Note: I wrote this about a month ago and because of scheduling problems (read: laziness) I never posted it. Issue 13 didn’t really change much about my feelings. They still treat Steve Trevor like crap, all of the characters are written strangely, if not poorly, and despite a fairly entertaining story, I find myself not caring at all about DC’s flagship title.

After a year’s worth of books, (the zero issue doesn’t really count because its about Captain Marvel/Shazam) I have a few of problems with this new version of the Justice League that Lee, Didio, Harras, and Johns have given us. The book is still fairly young, nearly in it’s adolescence in terms of comic bookery, I suppose, but when it’s their most popular book, the most important to the new 52, and they still manage to burn a few panels an issue making a dumb joke or referencing a Martian Manhunter fight that seemed painfully irrelevant and a wasted use of character, I feel that I have a foothold to complain. Don’t get me wrong, its been an entertaining book. Lee draws some damn pretty comic books, the first six issues were pretty damn solid as far as a team introduction, and the narrative hasn’t been lacking for action or effort, but there are still quite a few problems.

They’re still not a team:

I thought the entire idea behind starting Justice League 5 years in the past was to establish how they all met and became the League, but we find out that they still are immature and don’t really realize what their doing. Aquaman even says in issue 12 “It’s time to be the team they thought we were instead of the team we’ve been these last five years.” What was the point of introducing Darkseid if not to make them a team? What was the point in referencing Manhunter “testing” them if not to make them a team? You could have done this conflict in issue 6 and saved everyone a lot of forced drama. Apparently, at some point the league decided that Batman was in charge, cool, that’s fine, he’s the smartest one there so he should act as the general. However, how they’ve decided to portray everyone is completely contrary to this. The characters that are written in this book would not have voted for Batman to lead them now, let alone 5 years ago when they had just formed.

Wonder Woman + Superman:

I don’t know. It doesn’t really affect the story at all. It just was a very forced romance, and a very forced move. Like much of the “big events” in the new DCU, they’re trying to create sensation without building up a story at all.

The relationship between Batman/Superman and the world has always been one of good cop/bad cop and in this new universe it has become aloof cop/detached cop, completely negating the friendship and relationship that they had.

Superman works best as a character when he is that boy scout, when he is entirely alien and uncomfortably powerful but his soul and everything that drives him is more human than any other hero or character in the universe. He needs to have that attachment and desire to help his fellow man, because Superman was never the man, Superman was the mask that Clark Kent, the human, used to be a hero. Its something that has been explored in every great Superman story, its currently being explored alongside Justice League in Action Comics and even in the Superman main title, but that whole plot idea is ignored in this book.

Conversely, Batman has been written best when he is detached, driven, and possessed by his crusade. He is, at his core, oriented to the pursuit of justice to the point of self-destruction. He operates in shadows and removes himself from the world, wearing the mask of Bruce Wayne because he no longer identifies himself as properly human. Even the “family” that he surrounds himself with is kept at a great distance because affection is so unnatural to him. His desires and his purposes are higher, and it is an effort for him to put on a show of normal. Again, in counterpoint to Clark, Bruce is the mask that Batman uses to be “human”.

Superman and Batman’s friendship was compelling because Superman was the boy scout who knew without a doubt that Batman, a man who fought using fear as a weapon could be trusted implicitly. Batman, on the other hand, knew that while Superman was an alien and powerful enough to destroy the world and everyone in it, he was the one person who would never do that because his entire being was so grounded in compassion and honesty. They both distrusted the rest of the league for various reasons, but they never truly doubted each others resolve to be good.

In this new version of the league, there is a shadow of that relationship. The DC powers-that-be have decided to maintain Batman and Superman’s friendship, but alter the individuals to the point where it doesn’t work anymore. Yes, we are missing 5 years of history that this new DC timeline has hopscotched for the sake of storytelling, but the league is very different. Superman isn’t the moral compass of the League, he examines everyone else, afraid to let them know him (except for Batman). Instead, Batman has become that morality, the humanity of the team. Their roles have been reversed, or at the very least both steadily pulled into the intervening gray area between their once polar characteristics in a massive divergence of each character’s core conception.

