Comments on: What I’m Reading From DC as 2006 Ends

By: notintheface

notintheface — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 02:01:31 +0000

Re: Birds of Prey & Manhunter -

Johanna, Johanna, Johanna!! Haven’t you learned NEVER to judge a book by its…well, you know.

But seriously, in this case, it’s true. In the words of Kiefer Sutherland on “24″, you’re going to have to trust me on this one. You’ll be missing out on two very well-written, well-drawn, and yes, girl-friendly books. Besides, that Manhunter cover was an anomaly by this book’s standards. To show you what I mean, here’s an upcoming Manhunter cover with the one of the best-looking Diana pictures I’ve ever seen, and I mean that in a completely non-sexist way. Everything awesome about Diana is captured in this one cover.

http://pics.livejournal.com/kphoebe/pic/00041t2y

Plus, BOP has a female writer/penciller team now, one of whom is the great Gail Simone.

Also, I highly recommend EX MACHINA from Wildstorm.

By: Rob Barrett

Rob Barrett — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:03:43 +0000

Er, that’s Nina Jaffe. To make things easier for anyone looking for the books.

Re Crandell’s costume redesign: I also like the return of the eagle emblem (to replace the stylized WW).

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:57:39 +0000

Oooh, no, I hadn’t. I like the tank top/skirt look — it seems a lot more like a young girl’s outfit. Amazing what just adding spaghetti straps to WW’s bustier does for the look of the costume.

By: Rob Barrett

Rob Barrett — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 15:26:18 +0000

It is a great cover, Gail. And it’s anatomically accurate (as opposed to poor Wonder Woman’s stance on the Manhunter cover).

(BTW, Johanna, have you seen Nona Jaffe’s Festival Reader Wonder Woman books? Ben Crandell’s redesign of Diana’s costume is quite lovely and non-objectifying to boot. I’ve ordered two of the books for my 2 year old daughter, who is obsessed with “Wuh Woman.”)

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 05:14:12 +0000

I agree that bop cover has Manhunter way too busty, but I think it’s otherwise quite lovely and beautifully designed. Sorry you didn’t like it!

Gail

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:20:55 +0000

I don’t read Willingham’s work, because his treatment of female characters strikes me as very regressive and, well, creepy. (And if I recall correctly, the first Fables storyline dealt with a blood-soaked murder, so definitely some horrific elements there.)

By: invisible_hand

invisible_hand — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:15:45 +0000

i mourn the absence of a regular dose of all-star superman, which simply kicks out the crazy jams in the best morrisonian mode. perhaps vertigo books are too focused on horror and violence, but i hold that they are putting out some of the best books on the stands. i cannot recomment FABLES enough. it’s great, complex, involved storytelling with crackerjack characters and fabulous plots. wonderful comic.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:14:05 +0000

On the Vertigo front, I’m surprised you don’t mention Fables. Not horror at all and very enjoyable. Perhaps another library pickup. Definitely better in book format.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 02:45:53 +0000

I’ve tried Blue Beetle, Guy, but it didn’t have enough to set it apart, to keep it sticking in my head from month to month.

Evan, excellent point, although I’d quibble that they’re not using the same characters they remember. They’re rewriting them in ways that don’t match.

By: Evan Waters

Evan Waters — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 23:45:37 +0000

I don’t think nostalgia itself is so much the problem, but how it’s handled. A lot of these writers AREN’T just going ahead and writing comics like they were back in the day- instead they have the characters lament the loss of a grand golden age and tell very existential middle-aged stories about how things aren’t as good as they once were but we fight on nonetheless. They use the characters they remember and love, but the tone is very postmodern.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:32:16 +0000

I think you’d like the new Blue Beetle, one of only a handful of DC titles to survive my post-Infinite Crisis purge. Young reluctant hero, solid supporting cast (including three strong females), an underlying sense of humor and, most importantly, only a peripheral connection to the main DCU. The TPB of the first 6 issues came out this week and I highly recommend it.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:29:20 +0000

I’m afraid you’ve missed the point of the Mad Mod — he’s always defeated, showing that you can’t go back to your youth (he’s young when he’s a bad guy, when defeated he returns to his old age) and it’s the wrong thing to do to try.

By: Kef

Kef — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:59:19 +0000

“I especially don’t care about their nostalgic navel-gazing…”

“Thus, it turns out that my favorite DC comic is Teen Titans Go!, especially when they tackle such fun characters as the Mad Mod…”

[Head explodes]

By: Anthony D.

Anthony D. — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 07:28:42 +0000

Guess I forgot to add to my comment that I also have been reading the Krypto miniseries, plus that I’ve always been a DC reader—but apparently a disillusioned one these days…

By: Anthony D.

Anthony D. — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 07:22:48 +0000

My DC reading these days is pretty much down to All Star Superman (despite the heavy delays between issues), reprints such as the Showcase Presents line, and Kurt Busiek’s run on Superman. Otherwise, pretty much turned off for the reasons Johanna listed (didn’t think much of the Joker Christmas story in the last issue of Detective Comics, a title I only read because Paul Dini was writing it—the Joker in the story seemed more to me in line with the stupid, boring and nihilistic “Hannibal Lecter with a joybuzzer” mass-murderer-who-doesn’t-do-anything-else Joker they’ve latched onto in the 90′s than being anything like the Joker from the Animated Series). Oh, well; guess it leaves more money to spare on other stuff (like Uncle Scrooge or comic strip compilations)…

By: Anun

Anun — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 19:57:08 +0000

In fairness, I believe that cover to Manhunter was done by Art Adams, probably as some sort of promotional thing. The actual art in Manhunter is really terrific. It’s realistic and even when it seems like the artist is attempting a cheesecake shot, it just doesn’t hit the offensive buttons the way Ed Benes’s art does.

In short, one promo cover is actually not representative of Manhunter. The lead is the best new character I’ve seen in a long time, and she has a great supporting cast that’s fleshed out but doesn’t upstage her.

By: Rob Barrett

Rob Barrett — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 19:17:12 +0000

Like David Brothers, I’m reading more DC now as well: 52, Action Comics, All-New Atom, All Star Superman, Birds of Prey, Checkmate, Detective Comics, Fables, Green Lantern, JSA Classified, Justice Society of America, Manhunter, and Superman.

And I was always a Marvel fan. Somehow I’m reading more DC than Marvel now.

From my point of view, One Year Later has been a big success–but then I’m not reading the most reviled books of the relaunch.

By: david brothers

david brothers — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:22:42 +0000

For what it’s worth, I’m now reading more DC books than ever before, due in no small part to their midlist. Blue Beetle and Firestorm are two of my favorite titles and ones I look forward to greatly.

A case could be made for them being “Marvel”-style books in the DCU, however.

Marvel zombie 4 life, and so on.

By: Don MacPherson

Don MacPherson — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:03:44 +0000

I agree completely about the Arthur Adams cover for Manhunter. It's laughable, which is too bad, because the story within is pretty good, and writer Marc Andreyko is playing around with ideas that Dan Curtis Johnson first established in Chase years ago.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:01:05 +0000

That is something to be said for DC, I think — they do keep trying new things, and with side projects and imprints, there are still books from them I find worth reading.