The Rest Of My Week One DCnU Purchases

I figured I would comment on my pull list/purchasing decisions for at least the first month of the 'new 52'. Things are in flux and I have to decide who stays on the long haul', the 'short term' and the 'better grab me' lists. These won't be in depth reviews, more broad strokes.

As I said before, I was a fan of the Morrison, Milligan, and Delano runs on the old Animal Man book. I also enjoyed Jeff Lemire's weird take on Superboy. When I read that this new Animal Man would be something of a horror book, I put it on my 'short term' list.

While I don't know if this issue really floored me, it certainly showed a lot of promise, laying down a lot of mystery while showcasing who Buddy Baker is, who his family is. There is enough weirdness going on that I think this book stays on the 'short term' list. I definitely want to read the next issues to see where all this is going.

The one thing that I thought was lacking here was the art. Travel Foreman's work is so sparse in places it looks unfinished. The lack of backgrounds at times was jarring. While there is some interesting panel construction (like above), I thought the art sort of detracted from the book.

Initial placement: 'short term'
Verdict: On board for now

The beauty of a 'buy 4 DC #1's get one free' promotion at my local comic store was that I was able to pick a book I wasn't intending on reading and give it a shot.

As someone who thinks that the loss of Oracle is the biggest travesty of the DCnU (as well as someone who thought Miller's Steph Brown Batgirl was a fantastic comic), I was planning on staying as far away from Batgirl as possible.

Then I read on line some positive comments and since it was 'free' I figured I'd give it a shot.


Gail Simone has a nice understanding of the Barbara Gordon character and her comments of feeling alive again and feeling lucky in combat ring true. But the other aspects of the book, the PTSD piece of Babs persona now, the goofy roommate, the inconsistent caption boxes (sometimes dialogue, sometimes internal monologue) took away from the book.

Some of the dialogue is a bit heavy handed, like here where Babs comments 'he pointed his gun at my spine and I froze!'

The art from Ardian Syaf really is slick, detailed and dramatic, it was the best thing of the book.

Initial placement: Not buying
Verdict: I think I am going to buy one more issue and make a decision. My gut tells me I am going to drop it.

Justice League International was really the comic I was on the fence of buying. As I said before, I am not a big Booster fan. It was really going to take something special by Aaron Lopresti to get me to keep coming.

And Lopresti's art is as beautiful as I thought it was going to be.

But this first issue didn't do much more than that to grab me. We see how the UN has decided to form their own super-hero team, not necessarily based on power or chemistry. Instead, it seems like the team was picked to appease political pressures as well as to heroes easily controlled.

Guy isn't happy. Booster wants to be leader but doesn't seem in control. And Godiva is a saucy lass.

Despite Lopresti' work, nothing about this team or their dynamics interested me. I am not surprised.

Initial placement: 'Better grab me'
Verdict: Not grabbed. One and done.

Other people have recommended other titles I didn't try: OMAC, Swamp Thing, and Detective (long sold out at my LCS). We'll see if I decide to pick anything else up from last week.