I Geeked On Your DC Reboot! A Rant

And begin...

This September DC Comics is "relaunching" their superhero line of comics, their goal is to pump up their readership by modernizing their characters and trimming the fat that is their convoluted histories. Come September, DC will be launching 52 (yes, 52) number 1 issues, many of which are of their current titles/characters that exist now, some are of new concepts & directions, and the rest are of titles that haven't been produced in some time.

I will be honest when I first read the letter DC sent to us retailers, I had a lot of mixed emotions. The fanboy in me was jumping up and down wanting to know more. What was being changed? What directions the books/character I love would be going? Now, the retailer in me was freaking the fuck out. 52 new series, WHAT THE FUCK!!

As of Friday, DC has revealed all 52 new series and I'm more pissed off than excited. Yes, my heart belongs to Marvel Comics (especially the X-Men) but for the last 10 years or so I've collected a healthy amount of DC Comics, I've suffered through Infinite & Final Crisis took part in Blackest Night and call the Teen Titans my second favorite team book; my love for Donna Troy has NO bounds. With that said, a few of my favorite DC series are not part of the new relaunch, I will miss you Secret Six, Gotham City Sirens, and Zatanna, I will miss you most of all. Characters like Donna Troy, Raven, and the younger generation of JSA members are now in character limbo, insert sad panda face here.

Now here's The New 52 (in order of reveal) Note: BOLD Titles represent new series that are currently not being produced. I've added blurbs to the titles I'm most interested in.
Note: Cover art has been attached for certain titles at the end of the list.

52) Justice League by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
I love Geoff Johns when he's writing a team book, his run of Teen Titans and Justice Society are amazing, and the Justice League is DC premiere team and really only succeeds when the Big 3 (Superman, Batman, & Wonder Woman) are among their ranks. The current incarnation has the archetypes that make up a great team but pale in comparisons. So, with this creative team at the helm Justice League should return to the top of DC's sells. Problem through is Jim Lee is notorius for lateness and not finishing projects (do you remember All Star Batman & Robin?) The question I ask as a retailer is how long will Lee be on the book and when he leaves how many people will remain with the series??

51) Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang
Oh, Diana how you need a great creative team to bring you back into the light, fingers crossed Azzarello is the right man for her.

50) Aquaman by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis

49) The Flash by Francis Manapul &Brian Buccellato

48) Fury of Firestorm by Ethan Van Sciver, Gail Simone & Yildiray Cinar

47) Savage Hawkman by Tony Daniel & Philip Tan

46) Green Arrow by JT Krul & Dan Jurgens

45) Justice League International by Dan Jurgens & Aaron Lopresti
You had me at the lineup which includes Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner, Vixen and Batman. I'm okay with multiple team titles, the JLA has a healthy roster similar to Marvel's Avengers & X-Men, and I love my DC D-listers I'm glad they have found a home. Now if only Donna Troy was amongst their ranks...

44) Mister Terrific by Eric Wallace & Roger Robinson
Of all the JSA characters, Mister Terrific is not one of my favorites. Honestly, I'm not sure how long this title will last.

43) Captain Atom by JT Krul & Freddie Williams

42) DC Universe Presents by Various

41) Green Lantern by Geoff Johns & Doug Mahnke/Christian Alamy

40) Green Lantern Corps by Peter J. Tomasi & Fernando Pasarin/Scott Hanna

39) Green Lantern: New Guardians by Tony Bedard & Tyler Kirkham & Batt

38) Red Lanterns by Peter Milligan & Ed Benes
I could see this as a 4 to 6 issue mini, not an ongoing series.

37) Swamp Thing by Scott Snyder & Yannick Paquette

36) Justice League Dark by Peter Milligan & Mikel Janin
Since I won't be able to read Zatanna's solo adventures anymore, her membership into the Supernatural JL should keep me happy, fingers crossed Milligan doesn't fuck it up.

35) Animal Man by Jeff Lemire & Travel Foreman/Dan Green

34) Demon Knights by Paul Cornell & Diogenes Neves/Oclair Albert

33) Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE by Jeff Lemire & Alberto Ponticelli

32) Resurrection Man by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino

31) I, Vampire by Josh Fialkov & Andrea Sorrentino
I like Vampires so I will be checking this out, but not expecting the title to run long.

30) Voodoo by Ron Marz & Sami Basri

29) Batman by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo

28) Detective Comics by Tony Daniel

27) Batman & Robin by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason

26) Batman Dark Knight by David Finch w/Jay Fabok

25) Batgirl by Gail Simone & Adrian Syaf/Vicente Cifuentes
I fucking love Barbara Gordon! When I used to watch the reruns of the 60's Batman show as a kid, I seriously wouldn't watch the episode if Batgirl wasn't in it, well unless the villain was Catwoman.
Barbara lost the use of her legs after being shoot by the Joker and created a new identity for herself as the computer mastermind Oracle. This new relaunch has Barbara regaining the use of her legs and donning the cowl once more. Here's where things start getting all conflicted with me, as much as I want to see Barbara in her Batgirl outfit, I love what DC has done with Oracle. Gail Simone is an amazing writer and loves Barbara has much as I do, so here's hoping this series is amazing.

