I thought about it and while I’m a big DC fan, he maybe right. So I took the DCU books from November and cut out Geoff Johns books and projects he is involved in and Grant Morrison books and what are we left with:
TRINITY - An enjoyable series that has some sparks of being very good, but basically a solid entertaining weekly read, but nothing more. Grade C
SGT. ROCK: THE LOST BATTALION #1 - TBDAMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #5 – First issue was funny after that pretty forgettable. Grade D
EL DIABLO #3 – A mediocre book at best. Grade C.
VIXEN: RETURN OF THE LION #2 – An okay beginning. Grade B (being nice).
SECRET SIX #3 – Solid book, well written, great start. Grade A
TERRA #1-2 - TBDEL DIABLO #3 – A mediocre book at best. Grade C.
VIXEN: RETURN OF THE LION #2 – An okay beginning. Grade B (being nice).
SECRET SIX #3 – Solid book, well written, great start. Grade A
TEEN TITANS #65 – Very uneven. Grade C.
TITANS #7 – Rough beginning. Grade D.
TERROR TITANS #2 – Okay start. Grade C.
RANN/THANAGAR: HOLY WAR #7 – Convoluted, but fun for an old DC fan. Grade C.
REIGN IN HELL #5 – Again for a die hard DC fan only and even then questionable. Grade C.
TANGENT COMICS: SUPERMAN’S REIGN #9 – Grade D.
THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #7 – Grade D
BATMAN: CACOPHONY #1 - TBD
ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #11 – Grade A
DETECTIVE COMICS #850 – Grade B.
NIGHTWING #150 – Grade A
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #23 – Grade B.
BATGIRL #5 - Grade C.
BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT #7 – Grade B (but a very narrow audience)
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #13 – Grade D.
ROBIN #180 – Grade C.
SIMON DARK #14 - Grade A – but again a narrow audience.
SUPERGIRL #35 – Grade C and only lately.
SUPERMAN/SUPERGIRL: MAELSTROM #1-2 - TBD
SUPERMAN AND BATMAN VS. VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES #3-4 – Grade B
SUPERMAN/BATMAN #54 – Grade B
BIRDS OF PREY #124 - Grade B (barely, moving towards a C)
BLUE BEETLE #33 – Grade C (borderline B at times)
BOOSTER GOLD #14 – Grade C. The concept was a mini-series.
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #19 – Grade C (Last two issue were horrible).
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #30 – Grade B
THE FLASH #246 – Grade D
JONAH HEX #37 – Grade A
MANHUNTER #36 – Grade B
GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #14 – Grade D (use to be an “A” a few months back)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #27 – Grade C
WONDER WOMAN #26 – Grade C
THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #48 – Grade B (sometimes a C)
Now realize Manhunter and Legion of Super Heroes have been cancelled. Flash is going on hiatus and rumors are Batman Confidential may bite the dust. Subtract the big three from that list of books (any books were they play a prominent role) and you have.
SGT. ROCK: THE LOST BATTALION #1
AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #5
EL DIABLO #3
VIXEN: RETURN OF THE LION #2
SECRET SIX #3
TERRA #1-2
TEEN TITANS #65
TITANS #7
TERROR TITANS #2
RANN/THANAGAR: HOLY WAR #7
REIGN IN HELL #5
THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #7
SIMON DARK #14
BIRDS OF PREY #124
BLUE BEETLE #33
BOOSTER GOLD #14
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #19
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #30
THE FLASH #246
JONAH HEX #37
GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #14
What you have left is one or two new super hero books that I would label as I would really miss (Secret Six and GL Corps). I love Simon Dark and Jonah Hex, but they could be Vertigo books just as easily. That is not much of a base and the mini-series are all pretty weak.
While I applaud DC in letting various books have their own stories and not be interrupted by Final Crisis I do want to know how the timeline plays out in broad strokes. Even if it would hurt Batman RIP or Trinity. At least put a footnote stating that these stories will come together after both story lines are concluded or something. While I do not need tight continuity it is like I’m reading about five different Superman characters within one month’s reading. The Superman in Action/Superman is one of them, the one in Superman/Batman is another; the one in JLA is a third, a fourth in Final Crisis and a fifth in Trinity. An editorial saying that there is a plan at least would be nice, but I get the feeling there is no plan.
