DBB 592 - Robby discusses DC's "New 52"/JLA reboot
20 comments:
Anonymous
said...
As usual Robby, you have it exactly right. From the political messages, to the storytelling failures, to the self-indulgent art, bad dialogue, and awful logo design.
There is just no respect for either the reader, the characters, or their own history. It's just re-packaged hyped-up "new and improved!" BS, despite the product actually getting worse and more expensive all the time.
I've come to expect the slow degradation of writing and basic drawing skills. But what is to be gained by redesigning Superman's costume? Why do they need to destroy Captain Marvel? If they're so f-ing creative, where are NEW characters that have 1/10 the staying power of the classics they so love to defile?
I think DC has accepted at this point that they simply are not capable of creating new characters! They stopped trying years ago, after countless failures. How sad is that? So instead, they just assign the sexual or minority status of the week to an existing character. Gay Black Hispanic Spider-Man? To me, that's a three-way hate crime.
Robbie, I'm interested on how you and others feel about Dynamite's new retelling of Pulp heroes, The Shadow, The Spider, The Lone Ranger, Tarzan, and The Green Hornet.
Welcome back, Robby! You like Lee's art a heck of a lot more than me, but that story is indeed a mess -- as is the rest of the new 52. I dread what's upcoming with Earth 2.
Shazamaholic, you gave Shazam part one a B+. Since I think the series is awful and beneath contempt, forgive me if I skip the rest of your reviews of the series.
Harry V -- I haven't read any of the Dynamite books yet. Not interested in the 800th redo. Interior art looks average at best. That Shadow cover by Alex Ross is a killer though!
Optimus - I will not be reviewing the new DIAL H series. I'm too scared to even read it. It should be called DIAL H LOST or DIAL H DARK.
Sorry you feel that way. I can't condemn the series without at least giving it a chance, though I did lower the grade for chapter 2, and will continue to lower the grade if Johns deserves it.
Perhaps my post "Lamenting the Batman logo" would be more to your liking?
DC has plenty of characters (Deadman, Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Swamp Thing, Dr. Fate) who are suited to a grimdark style. There is no need to ruin Captain Marvel.
I agree with Anon. I feel that buy spending four bucks to buy the comic, I AM "giving it a chance." To me it was the shocking first installment in the ruination of a grand old character, so why sick around?
Wait until "Curse of Shazam" is collected as a TPB. That's what I'm going to do. And I'm glad someone will review it to help me decide if I do want to buy the TPB when it is published.
Everybody waits for the TPB, it seems. All comics are written as six-issue story arcs (no more, no fewer) so they can be collected in a TPB edition. Pretty soon, the publishers won't even bother to publish individual issues at all.
I think they should basically change their name to the JDA, Justice Douches of America since that is what the team now acts like. These are NOT team players one can respect. They are constantly belittling each other and the public they serve. Even the bickering Avengers know when to push all that crap aside when it comes time to save lives.
Billy Batson might as well change his name to Damien Wayne because he is now a total rude ass. Ugh. What I loved about Captain Marvel was his sense of wonder and innocence. That is what truly set him apart from other superhero powerhouses such as Superman, Thor or even Alan Moore's Supreme homage. I will NOT be dropping a dime on anymore issues of Justice League.
Re: "Of course, the real truth is that the writers are liberals putting their political beliefs in the mouths of the heroes, in an attempt to influence people. Leaving out the "of America" part suits them just fine, whatever the reason. Nuff said."
Nuff said? Frankly I think that's a load of hooey. I get a little tired of the "liberals hate America" rhetoric. I'm what you would probably call a liberal but I definitely do not hate America. I served in the military, I vote in every election, I stand and place my hand over my heart and sing along when the play the Star-Spangled Banner. My politics may not be those of those extreme right-wing Tea Party Fox-swilling yahoos who seem hell-bent on establishing a Christian version of the Taliban, but I love this country as much (and probably more, based on some of the things they've said and done in recent years) than they do.
Having gotten THAT rant out of the way, I have to say Robby that you are DEAD-ON with regard to the ugliness of the new DC logo and the lack of quality of the company's new books. Thank God I've got all those boxes of my 1960s-70s comics out in the garage to dig out and re-read. My kids and their friends prefer those older books, too, which in itself should send some kind of message to Dan Didiot and the dimbulbs at today's DC.
