CBF Quick Picks #104 : Wolverine & The X-Men #4
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We’re back for the 2012 gala!
It’s been a couple of weeks, but we’re back in action to give you our regularly scheduled programming. This week, we take a slice of the pie from the 3 top publishers:
- It’s ok to come back to Green Lantern #5 – Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke have put this book back on track and the direction it goes into its next arc can lead to many possibilities.
- Severed #6 is finally showing its cards in this penultimate chapter. It’s tense, gritty, and scary – just what I expected from the Scotts.
- Wolverine & The X-Men #4 is an interesting blend of the light-hearted and tragic. Whether you want to hear about how the professors handle the school or Deathlok’s look into Evan’s future, you have a lot to take from Jason Aaron and Nick Bradshaw’s new arc.
Music provided by The Audible Dark – Die Trying
CBF Quick Picks #96 : Wonder Woman #2
After 2 issues, the directions Wonder Woman can go under Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s guidance are endless. This is an exciting time to come back if you’ve wavered from the book during the many promises that new blood would reinvigorate her solo series. The intrigue behind Zola’s baby and Wonder Woman’s questionable origin should keep this going for a good while.
Just behind it came Batman #2 and another stellar showing from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Building out the history of Gotham and treating it as an actual character has fleshed out Batman’s stories in many cool and interesting ways. And the best part of it all is it’s being done with intriguing new villains being introduced, the Court of Owls being the latest.
And of course if you want your off-the-wall super-hero action, you have Justice League #2 to please. Geoff Johns obviously wrote this in mind to show Jim Lee off. The action sequences are a sight to see and shows that even 20+ years later, Lee still has it. The slow burn in the story may turn off some people from reading, but I think it’s a great way to again show why this is the premier team of the new DCU.
CBF Quick Picks #93 : The New DCU – Week 4 Part 1
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We’re getting there, people! One more week and you get to do it all over again with the #2 issues. Or you can mix and match with the other publishers out there. I’m not one to judge.
Week 4 has one of the more diverse weeks for the new DCU and it can be shown in the following:
- Aquaman #1 acknowledges the large elephant in the room that is Aquaman’s lame duck status, but does it in a very good and deconstructive way that doesn’t demean the new direction. Thank Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis for getting this off on the right note.
- All-Star Western #1 is Jonah Hex’s foray into the land known as 1800′s Gotham and it’s a great start. If you know Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti’s work on Hex’s previous run, then you know what to expect in the great characterization of the bounty hunter.
- You never know what to expect when somebody writes and draws a book, but Francis Manapul pulls it off with Flash #1. Easily accessible and in a re-boot that has been comprised of lots of dark and gritty tales, this one can be considered an all-ages pick-up.
- I had high hopes for Justice League Dark #1 and while it shows potential, the heavy exposition and character introductions takes away from the story. Hoping that is not a trend to come in this series.
Part 2 coming up later this week! And don’t forget to check out the our iTunes feed to download the latest and greatest from CBF!
CBF Quick Picks #86 : The New DCU Has Arrived
The time has come, folks. On August 31st, the new DCU is in full swing and Justice League #1 is the one kicking things off. This was definitely a labor of love put together by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. They didn’t have to do this book at all, but they chose to. And while it’s a slow burn of an issue rather than epic battle sequences, it sets the stage for a great and new look into what should be the premier title of DC that it hasn’t been the last 10 years.
Marvel didn’t want me left hanging dry that week though. Rick Remender put out another stellar effort in Uncanny X-Force #14 in the continuing Dark Angel saga that sees Archangel assume the mantle of Apocalypse. Jerome Opena makes his way back to art duties, which improves the book tenfold (as if it needed that already). Absolutely the best X-book on the market and am hoping that trend continues for the foreseeable future.
Music provided by The Commuters – As I Make My Way
The New DCU – History in the Making
And so it begins. Tomorrow starts the close of one DCU in Flashpoint #5 and ignites a new one in Justice League #1, all brought together by the capable writing hands of Geoff Johns. From there, the rest of the new DCU unfolds in 51 other titles throughout September.
But you already know this. It’s been beaten into your head since it was announced back in June. San Diego increased the buzz when fans got a chance to visit the ‘New 52′ panels and address their excitement and concerns. Basically, if you’re a comic book fan, you knew what was coming.
And yet some are still hesitant to accept the change. They think all of past DCU history is wasted. They think there’s no “pop” to some of the announced titles and creative teams that would get new readers on-board. I’m not saying this is going to be a perfect re-launch, but there were some presumptions that people proclaimed were going to be fact. Be that as it may, let me tell you some reasons this re-launch will succeed:
1) People are talking about DC
Pass or fail, the real fact is people are talking about DC again. Look at how the market share has been for most of 2011 between DC and Marvel – if you find your share decreasing to 20% when you used to be neck to neck with your primary competitor, you would do something drastic too. Only the buzz is not only coming from the re-launch, but the commitment to day-and-date digital. They’re on the web sites and in the newspapers. We won’t know how well this will work long-term, but for now, the eyeballs are all on them for the next month or so, which means sales.
2) Digital getting some TLC
The Kindle. The Nook. The iPad. The iPhone. The Android. As soon as these touch-screen devices made their presence in the last few years, comic book publishers started thinking of ways to take advantage and generate more sales. But it was the sales model and what can be distributed on these devices that many had been struggling with. DC’s changing that making everything day-and-date for digital, still holding the line at $2.99 and decreasing it by a dollar if a newly released comic has been out for more than a month. I have yet to hear any negative feedback to this model from the fans. How could you when you’ve been offered another choice to buy?
3) A chance for a fresh start
I’m all for continuity to get the big picture of a certain character’s universe, but let’s face it – it makes for lots of headaches for writers to come up with new material that isn’t contradictory to that universe. People say DC does it too much and that Marvel evolves better (though they could really use some sort of reboot soon too), but the fact of the matter is this is a chance for writers and artists to put in their A game without the past holding them back.
4) A chance for rising talent
If you look at some of the books DC is putting out, you can see they are heavily pushing Scott Snyder (Batman, Swamp Thing) and Jeff Lemire (Frankenstein, Animal Man) to produce great things. Vertigo has always been the breeding ground for up and coming talent and DC imagines these two will continue that trend.
And if it’s not all up to par for you, you can always have this:
5) The past is still around
It was amazing to see the last 2 months of folks saying that the past 20+ years of DCU stories are now a waste. Are you a fan of story? Then Killing Joke, Death in the Family, Identity Crisis, and Blackest Night will still be fulfilling. No change in continuity should ever take away from what somebody personally feels about a story beforehand.
So let’s pick up Justice League #1 and enjoy this new ride. Let’s see how far it takes us and let’s be thankful we have something to look forward to in a world that hasn’t been favorable to it these last few years.
Flashpoint #3 Makes Aquaman Sad
In the midst of the DC re-launch chaos, Flashpoint seems to have slightly fallen off people’s radars. Now that DC is set for September, we can get back into the journey that is going to lead us into this massive undertaking.
This variant cover by the talented duo of Ivan Reis and George Perez seems to indicate we’re in for more Atlantean/Amazon battles in issue #3. Bear in mind that variant covers don’t always tell you what really goes on in the book and it seems like Geoff Johns is putting the focus on Barry Allen and Thomas Wayne’s attempts to fix the timestream in the main story. But it’s always fun to imagine, especially knowing how well Tony Bedard put together his first issue of the Emperor Aquaman tie-in.
Flashpoint #3 is scheduled to come out on July 6th.
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