The word has gone out. DC Comics is scheduled to RELAUNCH 52 of their monthly comics with BRAND, SPANKING NEW #1’s IN SEPTEMBER. This is a BOLD move on DC’s part. They are obviously trying to grab new readers and are trying hard to boost sales. Desperate times call for desperate measures. To me this has the potential to be a GOOD or BAD thing. I see many things I’m excited for and many things that I’m NOT so excited for. After looking at a list of THE NEW TITLES (via Bleeding Cool) it has only fed my excitement for some comics and non-excitement for others.
Following is a dissection of comics I’m excited, neutral to, or am not looking forward to at all.
GREEN means that I am excited.
BLUE means that I am neutral.
RED means that I am not excited.
HERE WE GO:
1. Justice League#1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee
- The Johns-Lee creative team-up has been RUMORED and TEASED for the longest time and I’m excited to see something come of it. Whether or not Lee can actually keep up with the monthly task of doing the art we’ll have to wait and see. Also, I’m a bit nervous whenever I read a Geoff Johns comic nowadays. He delivered the goods with Blackest Night, but recently has been doing a mediocre job with Green Lantern and has done a TERRIBLE job with Brightest Day, so I don’t know which Geoff Johns we’ll be getting, but nevertheless, I’m still excited to see how this book will turn out.
2. Justice League International by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti
3. Teen Titans by Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund
Nobody should have sit through an entire issue of awful Brett Booth art.
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I thought Brian Wood was supposed to be writing Supergirl… guess not. I’ve never even heard of these creators before…
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YAY! Snyder is still going to be writing a Batman comic!
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And here I thought DC actually HAD some respect for their classic titles. Guess not. Tony Daniel is one of my least favorite artists in comics today. He’s an even worse writer too. Can’t believe DC is letting him do this…
Looks like T.D. didn't feel like drawing Batman's chest symbol... Art by Tony Daniel.
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I honestly have NO IDEA WHY they decided to relaunch this comic, since currently only two issues of it have been released since Finch can’t draw a monthly comic to save his life anymore.
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SWEET! Simone writing Batgirl should be cool! Looking forward to it!
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FINALLY!!!!! Fans have been waiting FOR-EV-ER for this comic way back when it was announced. Read J.H. Williams’ LEGENDARY and CLASSIC run of Detective Comics if you haven’t already. Your eyes will THANK YOU. I PROMISE. The softcover collection of his run was released THIS WEEK!
If this cover doesn't scream "BUY ME!", then I don't know what does. Art by Guillem March.
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YES. Winick and March as the creative team should be awesome. Winick did a WONDERFUL run on Power Girl with Sami Basri, so hopefully he can channel what made his Power Girl run so awesome into this new Catwoman series.
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Scott Lobdell sure has his work cut out for him this coming September…
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I don’t know who this Batwing character is, but so far I have little to no interest in the character. Yes, Winick is writing it, but I’m not a huge fan of Ben Oliver’s art, so I’m going to have to pass on this one.
17. Nightwing #1 by Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows
18. Batman And Robin #1 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
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Ah, so THIS is what Patrick Gleason was referring to when I talked to him at a convention in May. Tomasi and Gleason did a so-so run on Batman and Robin earlier this year that left me disappointed, but we’ll see if they’ve improved with this one.
19. Birds Of Prey #1 by Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz
20. Green Lantern #1 by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
21. Green Lantern Corps #1 by Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna
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Awesome! Tomasi is returning to the GLC comic! I LOVED his run of Green Lantern Corps, so this has me excited. However, his recent Batman and Robin story arc was kind of bad. I’m still willing to give this comic a go.
22. Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1 by Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham and Batt
23. Red Lanterns #1 by Peter Milligan, Ed Benes and Rob Hunter
24. Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis
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If Johns writes Aquaman like he did in Brightest Day then I will be VERY disappointed. I disliked how he handled Aquaman in Brightest Day. At least it was SLIGHTLY more tolerable than the Hawkman and Hawkgril scenes… my God, those scenes were AWFUL. The only reason this remains neutral is because of Ivan Reis on art chores.
25. Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang
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THANK GOD DC is FINALLY curing us fans from that mediocre J. Michael Straczynski story!!! I am looking forward to this IMMENSLY. I do LOVE Wonder Woman.
That's a cool WW cover. Art by Cliff Chiang.
26. Flash #1 by Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul
27. Green Arrow #1 by J.T. Krul and Dan Jurgens
28. DC Universe Presents #1 by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang
29. Savage Hawkman #1 by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan
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Tony Daniel. Phillip Tan. Two artists who I CANNOT STAND. Their art is SO BAD I can’t even decipher what’s happening in one of their panels that they’ve drawn. I’m assuming Daniel will be writting and in case you’re wondering, his writting is just as bad as his art.
30. Blue Beetle #1 by Tony Bedard and Ig Guara
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Tony Bedard has, in my opinion, never written ANYTHING that wasn’t enjoyable. His run on R.E.B.E.L.S. was AWESOME. Plus, Ig Guara, who draws very well in the Pet Avengers series so that’s cool. The reason I’m neutral about this is because I buy enough comics already and if I’m going to buy this it HAS to be great. And it has every potential to be great.
31. Fury Of Firestorm #1 by Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver and Yildiray Cinar.
- MEH. I love Gail Simone, but Van Sciver’s art is so hit-or-miss for me (usually a miss).
32. Mr Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson
33. Captain Atom #1 by J.T. Krul and Freddie Williams II
- I enjoy Captain Atom’s character, but Krul is a terrible writer. A nice guy, I’m sure, but I’ve never enjoyed anything that I’ve read with his name on it. If someone can reccomend a good Krul comic I would greatly appreciate that (if you say Rise of Arsenal I will punch you in the face).
34. OMAC #1 by Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish
- Why would ANYONE in their right mind want to read a monthly comic about the OMAC’s??? How about we focus on worthy titles like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents? (which hasn’t been announced for the relaunch yet) I don’t think this will last long at all. Read ALL ABOUT the OMACs HERE.
35. Static Shock #1 by Felicia Henderson, John Rozum, Scott McDaniel and Jonathan Glapion.
36. Hawk And Dove #1 by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld
…
…
- Sorry, my eyes were bleeding due to the terrible Liefeld art and I had to clean up the mess. Poor Sterling Gates… 😦
I am so terribly sorry to show you guys this... attrocity. Art by Rob Liefeld.
37. Deathstroke #1 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennett and Art Thibert
38. Legion of Superheroes by Paul Levitz and Francis Portela
39. Legion Lost #1 by Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods
40. Grifter #1 by Nathan Edmondson, CAFU and BIT
41. Voodoo #1 by Ron Marz and Sami Basri
42. Stormwatch #1 by Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda
43. Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman and Dan Green
44. Swamp Thing #1 by Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette
- Scott Snyder has been kicking butt in American Vampire and Detective Comics recently so this should be an interesting comic. Paquette is one of my favorite artists and has done a REMARKABLE job in Ultimate X-Men and Batman, Inc.
45. Justice League Dark #1 by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin
46. Demon Knights #1 by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves and Oclair Albert
47. Frankenstein: Agent Of SHADE #1 by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli
48. Resurrection Man #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino
49. I, Vampire #1 by Josh Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino
50. Blackhawks #1 by Mike Costa and Ken Lashley
51. Sgt Rock And The Men Of War #1 by Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick
52. All-Star Western #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Grey and Meridat.
SO OVERALL:
9 YES, 23 NEUTRAL, and 20 NO
We’ll see how this move goes. Expect a lot of reviews of these books when they come out HERE ON MY BLOG! I’m very worried for the future of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents because that is my FAVORITE DC comic book currently. It not be affected by the relaunch or it may be cancelled. I hope to see this comic continue.
Also, there were rumors that they were going to relaunch Batman Beyond AND launch Superman Beyond and JLA Beyond, but it appears those won’t be part of the September relaunch. I certainly hope that these comics get made because I’d rather see these than ALMOST HALF of the books appearing in September.
To conclude I would like to wish DC the best of luck during this relaunch and hope many new readers take this opportunity to check out the WONDROUS WORLD that is DC Comics.
NOTE: I will update this list if it continues to update!
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