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

Still! The dude obviously has a keen plan for how to revitalise HAWKMAN, seven issues after his convoluted history was finally resolved with the refreshing line-wide Nu-52 reboot:

We are streamlining it all ... brand new myth revealed!

What a head-slappingly elegant solution! Except for in 1961, 1985, 1989, 1990, c. 1991, c. 1992, 1994, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011, no-one has ever thought to reboot Hawkman's continuity in order to smooth out and streamline all the inconsistencies. This bold new 2012 initiative is proof enough of why Rob's creative vision should be part of the cohesive new, well-planned continuity.

BTW: Twitter reveals Rob to be both wildly enthusiastic:

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p3&chs=600x300&chd=t:0.423814730146,0.576185269854&chl=With|Without&chtt=Percent+of+Tweets+With+Exclamation+Points&chco=0000FF
(image probably won't show - from excitableliefeld.com)

and an illiterate doofus unaware that foreign languages are, you know, a "thing":

Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo

I'll be humming that all night. #madmen

Zoo B Zoo B Zoo

I haven't been following the new Wonder Woman series, but according to the reviews Brian Azzarello has decided to deconstruct the Amazons so that they are horrible rapists and murderers? Which, as Kelly Thompson points out here, is kind of a shitty move, considering that WW and the Amazons are one of the few (and probably the most iconic) positive examples of female empowerment in superhero comics. Despite not having liked Azzarello's previous comics (for the exact reason that they felt overtly dark and "edgy") I was considering of giving his WW run a go, but now I'm not so sure if I want to...

Thompson is going off half-cocked. She keeps pointing out in that piece that she doesn't know this, that or the other but decides to rail against it anyways instead of waiting to see where it leads. She also conveniently skips over huge swathes of the Wonder Woman stories (like her origin as a fetish-perv's dream) to fit her own conceptions of the Amazons and what they stand for. She has a point but not as strong or convincingly argued one as she thinks.

If you skip Wonder Woman you're missing one of the few highlights of the new 52. Just remember it's more of a classic Vertigo comic than an 4-color romp.

She also conveniently skips over huge swathes of the Wonder Woman stories (like her origin as a fetish-perv's dream) to fit her own conceptions of the Amazons and what they stand for.

TBH though, I think her criticism is based on how the Amazons were presented in the comics that preceded the new reboot, which doesn't seem like a terribly unfair point of comparison. Gail Simone's recent run especially did a nice job of depicting the Amazons as not-perfect, while still keeping the female empowerment aspect.

If you skip Wonder Woman you're missing one of the few highlights of the new 52. Just remember it's more of a classic Vertigo comic than an 4-color romp.

I guess I might still check the new WW out once it gets collected, but IMO if Azzarello wanted to write a Vertigo comic, he should've done a Vertigo comic with original characters. If you get handed an established, iconic character, you have a certain responsibility towards the history of said character, especially if the character is one of the few feminist icons superhero comics have. Like some of the commenters in the Thompson article point out, I don't think that many readers would want to see a Superhero where Ma and Pa Kent turn out to be racist bigots, or a Spider-Man story where Uncle Ben is a pedophile, even if the story itself was good.

But I accept that still particular arc isn't over yet, so maybe the twist will be overturned or something.

Anyway, I realize I'm criticizing a comic I haven't read (except for those few pages quoted in the Thompson article), so I'll try to do that before saying anything more on the subject.

What part of reboot is beyond people's understanding? It doesn't matter what Simone or Perez or anyone did with any of the characters. This is a new take, freed from the slavish, nonsensical continuity. Those stories still exist, in the same way s&m Wonder Woman does, and nothing Azzarello does will change that fact.

I should have said Vertigo precursor. This in tone is like Animal Man or Swamp Thing or Shade or Sandman of the late 80s (it's unfamiliar take on the familiar owes much Sandman). The Greek myths are nasty, cruel, vicious, capricious, etc., and his Wonder Woman is both of and apart from that world.

I think Thompson is premature in her fear of non-empowerment. This is the story one God has told her, and the Gods have already proven to be duplicitous and false in the comic. Nothing is as it seems, and Wonder Woman's surety in her actions are continually undercut both from within and without.

