Aldo reads DC's New 52 (So you don't have to)

i've spent decades as a superhero fan but i find this utterly impossible to follow. how did they manage to fuck this up so badly?

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Diane+Nelson+DC+Entertainment+Hosts+Darkness+01pJ3UBMTOWl.jpg

I sort of expect nothing to change at all after Convergence, given that so much of the nu-52 is wrapped up in actual moneymaking things like the Injustice game, movies, TV stuff, etc.

Looking back it feels llke DC lost itself way before nu-52, maybe as far back as 2007 -- I can't think of anything memorable they've put out since then that wasn't Grant Morrison's, excluding maybe that weird blip when Geoff Johns and Gail Simone wrote good comics for a few months.

aldo can u explain how continuity is working in action comics? obv some stuff is totally rebooted but then it seems like doomsday had killed superman in the past? or did that never happen? i am very confused.

<I>Nu52 cant have 52 Earths, because as a minimum Earth Zero, Earth Thirteen (Vertigo) and Eath Fifty (Wildstorm) were merged into the one Earth.</I>

B-b-but couldn't that make four different Earths? Or has it been explicitly shown that Pandora made new52 out of exactly that?

<I>nu-52 is wrapped up in actual moneymaking things like the Injustice game, movies, TV stuff, etc.</I>

Is it though? I see brand new young readers novels in the Bruce Timm style. My son just got Batman Duplo--Lego Batman is arguably the best known iteration of the character. I'm not sure where all the different video games fit in. If anything, I think DC has figured out that there doesn't need to be a dominant version of the DCU. Cripes, the giant grocery store I go to once a month was still selling sticker packs of the Meltzer/Benes JLA (Red Arrow!) a few months ago.

Mordy,

The answer is simple. THEY DO WHAT THEY FUCKING LIKE. It's all notionally rebooted (the Titano story, for example, was the first encounter) but as you say Doomsday and Dead Supes happened. The handwave is that they happened in the Five Year Gap.

52 (the series) said there were 52 Earths, which was why 52 was such a secret. Pandora's Flashpoint merge came after that and was made from the Multiverse as stated in 52. DiDio says there are still 52 Earths despite two not existing so he could give Rob Liefeld shitloads of ex-Wildstorm books and have Supes fight Lord Hellspont (or whatever he's called). Because it's not like there aren't enough Superman villains to choose from.

In other news, the Giffen/Maguire JLI is turning up piecemeal in JLA3000. Booster and Beetle have been there for a couple of months, Ice turned up this month and Fire is on the way. Plus their Superman behaves just like Guy Gardner.

but it's still drawn by Howard Porter

I mean, I assume - I never even remembered to pick up a copy in the shop and see if there was the faintest echo of a joke detectable

Yes, still drawn by Howard Porter and no, not much in the way of jokes.

My point is, the *actual* Giffen/JMdM/Maguire JLI is turning up. Not the time period equivalents. Not a reimagining of the characters. Not even the Nu52 versions of them (OK, Booster only there). I mean the same Booster/Ted Kord. I mean Ted Kord as shot in the head my Maxwell Lord Ted Kord.

Totally up for an all-Duplo reboot.

http://www.hirescovers.net/gallery/albums/userpics/29733/normal_dcauc_batman_lego_v1_d1.jpg
^almost certainly better than most of the constituent comics or any of the movies.

watched one of the Batman Lego movies with my kid the other day (the one where he joins JLA) - it was funny

at this point, i would buy into a hard reboot to non-grim-gritty superboy-fights-the-martians

Honestly, I haven't followed much at all outside of the main Batman title (although I recently read a bunch of the weekly one) and all I can say is that Batman probably hasn't slept for five years if all this shit has happened in his life during that time

Nice legs Bats

http://www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Multiversity-Mastermen-2014-001-013.jpg

http://thisdayindeath.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ROCHUS_MISCH-e1378912637711.jpg

Calves are worse tbh.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bUa_VOx3Gd0/SdL6161E4mI/AAAAAAAACE4/sAyQSoILh5Q/s400/Picture+10.png

turns out the muscles were not meant to be a jodhpurs reference, they were literally meant to be jodhpurs but Jim Lee has not learnt to draw after three decades as a professional artist

https://twitter.com/JimLee/status/568274080438177792

still haven't seen the issue myself, I'd drop the whole series if i could :-/

wow, his belt is bigger than his head. that's fuckin baller

what if we've been misunderstanding all along and Liefeld really likes jodhpurs

A small child travelled back from the present, wearing one of those foam padding Superman costumes...