I also get the feeling that the story editor they hired is not doing his job, why else are Busiek and Johns running down the road with one version of Hawkman and Starlin is fixing his past in another series. If Starlin has Hawkman pull him out of the other books. If Trinity is before Final Crisis and Rann/Thanagar is after Final Crisis let me know.
It does not have to be perfect. If Batman is holding a batrang in his left hand on page one and it is in his right hand on page two I can live with that. But if Batman is crazed and been so shattered he has left everything behind, then who the flock is running around in Trinity. In Superman/Batman Kryptonite is taken out of the equation, not mentioned anywhere else.
So DC looks like they are floundering and lost at times. They have a weak line of books absent Johns and Morrison projects. They have lost cohesion in the DCU, like I said it doesn’t have to tie together perfectly, but things are done in book A and no one every picks up on it (see James Robinson’s restart of Batman One Year Later and then see that work ignored).
DC has some great books and some great titles, but the universe needs to be pulled together and books need to have a rationale for existing and should have one to two years of plots laid out before launching a book (see Flash, BATO, WW, etc).
Fire Mike Carlin or Dan Didio or Paul Levitz (not Paul), but shake up something people or DC will be fighting Dark Horse and Image for market share as Marvel becomes half the market permanently (which is a bad thing for the industry).
i noticed this one a while back. and it's pretty funny that we picked the same two books. i've only been reading GLC for a few months and i absolutely love it. as for gail simone, i read the 2nd mini a year ago and it blew me away, so i got the first and the special. and now the new ongoing, amazing. as consistently unbelievable all the johns/morrison books are right now, secret six is the book i look forward to the most.
ReplyDeletei guess it's the same for marvel. i only pick up the bendis-brubaker-pak-millar books and any good crime atuff (current punisher arc). i'm not into comics, just creators. but in those terms, whenever those writers bounce, there goes all of their sales from me.
Ah, It appears you may be suffering from election fatigue -- two downer posts in a row. Go buy some original art from one of your favorite series or artists and you'll feel better. I know I do.
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to be a student in a class you taught as your grading is "all over the map". You compare series and issues together. You start to do better toward the end where you mention a recent trend. Any book can have a less than stellar issue once in a while. It makes no sense that Trinity and Booster Gold, which you consistently enjoy get a C and JLA, which you rarely like gets the same grade. I can understand reserving your A's for the super-exceptional (like a Grad school teacher)or your biased favorites, but those two books are solid B's (I'd give them A-/B+ myself).
Next time define your grading system first and stick to it. This will make the grading fairer. Perhaps,you should use a number scale. If you enjoyed the book (10 pts), if you'll want to reread it someday (5 pts), if you're eager to read the next issue or get the collected edition (10 pts), etc. You can have a certain range of points that you earn (see above) and you could have another range of points that you subtract from, assuming the creators did there best (50 pts), but then if the coloring was bad, the art was poor, etc. subtract off for those type of things. From your "Best to Worst" it seems you generally do some of this in your head, but this would make it more consistent. Think of the cool chart you could make! It would be like watching the stock Market. "Today Trinity plunged 5 pts because there was only one page of Bagley art, while the last 4 issue average is...". Anyway, you get the idea.
There also appear to be other "Market" factors: Are you in a bad mood (electon/economy), were you rushed, were your expectations not met, is it a genre that you don't like generally or like less? The last one I think is definitely coming in to play here. It seems that traditional super-hero titles have a tough time competing with the more cerebral titles or Vertigo titles. Of course I'm biased toward those type of books. :D
Still your overall point that DC's line is a little lacking and too dependent on Johns and Morrison is valid. What happens when they leave? And DC's continuity has certainly been thrown out the window, especially with Superman. I think you just have to forget about that and consider each series as it's own mini-series and as long as they are consistent within that frame work, don't worry about it. It was tough when Marvel started doing that and now that DC is doing that (and you like DC better anyway) it's an adjustment for sure. It would help if there were less titles. I certainly liked it when there was more continuity. It seems the big Two are trying to reinforce their pseudo-continuity with their Mega events (please stop making them!!), but it doesn't work well because they had already opened pandora's box with multiple mini-series and sliding timelines, retcons and the like.
