New DCnU Thoughts and Reactions

[Deleted]

Ok Saga #1...

Initial reaction-holy crap it's 44 pages no ads and only $2.99, best bargain in comics at that.

Ok initial reaction after reading it...

I'm not sure. There's something there and I think I am going to like it, but I am not there yet.

It's a first issue and BKV had a lot to establish, so he was painting in really broad strokes, so it's hard to determine what the direction is going to be yet. There were parts I really really liked, and others I was disappointed with.

So I'll try to break down my reaction without too many spoilers (ar any at all if I can avoid it)

1st up-I think I hate the opening line of dialogue Not the narration, but the dialogue). It is quite possibly one of my least favorite opening lines in any medium ever. Shot for lowbrow least common denominator humor and missed making it just awkward. Quickly recovered by showing a very real and dynamic interaction/relationship between the two lead characters. I also like the juxtaposition of the narration and the story unfolding in visuals and dialogue-I think it's a great storytelling technique.

The world building-interesting, the war going on that serves as the backdrop for the main characters is not original but it is a different take on this type of conflict.

Even with 44 pages, I felt there was a lot of wasted panels & pages and not enough done to establish things. The whole scene with the robot royal and his wife? mate? concubine? felt gratuitous and put there purely to make the book more "adult"-I'm not prudish and I don't mind scenes like that when they help build story or character, this did neither and since I felt I still needed more to get a sense of the story when the 44 page book ended I just thought those pages could have been put to better use to serve the story. What took up two pages could have been accomplished in 2-4 panels and left a page and a half of room to build more.

We really only got to see the royals side in terms of what the culture fighting the war was like, and I would have liked to have had at least a glimpse of the other side.

The art-Fiona Staples has amazing talent. Her painted cover is breathtaking, her pencilled inked and colored pages however were uneven, rough in some spots, brilliant in others. Her panel to panel and page to page storytelling is decent, but could be a lot better. Her background is as a designer, and some of the designs are spectacular (especially for most of the alien races and the clothing/costumes), her designs of the vehicles on the other hand (i.e. those at the bridge), were kind of meh. I also flatly disliked the alien race she designed that were basically people with computer monitors for heads. It was just a wtf moment in the book. I did however love the greasemonkey that was actually a monkey.

So overall, a promising start that at least in the first issue did not fulfill on all it promised, so 3 out of 5 stars. I liked enough to keep reading, as I said BKV is building towards something here that looks to be spectacular, it's just not there yet-which may be the most damning thing about it, it's 44 pages no ads and t just didn't deliver enough for me, and I know future issues will not be 44 pages, so the question is, will future issues have enough in each installment to satisfy me. We will find out, as I will pick up at least a few more issues before making a decision. I like Marko and Alana the main characters and I really want to see more of Marko's homeworld and culture.

-M

[Deleted]

Well tomorrow's the big day, we get our first look at the new more magically based Shazam form Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Hmm, I wonder where we here have seen that idea before

I added JL to my pull list just to get this back up, but I am feeling a lot of trepidation about this strip.

But it's also the day for new Snyder Batman and new Waid Daredevil, so there will be some good reads no matter how good or bad the new Shazam is.

-M

[buck]

And Wonder Woman tomorrow as well.

[Deleted]

Mar 21, 2012 0:33:14 GMT -5 buck said:

And Wonder Woman tomorrow as well.

I have not tried the new Wonder Woman yet, largely because I have been disappointed in everything I have ever read by Azzarello. He, Milligan and Ennis are the triumvirate of well-known well-regarded writers who have never done anything for me. I recognize the quality of their writing, but it is just not to my taste. I have tried 3 times to read 100 Bullets now, and I bog down before the end of the second trade every time. I quit his over-hyped run on Superman with Jim Lee after 1 issue, and I rank Spaceman #1 as one of the worst comics I ever read. With that track record for me, I cannot justify spending anything from my limited comics budget on an Azzarello book.

-M

[buck]

That's understandable I'm almost ready to just trade wait for it. He's building an widescoped story that is hard to appreciate in singles. The artwork has been beautiful which always helps get me hooked. I'd definitely recommend at least giving it a glance when the first trade comes out.

