Apparently some kind of shakeup is coming to DC comics. Good, I think. Countdown was just a mess, and Final Crisis doesn’t feel epic enough to me just yet even though its an issue in. The main problem is that DC is not feeling like the shared universe it should be. Ironically, in the last couple of months Superman is getting markedly better. It’s getting back to its roots and the storylines are getting the right sort of heft required of the company’s flagship character. Also: Gary Frank is the man. I’m so glad the whole Phantom Zone mess is over (I’m just sad that the abomination known as Christopher Kent will live to torment us at some future date). I’ve also started reading Green Lantern for the first time in decades, but JLA is just sort of treading water and I’m probably about an issue away from dropping Supergirl.
And no, I’m not going to read Marvel. I don’t have anything against Marvel per se, it’s just that I (obviously) grew up reading Superman and have a much stronger emotional connection to DC than I ever could with Marvel. That said, I’ve been reading the Astonishing X-Men trades and those are good, but that’s probably - in part at least - because they don’t seriously connect to the existing Marvel Universe. Unless it turns out that Jessica Alba is a Skrull, I could not care less about Secret Invasion.
What I have been reading are these awesome DC Showcase collections, with hundreds of pages of classic DC in black and white for $15-20 bucks. Nothing is better than hokey ’50s dialogue in a thought balloon!
Oliver, the ad at the top of this page says “Obama Barack Ringtone.” S’weird.
Countdown was a mess. Are you reading Trinity? Some how that’s not grabbing me much either. Jury is out on Final Crisis
GL has always been my favorite DC character and they are doing some awesome things in those books. Sinestro Corps war was one of the best things I’ve read in a long time.
You may not be the biggest Marvel fan but I feel that the Secret Invasion story is getting good. If you don’t read the singles you should definitely pick it up in trade.
So far Trinity is okay, it’ll take a while before its clear what direction its going in. I’ll look at the Secret Invasion trade, but my guess is that it will be something like Infinite Crisis is for Marvel fans, where if you don’t care about the universe, you won’t care much about the book.
I’ve dropped my pulls for both FC and Trinity.
I bought all of Countdown, Death of the New Gods and Countdown to Adventure. That’s $200 on comics that were sold to me by DC Editorial as important to continuity and then to discover they were just wastes of time and wiped out in a single panel of FC.
DC Editors cannot be trusted to come through on promises of broader story telling.
That’s fine. I’ll enjoy Blue Beetle and Action Comics each month. And as long as Gary Frank continues his art duties, I’ll read anything he ties into. His take is just amazing.
Editors cannot be trusted to come through on promises of broader story telling.
BTW, water is wet, too.
Loving Gary Frank’s work. Forty years ago, DC wouldn’t have let anyone draw Superman that way. (When Kirby was doing Jimmy Olsen, DC had Al Plastino redraw Superman and Jimmy. They wouldn’t give KIRBY free rein, for God’s sake.)
I’m with you on Trinity — could still go either way; too early to tell. But I’m a big Busiek fan and he has a handle on the mythology behind the Big Three; my favorite part so far was that each had the dream filtered through his or her own perspective.
Final Crisis: I could give a crap whether it seems “epic” enough. I hate giant events anyway. I’m reading it because Grant Morrison is writing it, and I quite liked #1. I’m a huge fan of Fourth World, and FC is playing a brilliant homage to it without just painting by numbers. (I picked up Death of the New Gods #1 and stopped there; it was just painfully derivative. Kirby hated when people imitated his work, and he would have hated that book. Morrison takes the SPIRIT of the story and does his own thing rather than slavishly recreating it — and ties it back to Seven Soldiers, which is cool IMO.)
I’m also really liking Morrison’s run on Batman, but if you haven’t been reading it from the beginning, don’t start now; pick up the trades instead. Dini’s work on Detective Comics is much better for just picking up and reading without needing any background, plus it’s Dini writing Batman, which I’ve considered “instant win” since I was 10 years old.
Over on the Marvel side, I liked the first two Astonishing arcs but didn’t care for the third; I’m waiting for the fourth trade and hear it’s much better.
