Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Anj's DCnU Pull List

The DCnU starts in earnest today. This is the first major release of the 'new 52'. As such, I have had to do some adjusting of my pull list. As has been said in countless places, this is both a jumping on point and a jumping off point.

While I am sort of sick of universal reboots, and particularly vexed by some of the decisions with this one (Barbara Gordon not Oracle, no Lois/Clark marriage, alienated and angry Supergirl), there are a lot of interesting creative teams and books coming out worth at least a peek.

As such, my pull list is split into three categories:
1) the long haul  -those books I anticipate collecting long term unless something dramatic drives me away

2) the short term - books I will give the first 6 issues or so to interest me, books I think I will like

3)the 'better grab me'  - books that have 1 or 2 issues to really grab me or I am moving on - sometimes it is part of the creative team or a character which will make me look

Here is my pull list with some commentary:

1) The Long Haul:


Supergirl - no big surprise here.  Supergirl is my favorite character and as such I feel I need to support her if she is in a solo book. I also feel like I need to bear witness and let my thoughts be known about the way the character is being handled, whether it be good or bad. I have heard enough about her lack of affection for humanity and whether that translates into isolation and cynicism. The time has come to read the book. It can't be any worse than the Joe Kelly run.

Action Comics - another no-brainer. I am a Superman fan and a Grant Morrison fan. I loved All-Star Superman. The feeling I get is of going back to the earliest Siegel/Shuster stories and showing how this young man became a hero. I have high hopes for this book even though we have heard similar things about Superman as have been leaked about Supergirl. He feels alien and alone. He has no tether to humanity. He even is touted as being 'modern and cynical' as if that's a good thing for Superman. We'll see. Morrison rarely lets me down.


Superman - I thought Perez did a fine job with his Wonder Woman revamp. But I don't have the same faith with him as a writer as I do Morrison. And I wonder just how he will manage a potentially disinterested Superman. Much like with Supergirl, I feel I need to watch this closely and let my feeling be known.

Legion of Superheroes and Legion Lost - I have always been a huge Legion fan and so I will continue to support the team. I wonder if the comic world can support 2 Legion books even if they are in completely separate time periods. Paul Levitz is on the main book with Francis Portela (whose art I like a lot). But I don't know if I like the new recruits enough to care about them. Legion Lost is set in present time, a plot I usually don't like for the Legion. But Pete Woods is on art and it stars three of my favorite Legionnaires - Wildfire, Dawnstar, and Timber Wolf. I do wonder if I will end up choosing one or the other.


Hawk and Dove - I have always been a Hawk and Dove fan having collected the mini-series and series in the 1980's. Add Sterling Gates on as writer and I am pretty sure I am in for the long haul. I hope Rob Liefeld captures some of the juice he had when he first did the mini-series.

Wonder Woman - I think I have been won over by the publicity and pictures I have seen of the book. It helps that I like Brian Azzarello's writing and love Cliff Chiang's art. Chiang's art alone would probably be enough to make me look at the book. But add to that Azarello doing a 'horror' feel on Wonder Woman and I am feeling enthusiastic.

Batwoman - Of all the 'long haul' books, this is the only one I am putting on the list solely for the art. It almost doesn't matter what the story is like. JH Williams art needs to be looked at. Add another favorite, Amy Reeder, into the mix and I am on board. Let's hope the stories are good.

2) The 'Short Term' books -


Superboy - I have never been a big fan of Conner. I loved Jeff Lemire's vision. I don't particularly like the look of the redesign here. I do like RB Silva's art. I feel I owe it to the Superman Family to at least give this book a change to grab me.

Justice League - Will it come out on time? Will the stories be fast paced or built for the trade? Will we see all the heroes get a chance to shine in the spotlight? Will it live up to its hype? This book was on the 'Long Haul' list until I read the first issue. I wasn't wowed. I am hoping I will be.

Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps - I think I need a little break from the spectrum and the entities. Much like the apathy I was feeling near the end of New Krypton when I desperately wanted to just read Superman stories, I want to read GL stories, just them and not them as part of this tremendously galactic ring war. I have enjoyed these books for a while. But I think I need them to step it up a bit.

Justice League Dark - The idea sounds just crazy enough to work. As a fan of John Constantine, Zatanna, Shade the Changing Man, and the Enchantress, I am looking forward to this book more than many others. But I think I need to see the story before committing beyond the first arc/half year. Of all the books on the 'Short term' list, this one could easily move to the long haul.

