A Year Into the New 52

Have you followed any of the New 52?

Yes! And I love what I've read!	33.9%	[ 21 ]
Yes, but they're not what I expected.	22.6%	[ 14 ]
No, not really.	29.0%	[ 18 ]
Other...will respond in a reply..	14.5%	[ 9 ]
Total Votes:			[ 62 ]

[aSpaceman]

ajsnoopy

Kurokashi-san

Nice choices! Thoughts on how Stormwatch is developing? Originally a fan of The Authority and started picking up Stormwatch a year into the run.

aSpaceman

Definitely liking the Catwoman of the DotF series thus far. Perhaps I will check out the earlier issues! Is Batman and Robin Bruce and Damian?

Kodako Takabe

Very nice outline and description of your pickups and what you've read! Loving the list wink . I see that you're still liking the female-character titled books. At what point in time (DCU) do each of them take place? Post Final Crisis and all that jazz?

Yes, this series does involve Bruce and Damian! And Damian is shaping up to be an amazing character

[Rathraq]

ajsnoopy

ScienceDog

Snyder is awesome, I went to Batman because of Greg Capullo, to be honest I wasn't familiar with Snyder's writing so I went to read American Vampire before the new 52 started and was blown away. The 0 issue for Nightwing was to reintroduce Lady Shiva.

And no worries, good luck for Black Friday stuff.

Amen to that, my friend. He's definitely stepping in as a core writer for Batman these days. Like Johns with Green Lantern biggrin . Picked up so many GL from the Black Friday sale at a nearby comic book shop. Need mooooar. Haha! Sadly the place didn't have Nightwing #0. Foo.

Black Friday was insane, as were the shifts. But overall it was a success for the store. Have any interesting BF adventures to divulge? Not big into shopping on that day myself...

That is good bf went well for you.
Unfortunately, I was unable to go to half priced books and my lcbs. But at the same time I am not upset about it, I was probably just going to get some figures or a mini statue. I did get a tablet though so it will make using g comixology app awesome maybe save up some space by buying a few digital comics.

[ajsnoopy]

aSpaceman

Nice! And the father/son dynamic is proving to be a good thing for the comic? I'll admit, couldn't stand Damian when he made his first appearance. But he's grown on me over the last few years, for sure biggrin .

ScienceDog

Fo sho. Getting toys in now in preparation for Christmas; yay.

Congrats on finding a tablet on that day! Bet you got one smokin' deal, huh ;D. I know we sold quite a few iPads that day since they came with a $40 gift card or something like that.

Do you know if your lcbs or half priced books will have any sales in the near future? I've been able to find a few good issues at HPB for a good price, but I don't know if they do sales or not.

[Kodako Takabe]

ajsnoopy

Kurokashi-san

Nice choices! Thoughts on how Stormwatch is developing? Originally a fan of The Authority and started picking up Stormwatch a year into the run.

aSpaceman

Definitely liking the Catwoman of the DotF series thus far. Perhaps I will check out the earlier issues! Is Batman and Robin Bruce and Damian?

Kodako Takabe

Very nice outline and description of your pickups and what you've read! Loving the list wink . I see that you're still liking the female-character titled books. At what point in time (DCU) do each of them take place? Post Final Crisis and all that jazz?

With the exception of Batwoman, none of the female-lead titles I've read connect to the old DCU at all. Batwoman comes directly after the Elegy storyline, and is one of my very favorite comics currently running.

Despite the heavy criticism that's been launched at the Wonder Woman book, I have to say, I like it. It doesn't hurt that Cliff Chiang is the artist on the book. He and Amanda Connor are the undisputed masters of tasteful cheesecake art.

[ajsnoopy]

Kodako Takabe

With the exception of Batwoman, none of the female-lead titles I've read connect to the old DCU at all. Batwoman comes directly after the Elegy storyline, and is one of my very favorite comics currently running.

Despite the heavy criticism that's been launched at the Wonder Woman book, I have to say, I like it. It doesn't hurt that Cliff Chiang is the artist on the book. He and Amanda Connor are the undisputed masters of tasteful cheesecake art.

Oh wow...so the writers really did start from the ground up on a lot of the titles. I only ask since Batgirl did reference The Killing Joke in issue 14. Glad to hear that they're developing on their own so nicely! ;D Sadly, I'm unfamiliar with the Elegy storyline sweatdrop .

Chiang is one heck of an artist! I was unsure if he was the artist who also did the cover art, but just discovered he is! I love his latest piece of Wonder Woman and her "band". As a first issue, should I pick up 1 or 0?

[Rathraq]

ajsnoopy

aSpaceman

Nice! And the father/son dynamic is proving to be a good thing for the comic? I'll admit, couldn't stand Damian when he made his first appearance. But he's grown on me over the last few years, for sure biggrin .

ScienceDog

Fo sho. Getting toys in now in preparation for Christmas; yay.

Congrats on finding a tablet on that day! Bet you got one smokin' deal, huh ;D. I know we sold quite a few iPads that day since they came with a $40 gift card or something like that.

Do you know if your lcbs or half priced books will have any sales in the near future? I've been able to find a few good issues at HPB for a good price, but I don't know if they do sales or not.