"I like thick thighs, I cannot lie" - Jim Lee

sir crosshatch-a-lot

has anyone got the chutzpah to follow this again?
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=59085

I suppose I could be tempted out of retirement. (PS I am still reading all the books, every week, just not writing about them.)

Group project?

If that's code word for 'intervention for Aldo' then I'm down.

share your scans and i'll read any damn thing

I eagerly await your reaction to the flood of taint pictures you've inadvertently requested

DELETE DELETE DELETE

I feel like we need to talk about this: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dc-comics-debuts-new-costumes-for-superman-wonder-woman

And to a lesser extent this: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/flash-green-lantern-and-green-arrow-get-new-costumes-too

I like Batgundaman but the others are pretty much shit.

The Bat Bunny.

Comics is a much funnier place when DC editorial is trying to do something.

I like the Batman a lot! Good design. Reminds me of Marvin the red rabbit in Dungeon. Snyder's been a bit shit since the first year, though, so not expecting much.

The rest are a bit ridiculous but not really ridiculous enough.

they all suck imo

I like how the Wonder Woman outfit at least addresses the ages old "why would a warrior wear something like that?" question of her previous costumes, too bad it looks so "90s shit" otherwise.

The new Bat-bunny costume has gotta be a shoutout to the rabbit-eared cyborg guy in Masamune Shirow's Appleseed, right?

http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdhhzjx7Dt1rl7xr1o1_r1_1280.jpg

Another shitstorm
http://thehappysorceress.tumblr.com/post/113946213941/christopherjonesart-so-about-that-joker-variant

that doesn't address the major shit element that Albuquerque was repeatedly asked by DC to make the image creepier and more inappropriate, including elements like the blood lipstick and the gun pointing towards Batgirl's crotch

jesus, they really have no idea what is good in their stable or how to encourage it

Wow. The crotch thing seems like they're plain baiting the audience.

um.
http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2015/03/24/your-guide-to-convergence#

thank god they're bringing back Steel; brilliant market recognition

this looks terrible. kinda surprised (but grateful) they're not trying to fold watchmen into the dcu as part of this

CONVERGENCE: AQUAMAN #1
U.S. Price: $3.99
On Sale 4/15

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! Aquaman has lost his home, his powers, and his hand – but now he faces his most difficult challenge: a battle to the finish with Deathblow!

thrilled that they're streamlining the dcu by resurrecting 20-year-old efforts to streamline the dcu which were terrible even at the time

putting aquaman in sweatpants is a bold new direction tho tbf

http://media.dcentertainment.com/sites/default/files/styles/covers192x291/public/comic-covers/2015/01/CONV_AQ_1_54b0748c8bb876.77829605.jpg?itok=eFRVHUZL

almost 20 years ago, Deathblow was chilling with Wolverine!
http://marvel.wikia.com/Deathblow_/_Wolverine_Vol_1

the times, how they change

This ad is totes hilarius though

http://media.dcentertainment.com/sites/default/files/imce/2015/03-MAR/RoadToConvergence-Sale_FIXED_top-or-bottom-456x404_iPadHD_3_MD_55109957393148.89326353.jpg

this looks terrible. kinda surprised (but grateful) they're not trying to fold watchmen into the dcu as part of this

― bizarro gazzara, Thursday, 26 March 2015 15:23 (37 minutes ago)

Well they have, kind of. Earth 4 is the earth of Watchmen, or rather the earth of Watchmen had it used the Charlton heroes after all.

http://www.dccomics.com/characters/earth-4