Justice League #7 had a little bit of water-treading but was great; it's kind of fun seeing the DC big guns be mostly abrasive and somewhat annoying to each other.

Also Batman is hilarious.

The presentation iof the Amazons is very consistent with their Greek muth origins, which is all of a piece with the comic as a whole. Works very well, I think, but I have no fondness and little knowledge of earlier versions of Wonder Woman.

Fair enough, but if you read the article I linked to and the comments, the problem many Wonder Woman fans have with the new series is before it, that DC Amazons were not, and have never been, consistent with the Greek myth. They were, essentially, a feminist reinterpretation of a sexist myth. So I can see why changing them so that they are in accordance with the original myth would upset many people, especially those who have found the female empowerment aspect of the DC Amazons appealing.

EZ Snappin is right to suggest that WW's status as a feminist icon or whatevs is not straight-forward or unproblematic, and its further complicated by the character being a corporate comic property that can be rewritten or revised in hundreds of different ways, depending on editorial whim, greed, stupidty etc - i mean, is azzarello (a writer i have never ever cared for tbh) 'betraying' THIS entirely legitimate vision/version of WW?:
http://www.comicshack.com/Images/WonderWomanVol1158Th88456_f.jpg

Again, that is from decades ago. I assume the critics of Azzarello's series are contrasting it with the more recent, post-Crisis version of Wonder Woman and the Amazons.

Also, Egg Fu has nothing to do with the Amazons, which is what the controversy is about.

Egg Fu should be in all New 52 titles.

ah was just reading about Egg Fu in an old issue of Ambush Bug

egg fu was pretty crazy to see during the 52 series following IC

I want original-style egg fu

Dan DiDio details the projects he's proudest of over his decade at DC. In a shocking twist, they are universally shit*, except for Batman R.I.P., about which he gets almost all facts incorrect. Also, for a writer and editor, he proves himself generally incapable of fact-checking, using punctuation, constructing sentences, or knowing what words mean.

*OK, 52 might not be shit, I only read two issues**. But his account is a pile of lies, so.

** one with Ambush Bug in it when it came out, one that's mainly Batman written by Morrison, later, when trying to read his run properly.

52 is great, shockingly enough. I think the presence of Morrison made everyone else step up their game. That run of DC Morrison stuff from Seven Soldiers through Batman, Inc. is one of my favorite comic runs of all time.

btw jeph loeb sucks

I also heard that water was wet.

I state this only because I was led to believe that he did something notable or somesuch in his Batman writing and then I read it and it was all so incredibly mediocre

To be perfectly honest, Jeph Loeb's continued career in the comics field is more mystifying to me than Rob Liefeld's. He is the absolute worst, and the fact that he's being pulled back into the Marvel U proper is enough to keep me away from the Marvel U.

Jeph Loeb writes self-consciously "important" comics that totally suck basically

But we already have Mark Waid!

Did he invent the Hush character? Not completely horrible, but the intro story and every other bit of it is blaaaah.

i enjoyed Long Halloween and Hush and the first volume of Superman/Batman, but he kinda had a steep drop-off after that

I don't know, Long Halloween or whatever seemed like a really basic intro to all the villain characters with a thin plot. The animated series had deeper plots!

in some cases yes, but they were really fun reads to me at the time, even if neither story holds up to any level of examination. like a trashy, geeky tv show that keeps you glued in week to week with a convoluted backstory with endless cliffhangers, but is ultimately disposable. also, both those books for me brought me back to reading Batman after many years away from comics, because of their accessibility and familiarity (Year One in the case of the Long Halloween, Jim Lee's art in the case of Hush). I guess no matter how bad his stuff is now, i'm really glad he made those two books.

the problem with Loeb's later stuff is that basically went too far IMO, and by the time he was writing Ultimates I stopped reading... though the little i read of Red Hulk went so far in the crazy/stupid direction, it almost redeemed itself

Ultimates -> Ultimatum are pretty much the worst comics ever

To be fair, Red Hulk has been perfectly readable since Jeff Parker took over. The only reason to read the issues by Loeb are for the Ed McGuinness art.

