DC New 52 debriefing + a mini Daredevil review + indie October

Phew. September is over. One month of relentless hype, debate, outrage, excitement, confusion and snark. Fifty-two new #1s, all sold out. A tremendous success in terms of initial sales. And there's no doubt about it, DC has dominated the comics internet. To the point where maybe we're a little exhausted and sick of hearing about them.

It's going to take a lot more hindsight before we can fully grasp what just happened and start to analyze its full implications. But I can tell you this: The dude who runs the comic book store I got to told me that before September they had about 90 reserves (i.e., clients who subscribe to books and have them set aside for them until they can pick them up) and now they have over 150. So it seems like a lot of these new readers, wherever they're coming from, are in it for more than just the first issues.

I'm impressed. I wasn't at all convinced that this would work. I'm still not sure that this is an altogether positive things in the long run as far as what I personally want out of mainstream super-hero comic books from the Big Two, but I have to admit that DC seems to have hit its short term goals. Remains to be seen whether they'll be able to turn these into a viable long-term strategy.

Out of the new 52, I only read 13 books. Here they are, sorted from best to worst:

1. Animal Man
2. Swamp Thing
3. Wonder Woman
4. Batman
5. Action Comics
6. Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE
7. Batgirl
8. Demon Knights
9. Fury of Firestorm
10. Supergirl
11. Static Shock
12. Stormwatch
13. Justice League

Of these 13, only Justice League was a true stinker. The top 4 were excellent. The next 5 were okay. The bottom four books are off my pull list. I'm going to stick with the other 9 for at least a few more issues to see where they're going.

Noticeably absent from the list is Batwoman, which I wasn't able to get my hands on before it sold out at my store. I have the second printing on reserve and am looking forward to it. Other books that I think might have been worth a look, based on reviews and comments I've seen online: Justice League Dark, All Star Western, maybe Nightwing (especially because it seems like it's gonna tie in with Snyder's Batman), maybe The Flash (I love Francis Manapul's art, but Geoff Johns' run kinda turned me off the character), maybe even Teen Titans (if only because the reviews I've seen are quite positive - I still have a hard time getting past Brett Booth's awful art and Tim Drake's ridiculous new costume).

Everything else I think can pretty safely be ignored.

I'm going to resist the temptation to comment further on the issue of sexism in some of these books, because I would just be repeating myself at this point. (I will say, though, that I'm pretty disgusted by how the discussion about sexism in comics has morphed into a discussion about whether we're allowed to talk about it. If I read one more blog post about how all we have to do is ignore the bad books and promote the good ones for everything to magically fix itself, my head is going to explode.)

My overall impression of the relaunch, based on what I've read and the comments and reviews I've seen online of the stuff I haven't read, is that although there are some good books, there isn't a lot of variety in the tone. You'll notice that my top four books above are all pretty dark/mature/serious/whatever. I don't hold that against them, because they do it well. But I get the impression that DC could really use a few light-hearted fun books.

Again, this comes down to the fact that DC seem to be putting all their eggs in the same basket. Their primary target audience is males aged 18-34. (They've stated this officially, so I'm not making it up.) The problem is I don't think that demographic is large enough to support 52 books, so I don't understand why they didn't try to aim some of their new titles at different readers. Besides, it's not like males 18-34 are a uniform group.

The perfect example of the type of book I think is missing from DC's line would be the current run of Daredevil, written by Mark Waid with art by Paolo Rivera. That book is probably my favourite thing that either of the two publishing giants are putting out right now. The art is fantastic and tone of the writing is light and fun, without making the story or characters seem trivial. It's colourful and flashy without being weird or inaccessible. I think it's a book that almost anyone can enjoy (I don't think I've seen a single negative review of it anywhere). It's almost like Mark Waid set out to prove that comics could be awesome without being grim and gritty, and he hits it right out of the park.

I think DC could learn a thing or two from that comic. I like how dark and violent Azzarello and Chiang's Wonder Woman is. But I don't need every single book that DC puts out to be brutal or serious. The days when DC comics needed to prove to everyone that "comics aren't just for kids" are long gone. It's okay to lighten up a little.

Anyway.

October's here. Since September was all about DC, I want to spend this month focusing on some other publishers. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to make an effort to post about the titles on my pull list that are not set in either the DC or Marvel universes. Just to make sure people don't forget that there's a lot of variety out there. Comics are awesome.

Review: Justice League #1

Justice League #1
Written by Geoff Johns; pencils by Jim Lee; inks by Scott Williams; DC.

(Spoilers here.)

When you've been told repeatedly for several months that the issue you hold in your hand is "historic," that it sets the tone for the relaunch of an entire line of comic books, and the creative team behind it includes two of the three people who conceived of and orchestrated the whole relaunch, yeah, it sets up a certain set of expectations.

Add to that the normal expectations that you have for any first issue of a new series. And the expectations you have for a comic book that features Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Batman, Flash and Cyborg on its cover.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I expected it to be awesome. In fact, I wasn't even sure I was going to buy it. The guy at my local comic shop was like, "Come on, you're not even gonna try it?" So I picked it up just to show that I had an open mind about this whole relaunch business. I'm also not a huge fan of either Geoff Johns or Jim Lee, though I think both have done some good work in the past. So, no, I didn't think it was going to blow my mind.

What I did expect, though, was... I don't know, some kind of hook? Something, anything, that would make me want to read the next issue? A hint of how awesome it is to have the "big seven" (well, big six, really, since Martian Manhunter has been replaced by Cyborg) reunited as the core members of the Justice League?

There is none of that in this book. What we get are Batman and Green Lantern being arrogant macho assholes full of themselves. And then on the last page, Superman shows up and hints that he's as much of an arrogant macho asshole full of himself as they are.

Basically, the theme of this book is MY COCK IS BIGGER THAN YOURS.

And that's pretty much it. There's no story. Batman meets Green Lantern. Cops in Gotham are shooting at them and the two superheroes are boasting that they can handle it and don't need help. Then they find a box and Green Lantern's ring is unable to identify it, which he says is impossible, but just by looking at it Batman is able to deduce that it's some kind of alien computer. From this, they deduce that this guy in Metropolis they've heard about might know something about it, so Green Lantern flies them there, and then Superman comes out and is like, "So, what can you do?" Then he pulls out his cock and Batman and Green Lantern's jaws drop.

Okay, I lied about that last part. What you actually get is a teaser that says, "Next: Batman vs. Superman." Because apparently this is what new readers are going to be interested in, a bunch of testosterone-filled frat boys fighting amongst themselves for the alpha dog title.

Yeah, it sucks. It's worse than anything I could have imagined. It's a steaming pile of burning caca. And if this is meant to set the tone for the New 52, things are about as grim and hopeless as I feared they might be when I started seeing some of those awful costumes redesigns several months ago.

The good news, for me anyway, is that I don't think that's true. I don't think the tone or quality of this book really has anything to do with what we can expect from the books that I am looking forward to. So I'm not going to give up on the New 52 because the flagship title sucks. Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Batwoman and the few other titles I'm looking forward to will succeed or fail on their own merit.

But what's depressing is that DC had so much riding on this book. I don't know whether non-regular readers of comics came into the shops last Wednesday to check it out like DC was hoping they would. But if so, are they really going to get sucked in by this? Are they going to come back to buy Action Comics #1 next week, or Justice League #2 next month? I find that incredibly hard to believe.

What would have made a better first issue? Start with a bang! Start with the Justice League already assembled and show us how awesome it is to have all these classic, iconic heroes kicking ass together. Show us how much FUN a comic like that can be. There's no fun in this comic. Just a bunch of angry dudes banging on their chests and asserting their dominance.