DC Comics Presents - hard to put this title anywhere else. If the stars and creative teams align I will pick up the arc much like I did with the 'Classified' books. First arc stars Deadman, a character I don't really like. But I love Paul Jenkins' work. And old friend Bernard Chang is on art. So I will be there.

3) The 'Better Grab Me' books -


Captain Atom - DC should give Freddie Williams a raise because I am only trying this book because I love his art. I don't know much about or care much for prior iterations of Captain Atom. Stanley Lau is doing covers. I have liked what little I have read by writer JT Krul in the past. Will I be interested enough in the Captain to keep reading?

Justice League International - I am about to speak heresy but I never 'loved' the Bwa-ha-ha Justice League. And I don't like Booster Gold. So why am I sampling this book? Two words: Aaron Lopresti. I loved ... LOVED ... his time on Wonder Woman. We'll see if the story equals the art.

Animal Man - I loved the Morrison Animal Man. I liked Pete Milligan and Jamie Delano's Animal Man. I liked Jeff Lemire's Superboy. Will it be too dark?

Demon Knights - I liked Paul Cornell's time on Action a lot. I figure I would look to see what he does with a different set of characters.

To put some context into decisions, as much as I love Kenneth Rocafort's art (and I think he is amazing), the idea of Red Hood, Speedy, and Starfire in space is such a goofy idea to me that Rocafort alone won't lure me to Red Hood and the Outsiders.

I will try to let people know what I books I continue to buy and will review the usual books here (maybe adding bullet reviews of Hawk and Dove).

So what is everybody else interested in? Which books are you all buying?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I know this hasn't got anything to do with the new #1s that are coming out but Comixology are currently letting you read Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #1 online for FREE(!!) and that's a #1 so it's sort of relevant. Kind of ;-)

https://comics.comixology.com/#/issue/10202/Supergirl-Cosmic-Adventures-in-the-8th-Grade-1-of-6-

Dr. Thinker said...

I only buying "Scooby-Doo" and "Batman: The Brave & The Bold" until DC Comic returns to the universe that was the DC comic universe before "Flashpoint".

I hope DCnU is a epic failure.


If I was rich and had a lawyer, I sue Warners Bros. & DC Comics for 90 times that of the national debt.

Anonymous said...

For me, I'm up for 1.Batwoman- just for the amazing art and storylines.
2. Batman and/or Nightwing- Maybe Nightwing since im interested how his circus background plays into the story line. Bad costume redesign with the red-still missing the blue version.

Batgirl-Gail Simone. That's all. Big fan of her work. Love her stuff. I'll be interested how TKJ still plays into Babs as a college student and Batgirl in this series. Plus, I miss Oracle. I wish there was an AU series just based ,solely, off of Oracle.
-Supergirl- for the points you mentioned.
-Firestorm- Gail Simone-again. I've heard about the character but never got interested in it until the JL/JLU series...oh! and "Identity Crisis" by Brad Meltzer.

H&D-Sterling Gates will knock this one out of the park, I'm sure of it. ;)

-Justice League Dark is a might buy, for me.

Everything else.... I guess, I just have to wait and see what the art and writers come up with....

None too happy about the reboot. Still sickened that they broke up both Clois, Booster Gold (Now a Canadian?) and Blue Beetle as buddies, AND Wally and Iris-just a great couple, right there. It all just stinks. Bad.

-ealperin

Carol A. Strickland said...

Me, I'll be sitting back, waiting for the digital versions to drop in price before I pick them up. I don't feel like putting $3.99 on a "Batman and GL have a pissing contest" book. Besides, if I wait I can decide I wasn't really that interested, or I can read reviews that can motivate me to want to get/not get an issue.

Wonder Woman, of course, will be purchased Same Day Digital. Years ago I signed a contract with the devil [of your choice] that obligates me to read her as soon as she appears, no matter how bad her stories and/or art get, or if there's just a character running around in her book who claims to be WW but in no way is, besides wearing a spangle or two.

Anonymous said...

Me? I'm in for Supergirl and Batgirl, but for how long I cannot say. I have a great deal of respect for Gail Simone as a writer on Batgirl but the new team on SG sound like they cannot wait to make the same mistakes that Joe Kelly made just louder with new art.
But, we will see at any rate, I'm not hopeful though, DC's problems aren't really related to storytelling, the storytelling on the old Superman radio show was great in 1951, but it didn't matter when TV was factored in.

Just sayin'

JF

Anj said...

At first I was completely against even looking at the Batgirl book because I felt stopping Babs from being Oracle was the biggest flub of the DCU. But enough people whose opinion I trust, including you guys, are trying it. So I might pick up the first issue today.