The rest of the league is largely there as space filler:

In a complete relaunch, there could have been a massive move made to restructure the social power of each of the characters, but they have all nearly become the least compelling and least effective versions that they could be. (These are not my opinion of a perfect character, but just ideas that might have at least given some variance to the old model).

Cyborg:

Cyborg was great when he was a member of Teen Titans, but he’s never been a particularly compelling character on his own. I’m still not sure why they chose him to be in the league or what role he’s intended to play but I haven’t seen really anything of significance from him yet. There are plenty of roles that he could have played within the league: he could have been the voice of youth, acting as a conduit for introduction and explanation, or he could have been the moral compass when the others are jaded and overconfident. Instead he receives a watered down version of Superman’s regular story where he is struggling with his humanity. They could have even taken his machine nature a bit further, trying some legitimately interesting scientific concepts (that Marvel is doing quite well all of the time these days) making his consciousness digitally transferable, commenting on his nearly infinite processing ability which would make him think and analyze battle faster than the Flash, or giving him the ability to create, interface directly, and/or control any number of machines with his incredible knowledge. That would have been at least interesting, but he just coldly makes remarks about being relatively omnipotent and proceeds to be surprised/defeated by a sadness monster.

I really don’t understand why they expect anybody to care about Cyborg or his subplot when he is the only League member who doesn’t have his own book and therefore doesn’t have any of the back story necessary for any emotional connection.

Green Lantern:

Johns’ Green Lantern has been growing steadily more disappointing over the past few years. He took the spirit of Hal Jordan, the one that made a regular man worthy of the power of the ring and at every opportunity made him seem like a (for lack of a more accurate term) assbag. Hal was never encumbered by an overwhelming desire for planning, which was his greatest flaw, and he would rush into a situation without heed of why or what he was going to do, but he did so because the idea of sitting back and not taking action against an enemy was offensive to him. To Jordan, inaction was the greatest sin.

However, Johns has transformed that impetuousness and misdirected chivalry into a rampant egotism and suppressed self-loathing that makes Hal oppressively dislikable. They tried to redeem him in issue 12 and they might have succeeded if it wasn’t such a late effort. Hal takes on the “hero we deserve, not the one we need” mantle from The Dark Knight and takes the blame for the league in-fighting, but he does an insubstantial reason, with no allowance of discussion, and which makes no mention of the 4 other Earth-based Green Lanterns that already protect Earth and the sector.

Flash:

Flash, for the most part, has remained solid. I’m not a fan of them writing out Wally West, even though I see the logic behind the move on a creative level, but Barry Allen as an individual has remained very strong and has even improved through the reboot. The Barry/Iris relationship is gone and replaced tenuously by a Barry/Patty Spivot relationship which I guess makes just as much sense and affects the character on the same emotional level without having to bring in Wally, and he still cracks the same jokes and brings a good amount of sanity to the team. The character, though, is much more focused on the forensic analyst and detective this time around, which seems redundant for the league that has Batman, Cyborg as a techno-forensic-analyst, Superman as an investigative journalist, and Green Lantern who is also a galactic police officer (with whom he is friends for vague, unsubstantial reasons).

All of this is irrelevant, however, as for most of his page appearances he is relegated to the fast, funny guy for the team with the on-page depth of a potato, albeit a very quick potato.

Wonder Woman:

Possibly the most disappointing secondary member of the league, mostly because her appearances and role in the book have been used as a development tool for Steve Trevor. In the first few books, every character has their bad-ass first appearance moments, but then were all put backstage while Batman and Superman did all the hard thinking and had all of the interesting conversations. For a character that was raised on a magic island with an army of warrior women and who has fought with and against gods and other supernatural weirdos on the regular, you would think that her opinion would be more important. What happened to the Trinity?

