The New 52 #1's... your thoughts?

[VintageMike]

Haven't read Catwoman yet this all seems pretty obvious to me. The "new" DC is aimed to get "new" readers. New being college kids and people in their 20's
I'm sure they think "raging hormones". That's what they are shooting for. Honestly as adult reader this stuff does not bother me. Because we grew up as with many of these characters as kids I think there is a tendency to put them on some kind of purity pedestal. As long as as plausible for the character (which I think it is for these two)
and it's only a few pages of the book it's fine. Add to the fact these are not straight "good guy" books but characters in a gray area and it seems a good place to do it.
My only caveat is there should be enough diversity in the books to go around. Have some with some without.
Finally we have to remember "our" versions of the characters have now been safely tucked away. These are new versions with new traits.

[The Toyroom]

I'm sure when Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman back in the 30s as a Creature of the Night Avenger they always envisioned long-term when he'd be knocking boots with Catwoman...

[samurainoir]

[The Toyroom]

^ Classic Perez!

[BlackKnight]

I Finally got around to getting a few of these books today ...

So far I've only read a few of them ...

Batgirl }

Strong Book, Very Strong Opening imo. This book will shine with Simone . I wasn't too crazy about the suit ..., I like my Babs with Blue&Grey ... but I'll deal with it.

Red Hood & The OutLaws }

I really liked this book too . Jason Todd and Roy Harper make a Fun pair ofwhich could rival Lawton & Blake . Fun Stuff for me, Perhaps this is my New Secret Six book.

I read my 3 Lantern Guy books too. ... I still have Batman & JLI TO read. So far all my picks are keepers ... Looking forward to Aquaman & Firestorm next week.

You know we all come here to a Message board, and many of them on the net ..., and ***** about this new direction , Suits and whatever. But I was talking to my LCG Today, and a couple of other retailers, ..., and this stuff is huge right now. More people are buying , and have come back to buying, than The Bitter Quiter's out there.

[thunderbolt]

Its big because its the flavor of the month, see if it holds up for 6 months to a year.

[The Toyroom]

^ Right, a lot of these books won't maintain their readers after the initial fuss...

[ctc]

>I think the key there is "sometimes physically".

....with the caveat "many people." It's the sort of plausible deniability that's always bothered me about DC and Marvel.... if you think about it, BOTH of us are right. Or rather, COULD be; depending on how we want to look at it.

I grew up with the undergrounds, and a lot of the books I like have caught HUGE amounts of flak for blatant portrayals of sex and violence, and that's what's appealed to me about them; not 'cos of the shock value or titilation; but because you don't have this sort of ambiguity. It happened or it didnt, and you deal with it. You HAVE to deal with it.... it's right there! And one way or another, they WOULD deal with it in the book. Hence why I refer to it as more honest than this sort of thing.

Now; to me, the NEW panels aren't that different. They're painted with the modern "GRRR!!!! ANGRY!!!" kind of brush, but the core is still there. "Tamaranians don't feel the need to edit emotionally and don't feel self concious about expressing said feelings." (Except when they Wolverine out in a battle rage, or their free and expressive society makes 'em choke back said feelings as part of an arranged marriage.... but that sort of thing plays back to the "....and they never really deal with the issue...." problem I mentioned.) While there's less ambiguity to the new stuff, I suspect that it's another non-issue; that these sort of wacky hyjinx will pop up whenever the plot slows, and go away when the become incionvenient.... such as when the "but; I've ALWAYS loved you" storyling rears it's inevitable head.

>see if it holds up for 6 months to a year

Yeah, but like I mentined before; I think that IS the plan. By the time the novelty starts to wear they'll be hyping the NEXT reboot.

>I'm sure when Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman back in the 30s as a Creature of the Night Avenger they always envisioned long-term when he'd be knocking boots with Catwoman...

Nah; he was too busy dropping people to their death.

Don C.

[boynightwing]

I enjoyed Nightwing #1. Glad he's Nightwing again.
Batman and Robin #1 surprised me. Enjoyed that too.
Batman #1 I've read twice now. Not only because of Greg Capullo's art, but the story was good as well. Great cliff hanger!
Catwoman was more adult then I would have thought but I still enjoyed it.
Birds of Prey wasn't bad either.

[Earth 2 Chris]

>I think the key there is "sometimes physically".

....with the caveat "many people." It's the sort of plausible deniability that's always bothered me about DC and Marvel.... if you think about it, BOTH of us are right. Or rather, COULD be; depending on how we want to look at it.

Well, unless Kory was off sleeping with everyone off panel, I just don't interpret it that way. She's featured in a book with two male leads and is ready to sleep with both. She shared a book with at least 4 male leads for years, and only had sex with one. And besides, if she was going to just sleep with random people and not care who it was, she would have made poor Changeling/Beast Boy a man by NTT#2. The poor kid begged for it practically every issue.

DC can do what they want with the characters. They own them. But I don't have to agree with what they do with them, and I don't have to buy it, or buy into it. And I won't.

I'm just going to keep my mouth shut about this from now on. It's clear many of you are enjoying this new approach, and that is your right.

Chris

[boynightwing]

Anyone read All-Star Western? I wasn't going to get it at first but now I'm glad I did! Amazing read!

[Riffster]

i missed it, I want to read it though

[samurainoir]

Taking a step back to look at everything overall in the relaunch, there really isn't anything new or original or unique in the line-up. Malibu Stacy simply has a new hat, which I think speaks to the fact that the biggest changes are cosmetic and the biggest complaints are around bad writing or art. Which again is nothing new. It's not a bad thing unto itself if you are just a superhero fan, and I'm certainly one myself.

For me the biggest shame in all of this focus on the superhero revamp is the fact that Wildstorm has ceased to exist and Vertigo has been down sized. Which really lessens the true venues of diverse content from the DC corporate entity.

In this climate, what would be the chances that American Splendor would have been picked up, let alone been given the opportunities to have graphic novels published by the company with the best track record for promoting and getting those books into the hands of readers?

After Archie Goodwin jumped from Epic, Marvel has never really been interested in breaking new material and readership ground like that (for very long at least).

So what are the chances that an OGN like BK Vaughn's Pride of Baghdad is given a shot by Didio and co in this climate? Let alone any promotional consideration if it does slip in? Or Road to Perdition, or History of Violence, just to name a couple of others where the "corporate synergy" was badly fumbled in the wake of two successful film adaptations.

Do the DC Powers That Be really have the instincts to nurture slow burn sleeper hits like Sandman or Fables? Because that was where th real breakthroughs in female readership at DC came from, and that kind of material seems scarcer. Hopefully, despite Didio's new oversight of Karen Berger's former Vertigo kingdom, things like Preacher or Transmetropolitan or Y the Last Man are still possible and given the chance to find their creative legs and readership audience.

[wyatterb]

I finished reading Teen Titans last night and I really enjoyed it. I'm interested in seeing what they do with some of the origins of the established characters.

[VintageMike]

Found my first two "not picking up the second issue" with Justice League Dark and Firestorm. Picked up Batwomen due to the rave reviews but will also not be continuing with that. On the other side liked Superman & Batman: The Dark Knight. Wonder Woman is borderline but I'll pick up issue #2.