The Return of "Adventure Comics"

[The Toyroom]

I agree there...Booster Gold is one of DC's best titles right now... I enjoy it very much.
And why is it good? I dunno...classic character guest-stars like Batgirl, Elongated Man, Jonah Hex, Blue Beetle...classic villains presented in a classic villain style...good story by Dan Jurgens and great art by Ordway... no gore or death...you know, all the things that Dan DiDio DOESN'T DO in other DC books. And I guess it's selling well...does at my local shop.

Oh, and word balloons on the covers. God, I missed that...it's something you never realized was gone until they started doing it again here & there and you think "That's an odd cover!" .

Very true..."Booster Gold" breaks a LOT if not MOST of the conventions currently found in DC comics....basically to sum it up in two words..."It's GOOD!"

[johnnystorm]

I didn't mean to imply those were bad books- I was one of the 14 people in America buying Manhunter. And I liked the Atom somewhat- would have liked Ray Palmer in the role more.
And you're right- if they had given it to Geoff Johns to revitalize like he did GL & Hawkman, it would have sold better. Hawkman was great until Johns left, then it was ok under Palmiotti, then the year one Hawkgirl debacle killed the book. And The Atom as written by Gail Simone was good, it just wasn't THE Atom. Same with Blue Beetle (and by the way, I love the costume- but it would have been just as cool if Ted Kord was wearing it. Oh,and BB was an excellent character on the opening Brave & Bold cartoon! Why can't DC Comics be as well done as DC cartoons like B&B and JLU?)

Why not just create another hero instead of forcing the titles out there by editorial mandate to diversify the DC Universe. Great plan that was, how's that workin' for ya now Danny? Most of those books have tanked already, and Blue Beetle has appeared more in the DC Universe by being dead than he ever did in the few years previous to his murder!

Although I really liked the 1980s Justice League, that book totally ruined Blue Beetle as a character by making him such a goof. Booster Gold has been able to play up that aspect for the new series by making it the twist (Booster's a great hero who acts the doofus).

[thunderbolt]

^ I betcha though if Geoff Johns took on the Atom the way he's taken on Green Lantern and is going to tackle the Flash soon, we'd all be lovin' it. Especially if he cranks up the scientific aspect like he's going to with Barry Allen as a forensic scientist. Throw in some Chronos, Dr. Light (drop the whole serial rapist BS!) and return the Floronic Man to the old creepy version (i.e. NOT anything remotely similar to the Floro character from "Millennium") and DC would have a hit.

The rehashed GL and possibly Flash do nothing for me. I really wish they'd leave Barry dead. Its was the one comic death that was sticking. Wally had come into his own as the Flash, now they are taking two or three steps back. If I want to read about these guys, give me a DC Archives.

[Sandlantern]

I'd like to see The Golden Age Sandman back as one of the stars in the new Adventure Comics.

[The Toyroom]

And you're right- if they had given it to Geoff Johns to revitalize like he did GL & Hawkman, it would have sold better. Hawkman was great until Johns left, then it was ok under Palmiotti, then the year one Hawkgirl debacle killed the book.

You're right. I dropped the book when it became "Hawkgirl". Yet another example of the failed "One Year Later" experiments...

[Sandlantern]

S'funny...I kinda felt that they dropped the ball by not sticking to one "past life" especially the Egyptian motif/legends/etc. instead of going through 25 different ones.

I thought that would have made a more cohesive visual appeal, and storyline-wise as well.

[johnnystorm]

Oh, I didn't mind the reincarnation bit...actually thought it was kinda neat to have the Western Heroes Nighthawk & Cinnamon be incarnations. I think Hawkman works best as the Egyptian mystical character as opposed to the sci-fi space cop. Apparently DC doesn't agree, as the recent Special tries to do away with the Egypt origin in favor of the incoherent Thanagarian versions (btw, since when are there all these alien races on Rann & Thanagar like Lizard people etc. Did I miss something or did DC just screw up things again?).

Really disliked the year one Hawkgirl book. Expected better writing from Walt Simonson and I'm NOT a fan of Pervy Chaykin. Is it at all possible for Chaykin to draw a comic and NOT show a woman in her underwear? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Good Girl Art, but c'mon! Every single issue required HG's top to be torn off? Was that in the script?
I'm just really surprised there wasn't a scene with Hawkgirl on her knees under the desk, that bit usually makes it into every Chaykin book.

