MICHAEL DAVIS: The New DC 52 – Is It All That?
Most people in the industry know that my best friend is Denys Cowan.
Denys is one of the greatest comic book artists that the business has ever seen. He’s the artist a lot of other artists look at and as to underscore that fact he’s been nominated for not one but two Eisner awards for best penciler.
He has worked for every major publisher out there. He’s one of the few artists that commands respect from both Marvel and DC without pissing one or both off.
That’s rare.
There’s not a major publisher out there that would not consider it an honor to have a Denys Cowan project under their imprint.
Denys is really hard to impress when it comes to comics.
Me?
I like what I like but I don’t have the depth of knowledge about comic books like Denys does.
Both Denys and I both think the new DC 52 are just wonderful comics.
I’ve got a less than stellar history with DC comics. That said, they are and have always been my favorite comic book universe since I was a kid.
It’s not just nostalgia I’m thinking about. I feel that way because I think DC comics has done some great creative stuff in the last 20 plus years. The second silver age was 90% DC in my opinion.
Denys looks at comics from a much more artistic point than I do, but we are both fans of the New 52.
So, are Denys and I on crack? Is the New 52 as good as we think?
WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold
I think the new 52 is good in some parts, less so in others. The books I’ve bought I’ve been happy with, those I decided to avoid I’ve seem reason that they wouldn’t have been for me. I’m ultimately good with what DC’s done.
Kyle,
Can you give some examples of the books you liked as well as passed on? I’d really like to see what worked for you and what did not.
I’m not buying any books that I wasn’t following before the reboot largely for economic reasons. The ones I’m following are the Superman and Batman books.
The New 52 effect on Batman has been nominal; there really doesn’t seem to be any change. Don’t know how he is in the Justice League since I don’t read it.
Not so with Superman. And although I’ve been reading his titles, I don’t know how long I will continue. The stories are… okay. The art is… fine. It’s just that it seems like a brand new character, one I don’t really care about or have an emotional investment in. I’ve been reading Superman since the early 1960’s and when John Byrne started everything over in the 1980’s he seemed to still be Superman and I liked him better. I liked him better because at least for a little while he was the soul-survivor of his planet, there hadn’t been a Superboy, there weren’t multi-colored versions of kyptonite, the Kents were alive and Lois didn’t act like a high-school kid. Byrne did away with a lot of the silly stuff; barnacles he called them. I guess that’s true now also but the character just seems to be someone else entirely new.
George,
I was saving the Superman stuff to read over Christmas (long bitter sweet story) I’ll try and remember your comments and give you some feed back after I read the stuff. Thanks for putting the Byrne stuff in my head-I LOVED when John took over the series. I may just re-read that also!
You know MOTU, this is one of the things I like about ComicMix and Michael Davis World; no matter how the major publishers have treated the contributors, everyone gives the material a fair shake when they review it. Many people let what happened to them 10, 20, or 30 years ago color how they view a company’s current output. As for the NuDC, its been a mixed bag, but overall I’m really enjoying the books. I haven’t been this excited about the line since the post Crisis days in 1985-6.
Doug,
Thank for the kind words about Comicmix and MICHAEL DAVIS WORLD which can be found at: michaeldavisworld.com
Plug!
Comparing the new 52 books to the Crisis is high praise indeed my friend. I don’t know if I’m quite there yet but I may be getting close.
I’ve read through a ton of the new 52. For what it’s worth, I feel like 4/5s of it is no better than it was before it got a fancy #1 slapped on. Action Comics, Batman, Batgirl, Green Lantern, and Animal Man have all be stand outs in my pull list. I gave a shot (and then immediately canceled) Red Lanterns and Justice League International. Kathy (my wife) gave a shot to Catwoman and has since cancled. I know Matt (of Unshaven Comics) has gone on record that he wants his money back for Mr. Terrific. Some other titles that are “so-so” for me, but I’m still getting include Firestorm, GL Corps, GL Emerald Warriors, Justice League Dark and Resurrection Man.
And there’s some titles I’m still scratching my beard on even why they’re being put out… Voodoo and Grifter right at the top of that list.
I think time will tell how successful the move went, but thus far, color me unimpressed on the whole.
I’ve enjoyed “Batgirl” and “Batwoman” so far and the first arc in “Detective Comics” was interesting. Weird, but interesting.
I’ve been having event fatigue with books from the Big Two so my interest has been waning for awhile but the few I’ve been reading from the New 52 have been solid in story and art and seem more contained and less of “to continue this story, buy 5 more comics that you normally never buy!”
Also, anything with the work “Dark” in the title, I bypassed. Just seemed too much like they’re trying to sound edgy but aren’t.
You passed on books with the word ‘dark?’ That’s an interesting way to decide what to read. I may try that with the word ‘man’ and see what happens. :-)
I tried a bunch of the new 52 books (Animal Man, Mister Terrific, Batman, All-Star Western, Grifter, Suicide Squad, OMAC, Demon Knights, Resurrection Man) and didn’t care for any of them except All-Star Western.
Full disclosure, I am not and have never been a DC fan except for Jonah Hex and Warlord, but I have dropped virtually all the Marvel books and I figured it was a chance to try something new. None the books I read however were all that impressive. They were okay, but just that. The only one I liked was All-Star Western, which is no suprise as I had been reading Jonah Hex for some time before the relaunch.
Having no previous connection to the characters, the books didn’t make me want to form one.
Brandon,
Can I ask why you dropped all the Marvel books and which ones you did NOT drop and why?
Because they were not entertaining in the slightest.
Books I enjoyed became stale, with regurgitated plotlines and “surprises” any avid comic reader could see coming. For example, I used to read all of the Avengers books, until they became formulaic. They seemed like a chore to read, more than a pleasure. I still read Avengers Academy, but the teen angst is starting to wear on me now, as well.
Marvel’s books also frequently seem like vehicles simply to get yet another book with X hot character on the stands. A good example was the newest Moon Knight book, which I was very much looking forward to (I am a big Moon Knight fan). The first issue seemed more like a “Hey, it’s Wolverine, Spidey and Captain America guest-starring time!” book than a Moon Knight book.
Lastly, their many, many, many events just piss me off. I don’t want to have to buy 8 limited series and 30 one-shots to read an entire story nor do I want to buy issues from a half dozen series I don’t normally read to read a story that started in a book I do.
The Marvel books I still read are:
Punisher MAX, because Jason Aaron is telling one of the most realistic Punisher stories ever, and Steve Dillon is one of my favorite artists.
Avengers Academy, because I like the idea of young superhumans trying to figure out their place in the world (it has the same feel, to me, as the very early X-Men books).
Deadpool, because it’s frequently hilarious and Daniel Way is one of my favorite writers.
And Thunderbolts, but admittedly that has more to do with the fact that I’ve been reading it since issue 1 than any other factor. It’s good, but doesn’t blow me away.
You, my friend are a hard task master.
I’m going to check out Avengers Academy now. I had no desire to do so until you wrote your reason for liking the book so now I’m interested.
Thanks for taking the time to respond in such detail.