I have to chime in and say the Miles Morales Ultimate Spiderman is strong and not just an issue of "let's take X character, make him/her X ethnicity, and Ka-ching!" I don't care for the decompressed story telling (everything in the first three issues could've/would've been told in a single issue 20 plus years ago) but it has a real resonance and the death of Peter Parker finally gave that character a true arc and journey versus the the "real" Peter Parker who has been spinning his wheels since the mid-90s.
Your review of the JL 1 was spot on. My only disagreement with you is about Jim Lee. While the stuff "looks"' better, it still look pretty darn stiff. Again, I hated Image comics and this felt like an image book down to the genericizing of the classic costumes. Superman and Wonder Woman (and all the heroes for that matter)just look overrendered and abysmal. And if you saw DC comics the previous year with the death of Bruce Wayne and Superman not even being in his own comics (replaced by Mon-El), it doesn't surprise me the comics took a nosedive. The characters were quite vital in the 1990s especially with the Justice League animated show which was filled with terse writing and great dialogue. They could have just followed that, and been all set. I quit reading DC Comics. They don't want my money any more. Now I buy Aussie black and white reprints of classic DC and Marvel stuff. DC Comics may be selling, but they don't need my money any more. I felt so insulted after Justice League 1. The fact that it is successful says to me how dumb the DC readership has gone. Lee's Batman and Green lantern masks looked strangely liefeldian )like Rob Liefeld) to me, and I don't know why. Maybe it waa the way GL's hair was styled. The facial structure just felt like Liefeld. DC is the new Image Comics. Where was Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez who should have done the redesigns if they really needed to be done? Rao help us all.
20 comments:
As usual Robby, you have it exactly right. From the political messages, to the storytelling failures, to the self-indulgent art, bad dialogue, and awful logo design.
There is just no respect for either the reader, the characters, or their own history. It's just re-packaged hyped-up "new and improved!" BS, despite the product actually getting worse and more expensive all the time.
I've come to expect the slow degradation of writing and basic drawing skills. But what is to be gained by redesigning Superman's costume? Why do they need to destroy Captain Marvel? If they're so f-ing creative, where are NEW characters that have 1/10 the staying power of the classics they so love to defile?
I think DC has accepted at this point that they simply are not capable of creating new characters! They stopped trying years ago, after countless failures. How sad is that? So instead, they just assign the sexual or minority status of the week to an existing character. Gay Black Hispanic Spider-Man? To me, that's a three-way hate crime.
Good to see you back, Robby. I'll be reviewing the "Curse of Shazam" back up feature on my blog, Shazamaholic! Hope you find time to read it.
Robbie, I'm interested on how you and others feel about Dynamite's new retelling of Pulp heroes, The Shadow, The Spider, The Lone Ranger, Tarzan, and The Green Hornet.
Robby, Are you going to review the new "Dial H" when it comes out?
Welcome back, Robby! You like Lee's art a heck of a lot more than me, but that story is indeed a mess -- as is the rest of the new 52. I dread what's upcoming with Earth 2.
Shazamaholic, you gave Shazam part one a B+. Since I think the series is awful and beneath contempt, forgive me if I skip the rest of your reviews of the series.
Harry V -- I haven't read any of the Dynamite books yet. Not interested in the 800th redo. Interior art looks average at best. That Shadow cover by Alex Ross is a killer though!
Optimus - I will not be reviewing the new DIAL H series. I'm too scared to even read it. It should be called DIAL H LOST or DIAL H DARK.
Sorry you feel that way. I can't condemn the series without at least giving it a chance, though I did lower the grade for chapter 2, and will continue to lower the grade if Johns deserves it.
Perhaps my post "Lamenting the Batman logo" would be more to your liking?
DC has plenty of characters (Deadman, Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Swamp Thing, Dr. Fate) who are suited to a grimdark style. There is no need to ruin Captain Marvel.
I agree with Anon. I feel that buy spending four bucks to buy the comic, I AM "giving it a chance." To me it was the shocking first installment in the ruination of a grand old character, so why sick around?