Anj said...

Wonder Woman, of course, will be purchased Same Day Digital. Years ago I signed a contract with the devil [of your choice] that obligates me to read her as soon as she appears, no matter how bad her stories and/or art get, or if there's just a character running around in her book who claims to be WW but in no way is, besides wearing a spangle or two.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I am honored to see your name on my little blog!

I hope Azzarello/Chiang make Diana as awesome as she should be!

Dave Mullen said...

For me my longhaul books would be Superman, Action Comics, Green Arrow (the concept has really won me over) & Green Lantern.

My 'Probation' books have no more than a maximum of three issues to win me over after some lukewarm solicits and publicity, despite being old favorite characters of mine - Firestorm, Supergirl, Justice League, Legion of Superheroes (not impressed by how the series ended last month).

Might just try out on a whim - OMAC, Men of War, Mr Terrific, Captain Atom, Aquaman, Blackhawks, Hawk & Dove.

Shame about - Wonder Woman (not an Azarello fan), Hawkman (big big fan but this hasn't grabbed me at all), Birds of Prey (have heard nearly nothing about it and it doesn't have Gail writing, Fate sealed.), The Flash (I'm sorry to say, at this stage I really couldn't care less about Barry Allen), Teen Titans (Big fan previously but shake my head at this effort), Superboy (I liked Conner previously but here couldn't care less. Dull.)

The result of the mishmash reboot and the august tidal wave of very poor send-off books means I have no real feeling of needing to stay loyal to DC books anymore, it's been very cathartic.
The only books from now on I buy from them are because they are genuinely great reads, the moment they turn merely 'adequate' is the moment they get dropped.
Fair trade-off all things considered....

Anonymous said...

The loss of Oracle pains me almost as deeply as the JOE KELLY 2.0 Supergirl...but then again, Gail Simone is one of the writers that made Oracle great and if she can do likewise for Batgirl then something is gained overall.

Fingers crossed

JF

Jason said...

I'm picking up Batgirl because I think if anyone can do Barbara justice, it's Gail Simone. I'm going to try out Supergirl, Justice League, Action, Detective, Superman, and Batman. You know what, I think I'll even pick up Wonder Woman and see what that's like. I do agree so far with your previous review of Justice League. I was disappointed not to see the whole team in the first issue. I was imagining something of a setup piece where we see them all separately and then together (a la Morrison's first issue of JLA).

Martin Gray said...

I never intended to but I wound up buying the whole ofthe first batch this week - three months of Retroactive books have gotten me used to being poor. I really appreciate DC's Holding the Line (mostly) move.

I've only read about eight so far but have enjoyed everyone, some are just excellent ... even Dan DiDio's OMAC book.

As with Carol, I'm a Wondy lifer, and like you, committed to Kara, so they're on the list no matter what. Ditto the Legion books. As for the rest, anything can go.

Gene said...

I have zero interest in the DCnU, but I'll be curious to observe how the new Supergirl book turns out.

The only things DC related that I'm looking forward to is Young Justice and Batman: the Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network.

Gene

valerie21601 said...

For me, I will continue to buy the Legion of Super Heroes as long as it's the original Legion.

Only buying the first issue of Legion Lost since it is suppose to be very important to the set up of the next LoSH series.

Supergirl is a real 50/50 series for me. If the first story sucks or if I can predict what is going on. I am dropping it.

I simply can't afford to waste my little amount of money on so-so stories nor dark, cold, indifferent characters. I had only bought special issues here and there of the pre-Crisis Supergirl until the Gates and Igle run I had never bought Supergirl on a regular basis.

This DCnU stuff has worn me out on many levels. Less than 2 years ago I re-discovered my love for DC Comics and now they do this. Well like Didio said he has already lost the "old" fans and we don't matter anymore to him nor DC.

If the new Supergirl is average good I plan to drop, wait for the TPB's to come out, get it through my local public library and THEN read it. If it's really great and I happen to have the money for it maybe I will buy it even then only if I can buy it at the Half Price Books store in my area.

Diabolu Frank said...

Thankfully, my version of the Carol Strickland Wonder Woman contract had an out clause with the end of the second volume (Perez-Rucka.) Every attempt I've made to return has been rebuffed, even after two Simone TPBs. In fact, I disliked her take as much as Heinberg's.

My only ongoing DCnU subscriptions are Aquaman and Stormwatch. I'll also stick out the entire Huntress mini-series. Action Comics and Legion of Super-Heroes: Secret Origin are getting sampled. That is it for now. I've got some trade-wait prospects, but no sure things...