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The New 52 - Overall Thoughts
Oct. 2nd, 2011 12:59 pmHere is what I said about DC in July: "If out of these 20 I end up with 10 good comics a month, I will be happy. Especially since I was down to about six a month from DC."
Out of the 21 "New 52" titles from DC that I bought, 14 have me coming back to buy for at least another month. Clearly, this is a better than I expected. I also know that several of the books I either didn't buy - Batwoman comes to mind - or will stop buying (JLI and Justice League) will be on my radar to get in collected form, or find at the library next year, or possibly consider reading online if the price is right. Thus as an individual reader of DC Comics' books, I am pretty happy.
I know that there are a lot of problems with the overall line of comics. The blatant sexism seen in the depictions of a lot of female characters is the biggest concern, one that no doubt is going cost DC readers (albeit not the readers they are targeting, sad to say). But I can also see DC alienating readers with too much blood and gore. I see a lot of longtime fans still unhappy about seeing their favorite heroes (Wally West above all) being forgotten. There is no reason to think that DC will address longstanding issues of a thin talent pool, or problems between dictatorial editors and annoyed writers. And I have a feeling that when the first big crossover comes, there will be worse trouble making the pieces fit together than before.
In short, DC is still a mess. As much of one was it after Crisis on Infinite Earths. I really don't know if the current higher sales will last two months, let alone five years. And everyone always expects Dan Didio to get it wrong, with good reason.
But for the first time in a long while - since the weekly series 52 ended - I feel a lot of energy in DC's comics. Writers and artists of talent are giving it their all. Characters and stories don't all seem the same right now. There is diversity of style, in the kinds of tales being told and in the art work. It has me excited.
It has a lot of people who never cared excited. The New York Times ran reviews of all 52 books on its culture blog. For one month, people were talking about superhero comics in a way that was equal to what we saw for new TV shows and films. (To be fair, this coverage also includes the generally positive reaction to the new Ultimate Spider-Man, which I would have bought if it were a dollar cheaper, even though it's Marvel.) For one moment, the world seemed to take the superhero as seriously as I always have. Even if the world then went "ICK" at the blood, or the depiction of Catwoman, or the books that still made no sense to anyone who doesn't have a PhD in comics. It felt good.
I leave the first month of the New DC optimistic, if exceedingly cautious. I know from the past that I will be disappointed in at least some of the comics I am trying out. I expect things that seem good now to be lousy in a year (even while hoping the reverse can happen). But I am in for the long run.
The most interesting thing that occurred, though, involved the one comic that I bought that was not a first issue. Fables is past its hundredth issue. It's nothing like any DC superhero comics. It used to be amazing. And after a month of fresh new takes on old ideas, Fables by comparison seems utterly low key, bland, and forgettable. I am likely to drop it at the end of the current story arc. Clearly, there comes a time to either refresh an idea or to end it. Funny that it took a month of the sort of comic Fables kind of replaced to make me see that.
Out of the 21 "New 52" titles from DC that I bought, 14 have me coming back to buy for at least another month. Clearly, this is a better than I expected. I also know that several of the books I either didn't buy - Batwoman comes to mind - or will stop buying (JLI and Justice League) will be on my radar to get in collected form, or find at the library next year, or possibly consider reading online if the price is right. Thus as an individual reader of DC Comics' books, I am pretty happy.
I know that there are a lot of problems with the overall line of comics. The blatant sexism seen in the depictions of a lot of female characters is the biggest concern, one that no doubt is going cost DC readers (albeit not the readers they are targeting, sad to say). But I can also see DC alienating readers with too much blood and gore. I see a lot of longtime fans still unhappy about seeing their favorite heroes (Wally West above all) being forgotten. There is no reason to think that DC will address longstanding issues of a thin talent pool, or problems between dictatorial editors and annoyed writers. And I have a feeling that when the first big crossover comes, there will be worse trouble making the pieces fit together than before.
In short, DC is still a mess. As much of one was it after Crisis on Infinite Earths. I really don't know if the current higher sales will last two months, let alone five years. And everyone always expects Dan Didio to get it wrong, with good reason.
But for the first time in a long while - since the weekly series 52 ended - I feel a lot of energy in DC's comics. Writers and artists of talent are giving it their all. Characters and stories don't all seem the same right now. There is diversity of style, in the kinds of tales being told and in the art work. It has me excited.
It has a lot of people who never cared excited. The New York Times ran reviews of all 52 books on its culture blog. For one month, people were talking about superhero comics in a way that was equal to what we saw for new TV shows and films. (To be fair, this coverage also includes the generally positive reaction to the new Ultimate Spider-Man, which I would have bought if it were a dollar cheaper, even though it's Marvel.) For one moment, the world seemed to take the superhero as seriously as I always have. Even if the world then went "ICK" at the blood, or the depiction of Catwoman, or the books that still made no sense to anyone who doesn't have a PhD in comics. It felt good.
I leave the first month of the New DC optimistic, if exceedingly cautious. I know from the past that I will be disappointed in at least some of the comics I am trying out. I expect things that seem good now to be lousy in a year (even while hoping the reverse can happen). But I am in for the long run.
The most interesting thing that occurred, though, involved the one comic that I bought that was not a first issue. Fables is past its hundredth issue. It's nothing like any DC superhero comics. It used to be amazing. And after a month of fresh new takes on old ideas, Fables by comparison seems utterly low key, bland, and forgettable. I am likely to drop it at the end of the current story arc. Clearly, there comes a time to either refresh an idea or to end it. Funny that it took a month of the sort of comic Fables kind of replaced to make me see that.
