Question about the New 52

Do you like the New 52?

Yes!	38.2%	[ 13 ]
It's ok...	26.5%	[ 9 ]
No! end it now!	14.7%	[ 5 ]
52 what?	5.9%	[ 2 ]
shiny!!!	14.7%	[ 5 ]
Total Votes:			[ 34 ]

[bygkahuna2004]

So, I never read DC comics. When I was a kid in the early 90's I was a Marvel fanboy, especially the X-Men. When I head DC was doing a full series reboot, I was excited, because I had started to get to know some of the characters of the DC universe, and this gave me a chance to get in without being completely lost in the DCU mythos. Since it launched, I've heard nothing but complaints about the new 52, and I don't understand the hate. My question is, Why does everyone hate the New 52?

[Urd Tanzanite]

Everyone has their reasons. For me, there is one big one: there can only be 52 titles. What this means is that if DC wants to roll out a new title, then an existing title is going to get cut. As of the sixth wave, DC has cancelled 26 titles. That's half of the line up. And keep in mind this is over the course of just 2 years.

All the titles I read were part of the Dark (former Vertigo) or Edge (former Wildstorm), so they were niche titles. I'm used to such titles running their course, but wow, not like this. At this point, I'm down to one title out of nine (it's Justice League Dark, by the way). EDIT: Whoops, I forgot I've begun picking up JLA.

I'm wary of picking up anything new at this point since there's a fairly good chance that it will get cancelled in the successive waves. DC has basically conditioned me not to trust them since they won't support any title that isn't a mainstream blockbuster.

As for the rebooting of characters? I don't really have a problem with that. DC's rebooted their universe a number of times already, so another one is not out of the norm. However, I have to say that some of the characters had rather questionable reboots.

I don't like that Barbara Gordon went from Oracle, the tech goddess of the Batman family, back to being Batgirl, a female version of Batman. The Killing Joke holds a special place in my collection. Yeah, it's still canon, but all the consequences of it are gone.

Teen Titans was the first DC comic I ever picked up. I was ten. And I have very fond memories of reading their adventures. I am only going to say that I am very, very disappointed in what has happened to Starfire and leave it at that.


tl;dr: DC keeps cancelling the titles I'm reading and keeps trampling my childhood memories of their comics in the process.

[Bani Slasher]

Pretty much what Urd said. Though the majority of the hatred is focused only on the reboot ******** certain things up. I haven't heard too many people complaining about what was canceled, but that's because not too many people were reading those things to complain about it.

There isn't a whole lot to hate if you're jumping in fresh. Though, there are some series that do genuinely suck, so research should be done to avoid those.

[iMethuselah]

I have an aversion toward the New 52 because Geoff Johns and company decided to throw years of continuity out the window, and changed certain character designs for no other reason than to make them look "fresh". Did Batman's costume really need to change? I rather liked the codpiece look.

Most of my distaste for it is really because of Batman, though. It felt like it was going somewhere, the character was progressing, d**k Grayson was Batman, and then BOOM! Change it all back. Some of it happened, some of it didn't, some of it happened differently. I'm sure others felt the same way with other titles.

That being said, I willingly, yet reluctantly, picked up my first New 52 title today. Superman Unchained if for the only reason because Scott Snyder is writing it, and I enjoyed his run on Detective Comics.

[Bani Slasher]

iMethuselah

Most of my distaste for it is really because of Batman, though. It felt like it was going somewhere, the character was progressing, d**k Grayson was Batman, and then BOOM! Change it all back. Some of it happened, some of it didn't, some of it happened differently. I'm sure others felt the same way with other titles.

Wait, didn't they bring Batman back to life before New 52?

[iMethuselah]

Bani Slasher

Wait, didn't they bring Batman back to life before New 52?

I wasn't referring to his death and return.

