I stopped by the local comic book store on Wednesday to see if there was a new issue of Namor out this week, which there wasn’t. The store was pretty busy with lots of people excited about Flashpoint and the new Justice League book, both of which I was planning on passing on.
When I went to the counter to make my purchase (an issue of Booster Gold I had skipped), the dude behind the counter seemed to be a little freaked out that I wasn’t interested in the hullabaloo of the new DC.
“Well it’s written by Geoff Johns!”
“I’m not that big of a fan of his.”
He looked at me like I was an alien.
“But everything starts from here!”
“Eh…I think I’ll wait.”
He gave up and finished the transaction. So why don’t I seem to care?
I don’t know. The whole things just turns me off for some reason. I’m a big fan of not changing things for the sakes of changing things. And with a lot of what I read online about it makes me hesitant to jump on board.
Mike Sterling had this to say on Justice League, which didn’t make it sound so hot.:
About the Justice League itself…well, yeah, as our intro to this new DC Universe continuity, it’s a little underwhelming. Superheroes meet, they fight, we get teased with the threat of Darkseid, oh hey there’s Superman, and suddenly “to be continued.” All very by-the-numbers, with nothing to intrigue or inspire the imagination. I mean, it looks okay, with Jim Lee turning in a respectable art job on this issue, even if Superman’s new costume continues to appear unnecessarily rejiggered. And I’m calling “no way” on Batman being able to yank Green Lantern’s ring off his hand without GL noticing. I mean, come on!
Comics Alliance’s Chris Sims is a bit more scathing in his review:
Ha! No, but the short version is that this comic is just flat-out not very good. And the thing is, it should be. A comic book with this much riding on it, this much promotion, the two creators who are meant to be the top guys in the industry working with the genuinely exciting premise of doing a bold new unshackled story of some of the greatest fictional characters ever? There’s no reason it shouldn’t be amazing. And yet, what we have here is, as Curt Franklin put it, a comic that reads like it came with an action figure. It’s not that there aren’t good parts to it, but it’s a C- book at best, and as an introduction to the New DC Universe, that doesn’t cut it.
So will I read this? probably at some point. I do like Jim Lee’s artwork a lot, so that is enough for me to want to look at Justice League. And Flashpoint will have some sort of historic impact, and it might be interesting to look at it and see if it holds up. But these aren’t books that I’m outwardly seeking. These are more of a borrow from the library kind of thing then an add to the collection.
So am I mad at DC? No, not at all. It’s a smart business move. They’re doing an all-in wager on building/rebuilding their audience which is totally respectable. While I might not believe that a whole creative shift was the way to go, I do think them jumping head first into digital distribution is the way to go to advance the medium.
The big test if this brand new vision for DC for me personally comes next week. How convenient is it that the three titles that I’m looking forward to all come out at the same time? Hawk and Dove is mostly for my love of Rob Liefeld books. Justice League International gets a buy the characters in it.
Green Arrow is a more bittersweet purchase for me. I’ve really taken a liking to the character since he came back in the Kevin Smith and Phil Hester series in the early 2000s. His supporting characters are just so dynamic, with Black Canary as his life partner/companion, Arsenal and Connor as the sons he should have spent more time with, and Mia being his redemption. The book is also drawn by Dan Jurgens, who really is one of my favorite–and underrated–artists in comics. Both of these are reasons to get excited. But for now, I’m not sure if this is the Green Arrow for me. It’s kind of like if you’re a big fan of Nightcrawler, but there is so much that is different about the Ultimate version that it does nothing for you.
So who knows how this is all going to pan out. I’ll worry about that later.
Ridiculously Awesome 
Dude, I am so with you- EXCEPT I think it is dopey.
DC continuity has ALWAYS been an issue. They finally had it resolved, but decided that they need to get the youth again? They are DONE with comics… they need to head the marvel route and realize that the stories are good for movies and other properties.
They are obviously using the redesigned superman costume for the movie.
LOL…It’s kinda funny that you mention DC’s screwy continuity. I’ve been working on a short film to explain it!
What I would like to see more of is good short-story writing. While I enjoy long soap operas like Ultimate Spider-Man, and year-long stories like The Long Halloween, there is a magic to the short one-issue story. Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams had that magic back in the 70s. Batman The Animated Series had that magic. I’m not really aware of anyone who has it now. However, Justice League # 1 didn’t suck.
Yeah, I did get a chance to look at the book this weekend. Really good art, but the story just felt drawn out. It’ll propably read much better as a trade.
can’t wait to see- crisis was awesome and their big crossovers have been hilarious- remember hypertime? Waid’s attempt at doing THIS EXACT same thing? ugh