The local comic shop I usually go to doesn't do sales. Though he did do some deals on Friday, other than that he never has sales. Hpb does do sales but they usually run them with a coupon that you get through their mailing list. They had a few good deals lately. I got a hard cover of kraven's last hunt for a little over $8. So sign up for their mailing list.

[ajsnoopy]

ScienceDog

The local comic shop I usually go to doesn't do sales. Though he did do some deals on Friday, othertRotherham that he never has sales. Hpb does do sales but they usually run them with a coupon that you get through their mailing list. They had a few good deals lately. I got a hard cover of craven's last hunt for a little over $8. So sign up for their mailing list.

Had no idea HPB had a mailing list. I'll have to get all up in that so I can save even more haha. Thanks for the info! And rock on to such a good find, as well ;D.
Another question (my apologies); how large is the comic book store you usually hit up? Do they carry recent comic series or older issues along with the new works?

[Rathraq]

ajsnoopy

ScienceDog

The local comic shop I usually go to doesn't do sales. Though he did do some deals on Friday, othertRotherham that he never has sales. Hpb does do sales but they usually run them with a coupon that you get through their mailing list. They had a few good deals lately. I got a hard cover of craven's last hunt for a little over $8. So sign up for their mailing list.

Had no idea HPB had a mailing list. I'll have to get all up in that so I can save even more haha. Thanks for the info! And rock on to such a good find, as well ;D.
Another question (my apologies); how large is the comic book store you usually hit up? Do they carry recent comic series or older issues along with the new works?

No problem, the comic shop I go to is a small shop but they got a pretty good selection of current comics and also there is the back issue bins. I don't think that there is much of silver or golden age books, but he does like to buy them from people looking to sell.

[Kodako Takabe]

ajsnoopy

Kodako Takabe

With the exception of Batwoman, none of the female-lead titles I've read connect to the old DCU at all. Batwoman comes directly after the Elegy storyline, and is one of my very favorite comics currently running.

Despite the heavy criticism that's been launched at the Wonder Woman book, I have to say, I like it. It doesn't hurt that Cliff Chiang is the artist on the book. He and Amanda Connor are the undisputed masters of tasteful cheesecake art.

Oh wow...so the writers really did start from the ground up on a lot of the titles. I only ask since Batgirl did reference The Killing Joke in issue 14. Glad to hear that they're developing on their own so nicely! ;D Sadly, I'm unfamiliar with the Elegy storyline sweatdrop .

Chiang is one heck of an artist! I was unsure if he was the artist who also did the cover art, but just discovered he is! I love his latest piece of Wonder Woman and her "band". As a first issue, should I pick up 1 or 0?

A lot of stuff was brought over from the old DCU...the Batman and Green Lantern mythos remain virtually unchanged, except when it comes to the Robins and the Batgirls. For instance, Cass and Steph do not exist at all, Tim was never Robin, only Red Robin, Babs was probably never Oracle, Huntress is Helena Wayne from Earth-2, and the Joker set Jason Todd up as Robin by faking his mother's death. Elegy is a great storyline, which has Kate hunting down the Religion of Crime's new boss while at the same time, we get to see what made her so desperate to make a difference in the world in the first place. It's a great story, I really recommend picking it up.

I would start with #1, as #0 is a fake Silver Age story. Cute, but not really connected to the story in any way.

[ajsnoopy]

ScienceDog

Sounds like a good shop to go to then! And that's awesome that the owner will buy issues from sellers/customers. Rock on! Do you happen to be a fan of any of the golden or silver age stories?

Kodako Takabe

So it seems most of the Bat family remains unchanged from the past. I remember discussing the absence of Cass and Steph in the new 52...sad days sad . I really miss those two, and I wish both were featured in a story one way or the other.

However, I was unaware of the Robin back stories being almost completely different. Tim not being Robin? I think he was my fave of the five Robins :/. Damn.

Also, thanks for the info on Elegy! Will definitely look for it next time I hit up one of the comic book stores around here. Only have one Batwoman issue, so I definitely need to up my game!

[Maki_P]

Between my store's problems with distribution and the fact that almost nothing of the New 52 seems interesting I haven't been able to keep up with DC.
I began reading a few things last year, but.... I started JLI because I was reading Booster Gold before Flashpoint, but I dropped it because it felt rather kill happy; as in, they were desperate to kill everybody in the book. I also tried out Batgirl, and I truly admired the work of Gail Simone there, but I couldn't get over the changes made to the continuity, specially the erasure of Cass, Steph and Oracle. Then I began reading Wonder Woman, but I was a bit biased from the beginning, what with Diana being Zeus' daughter (can you spell "oldest cliche EVER"?); and then they turned the Amazons into rapists and murders, so goes without saying total deal breaker. Finally I kinda fell in love with the Flash, in big part because the art was beautiful; but work and living in the 3rd world made it kinda hard to keep up, I'm trying to get back to date with that one, but I'm still pissed they totally erased Wally from existence.

