2011 August
New 52 Pickup | And so it begins!
Well, it’s finally here. Flashpoint #5 has hit shelves, heralding the arrival of 52 new No. 1 issues from DC Comics over the next month. But 52 titles added to anyone’s pull list is an overwhelming amount, even when you consider that most replace series that existed before Flashpoint. What’s a fan to do?
Like many of you, I’ve loved the heroes and villains that have graced the pages of DC comics for years. My favorite character has always been Barbara Gordon, I’m a huge fan of the JSA, and I think Morrison and Quitely’s All-Star Superman is a work of art. Frankly, I couldn’t be more excited about the relaunch and its potential for telling new stories and bringing new readers into the fold. However, I’m also curious as to how many of the New 52 I’ll still be reading by the third or fourth issue.
Much like the Cylons of Battlestar Galactica, I have a plan. Throughout the next month, I’ll check out all 52 No. 1 issues, focusing on what works, what doesn’t, and what were the standout moments — in short, which books were exciting enough to lead me to pick up the next issue. After taking a close look at each of the titles, it’ll be decision time: Which books am I going to keep on my pull list for the next month?
In battle-royale, last-man-standing tradition, I plan to cut half the books from my pull list at the end of the month, and continue cutting by about half each month after that until I’m reading what I consider the best of the New 52.
“New 52 Pickup” kicks off today with the debut of Justice League. Considering its status as DC’s flagship title, and that it’s the only new series dropping this week, I’ll be devoting more space than usual to a single comic, so let’s get started!
Oh, and … warning: spoilers ahead!
- August 31, 2011 @ 04:45 PM by Steve Sunu
DC reveals cover for Justice League #1 second printing
Justice League #1 second printing cover
As we learned hours before its official debut, Justice League #1 has sold out – at the distributor level, at least — leading DC Comics this afternoon to unveil a familiar image for the second printing. It’s the Jim Lee-drawn promotional image that leaked out in June (before Wonder Woman was put back in her traditional shorts), sparking widespread speculation about the identity of the team’s 15th member. The image has since appeared in the banner for DC’s official blog, and in marketing materials for the September relaunch.
It’s understandable that the publisher would want to repurpose the image; it’s Lee artwork ready and waiting to be placed in a digital file and sent to the printer. But shoe-horning the horizontal illustration into the vertical space leads Firestorm and Green Arrow to be obscured by the UPC symbol and DC logo, respectively, and poor Mera to have her head chopped in half. Granted, she’s endured harsher treatments over the years …
- August 31, 2011 @ 01:45 PM by Kevin Melrose
Quote of the day | The comics industry’s digital dilemma
“You would think that digital comics offer a neat way out for the industry. Comics need to expand their audience; the Web provides an easy means of access. Tablets are a great way to read comics. Digital delivery does away with the expense of printing and distributing paper copies, potentially breaking the cycle of increasing cover prices without cutting the throats of creators or publishers. Paid online channels like the Apple iStore and Netflix are already well-established in the minds and habits of consumers. It even solves the problem of where to keep all those old comics once you’ve read them.
And yet, in the Bizarro-world of the comics industry, all these plusses are actually minuses. Comic retailers are in such dire straits that the loss of even 20% of their regular customers to digital sales would put many of them out of business, taking the entire direct market down with them. Publishers are still dependent on the retail channel, no matter how sick and dysfunctional it has become. They can’t burn that bridge until they are safely across it, but they can’t take more than a few steps without setting it on fire.”
– Fast Company blogger Rob Salkowitz, surveying the digital landscape as DC Comics takes the plunge into day-and-date delivery with the debut of Justice League #1 and the launch of The New 52
- August 31, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
John Rozum annotates Xombi and Static villains
As the current, primary custodian of the Milestone Universe, this has to be a bittersweet time for John Rozum. On the bitter side, it’s disappointing to have to say good-bye to Xombi, both for Rozum and his readers. It was a well-loved series and, like the first volume, done too soon. But on his blog Rozum mentions a couple of things that make the cancellation easier to swallow. First, there’s a collection of all six issues coming, but Rozum’s also announced that in November he’ll start a series of annotation posts “giving some behind the scenes looks at what inspired … the material, what references there might be, and some other general process stuff that I think won’t take away from the reading experience.” And just to make sure he doesn’t miss anything, he’s also taking reader questions.
But as we say good-bye to Xombi, Rozum’s also looking forward to the release of Static Shock. He’s been posting a series of villain peeks and promises something Static-related every day between now and the Sept. 7 debut. If you’re a Milestone fan, Rozum’s blog is the place to be right now.
