The New 52, Corrected
I’m not quite satisfied with the New 52. Don’t get me wrong, it has its moments--Earth 2, Aquaman, Detective Comics, Batman, Flash, and even Green Lantern are all decent, to name a few. But in fifteen months I still haven’t read a book that can tell me why they bothered. DC’s continuity is known for being frequently rebooted, but right now I can’t see any story that couldn’t have been told without this latest softboot/relaunch/re-imagining/whatever this is. Continuity at DC is known to shift quite often, but what we have now is a quagmire of wildly contradicting knowledge (even amongst what’s *supposed* to be the new canon), recollections of events that have been changed and that still don’t tell us what happened when, and despite five years of DC history, far too many “new” heroes.
I'm of the opinion that both now and when DC did this back in 1986 with the universe-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths, that they should’ve done a clean start. No “condensed timelines”, just a full-on reboot of all events and starting fresh. Yes, some characters would’ve disappeared, but at least there would be a reason for it. As it stands characters have vanished without reason and its displeased no small number of fans. And still, as I said, there’s no satisfying reason as to why they bothered at all.
So, because of that, I’m going to try my own re-imagining of the New 52, with descriptions of what DID happen, what *I* would have done, and why. I’m going to try my best to do one of these every day, but with school and crap who knows how well that’s going to go.
But first, I’ll point out the comics that I personally feel are creatively sound even if they don’t necessarily answer the question “why”, and operate under the time-honored concept of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So with that said, here goes:
- Aquaman
- The Flash
- Earth-2
- Action Comics
- Batman, Incorporated
- Batman
- Batwing
- Talon
- Detective Comics (a well-written book now, even if it wasn’t at the beginning)
- Batgirl
- Green Lantern
- Sword of Sorcery
- Animal Man (not a favorite of mine but a good comic nonetheless)
- Swamp Thing (see, Animal Man)
- I, Vampire (same thing, and add “DC needs diversity”)
- Team 7
- Supergirl
- All-Star Western (see, “I, Vampire”)
- Birds of Prey
- Demon Knights
- Threshold
- Justice League of America (Giving this a pass until I read what comes out.)
- Green Arrow (this series just got a new lease on life, so it might be decent)
- Worlds’ Finest
- Green Lantern Corps
- Justice League of America's Vibe (This doesn't exist yet, so I can't make comments on it.)
- The Ravagers
- Katana
- Dial H
19 titles, roughly a third of their line-up, leaving me with 33 titles to write about. Starting up tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Edited to add some new titles that either just got a new creative team or are brand-new titles and I have no idea if they're good or bad. So I actually have 23 titles to write about.
I'm of the opinion that both now and when DC did this back in 1986 with the universe-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths, that they should’ve done a clean start. No “condensed timelines”, just a full-on reboot of all events and starting fresh. Yes, some characters would’ve disappeared, but at least there would be a reason for it. As it stands characters have vanished without reason and its displeased no small number of fans. And still, as I said, there’s no satisfying reason as to why they bothered at all.
So, because of that, I’m going to try my own re-imagining of the New 52, with descriptions of what DID happen, what *I* would have done, and why. I’m going to try my best to do one of these every day, but with school and crap who knows how well that’s going to go.
But first, I’ll point out the comics that I personally feel are creatively sound even if they don’t necessarily answer the question “why”, and operate under the time-honored concept of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So with that said, here goes:
- Aquaman
- The Flash
- Earth-2
- Action Comics
- Batman, Incorporated
- Batman
- Batwing
- Talon
- Detective Comics (a well-written book now, even if it wasn’t at the beginning)
- Batgirl
- Green Lantern
- Sword of Sorcery
- Animal Man (not a favorite of mine but a good comic nonetheless)
- Swamp Thing (see, Animal Man)
- I, Vampire (same thing, and add “DC needs diversity”)
- Team 7
- Supergirl
- All-Star Western (see, “I, Vampire”)
- Birds of Prey
- Demon Knights
- Threshold
- Justice League of America (Giving this a pass until I read what comes out.)
- Green Arrow (this series just got a new lease on life, so it might be decent)
- Worlds’ Finest
- Green Lantern Corps
- Justice League of America's Vibe (This doesn't exist yet, so I can't make comments on it.)
- The Ravagers
- Katana
- Dial H
19 titles, roughly a third of their line-up, leaving me with 33 titles to write about. Starting up tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Edited to add some new titles that either just got a new creative team or are brand-new titles and I have no idea if they're good or bad. So I actually have 23 titles to write about.
Comments
Post a Comment