It's garbage.

In which I ramble on and on and mention some DC books I might buy

So today is the day that DCU implodes and the New DCU aka DCnUaka New 52 takes arrives on the shelves of comic book stores to take its place.

How do I feel about this?

As you may have noticed, I haven't been updating this blog much lately. I also haven't been keeping up with comics news as much as I usually do. (I keep falling behind on my RSS reader and having to mark hundreds of posts as read without so much as glancing at them when I get overwhelmed.) I've also fallen behind on my reading of actual comic books, although I keep buying them, which is a little worrisome a I watch my to-read pile climb higher and higher on my desk toward the ceiling.

Have I completely lost interest in comics?

No, of course not. Like all of you, I'm sure, I have other things in my life besides comics. And sometimes those things tend to take over and demand more attention, and comics become less important. I think that's what's happening now. Because I still love some of the stuff I've been reading.

But what about the DCnU?

To be honest, it's been kind of a crazy stupid emotional roller-coaster ride for me, to an extent that I find almost embarrassing. I know, it's just comics, right? I don't know why I get so worked up over some of this stuff. But I read interviews and reports from comic cons and opinion pieces and really bad PR from DC and I think it's just overwhelming. The whole thing sounds like such a terrible mess, and so many of the decisions just sound like such terrible ideas.

Meanwhile, I look at blogs like this one, where artists have been submitting their own alternate takes on DC characters and what they'd do with them given the opportunity, and it's a little hard not to bang your head against the desk. There's so much creativity, so much diversity of styles and ideas, such a willingness to explore what these characters could be. I would give at least half the books on that blog a try, whereas there's only a small handful of actual books from DC that appeal to me in any way. It just makes me wish that DC wasn't so uptight about maintaining a consistent look and feel across the line. I wish they were a little bit more willing to take risks. I wish they were actually seeking out a different audience, expanding beyond the current demographic and giving young, creative, talented people free reign to play with their characters and come up with new and exciting comic books.

I don't really see the DCnU as doing that. For the most part, it's the same people doing more or less the same thing they were doing before. I'm not saying there's no creativity in the New 52. Obviously some creators (maybe most? maybe all?) are very excited about their work and I'm sure there will be some good and some bad and some just kind of average comics to come out of it. But I don't see it as being focused on the future or a younger readership or a more diverse approach to superhero comics. There's a very 1990s retro feel to a lot of the art (and the 1990s are the worst possible decade for anyone to get nostalgic about) and for all the big superficial changes it just feels like more of the same.

BUT...

On the other hand, I can't help but get excited about some of the books. I listened to the amazing, amazing interview with Scott Snider on the Three Chicks podcast and, oh, my God, did he ever sell me on his books. All of them! I was already planning to buy the new Swamp Thing (1) but had decided to take a break from the whole Bat family for a variety of reasons. But when I heard Snyder talk about what he has in mind for the Batman (2) book, wow. Sold! 100% sold.

I've also been sold on the Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang Wonder Woman (3). I've always been a fan of Chiang's art, but when I started seeing some of the preview art from the first isues I just started drooling. Brian Azzarello calls this a "horror book," which, I don't know, is totally not what I would have expected from Wonder Woman. I still think it could go either way in terms of storytelling, but I'm curious enough to check it out.

I am also sold on Jeff Lemire's Animal Man (4) (though not so much on his Frankenstein) and very tempted by Paul Cornell's books, both Stormwatch (5) and Demon Knights (6).

And Batwoman (7) goes without saying.

There have also been some books announced beyond September that I think are very promising. Marcus To drawing a Huntress (8) mini-series? James Robinson writing a Shade (8) mini-series (with Jill Thompson doing one issue)? Nicola Scott drawing JSA (9)? Dustin Nguyen on a secret yet-to-be-announced Batman project? All of these sound very promising and I will definitely be considering them for my pull list.

So it's not all bleak. There are books I'm excited about, and in the end my DC pull list might not be as dramatically reduced as I had expected it to be. If you've been keeping track (or looking at the convenient numbers in brackets after each title) that's as much as 9 books I might end up buying each month. And there's at least a handful of others that I'll at least be tempted to browse through on the shelves.

And then there's Batgirl.

I can't decide what to do about Batgirl. I'm still devastated that Bryan Q. Miller's take on the Stephanie Brown version of the character is gone. That book had such a unique voice. It's really sad. And then, even worse than that, is the whole undoing of Babs as Oracle thing, which has already been talked about ad nauseam and which I won't get into again.

The Batgirl situation (combined with a few other concerns) were enough to at one point make me want to stop buying DC comics entirely. Now that I've learned more about the books that are coming out, Ive softened up a bit, but part of me still really wants to take a stand and refuse to buy Batgirl. I don't want to support that change with my money, and as much as I'm dying to know what Gail Simone's take on the whole thing will be, I feel like buying this book would be a compromise that I'm not willing to make.

Sometimes I pick the stupidest things to have convictions about. Some people are calling for a Marvel boycott because of the way they treated Jack Kirby and his family. Surely that's a more noble cause than what DC is doing to a fictional character. But I'm not really in this to be noble, I guess. I'm also not calling my refusal to buy Batgirl a "boycott." I just don't want to be part of it. Even though I think that Gail Simone will probably write a very, very good book and I wish I could support her.

Will I crack and buy it anyway? Will I read it in trade paperback? Digital comics? I don't know. I reserve the right to change my mind about it. But for now, this is where I stand.

And now, excuse me, I have to go back to reading Game of Thrones.

Is It Wednesday Yet?

Last week's awful Flashpoint issue, which I didn't even have the strength to review, combined with the sheer idiocy of the reveal at the end of issue #2 of Knight of Vengeance, convinced me to stop buying anything that had the word "Flashpoint" printed on the cover. Even though I was semi-enjoying at least a few of those mini-series and was vaguely curious about where the whole thing would lead and how it would flow into the New 52 in September, I finally realized that there's a reason so many people hate these comic book events. They suck!

And yet in spite of having dropped Booster Gold and that Frankenstein tie-in, I still end up with a gigantic list this week. (See below.) Going over-budget again.

Fill-in artists and unsolicited creative team changes on DC books

Yesterday I got into a bit of an argument with Gail Simone on Twitter after I made a cynical remark about not having faith in DC's ability to hold stable creative teams on the new books for more than a couple of issues. I understand why she was upset about it and how, from her perspective, it might seem like all I do is complain, but honestly I feel like my cynicism over this is 100% justified, given DC's recent track record with this issue and given that it's only going to get worse, based on DC's insistence that books will now ship on schedule and that artists will be replaced if they can't deliver the books on time. It's not like I'm making any of this up. It's coming straight from the horse's mouth. I think when a publisher who already has a rampant problem with art consistency on their books announced that they are going to have even more fill-in artists after a big line-wide relaunch, there's ample reason for me to say: "Fuck this. I'm not spending any money on these books until they come out in collections."

More than any other factor, it's the issue of inconsistent art that has convinced me to stop buying monthly books from DC in September. And let's be clear: I have no problem with occasional fill-in artists on a series. I understand that doing a monthly book must be incredibly demanding for a single artist, especially given the level of detail and craft that's expected of modern comic book artists. But there's a way to plan it so that the fill-in art feels organic to the story, rather than a last-minute patch-up job. A perfect example of this is Scott Snyder's current Detective Comics run, which has been alternating between art by Jock and Francesco Francavilla, both of whom are immensely talented artists who bring their own style and unique contribution to the story. This is the kind of model that I would like to see more books at DC adopt, but unfortunately there is no indication that the editors are learning anything from the critical success of this book.

