52 Pick-Up: And then there were two...

A few weeks back, I finally got the guts to drop Green Lantern from my pull list.  And since just about everything other title I was buying as of March 2012 has either come to an end or joined Hal by the wayside, I now only buy two DC titles on a monthly basis: All-Star Western and Batman: Li'l Gotham (more on those later).  This notion is still a bit of a shock for me.  When I started buying comics regularly over 20 years ago, I started with only two, and they were both DC.  Specifically, I bought Batman and Detective Comics, because I was obsessed with the character thanks to the Tim Burton movie.  DC was my comics foundation, and Batman my first building block.  The next title I got hooked on was The Demon, and I wouldn't have even looked at it if Batman hadn't made an appearance in it.  I slowly began to pick up other comics from other companies, but DC got more dollars out of me than anyone in the those first few years, to the point where, in the late 1990s, I had at least 10 DC titles in my pull box (half of which here written by Chuck Dixon, so they crisscrossed each other quite a bit, making one HUGE story).

I'd drop a title from time to time, of course, but DC overall never lost its luster for me.  That was home.  I lived in Gotham, commuted to Bludhaven, occasionally visited Metropolis (and Hawaii when Superboy lived there), spent time in Manchester, and would jump in a time bubble to travel to the 30th Century (with rare visits to the 19th as well to see how Jonah Hex was doing).  But then, not long after I made Coast City a regular stop, things got shaky for me.  After Infinite Crisis wrapped up in 2006, DC had their "One Year Later" event, wherein every title suddenly jumped ahead, and many readers found themselves in unfamiliar territory.  Friends became foes (and vice versa), characters changed for better or worse, and I began to develop a bad taste in my mouth when reading titles I'd once loved.  The Bat-family suffered the most, as I just stopped liking the people I'd spent the past 15 years with.  Nightwing went first, then DC made the hard choice for me and cancelled Robin and Birds of Prey around the same time they "killed" Bruce Wayne, an event I used as a good excuse to stop buying Batman and 'Tec as well.  The version of the Legion of Super-Heroes I liked had vanished months earlier, so I vanished from that era as well.  I kept trying to hang on to the DCU as best I could, but it was becoming harder to find something I enjoyed, at least when it came to new offerings.  I found myself diving into back-issue boxes, looking for titles I'd missed the first time around, and enjoying them much more than what currently populated the comics racks.

Then "The New 52" hit like a final nail in the coffin.  I tried like Hell to find something new to buy, I really did, but there's so many strangers with familiar faces looking back at me now when I peruse the racks.  I even tried the Earth 2 stuff, but I couldn't bring myself to care about these people who just happen to share names with Golden Age legends.  Congratulations, DC, you've done a lovely job of making me feel like an old woman with outdated tastes...except for the two titles that continue to entertain me.

All-Star Western: The current storyarc actually makes me giddy.  I managed to unload many of the feelings I had regarding "Future Hex" years ago, but that doesn't stop me from wishing that it could be done over again, and done right.  I think J&J are, so far, doing it right.  They familiarized Jonah with the notion of time travel in ASW#19-20 before chucking him ass-over-teakettle in #21, and though I wish we could slow down a little, Jonah's reactions to the situation so far are wonderful.  Plus I think the fact that we're dealing with here-and-now 2013 as opposed to blasted-to-Hell 2050 will help in the long run: there's no need to invent and explain everything to the reader, just to Jonah (if he cares to listen).  However, I am pissed off that there's no ASW in September.  Pardon my French, but I don't give a shit about Villains Month, and 3D covers ain't gonna sway me otherwise -- matter of fact, this whole event is what convinced me to finally drop Green Lantern.  I also pray that J&J don't repeat Fleisher's mistake of leaving Jonah in the "future" with no feasible way back.  That won't win any points with me or any other Hex-nut.

