So, DC is finished with their week of announcements for 2010. I figured I should jot down some of my thoughts.
Earth One OGN Series: I like the concept, but I’m not particularly interested in the Superman or Batman books. I’m mildly curious about how JMS will approach Superman, but my real interest is in what happens when it expands beyond Superman and Batman. Give me a series of Flash graphic novels and I’m there. More thoughts on the concept and the name.
War of the Supermen: Sorry, I can’t get enthused about this one.
Wonder Woman #600: While numbering is trivial compared to story and art, there are very few characters who have been in near-continuous publication for the last 70 years. It’s nice to acknowledge that.
Of course, then there’s the question of how The Flash should be numbered, considering that they’ve relaunched several times with new characters.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne: I was kind of hoping they’d take a little more time with Dick Grayson as Batman before bringing back Bruce, but they seem to be treating it like the Death of Superman, Knightfall, or Artemis as Wonder Woman. (And yet somehow, today’s readers detest the 1990s. I don’t get it.) Still, Batman lost in time sounds like fun. I’ll probably pick this one up, though I might wait for the trade.
Marc Guggenheim on Action Comics: I think he made the best of a bad situation on Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, given that he was brought on board to do one thing: kill Bart Allen.
Francis Manapul & Geoff Johns on Flash: No really new info here, but I’m definitely liking Manapul’s art. (Covered here.) Overall, I’m still in wait-and-see mode. I had hoped to have a better sense of what The Flash post-Rebirth was going to look like by now, or that Flash: Rebirth itself might have won me over.
Legacies, History of the DCU, and Who’s Who: If they had only announced one of these three, I’d definitely be getting it. With three, I’m not sure…especially since Legacies is going to be 10 issues (the initial post only said 7) and Who’s Who will be 15 (the initial post only said 12). Though it’s not clear whether The History of the DC Universe will be a new book or simply a “new edition” (i.e. reprint). Legacies looks like it could be very interesting, as long as it doesn’t get too hung up on explaining things. If I could only choose one, I’d probably get Who’s Who and pick up the issues of Legacies that cover the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era.
The Rise of Arsenal and The Fall of Green Arrow: I’m sure there’s an audience for this out there, but it’s not me. It looks like everything I don’t like about today’s DC in one place. At least it’ll be easy to avoid.
So, there you have it: My take on the DCU in 2010. How about you? Which projects do you find appealing?
Flash comics aside, I am most looking forward to the Earth One books (JMS and Davies Superman in particular). Also looking forward to the War of the Supermen as I’m really enjoying World of New Krypton. I really don’t like the J.G. Jones cover (or his work in general) to the Free Comic Book Day issue though.
Guggenheim writing is not my cup of tea as I have stated before in past posts, but I like Action Comics. So I am not dropping Action Comics as long as the big interconnected storylines continue in the Superman titles.
Green Arrow has been bad lately, not due to the marriage though, but JT Krul might bring something interesting to the characters of Roy and Ollie.
Legacies and History and Who’s Who’s are not interesting to me, except maybe in trades.
Flash I always keep on my pull even when I don’t like something about it, such as Barry’s Retconned origin.
Wonder Woman, I am okay with.
War of the Supermen, Ok with except for the addition of Guggenheim.
Earth One is just First Wave/All Star/Elseworlds rebooted again, It doesn’t take place in the main DC Universe, so I am fine with any ideas that happen in it, I might even buy them.
I have to admit theyre kind of boring ideas to me.
Earth One- Not too shabby but its still something i’d avoid or wait to pick up the trade for.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne- Saw it coming but why so damn soon? Dick Graysons is carrying the book magnificently and honestly its more interesting than Bruce Wayne had been before the change. I can see how a Wally West fan could be just down right pissed off now, because Bruce is coming back to cast the long, drawn out shadow of the bat all over everything good thats happened since he “died.” Then its most likely going to cost you $4 a month to figure out how he gets back.
Superman:War of the Supermen- Not a bad direction for the book, I mean we all saw it coming but it doesnt feel forced. It feels like we’ll get lots of attractive art and epic battle scenes!
The rest falls into the don’t care category. They lack a certain appeal that would make me want to even look into them. I would hate if Ollie would die, it just doesnt make sense to me to keep the bloodbaths going anymore.
I hate to but do this: Maybe their books will be a double feature, starring two Batman’s. Also the Bat bruce saw when he decided to become Batman was really himself after Darkseid killed him…lol
Two versions of Batmans isn’t new, but two versions of Batman on the main dc earth is new and cool.
I’ve been screaming for a new ‘Whos Who’ for years!
Of course I’m excited about Flash: Secret Files, but aside from that…
Well, I’ll read War of the Supermen for Mon El and the Espionage Squad’s role in it. And it may be pretty good.
I’ll read Geoff John’s Batman OGN, not because I particularly like Batman, but because I like Geoff Johns.
I’m thinking about picking up the Green Arrow books. It’s always an area I’ve wanted to start reading. Maybe I should just trade wait?
I’ll probably get Legacies, if only for the fact that there will probably be a Flash in every issue. Max Mercury, Johnny Quick, Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bart Allen. How could it not be about Flashes?
Although I thought Full Throttle was the best of all of the stories in Flash: Fastest Man Alive, I’m still kind of sore with Guggenheim for killing Bart Allen. I know, I know, someone would have done it, and done it worse, but it still doesn’t change the fact that he did it. Out of all of the comic book characters in all of comics, he was the one to kill my favorite…