You managed to avoid all the things that drive me crazy about both positive and negative reviews on pretty much any kind of media these days.

I wish more critics would understand that admitting something is “not their thing, but you might like it” wins big credibility points.

(I loved Wednesday Comics but found it utterly vexing that it couldn’t devote a single sentence at the beginning of each strip to recap what happened the previous week. I love the format and would love to see it as an ongoing, but that’s completely hostile to new readers.)

I suppose Action’s “recap” could have consisted of only three words: “Five years ago…” Then again, maybe that would take new readers out of the story, thinking it’s a flashback and waiting for it to catch up to the present. Dunno; we’ll see how Perez handles it in Superman, I guess.

On the whole, though, like I said, if that article’s any indication of a consensus then Action is one of the books that didn’t need an explanation, because people know who Superman is. And between the #1 and the story cues (most notably the costume), it’s clear that this is set early in Superman’s career.

It probably also bears noting that the audience is fully prepared for a “prequel” Superman story by the past decade of Smallville.

[...] continues its launches, which I won’t be able to read until this weekend since KC gets first crack at them. I’m most interested in seeing Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Mister Terrific, and [...]

Marvel always seems to do better in this regard. You can come on board virtually any Marvel comic and you’ll get a paragraph telling you exactly what’s going on. It’s such a simple thing. I’m seriously rooting for DC.

Given the dispproportionate amount of hate directed at them for this reboot they have become underdogs to me and I’m trying to support this new launch. But jeez DC! This was 100% avoidable.

So thanks. I don’t agree with all of your opinions but I appreciate the even handed tone and the professionalism.

I’m sure Johanna will totally ruin it all by giving plenty of snark when she starts her 52 reviews. Just kidding. Johanna’s snark seems less shrill and annoying and more like what would pass for snark in an archie comic. ;)

Indeed. I think it’s smart that they aren’t doing a bunch of origin stories (the new Sgt. Rock is the only one I can think of offhand — and given that he’s actually a new character that’s to be expected), but a little more background on the characters would be a good idea. Tantalizing readers and leaving them questions they want the answers to is good, but it’s not the same thing as leaving them with an incomplete story.

I have no idea what the hell is going on with Swamp Thing, and I’ve read some of the Moore run. The issue isn’t even friendly to people who have a basic familiarity with the character, let alone ones who just dimly remember action figures in the early 1990′s, let alone kids born in the mid-1990′s.

I couldn’t even finish Men of War. Distinctly not for me, and at the higher price, I’m not surprised it was among the lower-ordered. Thanks for sharing that new reader response link, Thad. Very enlightening. I know who most of these characters are, but it would have been smarter (IMO) for DC to do a few more stand-alone new-reader-friendly single-issue stories.

I quite liked Action, too; the original “socialist vigilante” version of Superman is my favorite and I’ve been wanting to see somebody bring back that version of the character for ages. Sure, it cribs heavily from Spider-Man 2, but that’s not a bad thing.

I’d probably put Men of War at #3 just because of a bias in favor of titles that try new things. That said, while I haven’t had a chance to read Stormwatch yet, I suspect Men of War is the most Wildstorm-like book of the relaunch.

CBR has some reactions from new readers that I find instructive:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34344

It’s telling that the only books people were really satisfied with were Action and Detective, because they already know who Superman and Batman are and don’t feel like they’re missing any important backstory. (Memo to DC/Warner: this means you can stop retelling their damn origin stories now.) Obviously it’s a small sample but it IS interesting and disheartening to note that nearly everybody is frustrated and feels like they don’t know who the characters are or what’s happening.

For me, Animal Man was the winner of the week. I was as turned off by the “dark” grouping in the PR/solicits as everyone else, but Animal Man (like Swamp Thing) rises above that poor marketing decision and stands on its own as a truly unique and brilliant comic. Jeff Lemire’s take on the characters seems spot on. In what little we see of Buddy’s family in the issue, I was immediately thrown back into the old pre-Vertigo take on the character from Grant Morrison and Peter Milligan’s runs. And the art (though a little inconsistent, perhaps due to multiple inkers) was pretty brilliant as well.