Batman: Li'l Gotham: This comic reminds me of Batman: The Animated Series, in that it can be serious when the moment calls for it, then it'll hit a humorous note without being overly silly.  All the characters are perfectly-distilled versions of themselves poured into chibi-style bodies, and Damien...I actually like Damien here!  I thought he was a little psychotic bastard in the regular Bat-titles, but here he's toned down to the level of a kid that just needs restraining from time to time.  But the most remarkable thing about it?  The cast is unaffected by all those "The New 52" changes.  Barbara is still Oracle and in charge of the Birds of Prey, plus both Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain make appearances.  I can live in this Gotham happily, with its turkey rampages and Mr. Freeze making slides out of ice because he likes slides.

My only fear is that Batman: Li'l Gotham will be a limited series, as it's actually reprinting a digital-first title.  If it comes to an end, then all I've have left is Jonah in All-Star Western, and if DC ever decides that keeping Hex-nuts happy isn't worth the title's low numbers, then I'll be left out in the cold.  No more DC titles, not unless things seriously change over there.  I won't be bereft of comics, of course.  I buy about a half-dozen other titles from various companies, so don't worry about me having nothing to spend my money on.  But still, it'll be a sad day when I go into the shop and my pull box has no DC offerings in it.

I don't want to lose my home, but I feel like I'm being evicted.

52 Pick-Up: The Final Shuffle (with spoilers!)

September has come and gone, so it’s time to give a rundown of the “New 52” I actually bought.  As I said back in July, I had one sure thing, a strong maybe, and a lot of look-and-sees.  In the end, I plunked down the dough for 5 books, one of which wasn’t even on my original list.  So who’s in the pull box and who’s out?  Take a gander below, and remember, spoilers abound!

ALL-STAR WESTERN: This was the sure thing, of course.  I have virtually everything else Jonah Hex, so it would take a serious foul-up for me to not buy his new series.  Luckily, it’s off to a good start.  Moritat does a wonderful job on the art, a great balance of fine details and heavy outlines...and I would be remiss to not mention Gabriel Bautista’s coloring!  When I saw the preview pages, I figured from the monochromatic tones that these were uncolored, but once I got the actual issue in my hands, I found that there’s a lot of subtlety going on with the palette here.  Sepia tones are prevalent, naturally, with other colors used sparingly, just to accent certain things.  A good example is this page about halfway through, featuring Hex and his new “partner” taking in the town’s seamier sights:

I think this is the only page in the whole book with any green in it, namely a lampshade and the absinthe, the presence of which helps to add to the reader’s mental picture of Dr. Amadeus Arkham.  And that brings us to the important part of any Hex comic: the story.  Palmiotti & Gray were true to their word and didn’t change Jonah Hex one iota -- the only difference between this and what they’d given us for 70 issues beforehand is the location.  By the by, let’s get that out of the way right now: Yes, Gotham is an East Coast town, and this is referred to as a Western.  Just deal with it and move on, because neither fact is all that relevant to the story.  There’s a Ripper-style killer on the loose, and Jonah’s been called in for his ability to track down just about anyone.  Also on the case is the aforementioned Dr. Arkham, a psychologist who gets little respect from many of the local authorities, save for one Detective Lofton, who also hired Hex.  The doctor and the bounty hunter get lumped together in order to put an end to the “Gotham Butcher”, but it’s obvious by the last page this won’t be so cut-and-dry as Jonah would like.

Overall, I’m digging the story.  Jonah’s discomfort with Gotham is already beginning to show (near the end of the issue, when asked about his opinion of the place, he declares, “Ah’d burn it to the ground an’ add some salt ta be sure nothing came back.”), and I expect it’ll become worse as we go along...that’ll be fun to watch.  And being an old Bat-fan, I’m enjoying the name-drops that’re turning up: there’s Arkham, of course, but also architect Cyrus Pinckney, the Gates brothers from the recent “Gates of Gotham” mini, one of Bruce Wayne’s ancestors, as well as a Mayor Cobblepot, complete with monocle!  Best of all, I’m hearing some new readers call this the best book out of the 52.  Gives me a warm spot in my tummy, like a shot of good whiskey.

