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

(xx-post)

Also, in Secret Six Gail Simone made it clear that his fashion sense in general is a relic of the 1970s.

In a stunning twist of fate, I have managed to last longer on the books than one of the creative teams

Haven't several of them lost their artists before or during the first issues already? And Action #2 and #3 have both been solicited with fill-in artists doing substantial chunks of the pages.

you knew he was never gonna make a full turn into being a good guy, because he had such an obvious old-school Evil Moustache. So I would assume the lack of moustache means he's now gonna become a Usually Moral Anti-Hero instead of a Usually Amoral one.

^booming post

One of the funniest moments in Invincible (SPOILERS if you haven't read it) was related to that... The main bad guys in the series are this race of Evil Fascist Aliens who have conquered half the galaxy, and all of the men of that race sport a 70s style Evil Moustache. Now, the main opponent of Evil Empire is an interplanetary alliance lead by an old dude with a Gandalf beard. In a SHOCKING TWIST the old dude reveals to the good guys that he is actually a reformed member of the Evil Alien Race. How does he do that? By pulling of his fake beard, revealing that the only real facial hair he has is a 70s moustache.

i don't know why the world needs another punisher, but i guess the world didn't need lobo either and now here we are

http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/9/98/Lobo_Paramilitary_Christmas_Special_1.jpg

oops i meanhttp://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/9/98/Lobo_Paramilitary_Christmas_Special_1.jpg

Are you talking about Deadshot? He's not like The Punisher at all.

u know, i was actually thinking of deathstroke whose new incarnation is kinda punisher-esque. i haven't read the new Suicide Squad yet

Deadshot is older than the Punisher AFAIK, Deathstroke was always 'inspired' by him AAFAIK

Only one mustache allowed in this brave new universe.

is it wrong that I'm still giggling that someone thought Batwing was a good title for a comic book

It just means you go outside to do things other than go to a comic store, imo.

What is this outside you speak of?

I think it has something to do with where Superman flies, or jumps, or whatever it is he does now.

at first I thought you were talking about batwing, not outside

And now JT Krul is off Green Arrow and Keith Giffen is in. How is that supposed to help me shed titles after #3?

Action #4 has also been solicited with a fill-in artist, AND a back-up story by another writer and artist "spinning off from the events of #2!"

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/mazing12.jpg

So after a month where it looked like the ACTUALLY MIGHT HAVE PULLED THIS OFF, DC seem determined to fuck it all up. Where does the fault lie. DiDio?

If by "pulling this off" you mean "making the rebooted titles accessible to new readers", I don't think they ever pulled it off. Out of the titles I've read so far, only OMAC and possibly Action Comics haven't required the reader to know previous continuity in order to fully understand the plot.

Take Swamp Thing, for example: I mentioned above that I thought Alec Holland being alive again was some kind of a mystery that would be explained in later issues, but it turns out this was something that actually happened in Blackest Night, which I haven't read. So even you if are aware of Moore's classic Swamp Thing (like I was) in order to get the stuff that Holland is talking about troughout the issue, you still have to read a big superhero crossover to understand what happened to Holland and the previous Swamp Thing. Why can't superhero comics have those little "see Blackest Night #8 for more details - your helpful editor" boxes anymore?

No, by "pulling it off" I meant actually making money from publishing funnybooks which afaik they hadn't been for some time. And tbh only a small handful of the books have required you to know previous continuity - Batwing and Batman & Robin being the most obvious examples - and even then I suspect all it does is produces a different reading. I've shown them to someone who doesn't do the whole continuity thing and we've pretty much liked the same books (though sometimes for different reasons).

Suicide Squad has one of those little boxes, as does at least one other of this week's books (memory says it's Superman related?).

I get what you say about Alec Holland, but does it actually matter to a new reader? If you don't have the level of continuity that you already have in your brain, would you care what the answer is?

Well, let's assume I would be a totally new reader who's never read any Swamp Thing related comics. If I was, for me the plot of SW #1 would be something like this:

* There's a botanist named Alec Holland. He developed some super-growth plant serum, then died in an accident. While he was dead something unexplained happened, which is why he has some memories that don't belong to him. Then he was resurrected for unexplained reasons. He monnologues about weird things that are not explained, like "Swamp Thing" and "the Green".

