The New 52, an Anniversary Expo

[Tnerb]

Written originally for Comicbooked.com

 

A year ago I waited in the comic book shop for the first batch of the new 52 to be placed on the shelves. The holiday weekend postponed the books being placed in their proper positions by an hour. The staff rapidly put the comics away as the throng of eager collectors awaited for them to finish. I was among them. I had planned to purchase four books each week from the new 52. This never happened. During the time that the books were making their way to the shelf gave me an equal amount of time to look at the four prospects for the week. The previous week only had the Justice League arrive on the stands and showed promise for my secondary choice of comic books.

 

I picked my choices of the racks and skimmed through them as others were placed. This gave me time to put them all back. As much as DC gambled with their new direction and as much as I decided to give them a chance I had to pass. This new world would not empty me of my pockets. Out of the sixteen I originally planned to get I chose four. I picked Aquaman, Teen Titans, Batman & Robin and the aforementioned Justice League. Aquaman was a surprise hit and slowly made it as one of the books that should be last to read, even against my beloved Marvel titles.

Now, a year later I dropped the Ten Titans, I was slightly upset that they tried to get me to read a few other annuals by crossing over into other titles. I was lost in this story and felt that if they thought us, as the reader, were not smart enough to understand what was going on in issue #897 of a series then I might as well quit when this compilation of story had me bewildered. They made new rules with their gamble and I am just playing along in their universe. I also dropped Batman and Robin. Although I like the thought of Batman being a father, the book lost its appeal as a monthly pick up. I might decree to get them in trades.

 

The two that are left were also released and would have had trouble deducing what to read last with my favorite title ever, the New Mutants. So the beautiful fan boy wet dream of Superman and Wonder Woman kissing on the cover versus the latest with Aquaman's other team both won against my favorite title but did lose to a one shot by IDW. There were many people upset about the new #1's of which I was one of, and now they even have all new zero issues. Does anyone remember that craze in the nineties?

 

So what should DC do after a year? How are they going to garnish new readers now that the original 2 are hitting their teens, not to mention some of them were cancelled, which should show anyone that it is good story and art that keeps readers going strong, just ask Rob Liefeld...um OK bad example. That leaves my one humble opinion, one year later on the anniversary of the semi new 52. Pick up the Justice League and pick up Aquaman for good solid story and art, as for every other god forsaken title...give them a chance but be warned, they might start over again at #1 when they get confused.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Tnerb

 

PS. The above is a rant and in no way is felt by any other writer of Comicooked.com and myself. As for Rob Liefeld, I don't know the full extreme of what is going on in the comic book business world, but he did stave off any dislike of the New Mutants I could have had with issue #87 twenty years ago and for that I will be eternally grateful, but currently stop being a pompous

 

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[LionHeart, Inc.]

I started off with Superman, Flash, Deathstroke (Liefeld…really? Looks like a cheesy 90s comic), Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, JLA, JLI, Nightwing and Red Lanterns. I was disappointed with the idea of a reboot and once again getting all #1s, but I tried to give it a chance which made me increase my monthly comics. Good job DC in getting more money from me but did they keep me as a reader…nope. I dropped all of them except Green Lantern and GL Corps, mostly because the characters kept their history and other then the numbers it wasn’t really a reboot in history. The reboots didn’t work and they mostly lost me after issue 9 and 10…I gave them almost a year, I'm so disappointed with DC especially with JLA (such potential). Good example is they don’t really explain the history very well it seems rushed and they are now trying to explain gaps between the titles…like Green Lantern in JLA doesn’t really tie in to the Green Lantern in the GL titles…it's kind of weird like two different GLs.

 

Not sure if others feel like this but the whole New 52 made me look at other comics. Once I dropped some of the DC titles, I started getting Daredevil and Punisher which I love and look forward to getting them monthly. I guess some good did come out of the New 52, made me look at some titles I would have never picked up. I hope DC takes notice of the drop in sales and remembers some of their readers which use to collect DC comics was for their rich history. I'm not sure everybody feels like this, but guessing by the web and podcasts I'm not the only one who feels like this.

 

Sorry to all the diehard New 52 fans…but I can't back you up on this one. DC comics make this a different Earth 20 or S for sucks and bring back the heroes I love and grew up with, was it worth losing old readers for the trickle of new readers?

 

Marvel please take note…Beware with Marvel Now…don’t want to drop my favorite Marvel titles too.

 

[Lee K]

I was already a DC reader when the 52 came out - so no 'newness' about me as a reader...

 

But, in addition to Justice League & Aquaman - both of which I look forward to each and every month - I also still very much look forward to:

 

Red Hood & the Outlaws - for the pretty artwork and reasonably good story

 

All-Star Western - for all-around excellent storytelling and Jonah Hex.

 

and

 

Demon Knights - for both an engaging story & good artwork featuring lesser known or lesser used characters from DC's lineup.

 

Lee K

[Ronnylama]

you guys rock Big Time........

[SuperTechMonkey]

I started out the New52 blitz with:

 

Justice League

Voodoo

Batgirl

Teen Titans

Suicide Squad

Birds of Prey

 

...and, after nearly a year, ended up only keeping:

 

Batgirl

Birds of Prey

 

To be honest, I'd consider keeping a few more DC titles on my pull, but the reality is that I have to watch what I spend on new books considering what I currently have on my pull:

 

Batgirl

Birds of Prey

Uncanny X-Force

X-Factor

New Mutants

X-Men

Morning Glories

Harbinger

Uncanny X-Men

Wolverine and the X-Men

Transformers Regeneration One

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero

and all the AVX insanity...