DCU PRESENTS: I figured that I’d be buying this new anthology, since I have a weakness for such things.  Luckily, they opened it with a character that I’ve long had an interest in (Deadman) and worked in an angle from one of my fave sci-fi shows (Quantum Leap).  The story is mostly a retelling of how Boston Brand got to be as dead as he is, and gives his usual body-hopping more focus: now instead of just making up for being a selfish jerk while he was alive, he has to help specific people if he ever wants to balance out his karmic debt.  The fact that his latest mission is to help out a legless vet -- which was also the plot of a very good Quantum Leap episode -- hammers home for me the similarities between Boston’s new parameters and Sam Beckett’s old ones.  Hey, nobody was using the gimmick lately, so I’m not gonna fault Paul Jenkins for dusting it off.  And Bernard Chang does a fine art job here as well, especially with his rendition of Hindu goddess Rama Kushna:

My only complaint is that there’s no mention of Boston’s recent resurrection and second death in Brightest Day, nor his relationship with Dove aside from a barely-there shot of her face in one panel.  The two of them do hang out for a page in Hawk and Dove #1, though, but I passed on it.  I’m not buying that series on the off chance that Boston might pop up from time to time.  And on that note...

GREEN LANTERN: Welcome to “The Adventures of Unemployed Hal”!  I opened this one up while still at the shop and just started skimming, having no interest at all in seeing Sinestro with a GL ring, but wanting to give the book a courtesy flip since we still had Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke on board (not surprising: Geoff orchestrated this whole Flashpoint thing, and I seriously doubt he’d kick himself off his own book).  GL book until I found even a glimpse of him.  Then I got to Page 6:

I started laughing out loud right there in the shop.  This was exactly what I hoped to find, and I nailed it on the first try!  That one page made me buy the book, and I’m actually disappointed that Sinestro shows up at the end, offering to help Hal get his ring back.  Boo, hiss!  I wanna see Hal beg his brother Jim for a place to stay, or worse get, Hal has to get a regular job like in the old days!  Let’s make him remember what life was like before he got a shiny magic ring! 

On a related note, I never got to look at GL Corps or New Guardians because they were sold out, but since I found Hal already, they’re superfluous to me.  And Red Lanterns didn’t grab me, despite having Dex-Starr the Rage Kitty right at the beginning.

BATGIRL: I wanted to hate this book on general principle.  They broke up the Birds of Prey for no reason, pulled Barbara Gordon out of the wheelchair through means unknown, then ripped the Batgirl mantle from Stephanie Brown’s hands and sent her into limbo (I only bought a handful of her issues, but I know she had a lot of supporters out there).  Add to that the grudge I still carry over their treatment of Cassandra Cain years before, and you have a serious amount of bad marks against this title right from the get-go.  I’m sure Gail Simone was aware of the uphill battle she had ahead of her, though, because all throughout the story, she confronts the biggest elephant in the room, right down to a one-page recap of how Babs got crippled in the first place.  There’s no details yet as to how exactly she’s waking again (other than referring to it as a “miracle”) but I’m going to guess that we’ll have the question solved by issue 3.  It can’t be avoided forever.

Ardian Syaf does a great job on the art, with an expressive style that’s complimented well by the watercolor-like touches of Ulises Arreola.  Action sequences and personal moments are treated with equal care, and while his rendition of new villain The Mirror doesn’t really stand out, it also doesn’t need to due to his whole M.O., which is apparently reflecting people’s mistakes back upon them right before he kills them...and since Barbara Gordon is on his lil’ list, I suspect it might tie into her whole “miracle” reveal.  Something else I want to keep an eye on is Barbara’s new roommate: no name has been given yet, but something about her reminds me of Dick Grayson’s landlord from Bludhaven, Clancy.  I can’t remember if she made it out of the city before it was destroyed, though.  Might have to go digging through the back issues.

Only bad marks I can give right now are the de-aging of Babs (it’s now been only 3 years since she was shot, and she’s apparently still living with her dad) as well as the way Batgirl acts...and I emphasize “Batgirl” here, not Babs.  Once she puts on the cowl, she seems to be channeling her inner Bruce, and it doesn’t fit her at all.  However, I was glad to see that facade shatter when The Mirror points a gun at her gut:

Again, Gail keeps turning our attention to the elephant in the room.  I’m sure that’ll fall away eventually as both us and Babs get used to the idea of her being up and about, but right now, it’s necessary, as the change is still too recent to be ignored.  As for the other big change in her life -- no longer being Oracle and running her own team -- there’s no reference to it here, but in the new Birds of Prey title, we get a cameo of Babs staring daggers at Dinah like they’re ex-lovers after a horrible breakup.  I really hope they explain this sudden shift in attitude, because they didn’t act like the same gals that have worked together for more than a decade...and they’d better explain it in BG, because I passed on BoP.  As for former member Zinda Blake?  Sorry, kids, but the Lady Blackhawk in that particular title isn’t her.  She might be gone forever, thanks to the new “no Golden Age” rule, but I hope she’ll land up on Earth-2, still fighting the good fight.