* He meets Superman (presumably even this new reader knows who Superman is), who tells him that various forms of fauna are inexplicably dying in masses. Then they have an oblique discussion about some unexplained things that happened in the recent past.

* Creepy stuff happens in the desert. This is actually pretty cool!

* Holland has further monologues about unexplained things, and he keeps repeating he's not this "Swamp Thing".

* The issue ends with him meeting a monster made of plants. Maybe this is the "Swamp Thing"?

I'd say that the basic requirement for a successful issue #1 would be to establish the protagonist(s): who is he, what does he do, what drives him to do what do what he does? Unless you know the previous continuity, Swamp Thing #1 has none of that. More than half of the issue is about some mysterious guy mulling over past events that are not really explained at all.

Or, you know, you could explain that as a slow build.

Trying deconstructing OMAC in the same way, and see what that looks like.

Well yeah, I guess if all these mysterious past events are explained in later issues, then the title might get accessible to new readers. But since all these events have already happened in previous comics, I'm not sure if they ever bother to do that.

Trying deconstructing OMAC in the same way, and see what that looks like.

This is actually interesting, because I've never read any OMAC related comics before, so I was actually the "new reader" here, as I knew nothing about the characters involved. So, what I got out of it:

* There's a secret high-tech lab underneath a regular lab, and the secret lab is involved in some shady business.

* A superpowered creature named OMAC is sent to infiltrate it by his boss.

* The secret lab is ran by some villainous non-human character who sends his minions to fight OMAC.

* We find out that OMAC's boss wants to merge with a supersecret computer network inside the secret lab, and that he once inhabited this network. So presumably he's some kind of an AI who wants to get some data out of the network.

* OMAC beats the minions and manages to connect to the network, thus giving his boss access to it.

* OMAC exits the lab, and it turns out he's one of the workers of the regular lab, who's been changed without his knowledge into this creature by the AI.

* The AI is shown to be occupying a satellite in the sky, and he has some further plans.

So yeah, there still are some unexplained questions left (what exactly did the AI want from the network? what are its further plans for OMAC?), but there's definitely much more for the new reader to grasp than in ST #1.

don't think these mythical 'new readers' exist any more, or exist in this state of divine ignorance, or ever set foot in a comic bk store, or buy comics without first reading their relevant wiki entry or the comic book news sites, tbh

or ever set foot in a comic bk store,

hence day-and-date,in theory

but none of them are going to pay $3.99 for 24 .jpgs

Back when I was (much) younger, being (initially) confused was actually quite appealing for me as a first-time reader on a given title.

Great thread! I have to admit this marketing gimmick did the trick for me, I picked up three new comics for the first time in nearly a decade last night. Unfortunately it was only at a local bookstore, not a comic shop, so all they had was Justic League, Action Comics, and Swamp Thing.

Back when I was (much) younger, being (initially) confused was actually quite appealing for me as a first-time reader on a given title.

Me too, but at least back then comic books heavily positioned in continuity used to

A) provide you with some kind of synopsis of what has happened before,

and/or

B) tell you which previous issues the current events refer to.

Sadly, both of these practices seem to have fallen out of flavour, at least with Marvel and DC. I'm sure there are many other reasons for it, but I can't help but think this newbie-unfriendliness is one explanation why the readership for superhero comics has dwindled and why new readers aren't getting on board, despite superheroes themselves being more popular than in ages due to various movies and TV series.

Yeah my inner nerd always loved the astericked "- issue #52" notes at the bottom of panels.

Let’s do a rundown – I’m sure this is going to be incomplete, anyone who has more please add below.

Action Comics: #1 - OK, #2 - maybe OK? #3 - art fill-ins by Brent Anderson, #4 - art fill-ins by Gene Ha, back-up fill-ins by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Matt Camp

Mr Terrific: #1 - Roger Robinson solicited, replaced by Gianluca Gugliotta. #2 - solicited as by Gianluca Gugliotta, TBC. #3 - solicited as Scott Clark and Dave Beaty. #4 – Gugliotta back, with fill-in inker added.

Static Shock: #2 - two-man inking team replaced. #3 - co-writer drops back to just pencilling. #5 - remaining writer quits.

Suicide Squad: #2 - artist Marco Rudy dropped, replaced by Federico Dallochio and Ransom Getty. THEN #1 released without Rudy, despite solicitation.