When the JL book began publishing the Shazam sidestory I began reading it (the sidestory, not the JL book) and I was seriously turned off by the absolute personality transplant they gave poor Billy, I don't think I can call him "Captain Marvel" anymore (good thing they changed his name to Shazam!)
Also I think I'm gonna need someone to explain me the WW/Supes thing, because they make 0 sense to me. I get the superficial appeal: god-like heroes who work together and Diana can, let say, "withstand" Superman; but besides that I don't think they're compatible as a couple, they have very different personalities, different goals, completely different world views. In short, they're too different, and not in the "they complement each other" way, but in the "they're wrong for each other way".

[Bani Slasher]

Well, I'm one of the people that got pulled into comics hardcore by the New 52. Before this, I mainly stuck to stuff that didn't have a very long run and/or wasn't part of the big 2. What little exposer I'd had was from the animated series (which I for the most part I freakin love) and other non-comic book media. So, really, I'm a prime example of one of the kinds of people that they were hoping to pull in with this little publicity stunt. Well, I didn't start reading at the start of the 52, but more around the Court of the Owls big crossover (which is why certain titles ended up in my read list, but more on that later). Still, I increased my "stack" by a s**t ton.

I currently read all the Bat family titles (except Batman Inc. which lost me after like 3 issues and Talon which lost me after 0). Of those, my favorites are Batwoman, Batwing, Batman and Robin, and Red Hood (excluding the Commander Starfire storyline, that I just couldn't get into). Also, because they managed to sneak All-Star Western into the whole Court of the Owls storyline, I ended up picking that up. And while that issue was kind of weak, I'm glad I did pick it up. And I enjoy Suicide Squad quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, this Harley is kind of hit or miss and "wtf, I'm not supposed to want to bang Waller," but they've made me like some of the other members of the team (favorite being King Shark, because ******** yeah).

As far as non-Batman or Batman related (or as much as you can get with Batman being Batman, and all), I'm reading Aquaman (mostly heart ), Justice League Dark (mostly for Constantine), Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and Frankenstein (loving the Rotworld Crossover, for the most part), and the The Phantom Stranger. Also enjoyed Resurrection Man and Justice League International for the most part, before they got canceled. When's Booster coming back?!

That isn't to say I love it all. I had to drop Green Arrow after the China storyline because I finally gave up on the idea of it ever getting better (and that got like super racist near the end), and I don't even want to admit how many issues of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men I read. Dropped Justice League for more or less the same reasons as those two, even though I loved the Shazzam backup story, despite Gritty-reboot Billy Batson. Also, probably dropping Batgirl and Nightwing after Death of the Family wraps up, but that's more because I don't really like those characters, and Birds of Prey, because I just don't think it is all that good and at times a little confusing.

[ajsnoopy]

Maki_P

I remember reading from another reply about Booster only being featured in JLI sad . But I wasn't aware that the writers/developers were 'kill happy' about the book, heroes and other characters dropping off left and right. Damn...Seems there are both good and bad aspects to the New 52, the bad piling up quickly with the writer Batgirl being let go.

DX And Billy is now Shazam?! Whatever happened to good old Captain Marvel? Come on, DC...what's happening to this company?

I had seen the WW/Supes cover and thought it was either a gimmick to pull in readers or perhaps brainwashing had taken place. The two never seemed all that compatible, and the fact they were together and had a child in TDKSA threw me for quite the loop. Do we know if they're still together or what?

[Bani Slasher]

ajsnoopy

Maki_P

I remember reading from another reply about Booster only being featured in JLI sad . But I wasn't aware that the writers/developers were 'kill happy' about the book, heroes and other characters dropping off left and right. Damn...Seems there are both good and bad aspects to the New 52, the bad piling up quickly with the writer Batgirl being let go.

DX And Billy is now Shazam?! Whatever happened to good old Captain Marvel? Come on, DC...what's happening to this company?

I had seen the WW/Supes cover and thought it was either a gimmick to pull in readers or perhaps brainwashing had taken place. The two never seemed all that compatible, and the fact they were together and had a child in TDKSA threw me for quite the loop. Do we know if they're still together or what?

Well, I can answer some of those questions, but beware because there's going to be some spoilers:

As far as WW and Sups, well... that's the last Justice League comic I read (that is not why I dropped it, though). The kiss happens at the end of the issue, in the epilogue. From what little dialog there was, it seems they had already started going steady and this was just another kiss. No one else saw this kiss.

Except for Boostergold (in JLI Annual), who gets a transmission from future Boostergold that Superman and Wonder Woman must be stopped. It isn't quite clear what future Booster means by this, but he does play the clip of the kiss, before being stopped by a third party. Before the Booster of the pressent can do anything about it, he starts to fade, and that's the last time we've seen him (that I know of). Not sure if he was being pulled through time or just getting erased from it all together (which I really hope isn't the case).

[ajsnoopy]

Bani Slasher

Thanks for clearing that up, Bani! Could never decide if I wanted the issue enough to pick it up and find out.

So it could be assumed that JL and JLI would have had an eventual crossover event if JLI was still in publication...damn :l. Could that mean WW and Supes would take things into their own hands at some point, perhaps bringing unknown negative effects into the picture for the Justice League?

edit: Did the future Booster Gold tell his present self what year/month/time he came from?