RESURRECTION MAN: This is the only wild card in my whole stack.  I had no intention of looking at it, but Tremo and Harry (fellow members of the “Wild Bunch” over on the DCMB) insisted that I give it a whirl.  And considering how many people I’ve talked into buying Jonah Hex over the past six years (I even got a guy in the shop to pick up All-Star Western #1 the same day I was picking up my own copy!) it seems only fair that I return the favor and try a new character.  Well, new-ish: Mitch Shelly has had his own series before, and I do own two issues of it, but only because Tommy “Hitman” Monaghan was doing a guest-shot.  So I knew the basics about him: regular guy who got experimented on and pumped full of nanites capable of bringing him back to life, as well was giving him a new superpower every time.  It’s like “Dial H for Hero of the Dead".  I was also familiar with writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning from their time on Legion of Super-Heroes (and no, I didn’t look at either of the new Legion titles, I’m kinda burned out on ‘em, just like I’ve gotten burned out on Batman) and knew they could deliver a good story with lots of twists and turns.  So I picked up the first issue and dove in.

Tremo and Harry were right, this is pretty good.  Mitch seems to be pulled around by some gut instinct that tells him where he’s needed, but not why  (shades of Deadman’s new angle), and his “just a regular guy who can do extraordinary things” attitude appeals to me.  Most of all, I’m intrigued by the idea that, as we find out halfway through the tale, both Heaven and Hell are tired of waiting for Mitch to permanently die, and are going to do whatever it takes to bring him in.  The art by Fernando Dagnino has a Butch Guice/Tom Mandrake feel to it, and he has a great eye for layouts, invoking both open spaces and the closed-off interior of an airplane with equal skill.  This page in particular is interesting, as he chose to use the plane’s windows to frame the sequence instead of traditional panels:

So, that’s it.  Five books out of 52.  There are more coming, of course (The Shade gets a new mini this month, and the Earth-2/JSA stuff will arrive eventually), but from their initial offerings, this is all I’m committing to...and that’s only so long as it remains good.  If you recall, I initially said that I was tiring of Green Lantern, so we’ll see how long they can keep my interest -- if Hal goes off questing again, there’s a good chance I’ll remove him from my pull-list.  And if the next DCU Presents character after Deadman’s arc doesn’t appeal to me, that could disappear too.  Sorry, DC, but I’m no longer the hardcore fangirl of 20-odd years ago that would buy anything with Batman on it.  You and your entire stable of characters have gotta work hard to earn my money.

Except for you, Jonah.  Just keep being a surly bastard and I’ll stay with ya.

52 Pick-Up

Okay, at the end of my last ramble, I said I would give you a rundown of what DC Comics titles I'm buying come September.  I've been doing a lot of looking around since then, reading creator interviews and Newsarama/CBR articles and scrutinizing all the solicits, and I've realized that there's a lot more books I'm interested in than I thought.

First up is the sure thing, the one that I'd buy no matter what, even if they passed some sort of comics law that said "Only one title per person": All-Star Western.

When I became a regular comics-buyer, Jonah Hex didn't have a title anymore.  He was a member of the original stack, though, and thanks to a nascent interest in westerns, I sought him out in the back-issue boxes.  I got hooked really quick, but aside from the three Vertigo minis in the 1990s (which aren't the best representation of him), I never got to experience the thrill of getting a brand-new Jonah Hex comic every month until 2005.  I've been VERY happy with what Palmiotti & Gray have brought to the character (and have told them so many times), so while I am upset that Jonah's losing his self-titled book, I am glad that he's not losing J&J.  Plus we'll be getting back-up stories with all the other DC Western folk, so more bang for the buck.  Only shaky step for me is Jonah staying in 1880s Gotham long-term: He's not comfortable in cities, so this is going to be a little odd...but on the other hand, it'll make him even more ornery than usual, and that's always fun.