Green Arrow: #1 - inker replaced. #4 - horrible writer JT Krul dropped. Another writer offered book, turned it down. Didio tags regular shrugging sidekick Giffen to step in alongside penciller Dan Jurgens as co-writing team.

Swamp Thing: #3 - inker added. #4 - artist drops out altogether, inker takes over.

Demon Knights: #4 - fill-in artist added, also draws cover – sign of future takeover?

Green Lantern Corps: #3 - artist replaced. #4 - artist returns.

Voodoo: #3 - inker added.

Blackhawks: #2 - artist replaced with fill-in art team. #3 - art team replaced with still another new artist. New artist claims he turned down offer, and is still under exclusive contract to Marvel, so probably knows what he’s talking about. Fuck knows who’s actually going to draw it. #4 – fill-in artist from #2 returns, with new fill-in inker.

Batwing: #4 - artist replaced.

Stormwatch: #2 - fill-in artist added.

Men Of War: #2 - back-up fill-in added by Jonathan Vankin and Phil Winslade. #4 – back-up fill-in team replaced by B Clay Moore and Paul McAffrey.

All-Star Western: #2 - back-up fill-in by Jordi Bernet. #4 – dropped from Men Of War, Phil Winslade becomes fill-in artist over here.

Red Hood And The Outlaws: #2 - fill-in artist added.

Green Lantern New Guardians: #2 - inker replaced.

Animal Man: #2 - inker replaced.

Legion Secret Origin: #2 - inker replaced.

Detective Comics: #4 - inker replaced.

Blue Beetle: #4 – inker replaced.

Red Lanterns: #4 - fill-in artist added.

Grifter: #4 - new art team replace previous artist.

Nightwang: #4 – artist replaced. Writer considers leaving due to editorial difficulties. Writer staying for now, artist expecting to be back for #5 but who knows.

The Dark Knight: let’s include the pre-reboot run of this here, so we can see why Didio, Johns & Lee had such faith in this dude to be a strong monthly lynchpin of their new no-delays universe.

DAVID FINCH’S THE DARK KNIGHT #1: solicited for November 24th 2010. Published December 29th, after #2 was supposed to be out. By David Finch.

DAVID FINCH’S THE DARK KNIGHT #2: published 23rd March, four months after #1’s intended date. Finch replaced on inks by Scott Williams. Finch replaced on colours by some dude. Script had not been written when #1 was due to print.

DAVID FINCH’S THE DARK KNIGHT #3: was not solicited to appear two months after #1. Published 13th July, SEVEN months after #1. Finch failed to ink or colour the issue in this time, a second fill-in inker has been added, and a second fill-in colourist has been added.

DAVID FINCH’S THE DARK KNIGHT #4: Published July 27th, just two weeks after #3. Unsurprisingly, Finch has failed to draw or colour any of this issue. It has a new fill-in penciller, two new fill-in inkers, and two new fill-in colourists.
I repeat, on just the fourth issue of a book ENTIRELY CREATED for one author to write and draw monthly, no issues have come out on time, the entire thing is five months late, and it is taking NINE extra people to manage to get two issues done in a timeframe faster than four months.

DAVID FINCH’S THE DARK KNIGHT #5: Published August 24th. This is the only time an issue has come out one month after the previous one. Finch has again failed to draw, paint, ink, or colour his solo title. The same fill-in penciller as last issue remains.
ONE of the fill-in inkers from last issue remains, but an additional FOUR fill-in inkers, none of whom have worked on any previous issue, are added. One of the new fill-in colourists from last issue remains, but needs another fill-in colourist to get the job done.
This is the last issue before the reboot. In order to have just ONE (1) MONTH out of TEN (10) in which an issue was published monthly, the creator needed to have FIFTEEN (15) fill-in artists help out that month.

Note that he is not actually a professional writer, and has given several interviews saying he knows that's the weakest part of the book, and he's finding it really hard.

So! With this standard set, and his title rebooted after five issues, only one of which he completed himself, and none on time, he was given the exact same job again. Solicitations say...

The Dark Knight: (redux)
#1 - he’s getting it done OK, but with an inker. Fair enough, learnt his lesson, let’s assume that’s the new model. No word on colours, so let’s assume he’s given up that as well.
#2 – uh. He’s added an inker for the cover, had to call back the fill-in penciller from the last two, and added Paul Jenkins as co- writer.
#3 – Finch has dropped out of writing altogether, with Jenkins now a fill-in writer, and the fill-in penciller retained.
#4 – solicited with Finch back as co-writer, and as sole penciller. Let’s see what actually comes out!

