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

the Filth looks great wtf is wrong with you people.

Now Doom Patrol, there's a shitty looking comic

Doom Patrol looks perfect for the stories being told. I think The Filth does too.

CONTROVERSY!

Honestly, I wish Brendan McCarthy had drawn every issue of DOOM PATROL, but the art that's there matches well with the story. I also think that Weston is perfectly suited to THE FILTH. Sure, Frank Quitely might've done a "better" job, and it would have been finished sometime last year that way.

But what I really want is the last SEAGUY story...

everything chris weston does is fugly, deliberate or otherwise - stiff, over-rendered, grotesque (and not in a good basil wolverton way). every panel is crowded with superfluous detail that overwhelms the narrative - there's nothing to hold on to, no foreground/background, or sense or movement - it's like illustration, maybe, but it's not good comics, and it's so fucking literal-minded - there's no poetry or elegance to it.

i wish brendan drew more comics full stop!

On that last part we can agree.

Case / Workman / Morrison is a fantastic gestalt on Doom Patrol, creating a tone that's greater than some of its parts.

This--Case on Doom Patrol is great, but I've never seen any other work by him. I think I've said before, though, that I may not be very objective on this: Morrison's DOOM PATROL is my favourite superhero comic ever, and the book that got me back into comics as an adult, and which provided a platonic comics ideal I've never quite been able to reach since

I'm curious to re-read the stories between the space story and issue 50 – I’m remember that as being Doom Patrol’s only wonky phase – so I wonder if they seem better/worse now.

Good news! The formerly-Vertigo parts of the New 52 need to go all Dark and Edge.

No, really. I'm not making this up.

Are they trimming the line up or just moving them to the ghetto?

They're calling the ghetto: The Dark and The Edge from what I can tell.*

* I am not making this up.

So Swamp Thing, Animal Man, I Vampire, and Justice League Dark get this tag? Is there going to be a Justice League Edge too?

Hex, too. Honestly I'm not too sure what else would get shoehorned into it.

I'm just finding it funny. "We don't know what made it work before so we're just going to TRY HARDER."

Know what would be edgy? A new SLASH MARAUD series.

The funny part of that is it would be one of their best books.

My god, the 90s are really coming back, aren't they?

Re: the "Dark and the Edge" thing...

You haven't been following this thread that closely, have you.

Aldo, I'd buy you a drink if you were on the right continent.

From what I've been able to glean, The Edge And The Dark (uuuughhh...) will be comprised of the following titles:

Swamp Thing
Animal Man
I, Vampire
Justice League Dark
Frankenstein
The Phantom Stranger
Sword Of Sorcery (Amethyst)
Suicide Squad
All-Star Western
Savage Hawkman
Deathstroke
Grifter
WildCATS
Team 7

So no real thematic cohesion or rational regrouping as much as, like, hey, let's just rebrand some random shit and see what happens. AKA DC's SOP over the past couple of years.

Why not just call it "Liefeld's Vertigostorm!!!"?

If you'd told me in the mid-'90s that Vertigo and early Image would someday be basically melded into a single comics line, I would've taken great strides to get you committed for the blatant insanity you were spewing.

I believe that it's also all the shit that will never, ever be in a big budget movie (Constantine excepted, for the lols).

I really don't understand what Team 7 is supposed to be at all, or why we need another team book.

I have no clue who Team 7 is.

I only know that the guy from I, Vampire is in it. Which is odd, because he left Justice League Dark because he didn't do teams.

Team 7 was yet another mid-'90s Image/Wildstorm thing. IDGI.

wait did I read that right there is a new Amethyst comic

> If you'd told me in the mid-'90s that Vertigo and early Image would someday be basically melded into a single comics line, I would've taken great strides to get you committed for the blatant insanity you were spewing.

That's the most OTM thing in the history of OTM things posted to this here board.

yep. New Amethyst and the original finally gets a showcase edition.

