DC's new 52, Week 4

So, this is the final week of DC's new 52.  Overall, I've really enjoyed it, and I'm going to be mostly picking up DC books for a little while because there have been some strong offerings (but there's been some very strong Marvel work I'll discuss another day).  However, I think that there has been some valid criticism of the relaunch as a whole.  I know this was not a complete reboot, but I think maybe it should have been.  Maybe they should have completely just blown up continuity and started from scratch.  That might have been better.  Additionally, there are a lot of genres of comic books, and the fact is they're trying to tell those stories, but maybe not enough.  Every comic takes place in the shared DC universe, including the vampire ones and medieval ones and supernatural ones and war ones and western ones.  You have to wonder if the writers might have felt more freedom if they got to tell these sorts of stories in a completely independent universe.

Also, not to belabor this point too much, but if a something is labeled as a #1 issue, it should be easily accessible to new readers and not make you feel like you've been dropped into the middle of a convoluted story.  A person with no prior knowledge of that series should be able to pick it up ad figure out what's going on and enjoy the book.  I think the results were kinda mixed on that front.

Aquaman - Loved this!  This was my big surprise of the week.  Johns and Reis make Aquaman fresh and interesting like they did years ago for Green Lantern.  They take the fact that Aquaman has been seen as a joke head-on, and address it with wit and humor.  I was reading this because I like the creative team but I wasn't expecting that much, necessarily; but now, I'm on board.  This really is good stuff.  They're actually making Aquaman seem cool.
  

Justice League Dark - I really like the idea here; there are some threats to the world where super strength, super speed or super detective work aren't going to be enough, that being the magic/weird/supernatural corner of the DC universe.  I have to confess, I am almost completely unfamiliar with the characters here (Madame Xanadu, John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, The Enchantress), so anything that happens here is new to me.  I know that a number of these are Vertigo characters that they're re-integrating into the proper DCU.  So, this first issue was interesting; the Enchantress has apparently gone crazy and the regular JL are not equipped to deal with it.  So, enter the weird magical type characters.  I'm not totally sure what's going on here, but I am interested.  I'm not totally sold that this is the book for me, but the writing is good here, these characters seem weird and interesting, and it's worth sticking around for at least a little while.

Superman - After the exciting, fresh take on Superman contained in Action Comics #1, I was intrigued to see how this translated into what will be the current-day adventures, and Superman's new status quo.  This was certainly an action and information-packed issue but ultimately I was a little disappointed.  I appreciate how much information was conveyed here and I think it was not an enviable task, but there was some stuff here that didn't quite work.  I felt like I got more out of this issue regarding the status quo of the Daily Planet and the adjustment to a new media world, than I did regarding what's really going on inside Superman's head.  What's funny was that even this was a new comic showing Superman's new status quo, this comic felt kind of old fashioned and sort of dated to me.  So, here's what I did like from the comic - I like that they're reckoning with the fact that a newspaper wouldn't be the most new, vibrant place to be, so apparently the Planet has been bought by a News Corp type place.  This could make for some interesting stuff, potentially. I also like that they're messing with what you think you know about Superman, by upsetting some of the expectations.  On the he other hand, I sort of liked the old fashioned part, where it was Superman protecting Metropolis from monsters that only he can fight, and balancing his life as Clark Kent.  Not sure what to think about the fact that George Perez is off this series after issue 6.  I wasn't totally sold on this, but there's enough here that I'll monitor it and see where it goes, particularly if it ties into Stormwatch in an interesting way.

Firestorm - Not sure about this one.  This is one that really feels like a genuine reboot.  I was not overly familiar with the Firestorm character, but I know there have been many iterations over the years.  I get from \what I read that this is a real change to the origins of the character.  I didn't love this though.  I thought that the dialogue (and issues they tried to address with the dialogue) were kind of heavy-handed, and I didn't think the art or story were so great that I feel compelled to keep tuning in.  I was sort of surprised given that I have liked a lot of Gail Simone's other work.  Frankly, there's been a lot of stuff I enjoyed a lot more than this, so I'll probably skip it unless I hear it gets really awesome in later months.

The Flash - Now this was a pretty strong first issue.  For someone who doesn't know that much about any of the Flashes (Wally West or Barry Allen) this was still a pretty good introduction.  He's really fast, he's apparently not married to Iris West, he works as a CSI type person in the police department, and he's working on a case that appears to hit close to home.  It was a very accessible first issue, and frankly, the art is just stunning.  I'm not overly familiar with Francis Manipaul's work, but there's some genuinely beautiful and clever artwork, art that legitimately tells a story (which the art doesn't always do).  I'm intrigued by the "villain", and this is another one where (like Aquaman) I was just trying it out, but I'd like to see where it goes.

Justice League International - A fun story.  If you liked previous incarnations of he JLI then you'll like this.  This is a super team that will be a little more light-hearted than the "big" Justice League, and has a slightly more goofy quality.  This was definitely an entertaining issue, but not really something I need to read month to month.  If I hear the story is good I'll pick up the trade at the library.