[The Wonderful Wachter]

dude


Oops... Accidental post but look, MRP, it works!!!

[Deleted]

Mar 21, 2012 1:50:05 GMT -5 The Wonderful Wachter said:

dude


Oops... Accidental post but look, MRP, it works!!!

Ha! Wrong thread but a sneak peek at something for those who see it!!!!!

-M

[Deleted]

Ok, just read Batman #7 by Snyder and Capullo and all I can say is holy crap!!!!!!

It started a little slow, but by the end wow, just wow!

Of course after reading it I just want to take my plot outline for Detective #1 and throw it out the window and start over. Gah!!!!!!

-M

[C_Miller]

Yeah. Snyder and Capullo are fantastic, no question. I do hope we see them do something else after this arc is over though. They're so good, I'd like to see them revamp some existing aspects of the Batman mythos.

Now from the sublime to the silly... Justice League is officially self-parody. That's the only way I can describe the damn thing.

[Deleted]

I picked up the issue to read the Shazam back up but haven't gotten to read the issue yet. I had to watch the last 2 weeks of Young Justice with my wife that I saved on the DVR for her while she was in Carolina. I will read it later tonight.

-M

[Deleted]

Ok, I read JL #7. It's not the worst Justice League I ever read, and I like Gene Ha's art infinitely better than Jim Lee's, but yes sadly it reads better as if it were a parody of the League. So Johns' star character, the one he made his bread and butter on and built his rep in the minds of the DC fanbase is GL, and his best portrayal of Hal is as a complete and utter tool. I haven't checked out the solo GL book and after reading Johns portrayal of Hal in this book I have absolutely no desire to do so. Good job Geoff.

And then there was SHAZAM. Very good art by Gary Frank and I like the new costume design for Captai..oh I'm sorry, for SHAZAM. But again, Johns has made his lead character (Billy) a completely unlikable little snot, which goes so far against what the character's charm and appeal was. Ugh. I'll give it a few more strips, as it is tough to make a full decision in pages, but for me anyways it seems that Mr. Johns has jumped the shark with his writing in general. He used ot produce decent readable stuff, it wasn't spectacular, but it was enjoyable. Now...eh not so much.

To me it seems like Didio, Johns and Lee are attempting to reshape the DCU to fit their vision and stroke their egos and are throwing the baby out with the bathwater to do it. Luckily, they have hired some talented writers with real vision for some of their books and these are the books that are standing out as the real gems of the NuDC.

-M

[C_Miller]

I still have a deep affection for Johns. He's written some of my favorite comics ever. His first Flash run, very early in his GL run, and of course JSA. So I have a deep hope that this is a phase and he can get back to writing solid comics again. I'm not even asking him to reinvent the wheel and become a Grant Morrison or Neil Gaiman. I just want him to show a love and respect of the characters again. He used to wear his heart on his sleeve when it comes to writing and that was the real charm of it. You could tell that he had a real passion for the characters he wrote. But now I don't feel it. I think he needs to stop being a business man/editor and start thinking as a writer again.

I know the biggest comeback when people criticize a writer or something to that effect is "I'd like to see you do better." And I don't feel like it's an especially arrogant statement to say that I think I could actually do better on Justice League... We'll see soon, I guess... haha.

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2012 22:59:06 GMT -5 C_Miller said:

I still have a deep affection for Johns. He's written some of my favorite comics ever. His first Flash run, very early in his GL run, and of course JSA. So I have a deep hope that this is a phase and he can get back to writing solid comics again. I'm not even asking him to reinvent the wheel and become a Grant Morrison or Neil Gaiman. I just want him to show a love and respect of the characters again. He used to wear his heart on his sleeve when it comes to writing and that was the real charm of it. You could tell that he had a real passion for the characters he wrote. But now I don't feel it. I think he needs to stop being a business man/editor and start thinking as a writer again.

I know the biggest comeback when people criticize a writer or something to that effect is "I'd like to see you do better." And I don't feel like it's an especially arrogant statement to say that I think I could actually do better on Justice League... We'll see soon, I guess... haha.