Coming in second place is DC Universe Presents.  I'm a sucker for anthology titles, and I've always had a fondness for Deadman (the original stack contained reprints of his Neal Adams-drawn debut) that's only grown since Brightest Day.  I'll give it a flip first, but most likely. this is a buy.

Everything after this is one "maybe" after another.  I'll give them all a good hard look on release, but I don't know how many will become monthly pulls.  In no particular order:

Green Lantern: I've been a regular buyer of GL since Rebirth, but I'm starting to feel burned out.  The Emerald Knight has been going on one Crusade after another for...what, two years?  Three?  Not to say I haven't enjoyed the stories, but when was the last time this space cop busted somebody?  Yeah, I don't remember, either.  I also might take a peek at the Red Lanterns title, simply because I like Dex-Starr...if the rage kitty is the headliner, I'll buy it!

Birds of Prey: I've been buying BoP since it was just a special starring Oracle and Black Canary, but this...I'm not sure if this is even the same dang book.  They're really got to wow me with their #1 or I'm done.

Batgirl: On the good side, it's Gail Simone writing, and I've had this on-again/off-again interest in various Batgirls over the years, Babs included.  On the bad side, I REALLY want an explanation as to how the heck she's getting out of the wheelchair.

Swamp Thing: My taste in the big green guy leans more towards Alan Moore and Rick Vetich, but I'm curious.  I suppose that's what this whole gig is about, right?  Hooking those who are curious about one title or another and giving them jumping-on point.  Problem here is, aside from the aforementioned writers, most everyone else who's written Swampy does it quite badly, so I might run the other way screaming.

Hawk and Dove: I've kinda gotten hooked on Dove thanks to her appearances in Brightest Day and Birds of Prey, but I don't like Hawk at all, so this one's really dicey for me.  On the plus side, they mention in the solicit that Deadman is Dove's boyfriend, and I'm curious to see how this works now he's...well...dead again.

Blackhawks: Number-one reason to crack this one open on release day?  To see if Zinda Blake is in it.  I've loved Lady Blackhawk ever since her first appearance in Birds of Prey, and since it looks like she won't be there anymore, I reckon this is the most likely place for her to turn up (the book's called "Blackhawks", fer cryin' out loud!  Why wouldn't she be in it?).  Or she might no longer exist.  In which case I'll raise a beer in her honor and then cry in it.  Even if Zinda's not here, though, I might pick it up, for the same reasons I'm considering Men of War when it hits: I've been known to read war books here and there.  However, being modern warfare instead of the WWII icons they take their names from, it's iffy that I'll stay with it.

So, that's the rundown.  When we get to September, I'll give you an update of what I decided to take the plunge on and what I passed over.

I haven't dreaded September this much since I graduated high school.

Okay, time to post about the subject that finally convinced me to start a blog: DC's decision to reboot all their titles back to #1.  I'm not one of those folks on the DCMB that's screaming "I'm gonna quit, you guys suck!" or whatever, but I am a little taken aback that they're smacking the reset button with very little preamble.  Yeah, I know, it's just a "soft reboot", they're not erasing everything.  I'll believe that when the new stuff hits in September.  Right now, I feel like I'm sneaking alongside a wall, and around the corner there's all this clamor going on that I can't quite make out and I'm not sure if I want to.  Yep, this fangirl is beginning to wonder if she should cut her losses and run the other way.