Hoo boy.

Best (?) news for me there is that with a different art team on Batwing I don't think I need to keep buying it. Worst news is that list implies JT Krul will still be writing a book (Captain Atom).

Oh man, sometimes I wonder how artists back in the day managed to produce art for superhero comics in schedule, month after month. Shouldn't it be easier to do now than back then, now that hey have computers to help? So what has changed? Has the artists' work ethic lowered? Have Marvel's and DC's employer policies become less strict?

I think this might become the reboot's biggest legacy. DC is taking no shit from creative freelancers. Everyone is replaceable. You want to work on Blackhawk, THE LEGENDARY BLACKHAWK THE KIDS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF? You play by our rules, buddy. Over the last few years "talent" has become the key draw on most books, and DC is obviously trying to wrest that back and create some kind of loyalty to character or IP or whatever. And in a way, I can get behind that. Have a line of adventure stories where the most important thing is the shipping date, go for it. They're going to have to loosen some of the editorial constraints on storytelling, but a lot of great stories have been told in TV, radio, magazines, because YOU GOT TO HIT YOUR DEADLINE (full stop). And then, yeah, have your All Star or Earth One or OGN line where people create "works of art" at their own pace, but I think DC's hardline on delivery dates could revolutionize mainstream superhero comics.

The big problem here isn't artists slacking, it's that DC didn’t start this with planning a year ahead to get everyone with three months in the tank before launch; they were still commissioning artists two months before launch and expecting them to get three issues finished by the end of the week. Several titles have already had inventory stories commissioned, too, which you can bet will be used sooner rather than later, regardless of continuity, because as everything’s returnable until December, it won’t hurt DC to run an unsolicited creative team up until then.

Over-rendering takes a lot more time than under-rendering. And if you're under-rendering, you have to switch things up at the layout level to keep things interesting. Artists now seem to worry about the textures and details because LOOK AT THOSE RIVETS ON BATMAN'S BOOTS MAN THAT'S SO COOL and not the storytelling. Consequently, they spend more time doing work that's harder to read.

My take. Most people don't agree.

People overlooked it because the monthly comic wasn't the object of record, the trade was. Make it look good for the trade and nobody will care how late it was as a single issue. Nobody but some malcontents...

There actually was a golden age character Deadshot is based upon who was more of a cowboy trick shot guy. Steve Englehart knew the character and updated him with the classic Marshall Rogers designed costume in their classic run back in the late 70s. He appeared a few times, but really it was John Ostrander and his use of Deadshot in Suicide Squad and a mini-series that really established the character. I don't think he really fits into the whole Executioner/Mac Bolan thing that the Punisher was based upon other than maybe Deadshot was a gun for hire, which kind of tangentially ties into the whole "Soldier of Fortune" magazine kind of badass that was also popular around the same time.

Deathstroke from the New Teen Titans is pretty much George Perez not letting a good character design go to waste as he pretty much just re-used at the time many elements from The Taskmaster that he had created for Marvel in his Avengers run.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh148/nurgh/2004GeorgePrezTaskmasterandDeathstr.jpg

Oddly enough a few years later, Rob Liefield pretty much nicked a version of Deathstroke (down to the Wilson last name in the alter ego) in creating Deadpool. Funny enough a few years back in a Superman/Batman Annual you had Superman, Batman and Deathstroke fighting alternate universe versions of themselves and there was a alternate-Deathstroke which was a nod back to Deadpool. It's actually a fun issue.

"Oh man, sometimes I wonder how artists back in the day managed to produce art for superhero comics in schedule, month after month. Shouldn't it be easier to do now than back then, now that hey have computers to help? So what has changed? Has the artists' work ethic lowered? Have Marvel's and DC's employer policies become less strict?"

I think in the old days they got paid by the page, so they just sat down and blasted the stuff out and had the will to make it happen. I think those golden age guys were also tempered by living through the depression and WWII, so they had a real blue collar, I got to get this done for the family mentality. And I think some of them, because they just did so much volume over the years got to the point they could layout and do pages at speeds many of these modern guys can't comprehend as they haven't put out 30-80 pages a month on and off for years.

