So, which issues of DC Comics “New 52” did I get, and what did I think?
I didn’t get all 52. That would have cost more than $150, and I would have wound up with a bunch of comics I didn’t want, anyway. So I used the little promotional comic they made with preview pages to guide me.
My guiding principles for picking:
* No Batman, no Superman. I am sick of Batman, having read various Bat-titles for, well, most of my life. For Superman, I didn’t like the new costumes. Even George Perez couldn’t lead me that direction.
* Nothing by creators I don’t like, anyway. Meaning, “Hawk and Dove,” drawn by Rob Liefield was out. So were a few other comics.
* I am generally tired of the same old super-hero comics, so I was looking for things that went off in a different direction. AS a result, I wound up getting a lot of comics with female leads, which I seem to have ben doing for the past year or so anyway.
* Good art always is a winner.
* Solidly entertaining is good enough, and better than a half-baked attempt to be mind-blowing.
Bottom Line Up Front (as the Army likes to say): The titles I liked best were "Voodoo," and "Catwoman."
Here’s what I got (In roughly the order they came out):
Justice League: I got the kickoff comic because it seemed like the right thing to do. I am not a big Jim Lee fan. Everything he draws used to look posed and so still as to be statuesque. Now, everything has more movement, and looks as if the statues are being thrown around a little. Geoff Johns is a popular writer, but it seems like all he did was take the Green Lantern-Batman relationship from Lee and Frank Miller’s “All-Star Batman and Robin,” and insert it into a half-baked (see above) Justice-League-meets-for-the-first-time story. The comic sorely lacked the punch of many of the other “New 52.” And, to top it off, there will be something like six weeks between issues. Issue two is a fight between Superman and Batman. Yawn. Miller did that in “The Dark Knight Returns” in 1986 or so. I may get it, but only because this time around, the Batman statue will be thrown around with the Superman statue and maybe they’ll both shatter into a million pieces.
Batgirl: I was buying the old Batgirl comic because of the beautiful covers and sometimes interiors by Dustin Nugyen. So, my comic store automatically pulled the new one for me, even though I didn't ask. I would have looked at it anyway for two reasons: Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again (yay!), and it’s written by Gail Simone. Opinion: Not mind-blowing, but good enough to get issue two.
Batwoman: (I said no Batman, but nothing about the rest of the Bat-titles.) Anything J.H. Williams II draws, I am in for. I didn’t think this issue was a great start story-wise, but the art is so riveting I couldn’t not get it. I’ll be back for more.
Catwoman: I got this because the art by Guillem March looked good. Judd Winick was doing a great job on “Power Girl,” too, so why not? I really enjoyed it. They gave Catwoman a lot of personality, told a good adventure story and what a shock ending! (Hallie read this one, and thought it was OK, but a little confusing as the story jumped from scene to scene.) I’ll keep getting it until the creative team quits or gets boring.
Wonder Woman: This was a no-brainer because I have become a huge fan of Cliff Chiang’s art. I was going to buy this title no matter what. Making it more appealing, I also enjoyed writer Brian Azarello’s “100 Bullets.” So, it was hard to say no. As with a lot of Azarello’s writing, he challenges you to keep up with him, and, thankfully, this was a comic you could read multiple times and see something different each time. You also could get crazy and do a lot of research into mythology to figure out where he is going with the story. I liked it because it makes you work! (Hallie read this one, too, and had about the same reaction to it as she did to “Catwoman.”)
All-Star Western: I have never really been a Jonah Hex fan, but because of the way Jimmy Palmiotti talked about the comic at the Baltimore Comicon, and the fact that he write “Power Girl” so brilliantly before turning it over to Winick, I thought I’d give it a try. Here’s the plot: Jonah Hex is in an 1880‘s Gotham City hunting for a Jack the Ripper type killer. I have to say this: it was well-written, and I think lots of people would enjoy it. I am sick of exploring Gotham City in general, and I think comics have done enough Jack the Ripper take-offs than we don’t need any more (once Alan Moore did “From Hell,” why bother?). In the same vein, Moritat is an artist I should like, but something about his really-stylized drawing just doesn’t resonate with me. I would never say anything negative about it, but I just can't really get into it.
Justice League Dark: I got this because I had been reading “Zatanna,” and the character carried over to this mystical super-hero title. Peter Milligan is not one of my favorite writers, but is well-regarded among the comics community for being innovative. I’ll stay with this, but it’s on a short leash.
Voodoo: At the Baltimore Comicon, writer Ron Marz talked about how DC was letting him "break all the rules" with this title, so I was interested. To that end, almost all of the first issue takes place in a strip club. Old “Power Girl” artist Sami Basri is drawing it, and his art keeps getting better and better. This was my favorite of all the “New 52” comics I read. It had a surprise ending, especially for someone like me who had not ever seen Voodoo before. (Hallie read “Voodoo,” and really liked it. She may keep reading it.)
Swamp Thing: I missed it when it first came out, so I got a second printing of the first issue along with the second issue this week. The only reason I got this was because writer Scott Snyder talked so passionately about it at the Baltimore Comicon. When I opened up the book to look at the insides, Yanick Paquette just blew my eyes out of their sockets. It’s just so beautifully, perfectly ugly in places. His storytelling and pages layout borrows a lot from J. H. Williams and his characters had wonderful Kevin Nowlan-esque scowls.
OMAC: I did the same thing with “OMAC” that I did with “Swamp Thing.” I like Keith Giffen’s art. I really do. I am a huge fan of all his “Ambush Bug” comics. However, in OMAC, Giffen was aping Jack Kirby, and I am sick of people aping Kirby. Brice Timm, Steve Rude and John Byrne all do it pretty well. Giffen, despite the solid underpinnings to his layout and anatomy, just looks like another mid-1970s Marvel artist who was told to draw like Kirby. His heads and faces often looked skewed to one side. All that said, it was a fun action comic. I haven’t decided if I’ll be back for issue three or not.
(P.S. If any of the others start generating a big buzz, I may check out the trade paperback so I get the whole story in one lump.)