I quite liked Johns early stuff, and would add Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. to the list of early DC title she did that I liked. I thought he had a lot of promise and looked forward to everything he did, and enjoyed it all, until he took on Avengers for Marvel, and as much as I eagerly awaited the debut of that run, I was sorely disappointed and felt it was, well putrid. He was still doing good stuff for DC though, and I just chalked it up to him really being a DC guy, not a Marvel guy. Some writers can write for both, others just have a knack for one but not the other.

Which brings us to me using the term jump the shark for Johns. Somewhere in there, and I am not sure where, sometime after Blackest Night (which I enjoyed) and before Brightest Day (which I did not enjoy the parts I have read-the local library had vol. 3 of the trade but not 1 and 2 and this came out during my hiatus form comics), Johns stopped writing comics I enjoyed and started producing stuff that just baffles me.

Maybe once he got bumped up to the top of the chain, line editors lost the ability to steer him and keep him on track, or maybe he just wasn't into it anymore or whatever, but I cringe now when I hear he is on a book I am interested in. I keep wanting to check out Aquaman but after reading JL, I am not sure I want to spend the $$ on the risk I will nit like it. He's not quite to the point of being added to the list of writers whose stuff I will just not buy (hello Judd Winick), but if he keeps on his current trajectory, he will be.

[Deleted]

On a more positive note, I picked up the new Vertigo series Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Solid set up and I like the author's voice, plus I have liked Denys Cowan's art since his run on the Question with Denny O'Neil in the late 80's.

Which brings me to the man I am old moment of the day-I was at the shop today and one of the owner's helpers asked me when I read my first comic...the answer is 1973 when I was in nursery school, so I realized I had been reading comics for almost 39 years. Yeah, talk about feeling old....

-M

[Deleted]

So this week's batch of DC...this is the single largest batch of DC I have bought (in terms of new books) in a single week in a long long time-4 titles. Flash 7, I Vampire 7,JL Dark 7 and All Star Western 7.

Haven't read Flash yet (I am still missing 5 and 6 waiting on reorders from the shop or might pick them up at the con on Sunday). All Star Western was good. I like the art on this, great storytelling, excellent figure work and an identifiable and unique style that add a hint of flavor. Hex goes to old New Orleans and well... finds trouble as Hex is wont to do. Cinnamon and Nighthawk appear here and are featured in the back-up strip. I have never been a huge Hex fan but I tried the first trade of Palmiotti and GRay's first run from the local library and liked it, and so when last issue had a tie in to the Owls, I picked it up and gave this Hex a shot. Liked it enough to pick up #7 and liked 7 enough I will get #8, and possibly ad ot pull list if it keeps up.

Rise of the Vampires (I, Vampire 7 and JL Dark 7)....what can I say? Is Lemire on JL Dark yet? No. Wake me when he is. The story premise is interesting and the stuff in I, Vampire was interesting, but the more I read of Milligan the less I like. Gah. And sadly, this was the best issue of his run so far and it's still got me counting days 'til his replacement takes over.

Oh well.

-M

[Deleted]

Challengers of the Unknown has always been a title that intrigued me. What little I have read of the Kirby originals has blown me away, but no one else has ever come close to the sheer excitement and inventiveness of those strips.

When I saw Challengers was getting a short run in DC Universe Presents, I was intrigued, moreso when I found out Ordway was drawing the book, but lost interest when I learned Didio was writing it. This weekend at the convention, I found the first 2 issues of the arc for a buck each and decided to give them a shot since I was getting them on credit for a trade...

Finally got around to reading them tonight, ugh. Ordway's art and the Ryan Sook covers are the only worthwhile things about these 2 issues. Didio wastes too much effort trying to emulate pop culture to make the book seem hip and not enough effort actually you know telling a story and developing real feeling fictional characters. These are cardboard cutout paste ups of celebrity parodies coupled with cardboard cut ups of classic DC characters from Challnegers history thrown together and moved around like chess pieces through a lackluster and predictable plot. The second book is titled Pre-empted, and well, the book should have been before it was given the green light by DC, but then the boss is writing the book, so who's going to gainsay him? I essentially got these books for free and I still feel I wasted my money on them.

-M