DC's New 52 Titles: One Fan's Opinion

[thunderbolt]

I gotta tell you, I'd never buy something called Prince of Tennis.

[VintageMike]

Personally I think they're beating a Dead horse......and just haven't come to full terms that comics just don't sell like they used

I'm willing to give some titles a shot but I agree. It's a difficult thing for companies to come to terms with but it's 100% true. The sad part is if this doesn;t work all they've done is shrink their audience further. I'm sure they are others that feel like Rich that will do like wise.

[ctc]

>I'd never buy something called Prince of Tennis.

I wouldn't either; and I've read a few chapters.... but enough people would to warrant 42+ collected albums. (At 250-300 pages each; which is like 420+ issues of a regular comic.) At that point you gotta consider maybe it's time to try something genuinely different. (Rather than retreat back to the 80's/90's.) I know DC has a brand image to keep up, but I wonder.... what if they went the "Touchstone" route; with a new branch that dealt with different material, like comedies, kids books, soap operas.... whatever. And they DIDN'T strain to make everyone know it was part of DC proper.

Don C.

[jimbutsu]

I would probably have still bought Superman and Action since I have unbroken runs going back to the 10 cent era but if they are starting everything over it seems like a good place to STOP too.

This is where I am as well. I've got GL going back to Showcase 22, and 30+ years of Bat-books unbroken (can't quite claim the 10 cent era unbroken, but you get the idea), but I just don't know. This really feels more like a jumping *off* point than a jumping *on* point.

I'm struggling with this one. Dropping all this stuff and reinvesting the time, money, and cubic footage in something else would be pretty much life-changing after doing this for decades.

[BlackKnight]

I just rolled with ...

The 4 Green Lantern books
Firestorm
Aquaman
Batgirl
Jurgens' Green Arrow .
& Finch's Batman ... if it comes out, and when. I like the 1st 2 issues.


The More I think about this ....
The more I think I need to just boycott This nonsense..., Like I did with Dick as Batman, and all them titles... WW's New Direction ... ... I just can't support this.. , and anything that's got a weirdo costume.

[johnnystorm]

Went with Simone's BATGIRL, BIRDS OF PREY, the GL books, Aquaman, & Ressurection Man. Might give Deadman, Jonah Hex, & Frankenstein a try.

I jumped off most of the Bat books wayyyy back when they did NO Man's Land, so nothing there to interest me any more. Ditto Superman titles.

I love the original Blackhawks, so seeing them advertised as "killiing the bad guys before they kill you" turned me off that title right away. I'm afraid Lady Blackhawk is gone from continuity now, she was my favorite member of the BOP. Always had hopes foe a DC Direct mini-bust or styatue of her & the Birds, or an action figure line. But DC Direct is too busy anymore redoing the same 5 or 6 characters in each event lineup they do.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I'm struggling with this one. Dropping all this stuff and reinvesting the time, money, and cubic footage in something else would be pretty much life-changing after doing this for decades.

I hear ya. I did this a few years back. I agonized over it for months before finally caving in and doing it, but after I did, I felt great. Helped out our budget quite a bit, and freed up some "fun money" for toys.

I now just buy what I want, and pick up mostly TPBs.

Chris

[boynightwing]

I'm pretty much ready to quit.

As it is I'll start with Batgirl. Birds of Prey (which at the moment is the best book I read every month and it's a shame they're messing that up), Nightwing (no brainer for me), Suicide Squad (because I just found out Harley is in it), Firestorm, and maybe Aquaman (because everyone here seems to have high hopes for him).

I'm going to boycott the Superman stuff. After reading an article about how DC is trying to write out the character as he was created by Siegel and Shuster, I came to the conclusion that that effectively KILLS Superman for good. We shouldn't be supporting that. He may be a fictional character but he's my friend. I grew up following his example as a role model. It makes me sad they want to destroy that in order to save a few dollars that are owed to the family of the creators.

[Blue Meanie]

I've been out of monthly books for a few years now, but I can honestly say NOTHING that has been solicited will motivate me to enter a comic shop.

I think DC has made a horrible tactical error with this relaunch. They have alienated the few diehard fans they had left, and are relying on nostalgia for two different comic companies (90s Marvel and early Image) to save them and attract new readers. I got news for you, DC isn't Marvel, the JLA isn't the X-Men, and most Image comics from the early 90s are best used as bird cage liners.

AMEN!!! Brother. WOW, I didn't think that DC could total F up there company...but they just did. There is absolutely NOTHING on that list that would make me want to buy there books. At least I can finish my collection on some of the titles that will end in August/September and TRULY be done with new books for good. I would like to thank both DC and Marvel for making my decision to stop collecting new releases so simple and easy. Now let's start concentrating on filling holes in the Golden, Silver, and Bronze ages of our collections.

RIP DC and Marvel Comics

[Earth 2 Chris]

Joe Slab over at the Aquaman Shrine brought up a point I hadn't thought of before: This new push of titles is a lot like the infamous DC Explosion. Now Joe's take is actually pretty positive, but I'm reminded of how that push ended. Add in all of the random changes inflicted on the characters, underwhelming creative teams (for the most part) and I think we may have DC Implosion 2.0.

