Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

It's a little overwritten, but I agree with the key points:

* Tonally, these books are all basically indistinguishable from one another. (My favorite books leading up to the New 52 were the Stephanie Brown Batgirl, Secret Six, and Power Girl; hardly anything from DC these days is fun like those books were, and the ones like OMAC that were are dead and buried.)
* The New 52 has sapped away most of what makes DC's characters unique or interesting.
* DC has put almost all of the power in the handful of a few creators (which, admittedly, had already been very well established) and treats everyone else with little-to-no consideration.
* DC has trained its readership to avoid books that "don't matter", so experiments almost always fail.

I was reading around a quarter of the line at the outset, I'm currently just down to Wonder Woman and a few of the Bat-books, and I'm thinking about dumping all those too. Maybe I'm just reading the wrong books, but everything just seems so dour, angry, and depressing.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I've basically cut down my new 52 books to Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and the Green Lantern titles. And Green Lantern might also get cut soon.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Geez, DC dumping Kevin Maguire sure doesn't make me any more enthusiastic. He reteamed with Kevin Giffen and JM DeMatteis for Justice League 3000 #1 and completed the entire first issue. DC decided it wasn't dark and gritty enough, so they're throwing that out and restarting with Howard Porter instead. Why would you hire the bwah-ha-ha Justice League guys and then be mortified when the book wasn't grim and gritty? (Although Maguire can certainly do that sort of thing...) Couldn't they make a call about the tone from just a few pages rather than waiting for the entire book to be submitted? I don't get it. Maguire turned down an issue of an X-book under Bendis to do this. I'm a long-time fan and geeky enough to have a page of Maguire's from Batman Confidential hanging up on my wall, so this really sucks for me.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I was going to post this when the news broke, but part of me thinks that stuff like this probably goes on all the time, but twitter and Rich Johnston's site and the like just bring it to the forefront. But yeah, really crappy, even if Porter is miles better than he was during Morrison's run.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I'm sure that's true to an extent, but there have been so many quotes from so many exasperated creators -- many of whom have been in the industry for a pretty long time -- about how DC has been run over the past few years that this really does seem to be a uniquely terrible situation.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

From what I've seen of current DC books, it seems more like Valiant 1992 than Marvel 1998.

Seems like they're aiming for a "house style" for their line of 52 superhero books, where every one of them has the exact same look and feel.

Which, I think worked in Valiant's favor, at least in its early days, because it provided a small, tight, cohesive universe. But even Valiant couldn't sustain it, and the formula began failing by the time they went over a dozen or so monthly titles and started putting out stuff like Armorines.

With DC attempting it with fifty-two books is a recipe for disaster, creative if not financial. The strength of a large superhero universe, particularly DC's, is that certain books can find their own niche and fanbase. It led to things like Sandman. But now, they're taking those things and turning them into more of the same. So now we have John Constantine rubbing elbows with superheroes on a regular basis and putting on Captain Marvel's costume.

Even with Marvel, at least the old, pre-Quesada Marvel, they would at least let the X-Men play alone in their own little corner of the Marvel U even if it wasn't the kind of diverse environment that would let Moore go off on his own direction with Swamp Thing or give birth to a Sandman.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I have to agree with the feelings about the tone of these books all being the same. DC has been depressing since Identity Crisis, but the New 52 books had a chance to break out of it and go in numerous other directions by starting from scratch. They didn't.

I haven't read ALL the Nu52 books-- just the couple dozen TPs my library system has-- but I doubt the few I haven't read are any different.

JL3000 with Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire was something I was looking forward to; I was actually going to start picking up a monthly title again after years. But Maguire gets dumped because it's not dark and gritty enough? Jesus... That team is capable of anything, but why would DC even hire them all together for the same book-- at launch-- if they didn't want something similar to what those three did in the same situation in the '80s?

Like DC needs another dark and gritty book...

Not to say many of the dark books are not entertaining, but I'm really missing FUN comics; ones where sadistic killers are not around every corner, or the world is not coming to an end every time a threat presents itself. I'm sure they're out there in the Indie World, but my wallet doesn't allow me to buy much, so it's pretty much just the TPs I can check out from the library.

It's not just DC that's depressing. It hit me that I missed fun comics after binging on a bunch of Bendis & Hickman Avengers TPs. Liked them for sure-- but so damn depressing when read all together. And it's not just comics, tentpole movies have been that way lately too. Dark Knight Rises, ST: Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, Man of Steel... I enjoyed them all-- but none were "fun".

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

For fun comics, try Hawkeye, Daredevil, Deadpool, Archer & Armstrong, FF, Fantastic Four, or Incredible Hulk.

Hard to believe I can't come up with anything from DC I would consider fun.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

It is sad that the only current 'fun' DC Comic stuff I'm seeing is the few minute overlap of Teen Titans Go after Beware the Batman. The shorts have been fun too.

I'm thinking of quitting on BtB, but just set my DVR for Titans.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

The animated shorts are my favorite part of the DC universe right now. Well, except for that horrid claymation one.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

OMAC was fun, but that didn't last too long.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Larfleze.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I haven't read that, but from what I know of the character from seeing him in Geoff Johns' Green Lantern, I bet that would be a fun book -- especially if I'm remembering correctly and Keith Giffen is writing it.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Thanks for the recommendations. I have read the first four Waid Daredevil TPs, and it's completely fun (who could have predicted that about a DD book the last 20 years?). Hawkeye too. Just finished Incredible Hulk vol 2 and was a crazy ride-- and not as dark as vol 1. The Fantastic Fours have been good as well.

I guess I need to stay away from New52, Avengers and X-Men books for a while...

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I like Waid a lot, and while he can write serious stuff I think he does great with fun stuff. It's a pity that outside of Birthright (which was retconned almost immediately after) he never got a run on Superman, a character he has always wanted to write. I still think his JLA: Year One was an excellent update to the JLA's origin.

Peter David also does fun, though I think his current run on X-Factor is ending soon (I haven't followed it for a while because of Marvel's inane policy to collect three to four issues at a time at insane prices).

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I have all the X-Factor TPBs, and it's funny looking at them all side by side and seeing how ridiculously slim they get over time. There are a couple that are so absurdly tiny that Marvel can barely fit the volume number on the spine.

Wolverine and the X-Men is frequently a lot of fun, although it's kind of...wandered for a while with the terrible circus/Hellfire Academy arcs.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I consider Waid's JLA: Year One the definitive take on the team. He really understood how the heroes' personalities would mesh together on a team.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

With the upcoming villains month descending upon us in November, I'd like to thank DC Comics for giving me a nice jumping off point for the New52.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Actually Villains Month is next month, September.

Trinity War ends this month. Next month is Villains Month. Then October starts the Forever Evil event.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Just finished reading "Jeph Loeb Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" I thought that was a lot of fun

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

They turned that storyline into an animated movie.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

DC continues to fuck their shit up.

Lobo will make his first appearance in the New 52 next month for Villains Month.

Hey now wait a minute, hasn't Lobo already made some appearances in the New 52???

Not so, says DC. That Lobo was an imposter.

Here is the new official one and only Lobo redesigned for the New 52:

http://i.newsarama.com/images/i/000/...jpg?1377276741

http://i.newsarama.com/images/i/000/...jpg?1377276587

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

............That looks like a crappy redesign if there ever was one.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I hope that's just a joke/diversion and that soon as this "Lobo" makes his appearance, the real Lobo will come out, rip his head off and shit down his neck.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

That Lobo "redesign" has to be some sort of joke by DC.