It is fairly wonderful when the most powerful and significant female presence in the entire DC universe, possibly the most prominent female superhero in existence, and possibly the only prominent one that has been (at times) portrayed as a sexually ambivalent entity is, in the flagship book, completely viewed in relation to a man/men. And even when she leaves that man in issue 12 for almost entirely selfish reasons, she immediately moves on to Superman with whom there was extremely sparse relational history for no reason other than super-powered loneliness. She clearly has already experienced the events from her main title, because she knows that Zeus is her father, but she has also clearly forgotten everything that makes her character strong in that book. Johns doesn’t seem to know what to do with her, remembering her strength only when she needs to punch something and completely abandoning the character’s willingness to stand up to her entire nation, including a number of gods, for the sake of justice.

Steve Trevor:

Steve does only slightly better than Wonder Woman, having been given some fairly good character moments in his own right and already displaying more moral fortitude and strength than anyone in the actual league during the issues where he was captured/tortured. I actually care about this Steve Trevor who was nearly non-existent in the pre-reboot DCU. Fair play to Johns & Co. for writing him well, but they quickly rectified that good move by moving him to another book.

Aquaman:

DC almost fooled me. They almost made me believe that Aquaman was going to matter in the new DCU. Sure, in his individual book he is pretty awesome. He gets stuff done while bearing the weight of the entire world while everyone (including his former aqua-squad teammates) seems to dislike him. However, in this issue 12, which was widely advertised as “Aquaman steps up and takes charge” he gets berated and insulted by pretty much every single league member in the immediate area. Aquaman taking charge amounted to him putting his name in the hat for being the leader and being immediately and very patronizingly denied that opportunity. He seem to have been doing the superhero gig longer than anyone else in the league. He even has a dark past where he beat up ocean-themed enemies with a team of artifact-laden super pals. Cool. At every turn, Johns has consistently shown us that public opinion and even the opinion that the rest of the league has of him is still that of a joke while simultaneously Johns is trying to convince us that he is everything but. His joke-superhero reputation doesn’t seem to be based on anything but non-comic book preconceptions by the general public and the writers are doing nothing to try to change this by making jabs about talking to fish.

Aquaman has been seen as useless in past years because he has been written that way, he was never given the positive modern reworking that Batman, The Flash, or Wonder Woman was given (or attempted). Very few arcs in his nearly 72 year career have garnered significant acclaim and even great writers like Kurt Busiek and Peter David were only able to have minor revivals before experiencing sharp declines in quality. Instead of a proper story trying to re-imagine the character (its worked for Namor, it can work for Arthur Curry) he was given silly themed pets, a hook hand, and a beard. He doesn’t have that anymore. He’s interesting. He’s useful. They need to stop writing him as a burden and using him well.

Actually, my biggest problem in about Aquaman is that one man can create two very different versions of the same character, in the same universe, at the same time, and not seem to realize he’s doing it. New DCU Arthur Curry feels far too much like old DCU Hal Jordan. Maybe Johns is only good with one character model.

I get it. Batman and Superman are the most popular characters and are, in turn, going to get the best character moments and do the coolest things, but after 12 issues of the league standing around and talking about how awesome they all are, the most significant things anyone else has done is to watch admiringly at Bats & Supes, saying “Look how good he thinks!” or “Look how hard he can punch!” while fighting secondary baddies.

Have I mentioned that I hate that Superman doesn’t walk anymore?

The future of the series:

The hints at the end of issue 12 don’t leave me much hope for the book to improve.

• Amanda Waller might be my least favorite character in all of DC Comics. She is an entirely unlikable version of Nick Fury who operates under the sole assumption that the best backup plan is to find a way to kill everyone that can actually help. Her appearance gives me only apprehension.
• Apparently Gary Frank is taking over drawing duties until David Finch steps in, or at least that’s what it looks like. I should really read the news more.
• Wonder Woman and the rest of the league, if not written poorly, should never have a problem subduing someone like Cheetah.
• Aquaman is going to decide to try to save the world on his own with the Atlanteans, or he’s just going to attack the world Namor-style because nobody will take him seriously.
• I’m slightly interested to see the proper introduction of Captain Marvel …Shazam into the universe but I haven’t liked how much of a little jerk that they’ve been writing Billy as.
• A dangerous JLA? I’m glad that Manhunter is being brought into the fold, And Hawkman and Green Arrow are always good parts of the team. I love Stargirl being in there, but I wonder at her role because she was drawn sans-cosmic staff. I can even understand putting Steve Trevor and the new Green Lantern Baz in there, but you don’t need Catwoman on this team, you don’t need Katana on this team and you certainly don’t need Goggles McCrouchstare (Vibe) over in the corner…wasn’t he dead a couple times.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

By the way, I call the Martian Manhunter fight irrelevant for a few reasons.

