The Trouble with Launching New Titles and Geoff Johns’ Justice League

Justice League #9

Like just about everyone else alive, I (for no discernible reason) am absolutely convinced that I know better than the myriad writers and editors at DC Comics, that my take on the New 52 would have been flawlessly executed, that all the mistakes they made – and I don’t think it’s any great revelation that massive, avoidable mistakes were made in the course of this enormous, ambitious project – could have been turned around if only they would have trusted me.

Which is stupid, of course.  The comic marketplace is a vastly different place than it was even ten years ago, and outside of seriously stepping out of comic shops and back into supermarkets (with the resulting drop in price and increase in age-restricted content that implies) they were never going to get their comics into many new hands… and I’m pretty sure that isn’t a feasible goal anyway.  No, they did a lot right, including the very necessary move to increase digital publication.

But one possible mistake they made that I think would be very fixable is in how they handled some of the relaunches.  Angry fans can and will claim that DC never gave their favorite canceled title a shot – though the relative dearth of this sort of outcry thus far suggests that DC picked the right titles to cancel quickly, and I’d bet the next cancellations will be met with similar silence – but, realistically, they were treated exactly the same as the rest of the New 52, given promotion, in-house ads, equal shelf space, etc….  DC treated Men of War and Batman roughly the same – and that, in my opinion, is the problem.

This Week in Comics: 5/16/2012

This week in comics, the Avengers and the X-Men settle their differences via walk-off (with special guest judge David Bowie!), Image wows with Dancer #1, and I confuse the plot of a major event comic with that of Zoolander to mildly comedic effect. Very mild.

Let’s dance!

DC New 52 – One Sentence Reviews, Part 20

Okay, this is it.  This is the week in which all of my One Sentence Reviews will be genuine, single sentences.

Every week I bend, twist, break, coerce, violate and traumatise the English language in order to squeeze most of what I want to say into mega-mutant sentences.  I don’t apologise for indulging myself in this way because I enjoy it too much.

But this week, just to prove that I can do it, I’m going to play by the rules.  I have no idea what next week will bring.

As usual, each comic is scored out of five and at the end I have a cumulative leader board to show which are consistently excellent, which are on the rise, and which are circling the drain.

I have also reviewed the mini-series issue from this week but it isn’t included in the leaderboard.

Warning, there could be spoilers ahead (although I try to avoid them).

 

DC New 52 – One Sentence Reviews, Part 11

 

If it’s short, sharp reviews of the New 52 ye seek, then here be one sentence reviews for the comics of the week.

Each comic is scored out of five and at the end I have a cumulative leader board (averaging the scores of each title) to show which are consistently excellent, which are on the rise, and which are circling the drain. 

I have also reviewed the mini-series issues but they aren’t included in the leaderboard.

Warning, there could be spoilers ahead (although I try to avoid them).

Review: Justice League #2

Justice League #2, cover by Lee, Williams & Sinclair

When Justice League #1 was released (over six weeks ago), it was met by many comics fans with a resounding ‘meh’.  Awkwardly paced and somewhat lacking in any sort of ‘league’, some particularly pessimistic fans were predicting failure for the relaunch based on its opening issue.  And then the issue sold an insane number of copies, and the story became “this is a wildly successful start to the relaunch, sales-wise” rather than “this was a mildly successful start to the relaunch, creatively-speaking.”  But still, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee has perhaps the biggest soap box in comicdom right now to prove that superheroes are viable in the mainstream, so how does their sophomore issue fare?

Justice League International #2

Spoiler Warning

Round-table Rant: DCnU #1′s Summary

For the last several months, we’ve been buzzing about the DC relaunch.  Now that we’ve read the first 52 issues, the read/RANT team weighs in with our thoughts.

Retrospective: Teen Titans vol 3 (part 7)

Looking into issue 50-54.  Issue 50 is a collaboration between McKeever, Johns, Wolfman, and Dezago.  This is also Johns’ last work on Teen Titans and after this issue, McKeever takes over by himself for a while.

Retrospective: Teen Titans vol 3 (part 1)

I’m a fan of the Teen Titans, especially the latest incarnation that went from 2003-2011 and as this relaunch makes it seem their entire history may be erased, I wanted to give them a farewell starting with issues 1-7 (also collected in trade form as “A Kid’s Game” or the soon to be released Teen Titans Omnibus 1).  Like usual, beware of spoilers.

Review: Justice League International #1

Justice League: Generation Lost was a pleasant surprise.  So much so, I was disappointed to hear that Judd Winick would not be continuing to write the teams adventures in the new DCU.  But as it turns out, lightning has struck twice.  Based on the first issue, Dan Jurgens’ Justice League International is an equally pleasant surprise.

Character Study: Justice League #1 – Part 2

In Character Study, I’m taking a look at how the key characters in Justice League #1 are portrayed and see what it all might mean for the brave new world that is DCnU. 

In Part 1, I looked at Batman and Vic Stone.  In Part 2, I turn the spotlight on Green Lantern and Superman.

Character Study: Justice League #1 – Part 1

By now, the internet has been flooded with reviews for the book that launches a whole new status quo for the DC Universe. And, as many reviewers have commented, this is not your dad’s DCU and you’ve never seen this Justice League before.

So what could I possibly add to the digital cacophony, especially since I had to wait a few extra days for my comics to travel halfway around the world to Australia?

Instead of offering yet another review of Justice League #1, I have decided to focus on what is, for me, the most important part of any story – the characters.

Rewind: Justice League Eps 31-32

“Only a Dream”

NewU Reviews: Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1

So, it’s finally over – Flashpoint ends today, and with it, the DC Universe as we know it.  But every ending is just the beginning of something new, so I’m going to briefly discuss – since lebeau has already handled both books already – the beginning of the DCnU as well, including how DC’s same day digital release process treated me.  As always, spoilers ahead…

Review: Justice League #1

Spoiler Warning!

The new Justice League line-up confirmed

The new JLA line-up was confirmed in a Jim Lee-drawn piece of promo art.  The new line-up includes the big guns from the announcement (plus Cyborg) and the newly revealed members Deadman, Mera, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Atom and Firestorm.  Plus 2 mystery women who may or may not be existing characters.

read/RANT!

DC Relaunch: Captain Atom #1

DC Relaunch: Justice League International #1

DC Relaunch: Justice League #1

Now that all 52 books in the September relaunch have been announced, I intend to go back an take a closer look at each one.  I’ll examine what looks different, what looks the same and what I think the book’s chances are for success.  So, I’ll kick things off with the first book announced: Justice League #1.

Review: Justice League Generation Lost #9

I started this book with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.  I keep waiting for my expectations to rise to a level where I will be disappointed.  While not every issue has been a home run, I have yet to be disappointed.  And even with raised expectations by this point in the series, this issue was another pleasant surprise.