The New 52, so far

DC Comics is now nine months into their big, sweeping re-launch of the entire line, the project they call “The New 52”. And despite the early naysayers, it’s proving to be more than just marketing hype. Over all—at least on most of the core titles—it’s been a real success, commercially and creatively.

Not that it’s been without the occasional crash-and-burn utter failure. Of the 52 titles that launched the first month, I was able to check out about 20 of them, so I can’t speak for the quality of the majority. But of the titles I read, only a few were disappointing. A quick run-down on those before getting to the good (and great) stuff.

SAVAGE HAWKMAN was a disaster from the get-go. I’ve always had a soft spot for the character, but very few creators have done good work with him. Tony Daniels and Philip Tan continue the tradition of mucking Hawkman up. Lately, DC is allowing artists like Daniels to write as well, and this title illustrates perfectly why that’s not such a good idea. Daniels is a decent artist, but his writing leaves much to be desired.

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT came almost solely from artist David Finch—again, a case of a very good artist being given the reins as writer, with poor results.

DETECTIVE COMICS is also written by Daniels, and also fails to be interesting.

All three of the above mentioned titles have just been handed over to different creative teams, so hopefully they’ll get on track.

GREEN ARROW is another character with loads of potential, but the New 52 re-launch of the character takes away everything that made him interesting and replaces it a with shallow, dull-witted Tony Stark impression. The art is static, the story is predictable. Again, a new team has taken over, so maybe they can salvage it yet. It would be nice to see Green Arrow get the treatment he deserves.

CATWOMAN has had her ups and downs over the years, but Ed Brubaker showed that tremendous things can be done with her. There’s a fine, fine line between writing Selina Kyle as a complex anti-hero with more than her share of sexiness and writing her as a total sexpot. Judd Winnick (who is normally a decent writer, I think) goes the exploitive sexpot route, to such a degree that it’s hard to take her seriously. And the ridiculously exaggerated art of Gulliem March only accentuates it. This one was especially disappointing.

SUPERMAN… the super-hero of all super-heroes should NOT be boring. And yet he so often is. The re-launch changed many things about Superman, but not that. The first couple issues were busy, busy, busy, cluttered with unnecessary prose and about a million panels per page. Yet again, the original creative team here has been replaced, so this titles future could still be bright.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS was sort of a mess.

BLACKHAWKS had a lot of potential to be a sort of DC Universe version of G.I. Joe, but missed the mark.

Now, the titles that were decent, but not quite special enough to make my pull-list (although, if money wasn’t an issue, I would still consider hanging around to see where they were going)…

NIGHTWING is written competently and the art is solid, but over-all it felt fairly rote. Nightwing is a great character, though, and as part of the Batman world, not much has changed (not much that is apparent yet, anyway).

BATWOMAN is one of DC’s best new characters, and the initial run (in Detective Comics), written by Greg Rucka and with amazing art by J.H. Williams was fantastic. The re-launch more or less picks up where the first run left off, except this time it doesn’t have the saving grace of Rucka’s script. Artist Williams has taken up the pen, and unfortunately his skills as a writer don’t match up to his skills as an artist. Still, the book would still be worth picking up if it still featured his art… but it doesn’t.

JUSTICE LEAGUE, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Jim Lee, is a fan-boy wet dream. I liked it enough to stick around through the first six-issue arc, but almost immediately after that it began losing its appeal for me. I’m not crazy about the new team dynamics here, the way the heroes interact with one another. But that’s just me.

And now, the winners:

BATMAN, written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo, is an absolute gem. The core Batman books don’t seem to have been affected much by the re-launch, so Snyder is able to draw on Batman’s recent history to tell a terrific and involving story, and Capullo’s art is really fresh and dynamic.

ACTION COMICS—Grant Morrison gives us the Superman we deserve here. His first arc is a reimagining of Superman’s early days in Metropolis as a brash, headstrong young hero out to help the common man. He’s likeable and fun and the story is just jam-packed with great action and mind-blowing ideas. If you’ve read Morrison’s ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, you know what to expect. Great stuff.

THE FLASH is pure super-hero fun, with a focus on crazy science and flat-out action. The art by Francis Manapul is gorgeous. I didn’t think anybody could do justice to The Flash after the great run a few years ago from Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, but the new team is kicking all kinds of ass.

WONDER WOMAN is a book I never thought I’d be reading, but so far, month after month, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang are blowing me away with this title. Incorporating Greek mythology, horror, and dynamic super-hero action, Wonder Woman is one of the best new surprises to come from the New 52.

Now, as for the non-core titles that really nail it:

ALL-STAR WESTERN was a no-brainer for me, as I loved the ongoing JONAH HEX title that this one replaces. It’s the same writers, with new artist Moritat—and they’ve gone in a decidedly “weird western” direction. I sort of miss the old single issue story format of the old title, but they’re doing a very nice job of keeping me invested in the new version. I do hope, though, that our man Hex gets away from Gotham City and back out West again soon.

 ANIMAL MAN is probably the smartest, weirdest book to come out of the New 52. Writer Jeff Lemire is forging a bizarre, horrifying epic here and I hope more people pick it up because it’s just amazing.

SWAMP THING, newly re-introduced to the DC Universe after a long stint in their “adult” pocket Vertigo, is written by Batman scribe Scott Snyder (you should also check out his AMERICAN VAMPIRE, it’s aces), and seems to be closely related to Animal Man. I was dubious and a little annoyed that they were reincorporating Swampie into the mainstream DC Universe, but I needn’t have worried. Aside from “younging up” the characters, they don’t seem to have changed much of the rich back-story.

FRANKENSTEIN: AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. doesn’t seem like it would be worth reading, does it? Wrong. It’s flat-out brilliant. Jeff Lemire has the reins on this one as well, and gives readers a bizzaro saga packed with great ideas and almost pulp-style action. Some readers have pointed out that the premise has more than a little in common with Hellboy and his BPRD, and yes, that’s true—but I don’t see a problem with that.

So that’s my take on the New 52. Over all, I’m really pleased with the re-launch. DC as a company seems committed to telling the best stories possible, and even though they may have stumbled a little bit out of the gate with a few titles, I’m invested enough in many of them that I’m sure I’ll be there for the long haul.

What’s your take? And are there any that I didn’t mention that you think are worth reading?