipated. that would be a good thing!
As far as prices go, I’m sure they don’t want to undercut the retailers who still provide most of their sales. If they go out of business, that doesn’t do DC any good! They are supposed to drop a dollar in price a month after release, I think. Plus, DC’s been having some really great digital sales the last several weeks. I don’t know if they’ll continue with the new titles, but I hope so.
Wow. I had not heard this.
However, I have been enjoying getting the trades to get the whole story, or two, rather than a monthly. I have some exceptions to that but that’s what I want in my comic books.
But now I am curious. Not sure if I’m going to pick some up or not.
Questions for people who people who know about such things…
-
Did they bring in new/big talent for the relaunch? If it is a situation of having the the same names on existing books, doesn’t DC still have the same strengths/liabilities as they had prior to the relaunch? What happens when the newness & novelty of the new 52 wears off?
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If the relaunch isn’t a reboot but just an opportunity for new readers to join in, what position does that leave them in a year or two? It seems to me that each issue of a comic (or more realistically, each story arc) should be the opportunity for new readers to join in.
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In your opinion how much of the New 52 is a sea-change approach to the way DC does comics vs. a no-holds barred marketing blitz?
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The new Superman: Is he still what makes him Superman or is does it feel like a different character?