1. The flashback fight carries no importance, because we know that they beat him (kinda…at least they survive).
2. It would have been much better served as each of them meeting him separately, being beaten by him and them all having to fight him together later to realize that they need to work together. They could have actually used Manhunter as a Justice League proving ground.
3. The fight has no importance, because we know he’s not actually a bad guy (see: Stormwatch).
4. If it was a test by the Manhunter of the league’s preparedness to be the league, why would he only test them once?
5. Manhunter was always misused on the league because he was essentially a green Superman who could shapeshift. His main difference being one of the very few telepaths in the DCU. Instead of making him a villain, they could easily have changed up his power set and made him the watcher in the tower who coordinates their attacks. I don’t like an agressive, hostile J’onn J’onzz

All images were pulled through Google. None are my own scans of the comic.

My good friend and fellow DOOM writer Colin Hill has convinced me to record my voice once again. In this recording, we (he) apply our (his) vast TMNT knowledge to the rebooted and refreshed Ninja Turtles franchise. We give our impressions of the changes to the series’ origins and give our honest estimation of where its going to go. Please excuse the poor quality of conversation at the beginning because, despite both having quite a lot of podcasting experience, neither of us seemed to know what the hell we were doing on this one. This is unedited, despite me saying in the episode that I’m going to edit it…sue me, I’m lazy.

Many distractions and tangents will be experienced by you as we feel our way through the issue and try to keep a running narrative on what we should say. Hopefully, with practice, we can bring you more of these audio episodes to sate your need to hear Colin’s deep baritone vocals and my poor quality microphone.

Click here to download!

Yes, I’m going to comment on it too. It seemed a fitting thing to talk about in my return to the columning business. But I’m gonna talk a little controversy and say that this might be just what DC needs.

DC comics has had a less than stellar record over the past few years. Of their major heroes (Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Teen Titans, Red Robin, etc.) there are only a few that have consistently good books.

THE BUILDUP:

Superman and Wonder Woman went to hell with J. Michael Straczynski skipping his way down paycheck lane. The guy has written some damn good stories in the past, but John Cassaday has also drawn some damn good comics in the past and that hasn’t happened in a while.

Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps. lost my interest after Blackest Night when Johns pulled the “Wait, there’s another prophecy that I didn’t tell you about!” card. It will usually work in a book, but after a major event that was supposed to affect the entire DCU (which it didn’t) and more than 50 issuThes of hinting up to the Blackest Night events, I felt a bit annoyed that it was all nothing more than a stepping stone for Johns to tell the story he really wanted to tell in Brightest Day (which is one of the most disappointing things I’ve ever paid for) and Flashpoint (which I can’t bring myself to give a damn about).

The Flash, if you’ll remember, was one of my favorite books of last year. Johns and Manapul had created a beautiful little arc about Barry Allen figuring out where he stood in the world after the events of Final Crisis/Rebirth/Blackest Night and realigning himself with the life that he had before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. I’ve quite liked it up until The Reverse Flash appeared. For some reason or another, I’ve always disliked the character. Maybe its due to the fact that he hates Barry Allen even though he should hate Wally West. Maybe its because his origin story plays like a poorly written Dr. Who storyline (wibbledy-wobbledy timey-wimey). Or maybe its because his name is Professor Zoom. I don’t know, he’s just never worked for me. Also, they keep giving him new powers to make him interesting, which is just lazy writing.

Batman has gone through some pretty intense changes over these past few years and if anything about this whole reboot has me miffed, its that DC has decided that it doesn’t dislike all of the changes that have happened recently, just some of them. Its absolutely ok for Damian Wayne to be Robin, and for Jason Todd to be The Red Hood, but Barbara Gordon is back on her feet, Dick Grayson is Nightwing again, Tim Drake has goddamn wings, and Batman, Inc.? I have no idea if that is going to exist or be brushed under the table.