Another book that I think manages to handle the art teams fairly well is Amazing Spider-Man. The art team is constantly shifting, but it doesn't bother me that much because I don't feel like I'm being lied to by the solicitations. The book ships twice a month, so it would pretty much be impossible for an artist to draw every issue for an extended period of time anyway, so the rotating artists are part of the plan. Some of them I like more than others, but the important thing is there are no nasty surprises when I pick up a book expecting Artist-so-and-so-who-was-listed-in-the-solicitation and instead find a name on the cover that I've never even seen before. If Marvel editors can get their shit together on a book that ships twice a month, why can't editors at DC get it right on a monthly book like Birds of Prey?

So that was the root of my pseudo-argument with Gail Simone yesterday, though I'm not sure I really managed to get any of my points across very clearly. I'm disappointed that she thinks I'm just being silly and cynical, but I guess part of that comes from our different perspective on the issue. When I brought up Jesus Saiz, who was announced as the new regular artist in BOP to much fanfare and who only worked on a single issue before a fill-in artist was brought it, she justified it by saying that editors wanted him to get a head start on the September books instead, as if that was supposed to make it better. In fact, it makes it worse! Because it proves that the inconsistent art teams on BOP weren't the result of unforeseen accidents or incompetence on the part of the artists, but poor planning by the editors. They decided to pull their brand new "regular" artist off the book after a single issue, even though he was listed in the solicitations as doing the next issue, even though the previous 12 issues of the series had already suffered tremendously from this revolving door approach to art. I rest my case.

Comics posi-vibes on Twitter!

On the other hand, I hate being a cynic. It's not like I want to be right about that stuff. I want the DC relaunch to be successful. I want DC to finally get it right. I want to be proven wrong about a lot of the concerns I have about what's going to happen to those books in September and beyond.

I think as a self-appointed comic book blogger, it's easy to slip into the habit of spending more time and energy pointing out the things that are wrong (or that we perceive as wrong) than talking about the things we feel good about.

And there are plenty of comics I'm very excited about. I wouldn't have 13 books on my pull list this week if I wasn't super-excited about the state of comics! So to tip the balance back in a positive direction, I've taken it upon myself to focus on the positive for the rest of the week. I'm going to be using the tag #comicsposivibes to stuff I read and enjoy and stuff I'm looking forward to.

I don't think I have enough followers to get that topic trending, but feel free to use the tag and spread the love.

New comics this week!

• Batgirl #23 (DC)
• Detective Comics #879 (DC)
• Teen Titans #97 (DC)
• American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #2 (of 5) (Vertigo)
• Northlanders #42 (Vertigo)
• Hellboy: The Fury #2 (of 3) (Dark Horse)
• Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths #2 (of 5) (IDW)
• Gladstone's School for World Conquerors #3 (Image)
• Red Wing #1 (of 6) (Image)
• Amazing Spider-Man #665 (Marvel)
• FF #6 (Marvel)
• Journey into Mystery #652 (Marvel)
• Loose Ends #1 (of 4) (12 Gauge)

I want to point out that there's a new epic story arc starting in Northlanders. It's going to be the final story, with the book concluding at issue #50. Like all stories in Northlanders, it's completely standalone, so you even if you've never picked up an issue before, you can jump right in. I highly recommend that you do, because it's one of the best titles at Vertigo - or any publisher, as far as I'm concerned.

Red Wing is a new mini-series by Jonathan Hickman.

Loose Ends is something that was completely off my radar until I heard Kelly Thompson's enthusiastic endorsement on this week's Three Chicks Review Comics podcast. I'm not sure they'll have it at my store, but if so I'll probably pick up a copy.

Is It Wednesday Yet?

Back issue frenzy

I bought a few fills for my collection of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight back issues last weekend. I've been trying to roughly the first half of the series - skipping over the Knightsquest/Knightsend crossover issues (#59-63) and stopping just before No Man's Land (#116). That's a total of 110 issues, of which I already have more than half. Most of these back issues are relatively easy to find and they tend to go for pretty cheap. The nice thing about this series is that the stories are all pretty much stand-alone and by different creative teams, so as long as you have complete stories you don't really need to read it in sequence. Over the next few weeks, I plan to read all the full stories that I have so far and review them here. I expect that there'll probably be some stinkers in there, but hopefully there will also be a few gems.

Those are not the only back issues I need to read. Since I got kind of fed up with Tim Drake as a character after reading Fabian Nicieza's take on him in Red Robin, I've put my Tim Drake from the Beginning series on hiatus, but I still have the first 100 issues of Robin in a short box waiting for me. I'll get to them eventually.

And something else I'm collecting: Walter Simonson's 26-issue Orion series. Those issues are somewhat more difficult to find, but I'm pretty sure I'll get a complete set sooner or later. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, including the Montreal convention in September.

DC no longer "writing for the trade"

Among the many confusing and sometimes contradictory bits and pieces of info trickling down to the common folk from DC's retailer roadshow, one interesting message is that DC writers will no longer be asked to "write for the trade". I had an interesting conversation about it with Darryl Ayo on Twitter a couple of days ago, at the end of which I realized that I didn't fully understand what the expression means in the comics world. It also highlighted just how disconnected I am from the majority of mainstream comics fans.

To me, "writing for the trade" sounds like a good thing, almost a no-brainer, since it's obvious that trade collections have a longer shelf-life than single issues in today's market. They also have the potential to reach a much wider audience, since they end up on Amazon and in bookstores. Keeping in mind that a story is going to get collected in a single book and be sold as a separate, more or less standalone entity, just seems like good practice.

When DC talks about wanting to attract new readers, I find it very hard to imagine that those new readers are going to jump right into monthly comics. Honestly, the likelihood of that happening seems almost nil to me. Readers need to be eased into that market, and as I see it there are two potential "gateway drugs" to achieve this: trade paperbacks and (cheap) digital comics. I got into it through the former, but more and more I suspect that people will get into it through the latter.

But when non-regular comic readers pick up a trade paperback at a bookstore, they don't necessarily see it as a random collection of single issues from an ongoing series. They tend to think of it as a "graphic novel," so they expect a story that has a beginning and an end. The last thing you want to do is make that book so impenetrable that your potential new readers will be turned off by it and give up rather than keep reading (and buying) your comics. And that's why I think it makes sense to "write for the trade."

But as Darryl pointed out to me on Twitter (and as covered in the Robot 6 piece I linked to earlier), this is not what "writing for the trade" usually implies. Readers usually think of it as stretching out stories that could be told in 3 issues to fill a 6-issue arc. As such, "writing for the trade" is tied to the notion of "decompression," and under this light I can see why the news that DC is abandoning this practice would be received with cheers from fans.

Obviously, padding out stories with boring dialogue to fill a trade paperback sounds like a terrible idea. Still, I can't help but feel that DC is approaching the issue from the wrong angle. They stubbornly cling to the idea that the monthly comic book is the most important aspect of their business and that this is the area where they need to bring those hypothetical new readers. There must be some economical reasons behind this business strategy that I don't fully grasp, because it doesn't make much sense to me.

New comics this week! 

• American Vampire #16 (Vertigo)
• Batman Inc #7 (DC)
• Detective Comics #878 (DC)
• Flashpoint: Project Superman #1 (DC)
• Xombi #4 (DC)
• Butcher Baker #4 (Image)
• Super Dinosaur #3 (Image)
• Amazing Spider-Man #644 (Marvel)
• Avengers: Children's Crusade #6 (Mavel)
• FF #5 (Marvel)

 Those are the items on my pull list this week. A bit on the heavy side. I'm most excited for Xombi and 'Tec.