24) Batwoman by J.H. Williams & Haden Blackman/Amy Reeder
Finally, after months of delays, Batwoman number 1 is hitting the shelves.

23) Catwoman by Judd Winick & Guillem March

22) Birds of Prey by Duane Swierczynski & Jesus Saiz
This is NOT the Birds I know and love, I'll be reading issue one but am sad that Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress, and Lady Blackhawk aren't gonna be the cast.

21) Nightwing by Kyle Higgins & Eddy Barrows

20) Red Hood & the Outlaws by Scott Lobdell & Kenneth Rocafort

19) Batwing by Judd Winick & Ben Oliver

18) Legion Lost by Fabian Nicieza & Pete Woods

17) Legion of Superheroes by Paul Levitz & Francis Portela

16) Teen Titans by Scott Lobdell & Brett Booth/Norm Rapmund
After years of bad writers and artists, the Teen Titans finally found themselves in the hands of a writer (JT Krul) that got them and a lineup that felt like the Titans. But, alas JT will not be behind the relaunch. I was a huge Lobdell fan when he was writing for the X-Men, so I have hope that the book will be good, and Brett Booth knows how to draw hot guys; so there's a plus. Even through Red Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Superboy are among the cast, main strays like Raven and Beast Boy are gone, even the newest addition to the Titans, Solstice, didn't make the cut. The Teen Titans is my book, and it's now wait and see. And the new costumes have grown on me.

15) Static Shock by John Rozum & Scott McDaniel & Jonathan Glapion

14) Hawk & Dove by Sterling Gates & Rob Liefeld

13) Stomwatch by Paul Cornell & Miguel Sepulveda

12) Blackhawks by Mike Costa & Ken Lashley

11) Sgt Rock & the Men of War by Ivan Brandon & Tom Derenick

10) All-Star Western by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat

09) Deathstroke by Kyle Jiggins & Joe Bennett/Art Thibert

08) Grifter by Nathan Edmondson & CAFU/BIT

07) OMAC by Dan Dido & Keith Giffen & Scott Koblish

06) Suicide Squad by Adam Glass & Marco Rudy
What have you done to my Harley Quinn?? Instead of the Secret Six, I get this? Boo to you DC, boo to you!

05) Blue Beetle by Tony Bedard & Ig Guara/Ruy Jose

04) Superman by George Perez & Jesus Merino

03) Supergirl by Michael Green & Mike Johnson & Mahmud Asrar

02) Superboy by Scott Lobdell & RB Silva/Rob Lean

01) Action Comics by Grant Morrison & Rags Morales
The big reveal with the release of Morrison's Action Comics is that Superman was the first Superhero in the new DCU, what exactly this means will have to wait till the issue hits stores.

There you go 52 new number 1's, now the next question is just how many issues 12 will we be seeing come August 2012? (I stole this from somewhere, just can't remember where).

END

I Geeked on Your X-Men First Class Review!

Thank Xavier for midnight screenings! As a long time X-whore I have been anticipating the release of First Class for months, I needed my X-movie fix. And all I can say is that this film delivered the goods. Will I call it the best of the series, Hells yes I will! The bad taste that was Wolverine Origins has been washed away (love you Hugh, but that movie was shit, just keeping it real).

Now, this film is labeled as a reboot/revision of the X universe, I personally took this film as a stand alone starting point clearing out the history we were given by the original trilogy. With that said, as a starting point for new X lore the foundation that Matthew Vaughn and crew created is rich and complex.

The film follows the "Bromance" (God, I love that word) between James McAvoy's Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender's Erik Lehnsherr. Both men are at two different points in their lives and are forced together based on a combination of their genetic makeup and Sebastian Shaw (played perfectly by Kevin Bacon). Since this is the 1960's mutants are "in the closet" and are not publicly known. With the help of the CIA's Moria MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) and the Man in Black (Oliver Platt) Xavier & Erik gather the first group of potential X-Men to halt Shaw's plans of coordinating a Nuclear War between the US and Russia.

Death, betrayal, love triangles, and acceptance (by the general public and ones self) all play a role in shaping these characters into what will become the first versions of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. The final 40 minutes or so are among the best moments of the film. Stand out performance goes to Michael Fassbender, his Magneto was brilliant, complex, and true to the source material. For me, the weak link was January Jone's Emma Frost. Yes, she looked the part, but her delivery wasn't there, truthfully she needed to be a bigger bitch.

The films comes in at around 2 hours and 11 minutes and I loved every second of it, the setup for more stories set in the 1960's is there, but I do hope that the rumors of the next "First Class" film being set in the 1970's is true; just to have a Disco dancing Dazzler on screen would be pure nerd joy.

Overall, this X-Men film had what I need, a compelling story, mutant on mutant fight scenes, character development (Mystique's arc is heartfelt and one of the films highlight's), uniforms that resembled the comic versions, and a cast that was fun to watch.

Lastly, there is no bonus scene after the credits but the films does have a few special cameo's that made my fan boy heart go a flutter. Now, go see this movie!

~Harry Envy