DC created a continuity that was suffering under the weight of its own complexities. After Final Crisis and Blackest Night, no one really knew exactly what was going on outside of each comics’ isolated world. How was the Batman affected by Brightest Day? Does Superman care about Batman, Inc.? Does Green Lantern have a say in Superman giving up his citizenship? Why doesn’t anyone help Green Lantern with his defense of the entire universe? I understand the need for a dramatic realignment of the DCU, and I understand that they are trying very hard to keep to their “No More Crisis Books” promise, but Flahpoint shouldn’t be treated as anything other than what it is…an excuse to etch-a-sketch the DCU without calling it a crisis.

THE BOOKS:

Its a task, but I’ve split the DCU relaunch into 3 parts. I’ll be going over each title, the creative team and the story if I can. I’ll give a rating of whether I’m going to buy it (DOOM!) pass for a later date (POSSIBLE DOOM!) or pass completely (NO DOOM FOR YOU!).

1. JLA #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and Cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS

I quite like some of the stuff Geoff Johns has done. I enjoyed the hell out of Green Lantern before Blackest Night happened. I even enjoyed The Flash with Francis Manapul and tolerated Brightest Day and so far Flashpoint has been ok. It has interesting ideas and, though its a bit messy, I like where its going. I have faith that with a bit of direction, this could be a great book. That being said, Jim Lee has been rather disappointing as of late. He hasn’t done any solid comic work for about a decade, his most recent work has been either covers (Invincible et. al), a few select pages (Image United, JLA, etc.), and the regrettable All-Star Batman & Robin. His art is still some pretty stuff to look at, but its well known that the man cannot keep to a schedule. I don’t see this book, with this team, reaching 10 issues.

In regards to the new costume designs and team, I’m mostly ok with it. Aquaman hasn’t looked better in years, The Flash, GL, and Wonder Woman costume updates are ok, Cyborg is still pretty much Cyborg, Superman is a bit young for my liking, but that might mean they’re moving him to less of a leadership role in the league and more towards an uncertain hero, which might mean great things or contrived things. Batman is still Batman, and I am eternally thankful for that. I don’t quite know if there are going to be any major character changes, but everything looks fairly solid and I’m looking forward to reading it despite any reservations I have.

Verdict: DOOM!

2. Action Comics #1
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art by RAGS MORALES and RICK BRYANT

I’ve had my issues in the past with Grant Morrison. He writes stories that are beautifully weaved through with mystery and subtle references that aren’t revealed until the final pages, he also writes stories that I (among others) find to be tedious and ostentatious. He can write brilliant stuff like Batman & Robin, or something that I just struggle through, like Final Crisis. Animal Man was brilliant (while riding that line of excessive preachiness that he straddles so much) but I still haven’t finished The Invisibles because of its overtones of Grant Morrison being better than you. I think Morrison will do a great job with this flagship title though. He’ll bring some creative writing that Superman has been missing for quite some time and he’s the perfect man to keep DC’s first comic going at the moment. Rags, I haven’t seen too much of, but that’s mostly because he hasn’t done much. I liked Infinite Crisis, I liked Identity Crisis, and his recent work on First Wave has been pretty damn good. I have no worries about the artist here.

I have no clue about what the story is going to be, the cover looks like an older Superman. The jeans are…eh, but I don’t worry too much about it, at least not as much as the picture from Zac Snyder’s Superman worried me.

Verdict: DOOM!

3. Superman #1
Written by GEORGE PEREZ
Art by JESUS MERINO

DC is showing a love for the artist-as-writer idea. I’m not sure how I feel about this. It might be Jim Lee’s influence as a top man at DC, more of DiDio’s madness as a top man at DC, or just general madness from everyone at DC, but its a strange choice to be sure. Perez is really an unknown as a writer. He draws a hell of a splash page and has drawn Superman at some of his finest moments, but I really don’t know how I feel about this one. Jesus Merino is a capable artist and while his exact style isn’t my favorite, I think he’ll draw the shit out of this if the book is going to be as visually oriented as I imagine.