If I'd been in charge of the DC relaunch...

I've seen quite a few posts from bloggers trying to imagine what they would have done differently if they had been in charge of relaunching the entire DC line of books. In most of them, the author propose 52 titles they'd like to read (or think would sell well) with their dream creative teams.

I've give this a lot of thought myself, and I'd like to suggest something different. Had I been in charge of this relaunch, I wouldn't have done 52 new ongoings. Here's what I would have done:

1. Cancel every book except Action and Detective!

I still think it was a big mistake to renumber these two books. The appeal of these two classic titles is that they are a part of comic book history. There's something kind of magical about the fact that the book that featured the first-ever appearance of a superhero back in 1938 was still coming out on a monthly basis. The numbers approaching 1,000 was proof of that and a pretty big deal. The new #1s might boost the sales briefly, but not for long. In the end, it just doesn't seem worth it.

I would have kept Scott Snyder on Detective Comics. Snyder's current run is critically acclaimed and has just started, so it had the potential to build into an epic and classic run. I think he's actually the first writer to find the right tone for Dick as Batman, and his collaboration with artists Jock and Francesco Francavilla seemed like a match made in heaven, so I basically wouldn't have changed anything. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

And I would have gone with team of Morrison and Morales on Action Comics. If they have a bold new vision for the character, then let them go for it. I don't believe that the number on the cover makes that much of a difference - not with this creative team. People would've gone for it anyway.

2. Launch all the other new books as mini-series!

That's right. Every single new book would be a mini-series. With a beginning and an end. Similar to the way Hellboy or Atomic Robo get published. Hellboy doesn't follow any real pattern. Every issue is either a one-shot or a short mini-series. So new readers always know exactly where they can start picking it up. That's how I got on board. Atomic Robo does it a little differently. Each six-issue series is considered a "volume." You could also call it a "season" or whatever. Again, there's a sense of continuity from one mini-series to the next, but also a clear sense of where a story begins and ends, so new readers are always invited to come onboard.

The obvious advantage of this is the clear jump-on point for new readers, but the other more subtle advantage is that DC would NEVER HAVE TO CANCEL A BOOK AGAIN! If a series sells well, then they do another one with the same creative team or the same characters or whatever. If it doesn't sell, then they it just ends as planned and nobody ever speaks of it again. Cancelling books is bad publicity. It says: "We failed." It pisses off the fans who were buying it, because they feel like they made a commitment to a book that didn't go anywhere. None of this is even a consideration with mini-series.

3. Promise to stick to the same creative team for the duration of each mini-series!

There have been several reports that DC intends to keep the books on schedule and if necessary they plan to crack down on writers and artists who don't meet deadlines. THAT'S THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANT TO HEAR! I know that late books are a pain in the ass. That's true for retailers and it's true for readers. But there's a very simple way to avoid delays: Give your creative teams enough lead time to get several issues in the can before you launch it.

This is another reason why the mini-series format makes sense, because for continuing books, it allows the team to take a break between "seasons." For example, if you solicit a six-issue mini-series, you simply wait for however many issues to be completed before it's safe to start putting them out monthly. Meanwhile, you either have the next creative team already planning the next mini-series, or you take a break after it's done until you have something ready for the next one. With enough mini-series being launched each month on a rotating basis, you'd always have enough books coming out. Everything would be on schedule and you wouldn't have to rely on fill-in artists.

Collecting these min-series in trades would also make more sense. People would know exactly which issues will end up in which collection. And in the end, you'd have collected books featuring self-contained stories, done by a single creative team, and which you can put in a bookstore for non-regular comics readers to pick up and feel like they're buying a "graphic novel." (Which is what most people think they're getting when they walk into a non-specialized comics store and head over to the "graphic novel" section.)

4. Don't launch 52 new title at the same time!

Yeah, I know it's a magic number in the DCU and it sounds impressive and radical and bold and important to launch all those books in the same month. But by doing so, DC is just setting up all the "little guys" to fail. It's great that characters like Mister Terrific and Static Shock are getting their own titles. A lot of us have been asking for this kind of diversity, and these are two characters who probably have enough of a fan following for a successful run. But when you're launching them in the same month as new Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Justice League #1's, these books have no chance of winning. Most readers - new and old - will go for the big titles, especially since those tend to be the ones that feature superstar artists and writers, and the rest will get cancelled due to disappointing sales. And then the next time someone asks, "Why don't you have more black superhero solo books?" DC will say, "Well, we tried, but nobody bought them." Stupid.

5. Fuck continuity!

You want to have a new Batgirl title with Barbara Gordon? Fine. Have one. It's only a mini-series, right? Just set it in the pre-Killing Joke days. Have it be self-contained. With Gail Simone writing it, fans of Barbara Gordon would have been ALL OVER THAT SHIT. Nobody would have felt like Oracle was being shelved. Everybody wins.

There's no reason why every series that comes out needs to be set in the present. We already have the Batman Beyond books that are set in the near future, and the Legion of Super-Hero books that are set in the distant future. Why not also have a line of books set in the recent past? Instead of replacing legacy heroes with the originals, why not just put out books that are set in the past and that feature the original characters? Are comic book fans so obsessed with the current status quo that they would refuse to buy books because they're set in a different time period? (Don't answer that. I don't want to know.)

*

I'm sure there are a million reasons why those suggestions don't make sense for DC's marketing point of view. Maybe none of my suggestions make any sense because they know something about the market that I don't know. Maybe I have too much faith in comic book fans in assuming that they'd be open to this different way of doing things.

I'd like to know what others think.

"You can't fire me because I quit"

In September, I'm going to stop buying monthly comic books from Marvel and DC. Yes, this decision was in part influenced by the DC relaunch. But there's more to it than that.

This is not a boycott

First, I want to make it clear that this is not a boycott. I'm not doing this out of spite or to punish DC or the direct market as a whole. I'm not angry or hurt or depressed about the recent announcements. I'm pretty sure that in September some of DC's new books will be good and some will be terrible. The majority of them will probably just be kind of mediocre. This is the way it has been since I started reading monthly comics (not that long ago) and I see no indication that it's about to change.

The one thing that is abundantly clear about the DC relaunch is that it's not all that it's cracked up to be. Underneath the superficial change (new costumes, younger characters, shuffled creative teams), it's going to be pretty much business as usual. There hasn't been a fundamental shift in the way DC approaches characters or stories. There's a lot of talk about attracting new readers, but I don't buy it. Putting Barbara Gordon in the Batgirl uniform, unmarrying Lois and Clark, putting a #1 on Action Comics, or trying to recreate the style and fashion sense of 1990s Image comics - nobody at DC (unless they are fucking idiots) can possibly believe that these things are going to attract new readers. Oh, sales might go up slightly, but it's going to be a blip on the radar as people who are already part of the Wednesday crowd decide to check things out, then quickly lose interest.

I think the problem with the way mainstream comics are conceived, produced and marketed is that DC and Marvel only ever seem to think about short-term sales boost. Everything they do, all their PR, all their event comics, all their big announcements, it's all designed to generate interest in what they are doing now, but there isn't really a sense that any thought going into building a long-term plan for that audience. And it also seems to rely on fans having a very short memory, because they keep using the same tricks over and over again and expect people to keep falling for them. But since the audience is shrinking rather than growing, one has to come to the conclusion that it's not working. People do, in fact, get tired of the same shit, and they move on to something else.

Existential crisis

This DC relaunch gave me a perfect opportunity for me to rethink my relationship with monthly comics. As a reader and as a consumer. And I came to the disturbing conclusion that I wasn't getting a lot of value for my money.

