{"id":873,"date":"2011-06-13T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=873"},"modified":"2011-06-13T07:15:58","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T06:15:58","slug":"the-dcu-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=873","title":{"rendered":"The DCU 52"},"content":{"rendered":"

Come September, DC will be relaunching the entire DC Universe with 52 new titles. \u00a0As you might have gathered, Al and I will pick up the first issue of pretty much anything, if only to review it. \u00a0But 52 in one month? \u00a0Boy, that’s a lot.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I’m willing to throw a bit of time and money in it for the first month, in order to give a chance to the ones that sound like they might have something to offer.<\/p>\n

So which ones do I really<\/em> want to read? \u00a0In a shameless bid to start an incredibly unwieldy comments thread, let’s go through them all and see. \u00a0(I’m working here from the list on Bleeding Cool<\/a>, by the way.)<\/p>\n

1: <\/strong>Justice League <\/strong><\/em>by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee.<\/strong> It’s the flagship; it’s the lynchpin for the relaunch; it’s by the two guys who are supposed to be driving the line. \u00a0It’ll probably be good, but at any rate it’ll be essential reading for industry-watchers. \u00a0That’s 1.<\/p>\n

2: Justice League International<\/em> by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti.<\/strong> Um… I was kind of looking forward to this, coming out of Generation Lost<\/em>. \u00a0(And the very fact that they spent a year setting up a new title to be launched after the reboot? \u00a0Kind of suggests that there’s going to be enough previous continuity floating around to create all sorts of confusion. \u00a0Have they learned anything from Crisis<\/em>?) \u00a0But, yeah, I was up for an ongoing Generation Lost<\/em> series. \u00a0Dan Jurgens, though? \u00a0I haven’t read anything I liked from him in years. \u00a0Call this a no.<\/p>\n

3: Teen Titans<\/em> by Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund.<\/strong> One of those “it’s been around for decades, we must keep it going” franchises. \u00a0Would I pick up the existing Teen Titans<\/em> series just because this creative team came aboard? \u00a0Not unless it was a podcast week and there was nothing else to talk about… so that’s another no.<\/p>\n

4: Suicide Squad<\/em> by Adam Glass and Marco Rudy.<\/strong> Another of the franchises that will not die, and I’m already reading the same premise in Thunderbolts<\/em>. \u00a0Never heard of the creators. \u00a0Not exactly grabbing me.<\/p>\n

5: Action Comics<\/em> by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales.<\/strong> All-Star Superman<\/em> was as good as everyone says, and while I gave up on Morrison’s Batman pretty quickly, I’m interested to see what he can do with Superman in a monthly comic. \u00a0That’s 2.<\/p>\n

6: Superman<\/em> by George Perez and Jesus Merino.<\/strong> Hmm, my every instinct says I don’t want to be buying the Superman B-title… but it’s got Perez writing and doing the breakdowns, and that’s got to be worth a look. \u00a0Call it 3.<\/p>\n

7: Superboy<\/em> by Scott Lobdell, RB Silva and Rob Lean.<\/strong> Don’t care about the character, wouldn’t start buying the book just because of a change of creative team… no.<\/p>\n

8: Supergirl<\/em> by Michael Green, Mike Johnson and Mahmud Asrar.<\/strong> Not so much a character as a continuity quagmire, the last thing Supergirl needs is yet another reboot. \u00a0It’s going to take more than a renumbering and a change of creative team to make me care about the low-end books in the major families.<\/p>\n

9: Batman<\/em> by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.<\/strong> I’ve never got in to the Batman books and I don’t expect this to be the time… but I’m vaguely intrigued by the creative team, actually. \u00a0Might be interesting. \u00a0Let’s call it 4.<\/p>\n

10: Detective Comics<\/em> by Tony Daniel.<\/strong> Heavens, no.<\/p>\n

11: Batman: The Dark Knight<\/em> by David Finch.<\/strong> Yeah, cos that turned out so well last time.<\/p>\n

12: Batgirl<\/em> by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf and Vicente Sifuentes.<\/strong> Ah, the controversial healing of Barbara Gordon. \u00a0That’s going to be a tricky one to pull off, but yes, I want to know what Gail Simone can do with it. \u00a0That’s 5.<\/p>\n

13: Batwoman<\/em> by J H Williams III, Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder.<\/strong> I ordered it when the solicited it back in the spring, I’ll be ordering it again now. \u00a06.<\/p>\n