And yes, they're bringing AMETHYST back in an anthology title. I have little faith.

Wait, no faith. I have no faith in that title being any good.

negative faith.

anti-faith

The New 52: The Anti-Faith Equation

haha, perfect ^^^

I know no one actually cares but Team 7 was essentially the main genesis point for the Wildstorm superhero universe; they were essentially the "prequel" team that set the stage for all of the other books to launch (IIRC, half of them ended up in WildCATS, the other half ended up in or influencing Stormwatch and their kids ended up as Gen13). Basically, since the Wildstorm universe has now been folded into regular DC continuity, they're using them as a conceptual platform to explain the genesis of the Wildstormy bits of the DC universe and tying that origin story closer together by adding DC characters to the roster like Amanda Waller and Deathstroke.

haha every time I talk about the Wildstorm bits of this I feel like I have to preface it with "I know no one actually cares but..."

I am still pissed that they are publishing The Authority as Stormwatch BTW; BRING BACK FLINT, FAHRENHEIT, BATTALION, SYNERGY, HELLSTRIKE, FUJI, WINTER, SWIFT, etc etc etc

(I would consider buying Stormwatch if they introduced some of those characters into it)

I liked the Team 7 series but they were basically Chuck Dixon doing his soldier/punisher-style writing for a special ops/secret projects team in the 70s

Shakey Mo wins the thread.

CAN EVEN THE NEW GODS STOP THE ANTI-FAITH EQUATION? FIND OUT IN: THE BATTLE BEFORE INFINITY'S END!

Wait was that Lynch's old team, with the fathers of some of the current superheros?

yes

why comics suck in 2012
it's the liefeld man

this batman owl thing had a really mediocre ending

BUT THERE WAS A ROOM FULL OF FANS WEARING OWL MASKS. YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID.

/haven't read it
//dun wanna

Wait, do you mean at SDCC? wtf

btw also the owl thing was, for the most part, really cool -- at least if you just stuck to the main title

Yeah, apparently DC put masks under all the seats for the Scott Snyder BATMAN panel and the crowd was told to put 'em on for a group picture. It was kinda creepy.

Batgirl #11: For once a structured and balanced issue from Gail Simone as she winds back all her fake teen bullshit and her OMG WIMMIN ARE STRONG DYS nonsense (although, again, all the characters are women including the hint at the SPOILER at the end - which is a pretty high success rate because if SPOILER is who we're meant to think it is then it's the only other female option out of a field of at least a dozen. Does that make it more or less sexist?) and we get a decently paced issue that explores the Knightfall character and the policewoman that helps Babs out. But wait! If she's fighting crime, who's saving her roomie from James Gordon? OH NOES! It's ok though, he just wants to give her a cat. He's a nice boy really.

Batman #11: Scott Snyder finally wraps up Owls by exploring the Thomas Wayne Jr story (in the middle of a great, deranged fight) and we're left with the final question which is now torturing Bruce. Is it true? Or is it just another last play of the hand by the Owls in trying to tip him over the edge? It feels odd saying it about one of the New 52 titles, but people will look back on this as one of the great Bat-arcs, I'm sure. Buy or borrow the inevitable trade and see if I'm wrong. If you hate it, I might even refund you (but don't hold your breath on that one).

Batman & Robin #11: Peter Tomasi introduces Terminus; a character who, if I didn't know better, was a thinly disguised attempt at making a Bane that ties in more with the forthcoming film - he even gets called a terrorist to ram the point home. It's a shame, because I'm really warming to the psycho-Robin trying to prove to the other ex-Robins that he's the best one and I kind of wish the plot would stick to that. But whatever, it's well executed and worth yer bucks.

Deathstroke #11: is not worth yer bucks. It's Liefeld all the way, although knees appear to be his weakness this month and not feet. All the other stereotypes are there though - badly-held sword with bendy blades, ill-conceived guns, poor perspective, cankles, people standing at different heights, relative size of objects changing... Lobo's biggest sin seems to be selling the Lorax into slavery, although the highlight for me is when his spaceship starts its self-destruct sequence by ejecting a 3 1/2" floppy disk. I'm assuming SOMEBODY except DiDio and Liefeld like this, but I'm at a loss who they might be.

