The fact that Jim Shooter looks sort of like a Russian mobster who’ll kill you without hesitation only adds to his reputation as a fearsome editorial critic. He’s the guy who Chris Claremont blames for the suicidal climax of The Dark Phoenix Saga; who set Frank Miller loose on an unsuspecting populace; who Doug Moench outright blamed for Gene Day’s death. And now, the man behind Valiant, Defiant, and Secret Wars is taking a look at the New 52… and coming to a lot of the same conclusions as everyone else, really. Click after the jump for more.
It all started innocently enough — JayJay Jackson, Shooter’s friend and webmaster, solicited his thoughts on the two most controversial books of the New 52, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Catwoman.
And… well.
The first panel’s image is not only not clear-at-a-glance, but after staring at it for a few seconds I still don’t understand it. I read the copy, hoping for a clue. More red captions. The first one says, “His name is Jason Todd.” Okay, I’ll guess that’s the guy with the red head. Press on.
This spread is where they lose me for good. I have to struggle too much to grasp what’s going on. I don’t have to work at it to understand most novels, most TV shows or most movies, but this takes some effort. New Reader me throws the book in the trash and doesn’t bother with comic books again.
A blurb at the bottom of the last page promises “To be explained…”
Yes, DC and Scott, I think we deserve an explanation for what you’ve done.
And then, the next day, he got his hands on Catwoman…
Mainly though, I’d say it’s cheesecake. Super cheesecake. If that’s what DC is selling here, as with Red Hood and the Outlaws, I defend to the death their right to do so. If that’s their plan, I’d say they did a pretty good job with this cover.
The first time we see Catwoman’s face is on page three. However, by then, we’ve seen close ups of her breasts barely contained by her delicate-looking-but-obviously-industrial-strength bra and her body, front and back, in action poses shot from angles chosen for display purposes. Oh by the way, when we finally see her head to toe, including face, she’s still only halfway into her skin-tight cat-suit. More bra, one cup trying to hold a cup-and-a-half. The cover accurately represented the contents, then. Cheesecake.
Writer Judd Winick gives us a series of incidents strung together. It’s not a story. I suppose it might be the beginning of a story, like a bunch of Lego blocks dumped out on the table that might, with the addition of many more blocks, become a little cabin or something.
I have my doubts.
Fortunately, on the third day, Shooter found one he liked: Snyder and Capullo’s Batman. He still took time out to reference the previous days’ Red Hood and Catwoman reviews:
But, let it be known, personally, I didn’t like the way the female characters were portrayed. It’s not that I think that there is anything, any situation or any type of character, male or female, that cannot be done if it is done with rare excellence and surpassing skill. The problem is that, too often, comic book writers and artists who belong in creator kindergarten think they’re already Ph.D’s.
Ouch.
Still, the three reviews linked are worth checking out for anyone who wants to hear an editor with decades of experience breaking open some of the New 52 from a totally different perspective than the internet comics community is usually able to give. Although, come to think of it, we at Multiversity did give Red Hood a positive review…