The first arc of BATMAN/SUPERMAN was big goofball fun, but I suspect much of that is sheer novelty, as it was pretty unlike most anything DC was putting out at the time. HUSH was a muddled mess, even discounting the editorial interference that rewrote the ending (think it was actually supposed to be Jason Todd underneath it all but that got scotched.) But everyone loved it because it was parade of Bat-rogues as drawn by Jim Lee.

ULTIMATES has been utterly dire, from what I've seen of it.

Loeb Ultimates is dreadful, Millar Ultimates is BigScreen Fun, which would be a shame if this was all the comics that there ever were, but it isn't.

first Millar Ultimates was big screen fun, second one was dire

Remember reading HUSH a couple of years after it first came out, due to all the hype, didn't like it--especially lolworthy was the way that a new mysterious villain is introduced who KNOWS SECRETS ABOUT BATMAN, and at the same time we are suddenly given another brand new character who was Bruce Wayne's best childhood friend, and somehoe it is supposed to be a surprise that the two are really the same guy (gasp!)

Yeah, I know quite a few lapsed comics readers who got back into reading them via Long Halloween and Hush. I think they're pretty great entry-level books. I'm a sucker for those sprawling crime-saga-y Batman stories, where he's almost a secondary character.

Dark Victory is absolute shite, though.

yeah, i don't really know what he was doing with that

one of the most disappointing changes in the new 52 was rectified this week in Secret Six when we were shown the secret origin of Deadshot's mustache.

It's Mr Mind balancing on his upper lip?

Superboy punched him in the mouth?

Latest ACTION was pretty okay, but then I remind myself that I'm paying three bucks for that much comics and then it feels thin.

At least this was the first issue in the run that actually had the page count of (Morrison) comics that DC promise at that price.

"one of the most disappointing changes in the new 52 was rectified this week in Secret Six when we were shown the secret origin of Deadshot's mustache."

I've been avoiding those as I am such a Deadshot fan and really thought he (and really the current Secret Six) were the kind of things that DC needed to showcase instead of trying to change up. Those characters are great. I think Floyd is about my favorite 'non major' super hero/bad guy character. I loved the old 80s Suicide Squad and Simone Secret Six.

I mean that for real, Floyd is one of my very favorites too and when he appeared clean-shaven in Suicide Squad (not secret six, oops) I was totally mad. But that one is actually a pretty fun title, not quite as good as Ostrander and Simone but it can sit right next to them.

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Rags Morales, Rick Bryant, Brent Anderson, Gene Ha, Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang

Obviously Kubert isn’t so excited about drawing those two last-minute story-derailing issues that he can do them by himself. This shows amazing confidence that Morales will have his shit together enough to draw #7 and #8 though!

― ٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ (sic), Friday, 11 November 2011 07:58 (5 months ago)

So after two months off and substitute artists drawing half of each of the three issues before that, Rags Morales DID manage to draw 70% of #7! The remaining 8 pages being one of those unwanted, redundant, insulting back-up stories by Sholly Fisch that DC insist count towards the $3.99 = 28ish pp price tag.

In an amazing advance, #8 is the first issue to actually provide A FULL 30 PAGES OF MORRISON SUPERMAN for the $3.99 cover price. However, despite two months off to catch up and never turning in one single full issue to date (and only one, ever, without partial fill-ins to even make it to the should-be-$2.99 page count), Morales needs two CREDITED partial fill-in artists, and what looks like two more uncredited assistants or ghosts to my eye, to get this issue done.

The worst part is that to my eye, Rags Morales just isn't that good an artist. Competent, yes. But nothing to get excited over.

Barely this side of competent tbh (I've never read anything else by him)

Perhaps Morrison simply isn't writing to Morales' strengths (extremely sad rubber men)

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE:

He was very good on Peyer's Hourman. Mind you that was over a decade ago...

And now he's crap.

I've never read those HOURMANS. Actually, missed them altogether as I was mostly out of comics then. Should I seek 'em out?

And I'll admit that IDENTITY CRISIS probably ruined me on Rags Morales' art for all eternity.

Seemed to have a better inker for IC, maybe?

The new costume is still godawful. Like worse than electric mullet Superman.