Think of it this way. I bought Chester Brown's graphic novel Paying for It last week. It's a nice little hardcover book, almost 300 pages, elegantly designed. It's written and drawn by a single author. It's about one thing. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. I knew exactly what I was getting when I decided to purchase it, and when I got home and sat down to read it, it was exactly what I expected.

I'm not saying anything about the quality of the book, whether I liked it or not, whether it was "good" or "bad." I'm just saying it is what it is. Nobody came to Chester Brown halfway through his book and said: "The next issue is going to be part of a crossover event with this and that comic. Try to fit that into your story somehow." The style of the drawings doesn't randomly change in the last chapters because they had to bring in a fill-in artist to finish it. No, this is the work of a single writer/artist, who had a vision, a story to tell, and he did it, and I bought it, and I read it.

This also happens with collaborations and books that are serialized. I have on my bookshelf Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth's Stumptown, for example, or Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's Beasts of Burden. These books are satisfying to me. I don't get pissed off halfway through them because of stupid editorial decisions or unexpected shifts in creative teams. So it's not about having a single author, but about having a consistent creative team who share a vision and see it through to the end.

But superheroes are awesome!

On the other hand, superhero comics do have something that these other books don't have - namely, these characters that I know and love, who live in this vast shared universe and have been in publication for decades. That's true. And I do get something out of that that is different from what I get from other genres. But I never said I would stop reading superhero comics. I said I would stop buying monthly comic books from those companies.

There's a wealth of back issues available for me to explore. Some of them get collected in very nice hard cover editions and trade paperbacks. The ones that aren't are still usually available in back issues if you look for them hard enough. I have no intention to stop buying and reading those comics. I feel like it's easier to pick out the good stuff from the back catalogue. Because it's already finished and out there, so when you pick it up you know exactly what you're getting. No surprise, unsollicited fill-in artists.

Teen Titans #96 (consider this a review)

Consistency of creative teams is very important to me. Apparently, DC and Marvel think that this doesn't matter to most readers, and maybe they're right. But it matters to me and I just can't understand how people can put up with it. I've already complained about the train wreck that was the latest volume of Birds of Prey. Last week, I got another example of it when I picked up the latest issue of Teen Titans. I've been buying this book since the beginning of this creative team: J.T. Krul writing and Nicola Scott pencilling. I buy it for two reasons:

1. J.T. Krul has introduced a new character that I'm interested in - an Indian girl named Solstice.

2. Nicola Scott's art is beautiful.

We are currently right in the middle of a story arc. The Teen Titans are stuck in some kind of netherworld, trying to fight their way out of it. There are only two issues left (after last week's) and then not only does the story conclude but the series gets relaunched along with the rest of the DC Universe.

It's worth noting that Solstice, the character I am most interested in, and Nicola Scott, the artist whose art I love, are nowhere to be seen in September's relaunch. In spite of all the talk about diversity, somehow this young Indian woman who we were led to believe would be joining the Teen Titans got lost in the shuffle. And Nicola Scott's gorgeous art was replaced by the atrocious, painful-to-the-eyes ridiculousness of Brett Booth's 1990s Image-style craptacular costume redesigns, with all the superfluous straps, pouches, tattoos, and feathers you'd expect. How this makes ANY FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER is beyond me, but whatever. At least we have the last few issues of this story to look forward to, right?

Wrong.

Even though her name is on the cover of Teen Titans #96, Nicola Scott's art is absent from this comic book. I bought it thinking that I was going to get the next chapter in the story I've been following for several months by the same creative team, but that's not what I got. What I got was noticeably inferior art by a fill-in penciller and two fill-in inkers, whose names I won't bother mentioning because DC didn't even think they were worth putting on the cover.

Oh, was it a mistake? They forgot to update the cover? Was the cover already typeset by the time they realized that, in fact, Nicola Scott had not drawn and submited the 20 pages of art for this issue and they had to hire a new creative team and it all happened so fast nobody had time to change the cover? Or did they just let it slide knowing that a lot of people are buying this for Nicola Scott's art and that putting someone else's name on the cover might hurt the sales?

It doesn't matter. I don't care what the reasoning was. I don't care whose fault it is. The fact remains: I paid for something that I didn't want. I'm not interested in what they're doing with the Teen Titans in September. All I wanted was to get to the end of this story and have a few more issues of Nicola Scott's beautiful art to look at. Was that too much to ask?

Moving on

This kind of thing happens to me every week. Every single week, on Wednesday, I make my way over to the comic book store and I spend on average $30 on comic books. And every single time, at least one of those books pisses me off because of some unexpected fill-in artist or some other bullshit.

With that money, I could buy one or two graphic novels or collections. Wouldn't that make more sense? Wouldn't that be a better use of my money?

UPDATE/CLARIFICATION: Since I posted this, I've noticed a few people seemed to miss an important nuance. When I say I won't be buying monthly comics in September, I'm talking about mainline Marvel and DC only. I don't think the same problems apply to creator-owned works. Sweet Tooth, for example, doesn't get subjected to cross-over events or fill-in artists... unless Jeff Lemire specifically wants to let other people contribute to his story, as he did with the issues that featured Matt Kindt and others doing short stories. So with comics on Vertigo, Image, etc., there's less chances of being screwed over by editorial decisions.

DC relaunch: the good, the bad and the ugly

This is the first of two posts I plan on writing about the DC relaunch. In this one, I look at individual details. In the second one (which I will post tomorrow or Monday), I will talk about the overall initiative and what it means to me, personally.

What I'm going to do now is pick the top titles in each of these three categories: the Good (books I am genuinely excited about and that I think will be worth reading), the Bad (books that sound like terrible ideas) and the Ugly (books judged purely by their covers, with art or costume designs so remarkably ugly that it's hard to imagine how anyone could possibly want to buy them).

Because I'm such a positive guy, I'm going to pick 10 books for the first category and only 5 for the second and third. Obviously, that still leaves 32 books that I am not commenting on directly. These are mostly books that I am indifferent about, although some of them might be good or bad or ugly, just not worthy of these lists.

For a list of all 52 books with creative teams, go here. 

(The books in each category below are listed in no particular order.)


THE GOOD

Wonder Woman
Brian Azzarello (w) + Cliff Chiang (a)

Cliff Chiang is a great artist and an excellent choice for this book. While I'm not a huge fan of this new costume, which has more in common with the recent costume from JMS's Odyssey story than with the original, classic one, Chiang shows here that he can make it look stylish. Brian Azzarello as the writer is a weird choice that nobody saw coming. Some people are concerned that because he's known mostly for his edgy or dark writing style this doesn't bode well for Wonder Woman. She definitely looks pissed off on the cover and she's wielding a bloody sword, which seems to support the idea that this will be yet another version of the character as a belligerent warrior rather than a peaceful hero. But honestly, there is no way in hell this could possibly be worse than what JMS has been doing with the character for the past year, or what Geoff Johns is doing with her in Flashpoint. If nothing else, the big-name writer and artist show that DC is serious about wanting this to work, and that's enough to give me hope that this will probably be worth reading.

Mister Terrific
Eric Wallace (w) + Roger Robinson (a)

I'm going to be honest and say that I don't know much about Mister Terrific and I don't remember having read any book he appeared in. (Give me a break - I haven't been reading comics for that long.) But a lot of people are really excited that he's getting his own book and I can't help but share that enthusiasm. Overall, I'm not super-impressed by DC's much touted commitment to diversity with this relaunch, but I also don't want to poop on anyone's parade. It's great that three black males are getting solo books. I only wish that this concern with diversity would extend to other minorities. (It's difficult to understand, for example, why Cassandra Cain, who is an Asian woman, doesn't get a book, considering how vocal her fanbase can be.) The solicit describes Mister Terrific as "the world's third-smartest man - and one of its most eligible bachelors," which sounds both fun and intriguing. I'm not very familiar with the creative team of Eric Wallace and J.G. Jones, so I have no comment on that.