Millar’s got some decent books out there, if you’re a Millar fan (and as a Superman fan I am assuming you’ve read Red Son). He’s doing Fantastic Four and a book called 1985 that looks like a lot of fun (supervillains show up in the real world), plus a Wolverine arc that I think could still go either way (it bears noting that I hate Wolverine) and a creator-owned book called Kick-Ass with John Romita Jr.
I usually like Warren Ellis’s work, too. He’s doing Thunderbolts for Marvel, and it’s pretty good, but his stuff for the non-Big Two publishers is generally better. (It unfortunately has the tendency to just sort of peter out before it’s finished. I’ve been waiting, what, two years for the final issue of Planetary? And where’s my Desolation Jones?)
Your reluctance to read Marvel is one of the most childish thing I’ve ever seen. Some kinda of warped “loyalty” to DC.
Marvel comics as a whole are consistently better than DC Comics because they hoard most of the best writers and their characters are better (really, how can you consistently write good Superman stories?).
Spider-man’s a mess, but the new Old Man Logan storyline, Secret Invasion, Kick-Ass, Iron Fist..I can go on and on.
The best thing DC has going right now can’t even come out on a consistent basis and that’s All-Star Batman and Robin. Though it looks like the JLA’s got a good storyline about to kick off.
Basically what I’m saying is good comics are good comics. Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Marvel, DC…they ALL put out good comics.
It’s the height of stupidity to avoid reading comics based on the company that publishes. I really can’t think of anything dumber. That’s like not seeing a good movie because it’s made by Warner Bros and I’m stupidly “loyal” to Paramount.
It makes no sense whatsoever. I thought dense fanboys like that died out in the 90’s when Frank Miller told them not to read Marvel and they listened.
Ultimates was good too, esp for a non-Marvel guy like me.
Straw man alert. I didn’t say Marvel doesnt make good books or that DC doesnt make clunkers. But I’m the sort of nerdy comic reader who has to give a crap about the characters. There are Marvel characters I like (Spidey, Hulk) but I don’t care for them like I do Superman, Batman, JLA, etc. The average comic is like $3 and that makes me more selective than I used to be. Sometimes I try something out of the box and find a trade I like (Walking Dead) or don’t (Invincible) but for my weekly habit I’m prone to stick with what I know and grew up with — Superman and DC.
DC has been #2 to Marvel for the better part of the last 40 years. That doesn’t mean that DC doesn’t have great titles, but they haven’t been the number one comics company for almost half a century.
I think readers are tiring of all these “Crisis” titles DC keeps doing. Talk about going to the well once too often. JSA is still a great title though. Love what Geoff Johns is doing on that one.
Marvel has done a better job of hitting the key comic demo with titles like X-Men. You’ll get no argument from me on that. But DC has the more iconic heroes - GL, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash. And of course… Him.
Again, you chidlike view of it is astounding!
“iconic”. You read DC comics because characters are “iconic” and then you keep saying “X-men, X-men, X-men!” like that’s all Marvel has. Again, you sound like a CHILD. I’m not trying to insult you, I’m being honest at the putting-your-hands-on-your-ears and screaming “nyah, nyah, nyah, CANT HEAR YOU!” tone you take. It’s as if that if you admit Marvel has great books too, you’ll be “betraying” DC.
It’s a very Republican-like willful ignorance.
Right now, The Incredible Hercules is better than pretty much any DC superhero comic right now. But then again, I read books from every publisher. I’d say The Lone Ranger from Dynamite and The Sword from Image are two of the best comics out today. But then again, I don’t have a sense of loyalty to a company.
You insist on arguing against a straw man.
I couldn’t agree more about Final Crisis and the other statements about DC and Marvel.
I review comcis for Ain’t It Cool News and my review of Final Crisis expanded your thoughts about it not feeling quite epic enough.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36963#1
The superman books have been surprisingly good. Legion has been ok lately as well. And they finally brought back suicide squad for a short run.
The key to enjoying DC is to reliquish all attachments to continuity. Just read for sheer enjoyment. If not, then you will want to strangle some of those editors for the numerous reboots that have been done.
Can’t we argue about something important instead? Like how Dungeons and Dragons 4E sucks balls?
D&D? Now that’s for nerds
If you still think a big shakeup is coming to DC, you might want to check out this column:
http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16910
Scroll down to where it says “Dan has a plan”