Wait until "Curse of Shazam" is collected as a TPB. That's what I'm going to do. And I'm glad someone will review it to help me decide if I do want to buy the TPB when it is published.
Everybody waits for the TPB, it seems. All comics are written as six-issue story arcs (no more, no fewer) so they can be collected in a TPB edition. Pretty soon, the publishers won't even bother to publish individual issues at all.
I think they should basically change their name to the JDA, Justice Douches of America since that is what the team now acts like. These are NOT team players one can respect. They are constantly belittling each other and the public they serve. Even the bickering Avengers know when to push all that crap aside when it comes time to save lives.
Billy Batson might as well change his name to Damien Wayne because he is now a total rude ass. Ugh. What I loved about Captain Marvel was his sense of wonder and innocence. That is what truly set him apart from other superhero powerhouses such as Superman, Thor or even Alan Moore's Supreme homage. I will NOT be dropping a dime on anymore issues of Justice League.
With prices these days, it is impractical to buy several issues to "give it a chance." Like it or not, they need to get it right the first time.
Re: "Of course, the real truth is that the writers are liberals putting their political beliefs in the mouths of the heroes, in an attempt to influence people. Leaving out the "of America" part suits them just fine, whatever the reason. Nuff said."
Nuff said? Frankly I think that's a load of hooey. I get a little tired of the "liberals hate America" rhetoric. I'm what you would probably call a liberal but I definitely do not hate America. I served in the military, I vote in every election, I stand and place my hand over my heart and sing along when the play the Star-Spangled Banner. My politics may not be those of those extreme right-wing Tea Party Fox-swilling yahoos who seem hell-bent on establishing a Christian version of the Taliban, but I love this country as much (and probably more, based on some of the things they've said and done in recent years) than they do.
Having gotten THAT rant out of the way, I have to say Robby that you are DEAD-ON with regard to the ugliness of the new DC logo and the lack of quality of the company's new books. Thank God I've got all those boxes of my 1960s-70s comics out in the garage to dig out and re-read. My kids and their friends prefer those older books, too, which in itself should send some kind of message to Dan Didiot and the dimbulbs at today's DC.
That was not a personal attack on you. I specifically mentioned THE WRITERS because that's who I was talking about. What I said was true.
Not all liberals are anti-American. But the radical chic, champagne socialist, limousine liberal hypocrites in Hollywood definitely are.
I have to chime in and say the Miles Morales Ultimate Spiderman is strong and not just an issue of "let's take X character, make him/her X ethnicity, and Ka-ching!" I don't care for the decompressed story telling (everything in the first three issues could've/would've been told in a single issue 20 plus years ago) but it has a real resonance and the death of Peter Parker finally gave that character a true arc and journey versus the the "real" Peter Parker who has been spinning his wheels since the mid-90s.
I can't agree. If the chararcter's story is really "strong," then why not invent a new character instead of replacing an old one?
Imagine if they remade LABAMBA but made Ritchie Valens white. What could be more idiotic?
They companies want to come off as "diverse," but their true motive is MONEY. They'd never admit that though.
Your review of the JL 1 was spot on. My only disagreement with you is about Jim Lee. While the stuff "looks"' better, it still look pretty darn stiff. Again, I hated Image comics and this felt like an image book down to the genericizing of the classic costumes. Superman and Wonder Woman (and all the heroes for that matter)just look overrendered and abysmal. And if you saw DC comics the previous year with the death of Bruce Wayne and Superman not even being in his own comics (replaced by Mon-El), it doesn't surprise me the comics took a nosedive. The characters were quite vital in the 1990s especially with the Justice League animated show which was filled with terse writing and great dialogue. They could have just followed that, and been all set. I quit reading DC Comics. They don't want my money any more. Now I buy Aussie black and white reprints of classic DC and Marvel stuff. DC Comics may be selling, but they don't need my money any more. I felt so insulted after Justice League 1. The fact that it is successful says to me how dumb the DC readership has gone. Lee's Batman and Green lantern masks looked strangely liefeldian )like Rob Liefeld) to me, and I don't know why. Maybe it waa the way GL's hair was styled. The facial structure just felt like Liefeld. DC is the new Image Comics. Where was Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez who should have done the redesigns if they really needed to be done? Rao help us all.
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