14: Catwoman<\/em> by Judd Winick and Guillem March.<\/strong> The solicitation tells us nothing other than it’s another Catwoman series. \u00a0Doesn’t really excite me. \u00a0If there’s good word of mouth, I’ll buy the digital version, maybe.<\/p>\n

15: Red Hood and the Outlaws<\/em> by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort.<\/strong> One for the Batman completists, methinks.<\/p>\n

16: Batwing<\/em> by Judd Winick and Ben Oliver.<\/strong> This is a spin-off from Batman Incorporated<\/em>, featuring the Batman of Africa. \u00a0That… sounds like it could be pretty terrible, actually – references to the entire continent of Africa as one indistinguishable place are never a good sign – but I have a strange instinct to order it, if only for the trainwreck factor. \u00a07.<\/p>\n

17: Nightwing<\/em> by Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows.<\/strong> Rewinding the clock on Dick Grayson? \u00a0Not interested.<\/p>\n

18: Batman and Robin<\/em> by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.<\/strong> I do not need more than one Batman title in my life.<\/p>\n

19: Birds of Prey<\/em> by Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz.<\/strong> Wasn’t wild about Swierczynski’s run on Cable<\/em>, not really excited about reading him on Birds of Prey<\/em>.<\/p>\n

20: Green Lantern<\/em> by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy.<\/strong> Ah, now we’re getting into the Green Lantern books, which are pretty much carrying on as they are. \u00a0Al likes them, but I’ve never much cared for the concept, and reboot or no reboot, they just feel like an inaccessible mythos to me. \u00a0(And yes, you could<\/em> say the same about the X-Men, but I wouldn’t start reading them right now either.)<\/p>\n

21: Green Lantern Corps<\/em> by Peter J Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna.<\/strong> See above.<\/p>\n

22: Green Lanterns: New Guardians<\/em> by Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham and Batt.<\/strong> See above.<\/p>\n

23: Red Lanterns<\/em> by Peter Milligan, Ed Benes and Rob Hunter.<\/strong> Dilemma. \u00a0The Red Lanterns don’t much excite me. \u00a0It’s the Green Lantern D-title. \u00a0But it’s Peter Milligan, and he’s rarely less than interesting. \u00a0A very, very borderline yes. \u00a0That’s 8.<\/p>\n

24: Aquaman<\/em> by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis.<\/strong> Clearly a priority for DC if they’re putting this creative team on it. \u00a0Aquaman’s kind of a challenge to make interesting, but I’m perversely curious to know how they’ll tackle him. \u00a09.<\/p>\n

25: Wonder Woman<\/em> by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang.<\/strong> Never really cared for Wonder Woman, never really cared for Brian Azzarello… but the combination of the two sounds so bizarre that I can’t help wondering what it’s going to read like. \u00a010.<\/p>\n

26: Flash<\/em> by Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul.<\/strong> I really liked Manapul’s art on the recent, abortive Flash<\/em> run. \u00a0I’ll give it a go for that reason alone. \u00a0That’s 11.<\/p>\n

27: Green Arrow<\/em> by JT Krul and Dan Jurgens.<\/strong> I bought the first issue of Krul’s Green Arrow<\/em> last time round; it was okay, but I didn’t come back next month. \u00a0Nothing here to change my mind.<\/p>\n

28: DC Universe Presents<\/em> by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang.<\/strong> Essentially a five-issue Deadman mini, since something else takes over the book after that. \u00a0Jenkins is one of those writers who used to be consistently interesting and then kind of went off the rails a while back. \u00a0It’s a skip, I think.<\/p>\n

29: Savage Hawkman<\/em> by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan.<\/strong> I have no interest in this at all.<\/p>\n

30: Blue Beetle<\/em> by Tony Bedard and Ig Guara.<\/strong> I like Jaime Reyes, I like Tony Bedard, I’ll give this a shot. \u00a012.<\/p>\n

31: Fury of Firestorm<\/em> by Gail Simone, Ethan van Sciver and Yildiray Cinar.<\/strong> Vague apathy towards the character is outweighed by the fact that it’s Gail Simone. \u00a013.<\/p>\n

32: Mr Terrific<\/em> by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson.<\/strong> Not familiar with the creators, solicitation makes it sound like a cut-price Future Foundation. \u00a0Nah.<\/p>\n

33: Captain Atom<\/em> by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II.<\/strong> Well, that’s certainly being published in September.<\/p>\n

34: OMAC<\/em> by Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish.<\/strong> DiDio writing? \u00a0Next!<\/p>\n

35: Static Shock<\/em> by Scott McDaniel, John Rozum and Jonathan Glapion.<\/strong> Static’s a well-liked character, and I’ve always enjoyed McDaniel’s art. \u00a0I’ll give this a go. \u00a014.<\/p>\n