[thunderbolt]

So Starlin and Chaykin are crapping all over Robinson's and John's work to straighten out Hawkman? I really liked that one, it made the most sense and fixed most of the continuity problems with Hawkman.

[johnnystorm]

Yeah, it's part of that Rann-Thanagar Holy War mess they're running. I picked up the Hawkman & Adam Strange Specials out of a sale bin at a local shop. There's something about them being messed up in time and space, and there's another one of those Jim Starlin "Powerful Universe-Transforming Cosmic Entities" that are pretty much interchangeable in whatever story he's doing(and have been since the Adam Warlock days). No spoilers for anyone who cares, but they pretty much trashed the Johns origin revamp (because of course, Hawkman doesn't sell unless you redo his origin and start over at #1 again).

Basically I get the impression that Starlin doesn't understand continuity or just doesn't care. Just like the Death of the New Gods series he did (that DiDio tossed out of continuity in the first issue of Final Crisis a week after the mini wrapped up). In an early interview about the series he states something to the effect that he never understood the New Gods concept and they were pretty lame anyway so he was glad to kill them off.
Yeah, that Jack Kirby and his lame concepts, still helping keep fed almost the entire staffs of DC & Marvel

[The Toyroom]

I bought the Hawkman and Adam Strange Specials and they were interesting reads IF you weren't aware of the nice job that Robinson and Johns had done on fixing Hawkman's continuity messes. But since I really enjoyed "Hawkman" until he (the title) became "Hawkgirl", I thought the specials were a complete waste of time and money...not what I recently spent but what I invested during the Robinson/Johns run. To crap all over something so RECENT AND GOOD is completely unnecessary.

The problem is DiDio THINKS that there are things wrong with characters like Hawkman, Aquaman, the Atom, etc.....that's why the constant continuity fixes/reboots/circle jerks etc. It took DC 50-something years to reach the first "Crisis on Infinite Earths"...now one happens like every 5 minutes...

Oops! There goes another one again!

[thunderbolt]

Just wipe out all the continuity and reset it to New Frontier earth and fire Didio and hand the reigns to Darwyn Cooke. BTW, looks like Didio patched things up with Robinson and managed to step on Mark Waid's toes at the same time. When Robinson was off the Superman book, they offerd the job to Waid. Now Robinson is back and Waid is getting sweet talked by DC into staying there to do something else.

[The Toyroom]

They could use Waid....just as long as they don't mess with his stuff or contridict it after he writes it ...as seems to be status quo lately

[jemboy2004]

I do like the way Supergirl has been going since issue 34 but FC has been OK and I've only bought a few books in the series and looked over most of them.

I used to love Adventure Comics. It will be cool to see it return.

[johnnystorm]

Just wipe out all the continuity and reset it to New Frontier earth and fire Didio and hand the reigns to Darwyn Cooke. BTW, looks like Didio patched things up with Robinson and managed to step on Mark Waid's toes at the same time. When Robinson was off the Superman book, they offerd the job to Waid. Now Robinson is back and Waid is getting sweet talked by DC into staying there to do something else.

The problem isn't the continuity, the problem is DiDio changes his mind too much and too fast. The revamped Hawkman origin was great, it wrapped up everything neatly, and progessed. Couple years later, we're revamping it again- and not because it needed it, but to fit into some convoluted mini-series that will be forgotten within a year.

How about Countdown- in issue #1 Mary Marvel is homeless, penniless, living on the street. After a jaunt through time & space they sent her home to fight Darkseid- IN HER FURNISHED APARTMENT. Poor editing!

Look at the Superman books- suddenly Clark is the movie version of Clark instead of the character we've had since the Byrne reboot. Poor editing!

Wonder Woman- how about the issues where she doesn't know how to pump gas or order coffeee since she's not from "man's world" except for being here for umpteen years. Poor editing!

It gets ridiculous watching how DiDio's lack of editorial sense will screw up some other story. Paul Levitz does nothing to rein this guy in. My belief truly is that they see the comic book as on it's way out and they're biding time, collecting all the money they can out of these event books, until the medium has been pillaged of all it's good for and abandoned to rot. Once the comic book movies turn and start losing money, when they can't sell those anymore, you'll see this whole thing disappear.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ The problem is continuity when its goofed up so bad by heavy handed editorial. My point is get rid of Didio who obviously does not give a rats hinder about it, and really hates anything lighthearted. Get some one who knows the DCu like the back of his hand and loves every goofy bit of it and put him/her in charge. I would love a DCU run by Cooke, Bruce Timm, Johns, Robinson or Waid.