- August 31, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Michael May
Check it out: Francesco Francavilla’s Flash Gordon covers
Last week Dynamite Entertainment announced that it had acquired the rights to produce new comics based on the legendary Flash Gordon series, and this week we’re beginning to see the first fruits of that … and what a juicy fruit it is.
Francesco Francavilla has had a long, rewarding relationship at Dynamite doing the Zorro series and various covers. These Al Williamson-inspired covers are something to behold, and Francavilla is doing it all while balancing interior work for both DC and Marvel.
- August 31, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Arrant
Check it out: Nick Abadzis’ MODOK
Nick Abadzis might be best known for his creator-owned work such as Laika, but beneath that independent exterior lies the beating heart of a Marvel fanboy. In addition to work on Marvel’s UK imprint in the 1990s and more recently on X-Men: To Serve & Protect, he’s wrapping up a cover for an upcoming special by Classic Marvel Figurine Collection featuring comics’ biggest brain, MODOK. Check it out:
Man, oh, man.
- August 31, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Arrant
Trailer emerges for DC’s Resurrection Man #1
Another day, another trailer from David Macho promoting one of DC Comics’ relaunch titles. This time it’s Resurrection Man #1, by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino, which marks the return of Mitch Shelly, the character created in 1997 by none other than Abnett, Lanning and Jackson Guice.
It’s the return of Mitch Shelly – and he’s still dead.
Resurrection Man can’t stay dead for long, though – and with each rebirth comes new and unexpected powers. But his many returns have not gone unnoticed, and forces are gathering to learn what’s so special about him – and to see which of them will finally stop Resurrection Man dead.
Resurrection Man #1, which sports a cover by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, debuts Sept. 14.
- August 31, 2011 @ 08:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Captain America vs. the Bible in battle of the quotes
Captain America #1, by Steve McNiven
Who spoke the inspirational words, “We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up”? Hint: It wasn’t Captain America. Really.
A new survey found that 63 percent of U.S. adults attributed the quote to Martin Luther King Jr., President George W. Bush …. or Marvel’s Sentinel of Liberty. It’s actually a Bible verse — 2 Corinthians 4:8, to be precise — taken from the Contemporary English Version.
In the survey of 2,572 Americans, conducted earlier this month on behalf of the American Bible Society, King came out on top, with 27 percent crediting the civil-rights leader with the quote. Just 12 percent correctly attributed it to the Bible, presumably meaning ol’ winghead trumped the Word.
It just goes to show you, as the Good Book says, “When Captain America throws his mighty shield, all those who chose to oppose his shield must yield.”
- August 31, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC relaunch parody video: ‘Aquaman is suddenly cool?’
In a month that’s seen an official commercial and assorted other trailers for DC Comics’ heavily promoted line-wide relaunch, this video from filmmaker Patrick Willems may be the best so far. Oh, who am I kidding? It is the best so far. DC even acknowledged the humorous short, tweeting, “Excitement for DC Comics The New 52? Fantastic. Sharing too much on a first date? Not so much.”
- August 31, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Pirates get the jump on Justice League #1
The message posted at comiXology
Why are we not surprised? The digital edition of Justice League #1 goes live today at 2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific), but illegal downloads of the issue are percolating merrily away all over the Internet. The Pirate Bay shows a copy being uploaded at 4:10 a.m. GMT — that’s 11:10 p.m. ET Tuesday, 50 minutes before the print edition officially went on sale — and some other file-sharing sites have even earlier times.
As of 6:30 this morning, The Pirate Bay file had 210 seeders (people who have downloaded the file and are offering it to others to upload) and 23 leechers (people who are just downloading).
DC Comics has two things to worry about here. The first is that the first comic of the publisher’s biggest event in decades was available illegally more than 14 hours before the legitimate digital release, which raises the question of why the company is holding the digital release till so late in the day. To protect comics shops? Well, that failed. There will always be people who use illegal downloads because they’re free, but what DC needs to worry about is people who would pay for a legitimate download but grabbed the torrent first because it was up when they woke up this morning, and they could read the comic over their coffee. If you’re going to do digital, dammit, do it right.
The other problem is the response to the comic itself in the comment thread at The Pirate Bay, which was pretty negative. Although maybe that’s just a pirate-site thing, with people treating it with contempt because they got it for free, Comic Book Resources reviewer Greg McElhatton was also pretty lukewarm toward the debut issue.
- August 31, 2011 @ 04:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Middle Ground #67 | Double Duty
I’m kind of fascinated by Ardden Co-President Brendan Deneen’s comments at Comic Book Resources about sharing the Flash Gordon license with Dynamite Entertainment, if only because I’ve been wondering about “shared” licenses for a while.
