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Friday Recommendation: In Defense of (Some of) the New 52

By | January 11th, 2013
Posted in Columns | 10 Comments

I know, I know. DC Comics does not need defending. They’re one of the two major comic book publishers in the business right now and are doing just fine, sales-wise. They don’t need my approval or my defense. In fact, with the recent editorial/creative warfare that’s been going on over there, they’ve proven that they can do things that are indefensible and survive them just fine. I have no interest in sounding like a suckling fanboy and, though I admittedly lean toward DC’s stable of characters, do not believe that their company is better than Marvel’s or that their current output is any better. In fact, I believe that Marvel has more quality books at the top of their line that deserve your money when compared to DC Comics. I further believe that Image and Dark Horse deserve most of your money, at this point.

But all of that is beside the point. The point is that I’ve been hearing a lot about how bad the New 52 is, when I really think that there are as many good and bad comics coming from DC as there ever have been. It ultimately comes down to the fact that good creators create good comic books, and the New 52 is not somehow repellant to that fact. You could argue that the “status quo” of the New 52 is not appealing or that your particular characters of interest (cough-Superman-cough) are not being handled well right now, but on a case-by-case basis there is plenty to like. Furthermore, you could argue that the handful of bad apples in the New 52 are as bad as mainstream comics get. Well, I probably wouldn’t argue you there, but that really shouldn’t prevent you from celebrating the good that is to be found.

I’ll admit that even I need reassurance that I’m enjoying these titles. Do I want these books to be good, just because I want to reward my initial trust in the New 52? After all, there were a bunch of stinkers in there, for sure. So, as an exercise, I’ll be “Friday recommending” at least 10 books that I think are just darn good ongoing comics that happen to be published under the ‘New 52’ banner. As a bonus, I’ll throw out what I think you can (and should actively) avoid. After all, you might think it was a gimmick and/or just don’t like the way things look and feel over at DC right now, but if there’s one constant in comics, it’s that things change and the things that you liked will come back around again. Eventually, they will.

Keep in mind that just because I recommend them, doesn’t mean they’ll all be for you. But I really think that this is a solid list of DC Comics that are as objectively good as anything that was released before the ‘New 52’ started.

1. Wonder Woman – My favorite book in the ‘New 52’ and the one character that really benefitted from a re-imagining. Azzarello’s ever-expanding cast reminds of a dense dramatic novel and Cliff Chiang’s art adds beauty, elegance, and modernization to a character that was previously stuck in a rut.

2. Batman – Enough has been said about this book already. More than any other, Snyder & Capullo’s Batman is the ‘New 52’ series that die-hard fans and comic book newbies can get into and thoroughly enjoy.

3. Dial H – The series that happens when you let one of sci-fi’s most impenetrable minds write a book with seemingly no rules. “Dial H” is funny, too weird for its own good, and runs on endless imagination.

4. All-Star Western – a strong “buddy cop” book of sorts featuring the uptight and dryly funny Dr. Amadeus Arkham & none other than Jonah Hex. Weaves comfortably through ‘New 52’ crossovers and has fun doing it.

5. Batman Incorporated – Grant Morrison’s lifeline to the pre-Flashpoint era DC Comics. Feels like anything can (and usually does) happen and is not tied down by any crossovers or continuity.

6. Earth 2 – We may have lost the old timey “JSA”, but what has replaced it has been really very good, even if it’s not exactly what everyone wanted. James Robinson’s career rebirth is worth reading and can be enjoyed completely apart from anything else on the “Prime Earth.”

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7. Demon Knights – The book that takes the most chances on genre (medieval sword and sorcery), diversity (a transgender main character), and storytelling (twists and turns cap off every issue). Paul Cornell has one of the most unique senses of humor in comics. Whatever happens after Robert Venditti takes over, we’ll still have Cornell’s run to look back on as an under-appreciated gem.

8. Batwoman – Not-surprisingly gorgeous artwork from J.H. Williams III with surprisingly strong character work. Not afraid to get weird, but maintains some real heart. Another strong female hero who also happens to be a good representative for LGBT in comics.

9. I, Vampire Andrea Sorrentino’s modern gothic work has been holding it down for almost every single issue of this series and is the star, to be sure. But Joshua Hale Fialkov’s ability to manipulate the characters in continually surprising ways is the glue that makes this story worth following. Good people do horrible things and you become intensely interested in bad guys. It’s the stuff of compelling storytelling.

10. Animal Man/Swamp Thing – Okay, these titles have both been more than a little drawn out, but they have this nice little synergistic “post-Vertigo” thing going on that the DC “proper” hasn’t had continual success with in a while. Lemire and Snyder are top talents and though they’ve indulged themselves throughout, I think we’re still the richer for having offbeat titles like these around.

On top of these, I really think that Morrison’s “Action Comics” has had plenty of moments, Layman’s “Detective Comics” is off to a damn good start, “Sword of Sorcery” is a lot of fun (if not more than a bit cliche), “Green Arrow” is going to get good with Lemire and Sorrentino, and “Batman and Robin” is criminally forgotten in the wake of Snyder’s “Batman”.

The rest is a bunch of mostly average comic books. The “Green Lantern” line is kind of going around in circles but it’s good if you like what Johns has generally been doing his whole time with them. There will always be good, bad, and middle-of-the-road comic books. In fact, most mainstream comics are middle-of-the-road books that don’t take chances, but are hardly worth getting upset about. The ones that do take chances are the ones listed above. And then there are the ones that have been casting a shadow over the whole line:

Admittedly, the entire “Young Justice” line is a disaster. That whole section needs another reboot. You should also go out of your way to avoid the “Liefeld” chaff until it’s all well clear of that creative disaster: Deathstroke, Hawkman, and Grifter. And of course, the biggest crime of all is that with the perfect chance to fix Superman (including an outright announcement of their intentions to do so), DC Comics instead neglected him and have been bungling it going on 16 months now.

But if you look at the sea change at DC Comics, you can at least begin to notice that things are taking a turn for the better. The weak books and creators in the ‘New 52’ are getting dropped and fresh Indie talent like Justin Jordan, John Layman, James Tynion IV, and Ray Fawkes are coming into the fold. It was recently announced that Tynion is taking over “Red Hood and the Outlaws” – that looks like an upgrade, if you ask me. With Scott Snyder grabbing Superman for a while, Liefeld’s plots getting washed out, and active attempts to fix poor books, I think DC Comics is aware that there are things that aren’t working and are trying to fix what they really could have handled better in the first place.

The point is: there’s at least 10 quality books out there that can be read regardless of any editorial mandate or line-wide ‘status quo.’ 10 books that I think are just damn good comics, at the end of the day. 10 comics with a little something for everyone and 10 comics that you can read even if you wish that DC would just scrap everything they’ve done with the ‘New 52’ and go back to the way things were.

Now, tell me how wrong I am.


//TAGS | Friday Recommendation

Vince Ostrowski

Dr. Steve Brule once called him "A typical hunk who thinks he knows everything about comics." Twitter: @VJ_Ostrowski

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