I'd bet Joe Kubert in his prime probably did more pages in a couple of months than his sons do in a year. It isn't nearly as flashy in the backgrounds but the reproduction values have changed since then, so that doing all that extra detail would just get lost anyway, so they never got much.

One thing that is different is I don't think you have as many studios with assistants going now. I think alot of things that were inked that have one guy on them back in the day was probably one main guy doing the characters and a couple of employees that would do backgrounds and other items. I'm not sure you have that going on as much now as you would in the old days, maybe more overseas perhaps.

I think in the old days they got paid by the page

as opposed to?

Batman #1 W: Scott Snyder P: Greg Capullo I: Jonathon Glapion

No pics as I can't find a working t0rr3nt

Another week, another Bat-book, and this is probably the weakest yet. I guess the heart of the problem is a very basic one - when this many established books are running it isn't a problem as all their stories are different and their plots are in different places, but when you start the same book multiple times with different people telling THE SAME ORIGIN STORY it's inevitable you'll want to compare them.

So, why is this worse? It's hard to put your finger on, but maybe the centre panel of Page 14 goes some of the way to explain it: it features Dick, Bruce, Damian and Tim standing together. Dick, let's not forget, is Nightwang WHO HAS HIS OWN BOOK IN THE RELAUNCH. His physique is roughly like Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. I can't wait to read that book (also this week) and see him standing at about 5'6" tall and weighing about 10st. OH NO WAIT. I think it's down, in part, to the manga-lite art style but I could just be burning out through putting myself through this.

Maybe I'm being to hard on this and misremembering just how mediocre Batman & Robin was, as flipping back through the plot is actually pretty engaging in the last four or 5 pages after Harvey Dent turns up. I think I probably need a re-read comparison of all the Batbooks once Month One is over as the final pages have actually got me keen to read #2 and this might be the first time I can say it about a non-FUN book in the relaunch (or at least the first time it's specifically because of the plot).

Birds Of Prey #1 W: Duane Swierczynski A: Jesus Saiz

Title promises a team title, but by the end we still only have a pairing. Now there's a slow build or there's the glacial pace this seems to be constructed at. Nothing much seems to happen except a WOW KEWL WOW kerfuffle in a church which seems to exist mainly to delivery zingy dialogue like this:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6159/6177843718_b5d4b0a44c.jpg

And you know, it's pretty much all that clunky. The image above is really the first in which everybody changes places and perspective in a car to suit the composition (including one panel where I can't get to grips with the perspective at all) but really exists to segue into Starling in the same position, in a diner (and/or a bar) at a different time. Now this might have been a nice effect (albeit the second time they pull it in this issue) but this one os spoiled by an advert being in the middle - not the best planning really. And when I said clunky, I did mean it - there's some real confusion about the effect the bad guys have had on Black Canary during the FITE, but her power is worse:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/6177843770_bae412df6f.jpg

So the power level has been re-baselined in the Johns Universe, but if it's that good then why only use it once? She walks out of this panel into a room with more bad guys in it - so why not use it again? Not doing so makes the pages smack of filler as they just run through the same thing again, and surely in #1 of a title filler is a CRAZY thing to do?

The best thing about the book is this panel, which captures perfectly how I feel about the Johns Universe by now.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6175/6177316117_34aa065fc7.jpg

Why, that I won't be so keen next time. This could arguably be saveable as I don't hate it, but it's hovering over the cut list at the moment.

Blue Beetle W: Tony Bedard P: Ig Guara I: Ruy Jose

Is this racist? I can't tell. If a Puerto Rican guy writes a comic book character who is Puerto Rican for non-Hispanics (as we must assume this is to a degree - something I will touch further on when I get to Red Hood) as a ridiculous stereotype, what does that make him, an Uncle Tom of sorts? Oh and it's not just Hispanic, there's some comedy writing of French and German speakers too in a sub-Batroc style.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6163/6177935238_6f76ac0e85.jpg

Anyway, this is plotted in the Johns Universe as follows: The Reach are foes of the GLC from since BEFORE TIME and massively powerful - planet-wiping-out powerful. But the GLC are too stupid to find, control or destroy them.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6165/6177935288_5a29e1e3bc.jpg

The great and mighty Abin Sur didn't find that then, did he. So, this is going to become yet another Green Lantern book, of sorts. On the second last page our hero gets turned into Blue Beetle and it's impossible to read the dialogue on the final splash as anything more than a triumphant "TA-DA!" (except we know it's not from earlier).