The story hints at classic Superman stories far removed from the political madness we’ve seen recently and more of what should be in a Superman story: Superman beating up things that only he can beat up and being an all-around good guy.

Verdict: POSSIBLE DOOM!

4. Superboy #1
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL
Art by RB SILVA and ROB LEAN

Scott Lobdell isn’t a name you see much. Its not for any particular reason, he just hasn’t done much mainstream stuff as of late. His work is solid and sometimes pretty damn good and sometimes absolutely terrible. He’s an odd choice because he’s an unknown to a lot of the younger crowd of casual comic readers and I don’t like that he’s been given three books to write. If DC was going for new talent and an open call for writers and artists, you’d think they’d spread it around a bit more, but they’ve gone with some markedly odd choices for 60% of their books. I think he can do a good job on Superboy if he doesn’t get lost in Teen Titans and Red Hood & The Outlaws. RB Silva, though, is a pretty damn amazing artist and I’ve loved everything that I’ve seen of his.

The story: I don’t know. Its the same Superboy story that I’ve read 6 times already. Johns and Manapul did a fine job of covering this in 4 issues in Adventure Comics a year or so ago. I don’t know why we always need to see him struggling over his origin. Its great, but damn is it getting old. I’ve also heard rumors that this is one of two different Superboys that will be in the DCU, how that works, I don’t know, but it sounds awful.

Verdict: POSSIBLE DOOM!

5. Batman #1
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by GREG CAPULLO and JONATHAN GLAPION

I’m a huge Scott Snyder fan. I would pick this up based solely on his work on American Vampire, but his recent run on Detective Comics with Jock has been stellar and Gates of Gotham has been great. Capullo, I’m not overly excited about because I’m just not a big fan of Spawn. I prefer him to MacFarlane, but its always been very over-the-top and I haven’t seen much of him drawing a more subdued, understated character like I think Snyder will write.

I have no idea about the story, but this is one of the few that I think will essentially continue straight out of the previous DC continuity. They have done too much with Batman over the past two years that’s been good to want to just abandon it like they’re probably doing with Superman.

Verdict: DOOM!

6. Detective Comics #1
Written by TONY S. DANIEL
Art by TONY S. DANIEL and RYAN WINN

No. Just no. Tony Daniel writes boring stories. That’s just it. I haven’t really liked a thing that I’ve read of his and my reluctance towards this title is only compounded by the fact that he is writing and drawing it. I know that writer/artist is possible, but not at high quality and not on schedule. The same goes for David Finch. Daniel can draw a fair comic, and he’s done a good job of moving away from the Liefeld school of “Screw it, we’ll just add lines everywhere,” but its not at the point where he can do all the work on his own, stick to a schedule and make something that I want to read.

The story, hopefully, will continue where Snyder has left off and not go off on another Black Mask run that ends pretty much nowhere. The promo for the book uses the words “Ripper” and “game of cat and mouse”. I just am not excited about this.

Verdict: NO DOOM FOR YOU!

7. Batgirl #1
Written by GAIL SIMONE
Art by ARDIAN SYAF and VICENTE CIFUENTES

I love Gail Simone. Seriously. I might kidnap and marry her against her will. Secret Six has been a consistently amazing book, Birds of Prey has been great and her Wonder Woman was actually readable (which is a Herculean task). In regards to art, this book has the best named team I’ve seen in a long forever. Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes have both done some good work, I’m not entirely familiar with either, but what I’ve seen I liked (apart from a few odd proportion issues in some of Syaf’s work). I think this might go very well with these talented people working on the comic.

The story, however, I’m not very fond of. I don’t mind that Barbara Gordon is back on her feet, but I don’t like that DC won’t take a stand on The Killing Joke not being canon anymore. They’re using Flashpoint as saying that the world is coming back as Barry Allen mis-remembered it, and trying to have their Batgirl-cake, and eat it too. Another dislike is the dismissal of Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain, two great characters that have recently been shining in their comic appearances (Brown having only recently been revived) and are now being 86’ed by DC executives. I really want to like this one, but I think I’ll wait until someone else lets me know that it’s worth my money.

Verdict: POSSIBLE DOOM!