I should be used to these sort of shakeups, since they've been going on literally as long as I've been reading comics.  Like I said before, I got my first taste in 1984, which is when Crisis On Infinite Earths hit.  For a full year, DC slowly tore down then rebuilt their whole universe.  Funny thing is, out of that entire stack of comics my dad gave me, very few contained references to Crisis (I somehow managed to acquire no issues of that historic 12-part miniseries), so all I knew was that, somewhere off-panel, something very big was happening.  It wasn't until 5 years later, when I became a regular reader, that I learned what "pre-Crisis" meant, and that most of my grounding in comics came from there.  I had to re-learn some things (Supergirl and Superboy never existed?), and a few post-Crisis changes were a bit too drastic for me (What the heck happened to the Legion of Super-Heroes?!?  Timber Wolf's a big furry monster!), but for the most part, I managed well enough.  Batman was still Batman, Jason Todd was still a jerk (I didn't get to vote for his death, but I didn't exactly cry over it either), and Swamp Thing was still pretty darn cool for a guy made out of algae.

As years went on, I dug into quarter boxes and got all 12 parts of COIE (yep, quarter boxes...seeing as how there was no trade edition back then, I got real lucky), as well as all the issues of Who's Who, including the updates and the looseleaf version.  I absorbed the stuff real easy, learning the differences between pre- and post-Crisis so I could flip between eras without getting lost.  I still use those books as reference when certain things come up, like what were the circumstances behind Barry Allen killing Reverse-Flash (yes, I actually looked that item up last week).  By the time Zero Hour rolled around in '94, I knew what to expect: things are going to change, be ready for it.  I agreed with many of the tweaks, especially since it gave me a version of the LSH that I quickly grew to love, but like Crisis, we all knew it was coming, it was right there in the storylines.  Even with Infinite Crisis ten years later, we had warning, and we got to watch it unfold.  Didn't think that all of DC's decisions this time around were the proper ones, but they carried it off decently enough.

Unfortunately, this is also when I began to lose faith in the DCU in general.  Just before the "One Year Later" jump, I found myself enjoying my regular titles less and less.  Green Lantern came through it fine, Jonah Hex was completely unaffected (one of the perks of living in the past!), but Batman and all the other Gothamites?  It became of downward spiral of storylines that I just didn't give a darn about.  Nightwing became the first casualty for me, and I dropped his title with little hesitation.  Then they announced that Bruce Wayne was going to die, and that both the Robin and Birds of Prey titles were getting cancelled, and I didn't flinch.  "Thanks for making the decision for me," I said.  "I just needed a good excuse to let them go."  You know how strange it was to go into the shop those first couple of months and not have a Bat-title waiting in the pull box for me?  I'd been living in Gotham City for twenty years, so you'd think it'd be a hard adjustment, but it wasn't.  I will admit, I bought the first dozen issues or so of Batgirl when they re-launched it with Stephanie Brown under the cowl, but it never caught on with me, and I just recently took those issues out of the longbox and tossed them into the sell bag for the next con, along with all the OYL Nightwing issues.  God, I used to be hardcore for the Bat, and now I look at the newer stuff and just shrug.

I got a bolster of hope after Blackest Night/Brightest Day came out.  I was enjoying the new BoP title, thanks to Gail Simone writing them again (my disappointment with the previous version didn't begin until after she left), Green Lantern was still moving along at a good pace, and Jonah Hex had just passed fifty issues (Fifty!  We were all afraid it wouldn't last twelve!).  Then the bombshell comes: "Hey, you know that Flashpoint miniseries you've been ignoring?  Well, guess what?  We using it as an excuse to reboot!  All those titles we just started up after Brightest Day...GONE!  All the anticipation over Batman and Superman closing in on the 1,000-issue mark...GONE!  No time to adjust, no time to wrap up storylines, we're just gonna throw all the readers into the deep end of the pool, and if you can't swim...oh well, we wanted to bring in new readers anyways!"

So here I am, sneaking alongside a wall, and around the corner there's all this clamor going on that I can't quite make out and I'm not sure if I want to.  Do I stay or do I go?  All I know is that my husband keeps whispering "Excelsior!" whenever I talk with him about this.  I'm not ready to fully expatriate, though (I have been buying Captain America for a few years and enjoying the heck out of it, but that's as far into Marvel territory as I've gone with my own pulls recently).  I want to stay in the DCU to some degree, I'm just not sure which section of it I'll be living in.

That's the subject of my next post: The lay of the land in DCNu as can be seen in the solicits, and what corners of it look inviting.  It'll also be my first attempt at putting up pictures on this blog-thingy.  Fingers crossed!