The Aquaman Shrine: Guest Post by Joe Slab - What's In A #1?

Chris

[jimbutsu]

Having worked for (and as I currently work for) big, big multibillion dollar companies, this smells like a company in trouble more than anything else. My take and my take only- others may disagree and time could prove me totally wrong, but TWC is looking at this from a bottom-line standpoint. DC might be profitable, but the printed matter part of the business isn't making TWC nearly as much money as whatever money they're spending on it could be making them if they had it invested somewhere else.

The real money is in the character licensing and brand equity, which has probably done a lot to save monthly comics. Continuous publication is a great way to make sure that your intellectual property remains yours, and that seems to be where DC/TWC is going with this. The redesigns and the selection of characters all smack of trying to develop "fresh" takes on marketable properties - it's just as telling looking at who didn't make the cut in the reboot as who did - and the model of reinventing the characters and universe for movies, TV Shows, etc. is now being applied to the comics.

This isn't about DC Comics anymore- they're just a necessary evil to keep Time Warner's IP cash cow locked up. The comics are incidental and probably in trouble, especially if online publishing gets to the same point that print has in terms of securing copyright or IP claims. The comics guys are clutching at straws.

Just my take. I kind of want to be wrong, but I think that's what's happening.

[Earth 2 Chris]

It's a valid opinion. I think you may be right. Some of the creators seem to back up the desperation angle.

I had a thought that maybe this was a "New Coke" type deal, where DC will make us appreciate the old DCU by replacing it with inferior product, and we'll demand our old DCU back, but I don't think that is the case here. Of course, if all this blows up and WB doesn't force DC to cease publication, they could pull the ripcord and SAY this was the idea all along, but I don't think so.

Chris

[madmarva]

The only part of this that upsets me is the redesign of Superman's costume, but very little of it excites me either.

DC is really wanting to have its cake and eat it too, but going halfway with the reboot. Their Batman and Green Lantern lines are doing well, so they don't want to mess with that, but everything else gets retooled to varying degrees.

For this to really work, DC should reboot everything. Start the whole mess over from scratch or possibly use the first 6 issues to set a loose back history for character that are more established.

I think it would be interesting to read a book where Batman and Gordan were antagonists, who over time develop a grudging respect for each other.

Or a Superman book where he has no idea about Krypton or who or where he got his powers. He could also be wanted, but despite the danger of getting caught, he still battle for truth, justice and the American way.

What about Aquaman as a terror of the 7 Seas, combating whoever plunders the Ocean or messes with its ecosystem.

Maybe the Justice League is formed to give the heroes a little extra protection as well as a place to let their hair down.

Maybe Booster Gold's JLI group are the time stream cops.

I'd like to see a Teen Titans with Dick, Wally et al, but I don't really see Starfire working with Jason Todd in this new Universe.

I agree with a lot of you. I think many of these titles will end up being miniseries, and I'm sure a lot of the changes in Superman are in case DC loses some of the rights to early ideas with the character.

I'll start off reading the books that match my interests — Superman, Batman, GL, JL, Aquaman and Flash, and I'll look over the other titles to see if they look interesting.

I honestly don't think this is going to attract a lot of new reader, but we'll see.

[jwyblejr]

I'd like to know whatever happened to "If it ain't broke,don't fix it"? More and more,it seems like both Marvel and DC keep ignoring that.

[The Toyroom]

The more I read about this, the more disgusted I get...

For example, I know it's a small minor trivial point to some but to me the ORIGINAL founding members of the JLA should ALWAYS be Superman, Batman, GL, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter.

Now I've only read solicitations and I'm obviously reading between the lines but it seems to me that J'onn J'onzz is being replaced in the ORIGINAL line-up by someone else, and I'm assuming it's Cyborg.

To me this doesn't jive with what I expect out of the DCU and the JLA in particular. Even if J'onn isn't on the team in the present, he should always be there at the start when the origin is told...Not Cyborg, Not Blue Beetle or anybody else.

To me it's a slap in the face to everything we've read before. I understand that many of the old stories are quaint and don't really have the same hook that today's stuff supposedly does. But I think it's the task of a good writer to take those seminal tales and put a decidely modern spin on it.

The JLA can still unite fighting the Appellax alien invasion, just modernize it and up the ante a bit. Don't throw it aside and come up with something completely different.

Again, I'm just reading between the lines and assuming so I hope I'm proven wrong. But it's these little things here and little things there that are mounting up to tell me as a reader that the stories I want to read and the characters I want to care about are no longer going to be available to me in a modern day setting in the DCU.

I'm starting to feel like someone who is still capable of doing a good job at work but is being hastily forced in to an early retirement because there's some young kid (or a younger reading market ) that management thinks can do my job better and flashier. But when that young kid quits and moves on to something else, don't expect me to come back to work for you after you screwed me over. I'm retired...