Tuesday, November 08, 2011

The New 52: Month Three, Week One

Some of you know that for the last two months, I have been tweeting my feelings, thoughts, etc., about DC's new 52 titles. Well, sometimes you need more than 140 characters and, well, to be honest, I was kind of feeling bad about filling up everyone's twitstream with my ramblings. So, since this site hasn't been used as of late, I thought this might be a repository for my thoughts. So, without further ado, and in no particular order (except they are totally in order of how much I enjoyed the titles), here are my new 52 thoughts version 3.1



13. Hawk & Dove: I'm not saying anything particularly controversial in stating that Rob Liefeld's art is so emblematic of the 90's that anything he draws seems like it ought to be set in that decade. I'm not a fan of 90's comics though, so I've never really been a fan of Liefeld's art. After three months, though, I'm willing to say at this point that Hawk & Dove would be at the bottom of this list even if George Perez were drawing it. It just isn't clicking for me. Much like Liefeld's art itself, Hawk and Dove are characters best left in a particular time period. Steve Ditko's creations made considerable sense in the turbulent 60's. That isn't to say that these characters couldn't work in a current context (as a matter of fact, the OWS and Tea Party movements seem to indicate a similar political climate exists today), but the whole convoluted avatar pantheon thing takes these characters too far away from where they work the best.

See, told you 140 characters wasn't enough.


12. Static Shock: One of the great promises of the New 52 was that it offered readers a great jumping on point for new titles. Static Shock seems to have missed that memo. Why does his sister have a clone? What happened in Dakota? The sad part is, the story isn't quite compelling enough for me to overlook my questions.


11. Detective Comics: DC's flagship title should be better than this. The Dollmaker is a fairly compelling villian, but this Batman is just too gritty for my tastes.

10. Animal Man: The art on this title is just disturbing. Don't get me wrong, Travel Foreman's art is pitch perfect for this series, but it is just hideous. I'm also not sure that this plot has legs. In my opinion, you don't ensure the longterm viability of a title by telling us that the title character's only contribution to the DC universe was in bringing a daughter into the world.



9. Swamp Thing: Animal Man's spiritual brother is quite a bit better. The art, for one thing, is much more grounded in reality while sacrificing none of the creepiness. The plot, likewise, is more straight horror than the metaphysical weirdness that has defined Animal Man thus far.

8. Batwing: Ben Oliver has a beautiful, photo-realistic art style that elevates this book. I'm not sure that "Batman in Africa" is ever going to be a chart topping concept, but there is a place for this title in the DCU. I'm intrigued to see where this Kingdom storyline goes.



7. Stormwatch: I want to say that I would like this a whole lot better if it featured mainstream DCU characters, but things have been just a touch too surreal so far for me. I am a big fan of the personifications of cities, though. Would like to see more of that.


6. Action Comics: If you don't know, Grant Morrison is one of my least favorite writers. So I want to rank this much lower, and I won't say I'm completely unboard (Krypton, for example, seemed a little off to me). Despite this, there were some enjoyable parts to this. Clark's relationship with his landlady is nice. I'm thankful that in the midst of all the hoopla about isolating him that they have still given Clark some sort of a Ma character. I'm a sucker for a good personal story, so I enjoyed a book with more Clark than Superman.

5. Red Lanterns: Intelligent Bleez may be one of my favorite new characters (although I could live without the butt shot in the last panel). Comics are good when they tell a personal story, and that is what this issue was all about. Also, any story with Dex-Starr gets a little grace from me.



4. Green Arrow: A couple of things right off the bat. First, I miss GA's old costume, not that this is a new 52 thing. Ollie Queen hasn't looked right since the 80's. Second, Any time Green Arrow uses trick arrows, I am going to enjoy the book. Green Arrow #3 features the conclusion of the first story arc of this title. In the modern era, with most storylines going 10-12 issues, A 3 part story feels like a breath of fresh air. That being said, I'd still like to see some good done-in-one issues.All in All, Green Arrow is one of the most straight forward super hero titles in the new 52, and I appreciate that.


3. Men of War: This comic is unapologetically macho, and I mean that as a complete compliment. Now, much like Static Shock, I've got some questions about what is going on, but unlike Static Shock, I'm willing to hold on for the answers. Also, and this may be the Neo-Con in me, but I love, love, love, the back up story we have seen the last three issues that (again, unapologetically) paint members of the U.S. military as (*gasp*) the good guys in the current real world conflicts we face. I'm not sure that this tone will win it readers in a largely liberal comic reading culture (sales bear me out here), but I for one am a proud reader.

2. Justice League International: Two things here. First, team comic books, for me at least, are all about observing the realtionships between the characters, and Dan Jurgens makes this happen better than just about anyone. Whether it is the rivalry between Rocket Red and August General in Iron,or the apparently unwarranted trust between Booster Gold and Batman, or the romantic tension between Rocket Red and Fire, or the almost father-daughter relationship between August General in Iron and Godiva, the interplay between these heroes will bring me back even if I don't enjoy a particular plotline (For the record, I'm enjoying the plot as well so far). Secondly, I love Jurgens callback to the old JLA trick of splitting into smaller teams. That worked well this issue and I would be happy to see more of it.



1. O.M.A.C.: I can feel within myself that this will quickly turn into one of those one note refrains that I tend to have, but I love O.M.A.C. and I think you ought to as well. It is, without a doubt, my favorite title to come out this week and is in my top 5 of all the new 52. This is for one simple reason: O.M.A.C. is fun! It isn't all grim and gritty like a certain pointy-eared vigilante with six titles a month and a ton of over the top violence. It isn't a horror-tinged nightmare that (probably) makes more sense if you have a business relationship going with the saggy-pantsed kid who hangs out in front of the nearest convenience store (that's a drug reference if you aren't hip to the lingo). O.M.A.C. doesn't take itself seriously, is filled with over the top action (not violence, there is a difference), has absolutely horrible puns (The Psi-Fi Man, Omactivate) which are awesome, and Kirby-esque super science. It is like a wormhole through time opens once a month and a newly discovered bit of awesomeness from the "King of Comics" himself drops out. So, if you aren't catching my meaning here, you ought to be reading O.M.A.C.. It isn't life changing literature, but it is a darn fun read that makes me smile every month.

Alright, thanks for reading, and leave a comment if you have something to say.

5 Comments:

Blogger KeeperOfBooks34 said...

I'm not keeping up with Hawk & Dove? I know there are other "bird" people floating around them. Maybe they'll run into that Hawk guy from Buck Rogers.

Are they still Order/Chaos? Will they bring back Dr. Fate?

11:01 AM  
Blogger KeeperOfBooks34 said...

Also, Thanks for making a comic book post.

11:02 AM  
Blogger Phylemon said...

Yeah, Hawk and Dove are still the avatars of Order and Chaos. There are Hawk and Dove counterparts now (Condor and Swan I think). Hoping to see Dr. Fate as part of JSA when they make their debut.

Thanks for reading.

10:01 AM  
Blogger GliterallyScoot said...

1. I *just* realized you were blogging again.
2. Now I know how you feel reading my Disney blog.
3. Did you delete your old blog posts??

9:17 AM  
Blogger Phylemon said...

@goddessofmath

1. No worries, I've only been doing it (and posting about it on twitter) for a month.

2. I think you use more acronyms, but it is probably fair to say that neither of us are the other's target audience with these sorts of posts (although I would love what thoughts you have).

3. No, but these blog posts are long, and I think they have pushed the others down. If you go to the archives on the right, they are still all there.

9:26 PM  

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