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/6177408213_6e9d9f463d_z.jpg

ETHNICS gets would back (this isn't, and never will be, Love & Rockets) but I miss Ted Kord. I want him back. BACK, DO YOU HEAR ME?

Captain Atom W: JT Krul A: Freddie Williams II

JT Krul again. What have I done to deserve this?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6178/6178041052_8b0c536c2e_z.jpg

I'd love to be able to tell you this is better than Green Arrow (which he's already been kicked off, remember). Unfortunately, I can't.

I mean, look at this dialogue:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6178041056_1227d78cf1_z.jpg

Despite that, I think I hate the art more than I hate the writing. Let's watch Captain Atom run though the gamut of facial emotions (a couple of which I'll leave the explanation in for):

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6168/6178041048_843f038e3f_b.jpg

Centre top, for reference, is anger. Yes, anger. Not vacant.

The back end of the plot begins to look like it's going down the route of War of the Elementals from the end of the John Ostrander run on Firestorm, but really I couldn't care less. Vile vile vile vile vile. Already on the cut list and have absolutely no desire to get beyond #1 (but I'll go to #3, obviously).

Catwoman #1 W: Judd Winick A: Guillem March

You know what? I'm not going to focus on any of the sexism in this book that other people have focused on for two reasons. Firstly, I'll save it all for Red Hood. Secondly, Winick ALMOST manages to make it enough of a plot point that it's justifiable. Yes, we could argue about the presentation - particularly the last panel of page 2 which is quite frankly pornographic - but it's nowhere near the worst thing about this book so I'm not going to dwell on it.

Winick's writing is, dare I say it, not horrible. I was a fan of the Brubaker and Pfeifer runs on the book though, so it's still the worst Catwoman book in modern memory. What is wrong with this is the art.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6169/6178172008_c4d46a3e34.jpg

And the worst thing about the art isn't even the faces. It's the feet. At least twice they're reversed where the left foot is the right foot and vice versa (top left has a bonus knee bending the wrong way). Have some examples:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6172/6177645789_0e93f734e5_z.jpg

The worst Winicking and worst art come togther at the end. Catwoman and Batman doing the nasty is an established trope, I guess, but this astonishingly ineptly handled and featured a final panel which is worse than 80% of fanart on the same topic.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6155/6177645551_84e88cd99f_b.jpg

Holy Bat-Cock, Batman! My eyes need bleach. Wtf is happening with bat-torso? And nothing has been good yet this week. FUCK YOU DIDIO.

so i don't really want to read that but i am curious about

Yes, we could argue about the presentation - particularly the last panel of page 2 which is quite frankly pornographic - but it's nowhere near the worst thing about this book so I'm not going to dwell on it.

Ok, since I still have the rar live:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6153/6178192906_2a6d952f2a_z.jpg

I mean, seriously? Without going nsfw, there isn't a comparison pic but this is classic 'fuck me from behind' porn stylings. Do we really need to see her pudenda? If we going for physical accuracy at this point to justify it, why not go the whole hog and show her vagina lips? It's just wrong in so many ways.

tbh, i think the most egregious thing about that panel is that human beings don't look/move like that. it looks like she has two balloons in the back pockets of her pants.

DC Universe Presents: Deadman #1 Collective credit: Paul Juankins and Bernard Chang

The best thing so far in this rundown, which is no great claim. It kind of works as a Deadman establishing story, however, the character has already been in Hawk & Dove by now as the post-Brightest Day version so we know this book must happen at some time in the past - what's the beeting it doesn't? ARG CONTINUITY IS CRISIS

It's tidily enough written I suppose and is a clear enough Secret Origin for people who aren't familiar with the origin of Deadman. I also don't hate the art. Both of them give me reason to though - I feel bruised by the strength with which the DO YOU SEE from this panel hits me.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6172/6177714915_80ae1457db_z.jpg

Ultimately though there's nothing to really complain about. The lack of anything actually good will have to wait, but this week I'm taking whatever I can get.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DWrDd6C4itY/TlkQiPSJHQI/AAAAAAAAC4o/VPmQoYVyrtI/s1600/whatever%2Bfacebook.jpg