Batwoman
J.H. Williams III (w/a) + Haden Blackman (w) + Amy Reeder (a)

Finally! We've all be anxiously waiting for this book for what seems like forever now. All things considered, I'm glad they waited until after the relaunch, as I would have hated to see this broken up in the middle of its run or, worse, like Xombi, simply get lost int he shuffle after barely having started. The weird thing about this title is that it obviously has nothing to do with the relaunch. It was announced months ago - hell, it was supposed to come out months ago - and it sounds like they had the first couple of issues in the can before anyone had even heard of the renumbering. So this is one of the very few books announced for September where we pretty much know exactly what to expect.

Swamp Thing
Scott Snyder (w) + Yanick Paquette (a) + Franco Francavilla (fill-in artist)

I am not a fan of the changes Geoff Johns made to the character when he brought him back into the DCU at the end of Brightest Day. I am tempted to hope that the relaunch/reboot will erase that from continuity and return the character to his original status, as established by Alan Moore, which is that Swamp Thing is a plant who thought it was human - not a human who was turned into a plant. But I'm not really holding my breath for that, as that would make the end of Brightest Day completely redundant. I know Geoff Johns loves to retcon shit, but he doesn't usually retcon his own work.

This difference might seem like a pretty minor detail to nitpick about, but it's actually central to the character and it's really hard to understand why they felt the need to change it. Still, if anybody can make it work, it's probably Scott Snyder, who's the best choice for a writer on this series that I could ever have imagined. Yanick Paquette on art seemed like a weird choice to me - I like his art, but I don't know if his style is what I would have imagined for this. But his cover looks nice. And Francesco Fancavilla will be doing special fill-in issues (like he's been doing on Snyder's Detective Comics run) so that's a nice added bonus. Check out the awesome Swamp Thing piece he teased on his blog, which I like even better then Paquette's cover.

Animal Man
Jeff Lemire (w) + Travel Foreman + Dan Green (a)

After the latest issue of Superboy, I had some pretty harsh things to say about Jeff Lemire's superhero comics (i.e., that they're not very good). But his Sweet Tooth remains my favourite comic currently being published and I thought the first issue of the Frankenstein mini-series he's doing for Flashpoint was all right. So there's still hope for him as a mainstream DC writer. Honestly, I think some of the awkwardness of the Superboy book is due to editorial interference, like the fact that the story was hijacked for a stupid pointless Doomsday crossover right in the middle of its first (and, as it turns out, last) big story arc. Lemire seemed to feel the need to recap every plot point in the dialogue, which might have been for the benefit of new readers but came across as spoonfeeding very obvious details to the regular readers.

In any case, hopefully there won't be too much interference on this title and he'll be able to tell a story in his own pace. (But then again, is there really any reason to believe that DC will stop making stupid editorial decisions? There's no guarantee that this won't also get hijacked by a stupid crossover three issues in.) Lemire's take on Animal Man sounds like a pretty good one, with a focus on family and particularly on Buddy's daughter. I think this could work.

Legion Lost
Fabian Nicieza (w) + Pete Woods (a)

I'm being very generous by including this title in this list. There are a few reasons for it. First, Pete Woods really impressed me with his latest run on Action Comics and I think he's a great choice of artist for a Legion book. Second, I like the concept of a small group of Legionnaires stuck in the present. It sounds more accessible than the overwhelming cast of most Legion books and grounds it in a more familiar setting. The very big caveat for me, though, is that Fabian Nicieza is writing this, and after his truly horrible scripting and plotting on Red Robin, I don't know if I can ever give him another chance on a book. Inexplicably, though, he seems to have a lot of fans, so this at least gives me hope that the book might be a (modest) commercial success.

Static Shock
John Rozum (w) + Scott McDaniel (w/a) + Jonathan Glapion (a)

Another black male character I'm not very familiar with but who seems to show a lot of potential. Like Mister Terrific (and unlike Batwing, the third black male hero who gets a solo book in this relaunch), he also seems to have a bit of a fan following, so I hop it works out. John Rozum is writing, which is bittersweet for me, as I was really hoping that he would continue his awesome run on Xombi with Frazer Irving. I have hated most of the art from Scott McDaniel that I've seen so far, but that cover is all right and this book seems like a good fit for his style. He's also co-writing this, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Stormwatch
Paul Cornell (w) + Miguel Sepulveda (a)

I have some reservations about bringing these Wildstorm characters into the DCU, and putting Martian Manhunter on the team is weird. But on the other hand, I'm glad to see Apollo and Midnighter in a book. (The solicit doesn't mention their sexuality, but so they are the only openly gay male characters in this relaunch that we know about so far.) I'm not stoked on the redesigns, but they're not totally awful either. And Paul Cornell is writing. That's a big plus.

Blue Beetle
Tony Bedard (w) + Ig Guara (a)

I'm very happy that Jaime Reyes wasn't left behind in this relaunch. I don't have much to say about this title except that I'm glad it exists. Writer Tony Bedard is all right and I'm not familiar with the art team.

Action Comics
Grant Morrison (w) + Rags Morales (a)

The good news is: Grant Morrison is writing Superman again. The neutral news is: Rags Morales is drawing it. The potentially bad news is: Another origin story. That's potentially bad because I don't understand how you could possibly change Superman's origin story. What part of it would you change that doesn't completely change what the character is all about? And if there aren't any drastic changes, then what's the point? How many Superman origin stories do we need? Recently we've had Birthright and Secret Origins. (Not to mention 10 seasons of Smallville and, apparently, another origin story coming up in the next Superman movie in 2012.) Couldn't we just skip the origin and go straight to the part where Superman is NOT WALKING ACROSS AMERICA and doing something awesome instead? Like saving the world and fighting super-villains? Grant Morrison famously handled Superman's origin story in a single page in All-Star Superman. Four panels, each with a simple caption: "Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple." That's all you need. Let's hope he keeps it brief here as well. Probably not a single page, but maybe a single issue? Aside from that, I'm looking forward to this.


THE BAD

Red Lanterns
Peter Milligan (w) + Ed Benes (a) + Rob Hunter (a)

Out of all the multi-coloured lantern corps that could get their own book, you're telling me that people most want to read about aliens who rage-vomit blood?

Batgirl
Gail Simone (w) + Ardian Syaf (a) + Vincente Cifuentes (a)

Nothing Gail Simone or anyone else says about this title will ever justify regressing Barbara Gordon to her Batgirl origin. One of her most unconvincing arguments defending this move is that "characters are not supposed to be preserved in amber," by which I'm assuming she means that they should be allowed to change and evolve. That's what great storytelling does. And I agree completely with that. But how the fuck is it not preserving this character in amber to erase 20 years of character development (during which Barbara Gordon became Oracle and continuously evolved in that role) and to bring her back to her original and supposedly most iconic role of Batgirl? Not keeping a character static means moving them forward. Bringing a character back to a previous status quo is the very opposite of that.

Out of all the questionable ideas in the DCU relaunch, this book is by far the worst one. Gail Simone keeps telling her followers on Twitter and on her message board that we don't have all the information yet and there are things she can't talk about that will supposedly make this all better. Honestly, I can't imagine what those things could possibly be, unless it's that the first arc of this book will end with Barbara Gordon waking up from a dream to find that she's still Oracle and Stephanie Brown is still Batgirl. Actually, no, that would also be terrible.