Demon Knights #11: A fine issue, as usual, with the comedy relief of Vandal Savage firmly breaking any grim 'n' gritty pretences - although al Jabr becoming MODOK had pretty much done for that anyway. The plot continues on, King Arthur has to destroy Glastonbury Tor and Morgaine shows her hand, but I suspect most people are reading this for the characterisation and interaction rather than anything else.

Frankenstein #11: Matt Kinot has watched The Prisoner. This issue does not make me happy.

Grifter #11: Having said that, it makes me happier than Grifter. Where Liefeld has turned him into some "Jedi-dude" who is reall the chosen one of the Daemonites. Helpfully for arch Liefeld-biter Marat Michaels, Rob writes a chick in a swimsuit who can be the undercover baddie so he can show off his art skills. Not so helpfully for us, this is a bag of shit from start to finish.

Legion Lost #11: This week's idgi phrase is "Dawnstar... or Pawnstar?!!?!!?!" WTF? Is it supposed to be a pun on pornstar? If so, are we going to see the plot from THAT John Byrne Superman strip again? Or is she going to open a shop in Las Vegas with a pile of overweight and stupid relatives? Or is she just going to be used as a pawn, and you thought it would be a cool made up word? IT ISN'T.

Resurrection Man #11: There's a big fight in The Lab, which is a cloaked tower in a cola factory, and we end up going through the same motions as issue 2. Literally, with exactly the same people and the same outcome. Going round in circles inside a year isn't a good look and shows a severe lack of initiative.

Suicide Squad #11: It gets mentioned again here, but we never did find out how King Shark got to be clever, did we? Anyway, another well-written and plotted issue sees the first traitor blow up the plane the Squad are on, making Waller think they're dead. So... they get a little sloppy and might end up being sacrificed to the Mayan gods. No fair! I want to find out who the other traitor is! Come back next month to find out, or watch them all die in a tasty way.

Superboy #11: Unsure how I feel about this issue. Lots of good bits - Bunker taking Superboy away for a tattoo (although how does it work with indestructible skin?), Superboy having taken all N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s money - but the bad guy is a bit Sadface once he's half-beaten, not that Superboy cares as he just punches him into bits. So, not a coherent 20 pages then. I could be persuaded into thinking it was good, I'm sure.

Ravagers #3: Brother Blood is back. He's not very good. He's the best thing in this book.

I will check out the Batmens on your say-so, but is it really better than when Grant Morrison did what sounds like the same story 3-4 years ago?

It gets mentioned again here, but we never did find out how King Shark got to be clever, did we?

We did, actually. In... #9 I think? Whichever issue was intercut between Waller basically torturing all of the Suicide Squad members and the flashbacks of the Basilisk traitor on the team, there was a scene with King Shark where he complained about being kept dry, as that limited his ability to think and reason. Therefore, dumping him in the ocean was kind of a shock to his IQ.

To clarify my earlier position: I think the Owls ending was a cop-out in that there was some great building action but the ending is this epic fight that boils down to "Noo, it's not true!" between buildings falling over.

Cool plot idea, but the fact that Morrison used the supposedly-dead family member red herring in the last few years made it seem like it was recycling a little too soon.

xp to Andrew, who asks the real question

Andrew, the lead up to that plot point is well worth reading the arc, even if that part falls a little flat.

Dan, you're right.

I think the thing I'd add on the Owls is that the psychological taking apart of Batman is handled at least as well here, possibly because it's more believable and being done TO him rather than being something which, for the most part, he does to himself in RIP.

OK, this is how good I think it is - it never once made me think that GMoz had done more or less the same thing until it was mentioned just now. That's being carried along by writing for you.