That’s just my opinion, of course. I just got the impression that the book was dismissed more because it happened to be part of the “dark DCU” than for what it did. And I don’t really see what’s so dark about it when Swamp Thing, which feels like full-on horror from a writer who specializes in full-on horror titles (even his Detective run was basically horror), gets a positive review.

Anyway, I hope people will try Animal Man. It’s probably true that it’s not for everyone, but I think it was the best comic from DC last week.

And yeah, I didn’t care for the Static-limb-severing either. (Which dredges up one flaw of the “new DCU”… that it’s mostly the same *old* writers/editors/DiDio in charge of it, including apparently shock-value violence.). Nice comparison of DC’s writers to Sid from “Toy Story”…

Re: its name: fans/comic sites online seem to have taken to calling it “the DCnU” (DCU + “new”), which is the worse acronym I’ve ever seen (an acronym with a lower-case letter in the middle?!). I’m sticking with “DCNU” (all upper-case)…

I think that Stormwatch is firmly in the history of that title. Yes, its characters are full of attitude, but that’s what its fans like. I want to see how they win over Apollo and the Midnighter, and the Projectionist is a nicely modern addition.

OMAC is insane, not in a bad way, but there’s no story there yet. And I really like the characters of Hawk and Dove but agree that the art is highly unpleasant to read.

Wouldn’t the act of the reboot itself be the answer to that?

http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2011/08/29/news/web_galleries/g_bat_girl/bat_girl_photos100–400×600.jpg

I was really impressed by Action Comics #1, its just so refreshing to see a Superman that is actually DOING something instead of being so passive. Good intro for the Clark Kent part too, that was more character building in the scene with his landlord, than I’d seen in the Superman books in years.

Detective was an odd duck, as there were things I liked, the interaction with Alfred, Jim Gordon etc. Yet the amount of gore seemed a bit extreme for me.

Animal Man was interesting I thought. I’m a little off put by horror as you, so I’m a little worried as to where this is going. Yet as the one married couple in the DCU (at least so far) I’m holding out hope that the family will come through.

I was really surprised by Batgirl, it took directions I didn’t think it’d go. I think it has some real potential.

One thing though, I’ve only read it digitally and had a question. On page 4 where they have the credits and Babs is swinging. Is her foot sticking out towards the reader drawn wrong? It looks like the bottom of her right foot is drawn as a left foot instead.

I liked Men of War, I haven’t read a lot of war comics, but this one was really interesting and has me curious to see what happens next in both stories.

Hawk & Dove was just a mess, my first exposure to the characters was Armageddon 2001 which wasn’t a good one for them. This I saw nothing to pull me in. Its odd as well, back in the 90s I liked Liefeld’s Youngblood when I found the mini in a pack of comics at Wal-Mart. This was just awful though.

Green Arrow is one of those characters that for some reason or another I have never been able to appreciate. When you have him fighting characters that even he calls losers it just doesn’t have anything for me to care about. Its a very well drawn book though.

JLI was just a ton of fun though, I’m looking forward to learning more about these new characters that I don’t know a thing about (Chinese hero and Lady Godiva) and also seeing how old friends have changed.

Swamp Thing just lost me, I’ve never really read much of the characters stories and it just baffled me. Static Shock was a bit too slow for me for a first issue. Batwing and OMAC… I just don’t get the appeal of it, maybe its because I hated the whole evil army of OMACs thing from a few years ago.

My problem with Stormwatch, is that it required prior knowledge to really get it. An odd thing is that I think (I could be wrong) that these were all characters that weren’t introduced until the book became The Authority. It’d been nice to see some of the actual Stormwatch characters like Fuji or the like.

My list:

Top Notch: Action Comics, JLI and Batgirl

Back for More: Detective Comics, Justice League (from last week), Men of War and Animal Man

On the Fence: Stormwatch, Static Shock

Not My Thing, But You Might Like It: OMAC, Swamp Thing

I’m Probably Done: Batwing, Hawk and Dove and Green Arrow

[...] at Comics Worth Reading, regular Westfield contributor KC Carlson continues his reviews of DC’s New 52. This time he looks at the second week’s releases: Action Comics, Animal Man, Batgirl, [...]