Since we supposedly don't have all the information, I will allow for the possibility that there's a real wildcard hidden in there somewhere that will completely change the way I feel about this, even if it's incredibly difficult to imagine. When I mentioned that fans are disappointed that Oracle has been wiped out of continuity, Gail Simone answered: "Are you sure that she has?" To which I would answer that all signs point to yes. The fact that the writer of the new Batgirl title is suggesting that may not be the case but is either unwilling or not allowed to confirm it either way is infuriating, from a fan's perspective. Presumably, Gail Simone knows the answer to that question. If it's true that Oracle is no more (as all the information we have been given so far overwhelmingly supports), then why is she going around asking people if they know that for a fact? If it's not true, then... well, I don't know what to think about that, because (a) I can't figure out how Barbara can regress to being Batgirl again while Oracle simultaneously continues to exist (unless we're talking multiverse, I suppose... ugh!) and (b) it doesn't make up for the exploitation of fans' worst fears and emotional reactions to this news.

And that fan exploitation is what really bothers me about all this. I know that every character is somebody's favourite, and every time a character dies or is retconned out of existence or goes into limbo, there will be some fans who are upset. But it's different with Barbara Gordon as Oracle, because of what she stands for and what she represents to a lot of people. I know that part of the problem is that all the weight of representation of disabled people has been put on her shoulders, which made her untouchable. But if DC wants to fix that, then they need to start creating more characters to fill those shoes. All this talk about diversity and we haven't seen a single hint of any character stepping up to fill the big whole Oracle's disappearance has left in the DCU.

(I want to make it clear that I don't think this "fan exploitation" is coming from Gail Simone at all. I'm talking about the way DC is handling the PR and releasing information in a way that will get fans talking, even if that means a lot of people being really upset by it. I also know that Gail Simone genuinely cares about her fans and fans of Barbara Gordon as Oracle. I apologize for being so hard on her, because I think her enthusiasm for her new series is sincere and there's no reason to doubt that she'll write an amazing book. I just personally can't get behind it.)

Birds of Prey
Duane Swierczynski (w) + Jesus Saiz (a)

This is kind of related to the above, but I don't really understand what this new Birds of Prey book has to do with the original concept. It's not Birds of Prey without Oracle, Huntress and Black Canary at the center of the team. And Poison Ivy? What the fuck?! Nothing about this makes me want to pick up this book. And Black Canary's costume really deserves to be listed under "The Ugly" as well.

Batman: The Dark Knight
David Finch (w/a)

There's nothing inherently bad about the concept behind this book. But considering the original book never made it past the second issue, after ridiculous delays, why would anybody be stupid enough to pick up this new #1. Seriously. If you buy this book, I have lost all respect for you.

All the missing characters...

This is not a book, but rather a lament for all the characters we haven't heard anything about, like Xombi, Huntress, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, and many others. There's still a chance some of them will show up as supporting characters in other books, or get their own books at a later date. (DC has said that more books will be launched in the months following the relaunch.) But for now, a moment of silence for all the absentees.


THE UGLY

Teen Titans
Scott Lobdell (w) + Brett Booth (a) + Norm Rapmund (a)

This is by far the ugliest character designs I have seen on a DC book since I started picking up monthly comics over a year ago. I cannot believe that this thing is real. Feathers on Red Robin's costume? Pouches? A tattoo on Superboy? What is going on with Kid Flash's headgear? Who is that character crawling in the bottom left corner? Is the post-Flashpoint DCU a nightmare world in which the 1990s never ended? DC should be ashamed of this. There's nothing modern or hip or young or appealing about this at all. I have no idea who the target audience for this book might be.

Superman
George Perez (w) + Jesus Merino (a)

I have nothing against George Perez as an artist (he drew this cover, although he's only writing this title and Jesus Merino will be the regular artist on interiors), but I have big problems with this costume redesign (which I'm assuming is coming from Jim Lee). What's with the utility belt? What's with the armoured boots and knee pads? Why does the Man of Steel need an armour? I don't mind that the red briefs on top of the pants are gone, but everything else about this redesign, like the Teen Titans redesigns,  screams 1990s in all the worst possible ways.

Suicide Squad
Adam Glass (w) + Marco Rudy (a)

What the fuck have they done to Harley Quinn's costume? This is repulsive.

Deathstroke
Kyle Higgins (w) + Joe Bennett (a) + Art Thibert (a)

The official cover is ugly, but at least it's not as ugly as this character sketch from Jim Lee. This man should not be allowed to design costumes for DC.

Hawk and Dove
Sterling Gates (w) + Rob Liefeld (a)

Illustrated by Rob Liefeld. I have nothing more to say.

Is It Wednesday Yet?

I tried to write a post about the Batman books announcements yesterday, but I couldn't even be bothered.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go to any comics news site on the internet. I'm sure they're talking about it. The important part is that Barbara Gordon is going to be Batgirl again in September, and I can't even begin to tell you how stupid that is.

We're only halfway through the 52 new books, so I'm going to wait until that's done and then I'll have something to say about this whole idiotic relaunch. And it's probably not going to be pretty.

Expect more bombshells from DC throughout the day and week.

New comics this week!

It's a little bit hard to get excited about what's going on right now when everyone is so focused on what's going to happen in September, but apparently life goes on and comics continue to hit the shelf every Wednesday. This is what my pull list looks like this week:

• American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1 (Vertigo)
• Birds of Prey #13 (DC)
• Booster Gold #45 (DC)
• Journey into Mystery #624 (Marvel)
• Magus #5 (12-Gauge)

This is probably going to be the last issue of Birds of Prey that I ever buy, since the last two issues before the whole DCU implodes are going to be by a fill-in creative team. This book along with The Flash are probably the two biggest disappointments I've experienced since I started reading regular monthly comics a little over a year ago. I'll have more to say about that later.

I'm half-tempted to not even bother picking up Booster Gold. I started reading it last month because it ties into Flashpoint, but it's safe to say my interest in that crossover has diminished considerably after some of the recent announcements from DC. I'll probably get it anyway, just because it's a light week.

Survival of the Fittest is a new mini-series by regular American Vampire writer Scott Snyder with art by the amazing Sean Murphy. This should be very good and a great companion to the main series.

Magus #5 is the last issue of that mini-series. Issue #4 is still sitting in my to-read pile.

Which characters (and fans) will be most affected by the DC relaunch?

Wow. It's been a crazy week. Whatever we may be feeling about DC's relaunch plans, one thing is certain - it got people talking, and it's far from over. Only 15 of the 52 new books have been officially announced so far. I'm keeping track of them here. I'm assuming more titles will be announced next week, leading up to their full September solicitations the following week.

My initial reaction to the news was cautiously optimistic. A lot of questions (and fears) about how exactly it's going to work, but keeping an open mind. Then, as the days passed, I found that the excitement waned and gave way to a kind of sadness. Even if there will almost undoubtedly be some good comics coming out of it, I can't help but feel like it's a big exercise in futility.

For one thing, it doesn't look like "everything changes" the way we were originally led to believe they would. The four Green Lantern titles that were announced are basically continuing everything that Geoff Johns has been setting up over the past few years. No big surprise, since this is one of their more successful lines. The "new" Justice League, despite some minor costume tweaks and younger looking characters, is really just the same group of classic heroes everybody is familiar with.

So which characters are going to be most affected by the changes? Here are a couple of big rumours going around:

• Superman and Lois Lane won't be married anymore (so Superman and Wonder Woman can flirt with each other?)
• Barbara Gordon goes back to being Batgirl (and where does that leave Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain?)