8. Batwoman #1
Written by J.H. WILLIAMS III and W. HADEN BLACKMAN
Art and Cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III

Damn J.H. Williams for being so talented. It would make it much easier for me to dismiss this book for the same reasons as Detective Comics and Batman: The Dark Knight if he was any less talented. I don’t have any idea how he will write this book, but at least he has the help of Blackman, who I know well from his Star Wars work. I think the team is solid enough to get it done, I just hope it doesn’t fall behind on schedule.

Again, I am unsure as to how the reboot will affect the story of the character. This book has been pushed back over a year, cancelled, uncancelled and then pushed back again so I have no idea where they’re going to start. There was a #0 issue released a while back but anything pre-reboot is not set in stone.I’ve waited long enough for this book, there’s no reason for me not to try it out after this much investment of hope.

Verdict: DOOM!

9. Catwoman #1
Written by JUDD WINICK
Art and Cover by GUILLEM MARCH

Oh, Judd, I wish you wrote a more consistent book. I was one of the few people who seemed to like your runs on Batman and I quite like your work on Power Girl and Green Arrow. I don’t know how you’re gonna handle Catwoman, but I assume that I’ll hear about it later and pick it up around issue 3. Guillem, I like your stuff, you draw pretty things and ladies that look soft. Keep it up.

I really have no idea what to think about this. I like the direction DC has been going with her recently, devoted to Batman, but still independent and absolutely willing to steal whatever she wants. Don’t know if that will stay, but I might check it out later rather than sooner.

Verdict: POSSIBLE DOOM!

10. Red Hood And The Outlaws #1
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL
Art and Cover by KENNETH ROCAFORT

Same reservations that I had for Superboy. Scott Lobdell is going to be overworked. Another downside to this book is that there is almost zero motivation for me to read it based on the idea. Rocafort, I’m unfamiliar with. From what I see that he’s done, it looks like a lot of cover work and a lot of drawings of intense-looking ladies.

I’m so very unaffected by this comic because I dislike the return of Jason Todd in the first place. He was Batman’s failure. He was the one that he couldn’t save. He hung over Bruce’s head and made him question himself in a way that nothing else really did. He reminded you that Joker was not a lovable prankster-villain, and if people don’t remember, he was killed off because the fans just. Did.Not. Like. Jason Todd. He was whiny and disrespectful and exactly the opposite of the kind of person that Dick Grayson was, just he had less of a reason to be unhappy than Dick. I never liked Jason as a character and I like The Red Hood even less. This book seems absolutely pointless to me other than for DC to have their magic number of comic books.

Verdict: NO DOOM FOR YOU!

11. Batwing #1
Written by JUDD WINICK
Art and Cover by BEN OLIVER

I’m not going to comment on Judd Winick again, I have the same complaints. Ben Oliver, I’m unfamiliar with, but he looks like he can draw a pretty good comic.

Batwing, is a bad idea. If you created a new hero to be DC’s watchman over Africa, great. However, by making him a Bat-hero, you’re reducing both him and the entire idea behind your Batman reboot. Batman Incorporate started because Bruce wanted Batman to be an idea, not just a single hero. That’s why he left Dick as Batman in Gotham while he went around the world doing crazy World-Batman things.Why not have a comic that follows all of these Batmen if you’re going to keep the idea of Batman Inc. alive? Why just focus on this one? Why not give a comic to El Gaucho or keep Knight and Squire in a book somewhere? This just seems like a forced idea and one that won’t last longer than a few trade paperbacks worth.

Verdict: NO DOOM FOR YOU!

12. Nightwing #1
Written by KYLE HIGGINS
Art and Cover by EDDY BARROWS and JP MAYER

I like me some Dick Grayson. I also like me some Dick Grayson as Nightwing. I also like me Kyle Higgins because the very few comics that he’s done have been funderful (yes, I said it, now back off!). Eddy Barrows, I also like. He’s done some great stuff in the past few years.

I hate to be repetitive, but I have no idea what they’re keeping of Dick and what they’re abandoning. Was he ever Batman? Are his parents still dead? Why is he wearing red as Nightwing? How is it that comic writers still believe that there are so many traveling circuses? I know that I want to find these things out. In summation, I really want to read this book, if just to see Dick as Nightwing again.