[bygkahuna2004]

Urd Tanzanite

Thanks for the input. As I said previously, I never read DC comics before the New 52. Mostly, I couldn't get over my distaste for Superman. There would be a rant here, but it's basically the whole invulnerability nonsense, but I digress. The reason I don't have a problem with DC having limited titles is because of one of the things that turned me off to marvel: 20 issues covering the same characters. I loved the X-Men, but eventually found that if I really wanted to follow them, I had to read like 10 different books all going on at the same time. So far in the New 52 I've read the first annuals of Justice League, Justice League Dark, Teen Titans, Nightwing, and Red Hood and the Outlaws. I was excited for Zatanna to possibly have a workable vehicle that wasn't a batman comic. As a newcomer to the DC universe, I had no idea about the Killing Joke. I only knew Oracle because of DC Universe Online, but I didn't know who she was. As for Teen Titans, the only thing I know about them is what I saw in the Cartoon Network series. I'm finding it is the more hardcore fans, the ones who buy the paper issues on release that really dislike the New 52. It's gotten so that the only Marvel book I read anymore is Young Avengers, but that's because they only have 1 book at a time.

[bygkahuna2004]

Bani Slasher

Pretty much what Urd said. Though the majority of the hatred is focused only on the reboot ******** certain things up. I haven't heard too many people complaining about what was canceled, but that's because not too many people were reading those things to complain about it.

There isn't a whole lot to hate if you're jumping in fresh. Though, there are some series that do genuinely suck, so research should be done to avoid those.

I do try to do my research, but I'm not a reader who focuses on artists or writers. I really just latch on to certain characters and read where they appear. I'm not a huge fan of Justice League Dark, but since Zatanna is pretty central, I read it. Likewise, I don't really care for Tim Drake, but I read Red Hood and the Outlaws for Starfire and Red Arrow. Now if I could find a release with Raven in it, I'd be pretty happy.

[bygkahuna2004]

iMethuselah

I have an aversion toward the New 52 because Geoff Johns and company decided to throw years of continuity out the window, and changed certain character designs for no other reason than to make them look "fresh". Did Batman's costume really need to change? I rather liked the codpiece look.

Most of my distaste for it is really because of Batman, though. It felt like it was going somewhere, the character was progressing, d**k Grayson was Batman, and then BOOM! Change it all back. Some of it happened, some of it didn't, some of it happened differently. I'm sure others felt the same way with other titles.

That being said, I willingly, yet reluctantly, picked up my first New 52 title today. Superman Unchained if for the only reason because Scott Snyder is writing it, and I enjoyed his run on Detective Comics.

See, it's that ditching of continuity that allows people like me to read the books in the first place, though. If I had to catch up on the adventures of the 80's and 90's there's now way I would have gotten back into comic books. I never read a DC comic before, mostly because the two most popular characters were completely unrelateable. The completely unpowered rich genius (batman) and the over-powered alien (superman). It took years for me to find characters I liked, but those characters never really held their own series (Zatanna). Indeed, if it wasn't for my ex-boyfriend, I would never have given DC a chance, but cartoons like Batman TAS, Teen Titans, Justice League, and Young Justice helped grow my interest. The problem was, after years of reading only marvel, and finally finding a comic book store near where I live (still an hour away) I had no idea where to even begin reading annuals. The New 52 gave me the opportunity to jump in without needing to know any prior materials (say, the entire universe being zombies).

[Bani Slasher]

iMethuselah

Bani Slasher

Wait, didn't they bring Batman back to life before New 52?

I wasn't referring to his death and return.

Oh, I always assumed Bruce donkey punched d**k as soon as he came back, and took the cowl back. My bad sad

[iMethuselah]

Bani Slasher

Oh, I always assumed Bruce donkey punched d**k as soon as he came back, and took the cowl back. My bad sad

Bruce became the Batman of the World while Grayson remained the Batman of Gotham. I would have preferred it that way instead of d**k going back to being Nightwing.

[Panda Musume]

It's ok, I like some ongoing series. =x

[Spidey Riot]

It's ok, 'Supergirl' series is really good. ^^

[Plinti]

Shiny! heart

[deadguy]

bygkahuna2004

So, I never read DC comics. When I was a kid in the early 90's I was a Marvel fanboy, especially the X-Men. When I head DC was doing a full series reboot, I was excited, because I had started to get to know some of the characters of the DC universe, and this gave me a chance to get in without being completely lost in the DCU mythos. Since it launched, I've heard nothing but complaints about the new 52, and I don't understand the hate. My question is, Why does everyone hate the New 52?

They don't. You're getting conformation bias. In reality, sales are up since the New 52 came out, not down. By a good 10% at least.