36: Hawk and Dove<\/em> by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld.<\/strong> This is a joke, right?<\/p>\n

37: Deathstroke<\/em> by Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennett and Art Thibert.<\/strong> Another of the franchises that won’t die. \u00a0Not interested.<\/p>\n

38: Legion of Superheroes <\/em>by Paul Levitz and Francis Portela.<\/strong> This is another of the titles that’s basically just renumbering and otherwise carrying on as normal. \u00a0Not reading it now, not planning to start in September.<\/p>\n

39: Legion Lost<\/em> by Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods.<\/strong> Hmm. \u00a0Never really followed the Legion, not buying the A-book, but I do like Nicieza and Woods as a creative team. \u00a0Let’s try it out. \u00a015.<\/p>\n

40: Grifter<\/em> by Nathan Edmondson, CAFU and BIT.<\/strong> Yeah, because that was the problem with the WildStorm characters – they weren’t in DC continuity. \u00a0Judging from the solicitation, they’ve grafted on the premise from Rom<\/em> (he’s killing monsters in human form, but everyone else just thinks he’s a serial killer). \u00a0All that said… Edmondson is writing Who is Jake Ellis<\/em>, which is great. \u00a0This could actually be good. \u00a0Sod it, let’s say 16.<\/p>\n

41: Voodoo <\/em>by Ron Marz and Sami Basri.<\/strong> There is a limit to my curiosity, however.<\/p>\n

42: Stormwatch<\/em> by Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda.<\/strong> Now with added Martian Manhunter. \u00a0But also with added Paul Cornell, and I’d by Paul Cornell on anything, so that’s 17.<\/p>\n

43: Animal Man<\/em> by Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman and Dan Green.<\/strong> Lemire’s Sweet Tooth<\/em> is very good. \u00a0This will be nothing like it. \u00a0And there’s another, quirkier Jeff Lemire book further down the list. \u00a0So, pass.<\/p>\n

44: Swamp Thing<\/em> by Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette.<\/strong> Yeah… I kind of get the vibe of worshipping at the idol of a beloved Alan Moore comic every time they revive Swamp Thing. \u00a0I’ll pass, thanks.<\/p>\n

45: Justice League Dark<\/em> by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin.<\/strong> Worst. \u00a0Name. \u00a0Ever. \u00a0But it’s Peter Milligan writing both Shade and John Constantine, so that’s a definite yes. \u00a018.<\/p>\n

46: Demon Knights<\/em> by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves and Oclair Albert.<\/strong> I really would buy Paul Cornell on anything. \u00a0I don’t know what the hell this is, but I’ve already decided to buy it. \u00a0Let’s look it up… Madame Xanadu and Etrigan in the dark ages? \u00a0Yeesh. \u00a0I give that six months. \u00a0But it’s Paul Cornell, so 19.<\/p>\n

47: Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE<\/em> by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli.<\/strong> This would be the other Jeff Lemire book I mentioned above. \u00a0Sounds a bit like overly self-conscious genre-blending, but let’s find out. \u00a020.<\/p>\n

48: Resurrection Man<\/em> by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino.<\/strong> I don’t remember this making much impact on me the first time round.<\/p>\n

49: I, Vampire<\/em> by Josh Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino.<\/strong> A vampire comic in the DCU? \u00a0Can’t say that really grabs me. \u00a0I’d maybe try it in a quiet week, but not with all this stuff out there.<\/p>\n

50: Blackhawks<\/em> by Mike Costa and Ken Lashley.<\/strong> A modern day war comic. \u00a0Not really my genre, and Ken Lashley’s art isn’t a draw for me.<\/p>\n

51: Sergeant Rock and the Men of War<\/em> by Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick.<\/strong> Modern day mercenaries versus supervillains, from the sound of it. \u00a0Feels like trade mark servicing to me.<\/p>\n

52: All-Star Western<\/em> by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Grey and Meridat.<\/strong> Their Jonah Hex<\/em> run has been well received, and I get why, but I’ve never been much of a western fan in any medium.<\/p>\n

That’s twenty out of fifty-two. \u00a0Not too bad, DC. \u00a0Not too bad at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Come September, DC will be relaunching the entire DC Universe with 52 new titles. \u00a0As you might have gathered, Al and I will pick up the first issue of pretty much anything, if only to review it. \u00a0But 52 in one month? \u00a0Boy, that’s a lot. On the other hand, I’m willing to throw a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}