Hmmmm, good concept, inconsistent grading, caused me to respond...I'd give this post a B+. It's still a must read everyday. :)
I should preface everything I am saying with the fact that it is all speculation, no thought of Marvel or it's flaws has been undertaken, more just the random musings of someone that accidentally picked DC as his team of the big two.
ReplyDeleteI had the very same thought as this blog a couple of weeks ago over a dumpling/comic book drinking session with the guys. DC's top tier is strong, I refer to them as the 52 crew though that is not entirely accurate as it is Johns, Morrison and to a lesser extent Rucka that do it for me. The writers that look to be at the top of their game. Then you have the Countdown crew (these are gross generalisations). The glut of writers that can generate superhero plots like a cheap overseas production line.
Now what I am not sure of is, who is truly at fault in what appears to be the large gap between the writing stars at DC, and the under performing second tier. The top writers like Morrison and Johns appear to be able to do the stories they want, they get to determine the direction of things, surely a creative advantage. The second tier with the likes of Sean McKeever, appear more likely to be directed by editorial. So perhaps the gulf is talent, or perhaps the gulf is created by the inability for quality writers to express themselves. 52 evolved into its own creative beast, Countdown read like a ticking of plot points. The difference between the two was vast.
On mini's I don't quite understand how things are being decided upon. Did someone pitch a killer Vixen story line that was so good it had to be told? Did someone have an amazing vision for Infinity Inc that demanded a series? Or did the editors say, we need a Steel mini, who is free? You are? Excellent, have him do some things, fight a bad guy near the end, etc etc. Again if it is editorial then I almost feel sorry for the creators forced to take this work, if it is the creators pitching, DC needs to trawl the indie world and find some new talent.
DC is in an odd spot. They have recently done a soft reboot with OYL, but the result appears to be a far messier status quo then it has ever been. It seems like the never ending battle of publishers to create a common universe, but allow creators to create. That delicate balance is being ballsed up at the minute. Superman/Batman with the Lil' Leaguers is the sort of thing I'd expect from a miniseries, an incredible premise set who knows where in continuity (it doesn't matter) that is top notch. Main universe plot lines and events should occur within their books, like the Sinestro Corp War or their own reality if they don't affect any other book (like Final Crisis appears to be). If more Vixen characterization is required but she isn't important enough for a full series, then let the writer that has her in the team book do it there (as I am led to believe McDuffie did in the recent issue).
What about the trade market? The off shoot of releasing so much filler story arcs, all these books you graded C's and D's, is who is going to want to buy the trades for these? I tried following the DCU in trades but once a lot of these books lose their immediacy their lack of quality really starts to shine through. In a collected form a lot of these series can be painful to read not more than a year after their release. The lure of being current can hide some sins, but in collected form after the fact the generic nature truly shines through.
I'd also love there to be some thought put into the ease of following the universe. The shared universe is a huge draw but if it wasn't for my LCS guy keeping me in the loop I'd miss things all over the place. The mini here to introduce a story that crosses between these three titles. It is madness, I read comics, I read blogs, and yet I struggle to be bothered to figure out what I'd like to read simply because it is effort I as the consumer should not need to put in. Every month as I figure out my order I breath a sigh of relief when I get to the OGN's in the indie section or the series that exist in themselves. That is simple buying.
Wow that was a disjointed bunch of paragraphs, sorry. I have literally pruned my DC pull list to Johns, Robinson and Morrison for monthlies, which is ok because it mean I am getting plenty of good reading. I also have more money for the Comicsand Indie trawls, so for all the doom and gloom of the above points, comics are still great and thankfully a bigger medium than the purely mainstream superhero stuff. DC is my team, probably always will be, I just hope they are able to put on a better match day performance soon for their own sake.
Sime - I agree with your sentiments and we do have plenty of other companies and books to read, I just also want DC to get better soon.
ReplyDeletemaybe its because you don't read batman, action comics, or green lantern? maybe?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Who said I don't read those books, they are 3 of my favorite series. No Morrison and No Johns, the DCU has few solid books past those guys.
ReplyDelete