For those who haven’t seen Deneen’s comments, he told CBR’s Kiel Phegley, “[T]o have someone else come along and start publishing the same character while we’re in the middle of our run … yeah, it stings. It kind of feels like someone stabbing you in the back. Sure, they’re technically ‘allowed’ to do this but that doesn’t make it any less lame on their part.” And … well, I can kind of see his point, on one hand; to have a recognizable brand as your central book is kind of a big deal for any publisher, nevermind a smaller one, and to see that enticement to readers go from being an exclusive thing to something being shared with a larger publisher … Well, that’s really got to suck.
- August 30, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by Graeme McMillan
Food or Comics? | Tubby apes shade the sixth gun of justice
Justice League #1
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Chris Arrant
If I had $15, I’d spend it seeing the finale of DC”s major event with Flashpoint #5 (DC, $3.99) and then their Brand New Day, All-New All-Different, New 52 with Justice League #1 (DC, $3.99). I feel the thunder of Flashpoint was largely muted by the waves of announcements DC did over the summer, but Johns and Kubert crafted a unique story and I’m interested to see how they wrap it up. For JL, I’m a long-time fan of Jim Lee’s work going back to Alpha Flight, and any self-respecting comics journalist has to buy this issue just to see what’s happening. For the last bit of my money, I’d dig into Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force #14 (Marvel, $3.99) – if I wasn’t already buying it, I’d buy it again for the return of Jerome Opena on art.
If I had $30, I’d double-back to my local comic shop and get the finale of IDW and editor Scott Dunbier’s Rocketeer Adventures #4 (IDW, $3.99). They really instigated a fun anthology here of above-average talents that any publisher from Marvel on down would die to have. The next comics to enter my bag would be Invincible #82 (Image, $2.99) and Butcher Baker Righteous Maker #6 (Image, $6.99); both books are still on creative highs. For the small bills I had left, I’d get Journey Into Mystery #626.1 (Marvel, $2.99) and The Sixth Gun #14 (Oni, $3.99). I admit I was behind on JiM for a while but caught up by mainlining all the issues so far in an all-night bender. The Sixth Gun too I’ve been behind the curve on, but caught up after procrastinating for a couple years.
If I was to splurge, I’d splurge all over the July pack of 2000AD issues. Tharg’s book is a hard series to jump onto, but I’d recommend anyone just to dive in with a month’s worth and get a feel for it. I just realized they sell each issue online a month after it comes out in print, at almost half cover price. They come in CBZ and PDF format, which makes them pretty adaptable to any device.
- August 30, 2011 @ 02:30 PM by Michael May
Jim Lee unveils double-page spread from Justice League #2
DC Comics executives have lined up this week at the company’s blog to commemorate the midnight debut of Justice League #1 and, thus, the official kickoff of the much-discussed line-wide relaunch, writing about all the work that’s gone into the initiative, their hopes for the titles, and so on. But when it came Jim Lee’s turn this afternoon, the DC Comics co-publisher and Justice League penciler let his artwork do the talking as he debuted a double-page spread from the second issue.
“Sometimes a picture says a thousand words,” he wrote. “What will YOU say about DC Comics-The New 52 come tomorrow?”
- August 30, 2011 @ 01:45 PM by Kevin Melrose
Quote of the day | Dan DiDio on recap pages and accessibility
“Somebody asked me if we’re going to use recap pages. I said, ‘I don’t know, if we’re just on issue one, if we need a recap page we’ve probably screwed up our mission.’ My goal is never to have recap pages, but I understand the people’s desire. I always call the recap page lazy writing, because I always felt that it always gave someone an easy way to do an essay about what’s going on in the book, rather than what’s going on in the storytelling. So I think we’d rather try to find a way to make our stories as dramatic as possible, so we don’t have to rely on things like that. That being said, if it does make sense for the particular time, if you’re building to something major, then we’ll use every tool at our disposal to make these books as accessible as possible.”
– DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, discussing the approach to characters and storytelling
in the company’s heavily promoted line-wide relaunch
- August 30, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Chris Schweizer updates on next two Crogan volumes
Chris Schweizer announced on his blog that he’s begun inking Crogan’s Loyalty, the third volume in his history-spanning, multi-generational Crogan Adventures series. In addition to sharing a few pages of art, he also says that he’s finished writing the fourth volume, Crogan’s Escape, hoping to start pencils on it as soon as he finishes inks on Loyalty.
- August 30, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Michael May