DC Comics General

I'm starting with the New 52 simply because they are more current than those that came before. That said, do you mind filling me in on which comics from those artist you mentioned are from the New 52 and could someone explain why the new Supergirl comics aren't newcomer friendly?

well they are if you start from #1. but not the current issues,

I'm starting with the New 52 simply because they are more current than those that came before.

... words fail me.

Well, it's not a false statement.

its easier to get current stuff to read

The only New 52 book I'm still buying is Green Lantern, so I'd recommend that. Sadly, the main artist has a hard time drawing Hal Jordan well, but at least the stories have been good.

Is DC ever going to release prints or posters of their recent kickass Darwyn Cooke variant covers? I'd really like that.

x4Except the new Valiant also came around the same time, and unlike DC, they actually did a full-blown reboot. They'd actually be easier to get into than DC right now.

several issues of supergirl tie into other comics

Is all that continuity really a barrier to new readers? How much of it is really relevant to any given story? It's usually not that hard to get up to speed on the current status quo of any given character.

When I first started reading DC in 1988 or so, the first Green Lantern I ran across was G'Nort. I distinctly remember thinking "why is Green Lantern a dog?" I didn't even know there was more than one GL. But I stuck around and got up to speed.

It just takes a little effort, and if anything it has to be easier now than it used to be with the internet full of information. I tend to suspect that readers are just lazy and the "too much continuity" is just an excuse more often than not.

it can get confusing if you read one comic and suddenly need to read four more to follow a story thats why i quit justice league and green lantern i don't have time money or patience to do that

Exactly. Everything you know to know understand what's going on in a given comic should all be there within that comic, even if it's part of a Shared Universe. It can be part of such a universe, but it needs to stand on it's own. And many comics from the Big Two these days don't really do that.

I'm not really talking about cross-title storylines. I'm suffering through one of those currently with Green Lantern, since I only read the main GL book, but there are four other titles involved in the Godhead storyline.

I'm talking about decades of storylines, character relationships and legacy characters that were apparently too high a barrier for new readers, hence DC brooming so much of it. I just think that some potential readers make more of a problem out of that than is genuinely warranted. And some writers way overplay the "we're so restricted in the stories we can tell" card as well.

edited 17th Nov '14 11:25:16 AM by andersonh1

This is a bit of a inter-mythos question, but I've been wondering this recently: General Immortus and Vandal Savage are two very similar characters. They both have been immortal for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They both - as far as my knowledge - have done the "were famous generals and tyrants through history bit. And of course they both have the objective of world domination. And they're both extremely intelligent, perceptive and cunning - with the unique perspective to comprehend odd quirks in the passage of history.

So have the two ever met? Or if not that, has it been stated that they were aware of each other before recently? Has there ever been an anecdote about a time the two have operated in the same space years and years ago? Do they see each other as rivals or competition (it seems to me like guys like that would). Etc.

All that says to me is that Immortus and Savage should have been the same character.

For what it matters, Vandal Savage and Ra's al Ghul *have* met and even worked together long ago.

At the time Immortus was created, Vandal Savage was an Earth-Two character. He emigrated to Earth-One in a Superman story as it turned out he didn't have a direct counterpart and thus could operate without the public being aware of his real nature. Up until Superman made him give an Engineered Public Confession.

Post-Crisis, Vandal Savage was put in as a fairly major player, but General Immortus was backbenched as the Doom Patrol had more...interesting...villains to work with. There may have been a story where the various immortal villains meet up every century or so just to say "hi" and catch up.

Eventually, General Immortus was even kind of sidelined from his role as a founding villain for the Doom Patrol as it was retconned that the Chief had been more aware of what was going on with the immortality treatments than he let on.

Does the event Godhead have its own page?

Most of these are glorious.

I always will approve of Superman and Doomsday as Bill and Ted.

So I know a lot of people think Identity Crisis is responsible for a lot of the issues modern DC has, and I was thinking about it earlier and it just hit me what it reminds me of: an Oscar Bait movie. Think about it. It has a dreary, depressing tone, there are a lot of scenes of navel-gazing and contemplating the unfairness of the world, it tackles "relevant" issues like rape and mental health, and people close to the protagonists die essentially for cheap schmaltz. Essentially, like a lot of bad Oscar bait flicks, it tries to convince the audience it's more mature than it really is, especially since it was farmed out to a guy who writes mostly novels about politics rather than comics.

Thoughts?

I liked Identity Crisis. Seriously. At least the aspect of explaining things that were Fridge Logic for a long time. It could have done the story without stuffing women in fridges (though Ralph's despair at the funeral was a great moment), but I liked the characterizations of all of the superheroes. I loved the part where (I keep forgetting his name, the Wizard?) asks knowingly what they are going to do (before the mindwipe to erase knowledge of the superheroes) with the full Not So Different implication. I enjoy the short scene with Slipknot.

The problem is that DC wants to be "younger and hipper", when it should be aging with its core fans. The stories they're doing now are utterly forgettable. They want to be Image Comics circa mid-90's for whatever reason. Making statements that Clark and Lois will never date ever again doesn't help.

New 52 is New Coke. I wonder what would happen if DC dared make a comic, one single comic, that was based in the post-Crisis, pre-Countdown DCU. Call is "Classic DC". Maybe they're afraid that people will prefer Coke Classic to New Coke.

Identity Crisis is a story of no redeemable value.

Funnily enough, the author, Brad Meltzer, said that Identity Crisis was supposed to be a tribute to super heroes. A quote from the hardcover edition from the book:"They'd allow us to see the old Silver Age stories in a brand-new way. You look back on those stories now and they're wonderful — nothing tops them — but I think a lot of people chuck them to the side and say, 'that’s fun, that’s cute, but they’re a coloring book and we don’t need them any more.’ I love those stories. I grew up on those stories, and those stories changed my life. They taught me my values."

This was also covered in Linkara's top 15 things wrong with Identity Crisis:http://atopthefourthwall.com/15-things-that-are-wrong-with-identity-crisis/

edited 5th Jan '15 1:11:48 PM by mrterrorface

I think IC is, taken in a vacuum, decently well-written. If it were about original characters, it might even be good. The effect it had on the greater universe, though, means the cons outweigh the pros in my opinion.