Verdict: DOOM!

13. Batman And Robin #1
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art and Cover by PATRICK GLEASON and MICK GRAY

Tomasi…not so much. I liked Green Lantern Corps, but not much else and it eventually became boring. Gleason, he’s worked with before but I’m not a huge fan of his style.

This is a very wait and see kind of book. I don’t know what to expect from it and I don’t really know if I want to be a part of it. I hope its good. I really do.

Verdict: POSSIBLE DOOM!

14. DC Universe Presents #1
Written by PAUL JENKINS
Art by BERNARD CHANG

I didn’t think I would be, but I’m really excited for this book. I’m a big fan of the idea of no star in the book, just a bunch of stories about heroes that might be forgotten. I can see this leading to some amazing one-shot stories and guest writers/artists. This book will probably be a great launching point for new artists/writers as well who DC doesn’t quite want to give their own book yet. If they use this right, this could be the best thing DC pulls out of the relaunch.

Jenkins has done great work on Hellblazer and great work on The Hulk, however, he also created The Sentry, which nearly absolves him of all his acclaim. Chang has done some good work but I don’t know enough about his bibliography to say if he’ll make or break the series.

Verdict: DOOM!

15. Green Lantern #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by DOUG MAHNKE and CHRISTIAN ALAMY

Johns, despite my repeated requests, just will not leave Green Lantern alone. He keeps introducing new mythos that has barely been hinted at and has to be shoehorned into the story while pushing the idea that Hal Jordan is “teh rawkzors” [SARCASM] and everyone else obviously sucks except for Barry Allen, who is so much cooler than Wally West [/SARCASM]. I really am tired of the Book of Oa/Guardian/Rainbow Lantern shitake mushrooms. Sadly, the Green Lantern madness over the past few years, much like Batman, has had too much effort to be abandoned and will probably remain mostly unchanged.

I will say that Mahnke has consistently put out a good book, no matter what it is, he draws an amazing splash page with incredible amounts of detail and consideration of story. I just wish the writer could put out a story that wasn’t so unpleasant to read. If I hear that its better than the past year of issues has been, I might pick it up.

Verdict: POSSIBLE DOOM!

16. Green Lantern Corps #1
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art by FERNANDO PASARIN and SCOTT HANNA

Again with the Tomasi…

This book will probably be better than the main GL series, just because Hal Jordan annoys me so damn much. However, that’s not saying much because I’m not really a fan of Guy Gardner or John Stewart either. Its very easy to write both characters wrong and I haven’t read anything of Tomasi’s recently that convinces me that I should care.

Verdict: NO DOOM FOR YOU!

17. Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1
Written by TONY BEDARD
Art and Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM and BATT

The collective world of Kyle Rayner fans and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Kyle was not only not being ignored by the restructure of DC, but he was being given his own book. I’m not a huge fan of the Rainbow Lantern idea. Yellow was fun, Red was interesting at first, Star Sapphires are…sexy?, and Larfleeze is perfection, but I can pretty much live a happy life without ever again seeing Saint Walker or Indigo 007 hanging around and being mysterious and/or frustrating.

I can ignore all of the faults because Kyle Rayner has his own book though. I’m good. Have Rob Liefeld draw it and Jeph Loeb write it and I’d probably still read a book that was based around Kyle Rayner being awesome.

Bedard has done some great stuff and Kirkham has done some good stuff. I’m looking forward to it.

Verdict: DOOM!

TOTAL FOR BOOKS:

DOOM! – 7
POSSIBLE DOOM! – 6
NO DOOM FOR YOU! – 4

So, what I’ve learned from this first batch is that DC is definitely going for a certain look with their comics at the moment. There’s no unique ideas so far in the artist choices. Playing it safe? Maybe.

DC is also trying their hardest to appeal to a crowd that they don’t currently appeal to. Books like Red Hood and the Outlaws are directed towards people who have no attachment to characters and are looking for books based on title and visuals alone.

Join me next week as I tackle the next 17 books. On the 24th, I’ll be talking about the final 18 books and giving my review of JLA #1.