I'm trying really hard not to jump to conclusions at this point in the game, but I get the very disturbing impression that if any characters are going to be thrown under the bus for the sake of the A-list characters ("A list" being code for "straight white male"), it's going to be mostly female characters. Lois Lane, an already underused and undervalued female character, gets demoted, and by restoring Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, they not only get rid of the most prominent disabled character in the DCU (Oracle) but also jeopardize the status of two other female characters who followed in her footsteps.

Of course, maybe DC will prove us wrong. Maybe they also have big plans for all those secondary characters. A Lois Lane Reporter solo book would be amazing. And maybe they'll have completely new identities for Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. Change doesn't necessarily mean these characters have to disappear or become less important.

by Jamie Noguchi

DC Women Kicking Ass commented on this image of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl walking away from the wheelchair and the Oracle identity with a big smile on her face. Like many others, she was upset by it. (The artist, Jamie Noguchi of Yellow Peril, has apologized for it, saying he didn't think of the implications for fans who see her as an inspiration and that he should have known better.)

I've seen a lot of comments from people online who are excited by the rumours that Barbara will be Batgirl again. A lot of older fans who haven't been reading Batgirl for a while are saying, "Sign me up!" or, "I'll buy it!" Which makes me wonder who this relaunch is really meant to appeal to. Is this really for "new readers" or is this just another way to reach out to the older, nostalgic readers? There's no reason why new readers should be more interested in Barbara Gordon as Batgirl than in Stephanie Brown as Batgirl. The only people who are going to care about this are the old fans (a predominantly male demographic). And the ones who are going to be the most hurt and disappointed by the change are current fans of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and Barbara Gordon as Oracle. In other words, a predominantly female demographic.

As for me, apparently I care about these characters a lot more than I previously realized. Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl was a unique and tremendously entertaining book, and I've become really attached Stephanie Brown. As for Barbara Gordon, I still find it hard to believe that DC is really going to get rid of their only prominent wheelchair user. Even during the "Death of Oracle" arc in Birds of Prey, I was pretty sure Gail Simone wouldn't really kill her. And when Grant Morrison started suggesting that she would act as a virtual Batgirl on the internet in Batman Inc, it just seemed silly and ridiculous and I didn't think it would stick.

But now, I'm really scared. And surprisingly upset. And in a weird way, whether or not I can get behind this whole relaunch kind of hinges on the fate of Barbara Gordon for me. Because I honestly don't know if I'm going to be able to keep buying these monthly books if it turns out that she's Batgirl again. That may seem like a dramatic overreaction to some, but it's just a gut feeling. It's not a rational argument, it's an emotional reaction.

DC's 52 new books - full list now available

I'm just going to keep updating this list as information gets confirmed by DC's The Source. I'm doing this for my own convenience more than anything else. I want to have a place listing all confirmed titles with creative teams.

I'm numbering them in the order that they are announced.

I'm not including rumours. Only confirmed announcements.

1. Justice League: Geoff Johns (w) + Jim Lee (a)
2. Wonder Woman: Brian Azzarello (w) + Cliff Chiang (a)
3. Aquaman: Geoff Johns (w) + Ivan Reis (a) + Joe Prado (a)
4. Flash: Francis Manapul (w/a) + Brian Buccellato (w/a)
5. Fury of Firestorm: Ethan Van Sciver (w) + Gail Simone (w) + Yildiray Cinar (a)
6. The Savage Hawkman: Tony Daniel (w) + Philip Tan (a)
7. Green Arrow: J.T. Krul (w) + Dan Jurgens (a)
8. Justice League International: Dan Jurgens (w) + Aron Lopresti (a)
9. Mister Terrific: Eric Wallace (w) + Roger Robinson (a)
10. Captain Atom: J.T. Krul (w) + Freddie Williams II (a)
11. DC Universe Presents: first story featuring Deadman, by Paul Jenkins (w) + Bernard Chang (a)
12. Green Lantern: Geoff Johns (w) + Doug Mahnke (a) + Christian Alamy (a)
13. Green Lantern Corps: Peter Tomasi (w) + Fernando Pasarin (a) + Scott Hanna (a)
14. Green Lantern: The New Guardians: Tony Bedard (w) + Tyler Kirkham (a) + Batt (a)
15. Red Lanterns: Peter Milligan (w) + Ed Benes (a) + Rob Hunter (a)
16. Batman: Scott Snyder (w) + Greg Capullo (a)
17. Detective Comics: Tony Daniel (w/a)
18. Batman and Robin: Peter Tomasi (w) + Patrick Gleason (a)
19. Batman: The Dark Knight: David Finch (w/a)
20. Batwoman: J.H. Williams III (w/a) + Haden Blackman (w) + Amy Reeder (a)
21. Batgirl: Gail Simone (w) + Ardian Syaf (a) + Vincente Cifuentes (a)
22. Catwoman: Judd Winnick (w) + Guillem March (a)
23. Birds of Prey: Duane Swierczynski (w) + Jesus Saiz (a)
24. Nightwing: Kyle Higgins (w) + Eddy Barrows (a)
25. Red Hood and the Outlaws: Scott Lobdell (w) + Kenneth Rocafort (a)
26. Batwing: Judd Winnick (w) + Ben Oliver (a)
27. Swamp Thing: Scott Snyder (w) + Yanick Paquette (a) + Franco Francavilla (fill-in artist)
28. Animal Man: Jeff Lemire (w) + Travel Foreman + Dan Green (a)
29. Justice League Dark: Peter Milligan (w) + Mikel Janin (a)
30. Demon Knights: Paul Cornell (w) + Diogenes Neves (a) + Oclair Albert (a)
31. Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE: Jeff Lemire (w) + Alberto Ponticelli (a)
32. Resurrection Man: Dan Abnett (w) + Andy Lanning (w) + Fernando Dagnino (a)
33. I, Vampire: Josh Fialkov (w) + Andrea Sorrentino (a)
34. Voodoo: Ron Marz (w) + Sami Basri (a)
35. Legion Lost: Fabian Nicieza (w) + Pete Woods (a)
36. Legion of Superheroes: Paul Levitz (w) + Francis Portela (a)
37. Teen Titans: Scott Lobdell (w) + Brett Booth (a) + Norm Rapmund (a)
38. Static Shock: John Rozum (w) + Scott McDaniel (w/a) + Jonathan Glapion (a)
39. Hawk and Dove: Sterling Gates (w) + Rob Liefeld (a)
40. Stormwatch: Paul Cornell (w) + Miguel Sepulveda (a)
41. Blackhawks: Mike Costa (w) + Ken Lashley (a)
42. Sgt. Rock and the Men of War: Ivan Brandon (w) + Tom Derenick (a)
43. All-Star Western: Justin Gray (w) + Jimmy Palmiotti (w) + Moritat (a)
44. Deathstroke: Kyle Higgins (w) + Joe Bennett (a) + Art Thibert (a)
45. Grifter: Nathan Edmonson (w) + CAFU (a) + BIT (a)
46. OMAC: Dan DiDio (w) + Keith Giffen (w/a) + Scott Koblish (w/a)
47. Suicide Squad: Adam Glass (w) + Marco Rudy (a)
48. Blue Beetle: Tony Bedard (w) + Ig Guara (a)
49. Action Comics: Grant Morrison (w) + Rags Morales (a)
50. Superman: George Perez (w) + Jesus Merino (a)
51. Supergirl: Michael Green (w) + Mike Johnson (w) + Mahmud Asrar (a)
52. Superboy: Scott Lobdell (w) + R.B. Silva (a) + Rob Lean (a)

+ Batman Incorporated: relaunching in 2012, by Grant Morrison (w) and Chris Burnham (a)