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DCnU Weekly Review Round-Up (Week Three)

By | September 26th, 2011
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Oh man, the latest week of DCnU is now wrapped, and statistically speaking it is the best one yet. While the previous two came in at an average rating of 6.9 and 6.5 respectively, this one came in at a solid 7 out of 10 average on the 12 books that were released.

It also finds a new highest rated book of the month, as Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman predictably blew people’s minds.

As it has been with other weeks, you’ll find every book organized by their highest average grade out of 10 from reviewers, with the Rotten Tomatoes-like Buy % (Buy grades divided by total reviews), critical consensus and all reviews listed with them as well. It’s a big and controversial week (the much maligned Red Hood and the Outlaws ends up with a hysterically fitting Buy %), so check out all of the verdicts after the jump.

1. Batman #1
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Greg Capullo

Buy %: 100% – Buy

Average Grade: 9.7

Consensus: Let’s be honest about this: there are no complaints about this book. The lowest grade it got was a 9 from anyone, and it didn’t have any negativity to it really. It just seemed like they were trying to exhibit restraint. Everyone knew Scott Snyder could write Batman after his Detective run, but this is his first big book with Bruce, and he introduces him in a new and fairly reader friendly way while successfully continuing his spotlight of Gotham as a viable (and hugely important) character in its own right. If there has been a breakout star of this relaunch so far, it’s been Scott Snyder.

Meanwhile, some stated that they initially had reservations about artist Greg Capullo, but man, that guy blew people away. His art was expressive and sharp from a storytelling standpoint, and he’s earned himself a slew of new fans with this marvelous initial issue. Bonus points to FCO Plascencia for doing his thing with the colors as well.

Reviews from: Multiversity Comics, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Ain’t It Cool News, Bleeding Cool, MTV Geek, iFanboy, Crave Online, Major Spoilers, Robot 6, USA Today

2. Wonder Woman #1
Written by Brian Azzarello
Illustrated by Cliff Chiang

Buy %: 100% – Buy

Average Grade: – 8.8

Consensus: Besides an anomalous review from Crave Online (which still gave it a rating on the side of Buy but said Chiang’s cover made Diana look like a man, that the violence was overdone, and that the book was badly written by Azzarello), this book was a pretty beloved book. In fact, you take away the Crave review, and this book ties Swamp Thing for the third highest reviewed book so far.

Most found the book to be a remarkably well told tale from Azzarello and Chiang, stating that the visuals in particular were incredible and that the story was a well crafted introduction and new direction befitting the DC pillar. Personally, I can say this: I hate Wonder Woman. I’ve never liked her. I loved this issue. Well done to Azz and Chiang.

Reviews from: Multiversity Comics, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Newsarama, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, Ain’t It Cool News, Bleeding Cool, iFanboy, Crave Online, Robot 6, USA Today

3. Supergirl #1
Written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson
Illustrated by Mahmud Asrar

Buy %: 90% – Buy

Average Grade: 8

Consensus: This book was remarkably consistent, as it earned didn’t earn a grade below 7. It was just hitting with everyone (besides, you know, the one review that liked it generally but said it was overly decompressed – hard to argue with that), and most complimented the new origin and mystery associated with it that writers Green and Johnson introduced (plus, the excellent scene in which she was hearing characters from other books). The biggest hit though was Mahmud Asrar’s phenomenal art and Dave McCaig’s colors. Everyone was complimentary of them, and with good reason: they brought it hard on this issue. Beautiful book.

Continued below

Reviews from: Multiversity Comics, Bleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, Major Spoilers

4. DC Universe Presents #1

Written by Paul Jenkins
Illustrated by Bernard Chang

Buy %: 85% – Buy

Average Grade: 7.6

Consensus: From looking at the reviews, I’d say the thing that people liked about this book the most was simple: it was extremely accessible. This book starts Deadman from scratch, as Paul Jenkins deftly walks readers through the history of the character with solid art from Bernard Chang. It is a good introduction for readers new and old, and everyone was thankful for that. The biggest complaints are related to the script, as iFanboy said it was “downright tedious and woefully overwritten” and MTV Geek complained that it was too lacking in adventure. Overall though, this book was well-liked, but not loved.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, MTV Geek, Crave Online, Major Spoilers

5. Birds of Prey #1

Written by Duane Swierczynski
Illustrated by Jesus Saiz

Buy %: 83% – Buy

Average Grade: 7.6

Consensus: Jesus rises! Or something like that. Everybody loves Jesus, sort of like Raymond, but more in the fact that Jesus Saiz (the artist of Birds of Prey) does what he does on this book…which is makes beautiful comics. While some had complaints about Swierczynski’s usage of time/narrative jumps, overall, most thought it was a solid introduction to the characters (including the newcomer Starling) and made it an enjoyable first issue. Basically one word from reviews described this the best: solid.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Ain’t It Cool News, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, MTV Geek, Major Spoilers

6. Green Lantern Corps #1
Written by Peter Tomasi
Illustrated by Fernando Pasarin

Buy %: 92% – Buy

Average Grade: 7.4

Consensus: This book continues on the quality work Tomasi and Pasarin were putting out monthly on Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors. It’s well told, with a nice introduction/character moment with both Guy Gardner and John Stewart, plus it sets up a cool new mystery/villain. Pasarin’s art is sharp, and many noticed that this is better than average work from him. The main complaint? It’s a bit tough for new readers to jump in on. But as an introduction to a new arc for old readers? Superb.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Ain’t It Cool News, MTV Geek, Crave Online

7. Nightwing #1
Written by Kyle Higgins
Illustrated by Eddy Barrows

Buy %: 83% – Buy

Average Grade: 7.2

Consensus: This book was consistently liked, with many stating that they liked his time as Batman and that this did a good job continuing on the character beats while also doing a fantastic job of taking him back to Haley’s Circus. It was also well liked for Eddy Barrows’ art, whose work was energetic and solid especially in action set pieces. Those who were down on it found that nothing about it stood out much at all, but overall, the reception was positive on this book.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Newsarama, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, MTV Geek, Major Spoilers

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8. Blue Beetle #1
Written by Tony Bedard
Illustrated by Ig Guara

Buy %: 83% – Buy

Average Grade: 7

Consensus: Jaime Reyes is back, this time in the hands of Bedard and Guara, and most people found it to be a very satisfying (re)introduction to the character. Unlike many books, this is a total reboot, and it is a pretty well done one at that. The gents at Savage Critics (who are pretty critical most of the time) called it “excellent” and a surprisingly strong effort from Bedard. Guara is also lauded in reviews, as he is a talented artist whose work recalls previous Blue Beetle artist Rafael Albuquerque.

Then again, there are reviews like MTV Geek’s in which they called the book “a weird-ass take on the character” and overly gory. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, IGN, Comic Book Resources, Comic Vine, Newsarama, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, MTV Geek

9. Red Hood and the Outlaws #1
Written by Scott Lobdell
Illustrated by Kenneth Rocafort

Buy %: 69% – Buy

Average Grade: 5.6

Consensus: Oh boy, oh boy! Time to get into the books that were really fun! This book earned a huge spectrum of difference between the top score and lowest score, as some found it to be a ton of fun with great art and some, like Crave Online, thought very little of it, as they said once Starfire enters the book “it all goes off the rails and makes you want to punch the entire comic book industry.” Not exactly glowing praise (to be fair though, their review is not exactly well reasoned or written on its own part).

Still, it was more liked than disliked, and earned a Buy rating overall. It was completely killed by a few reviewers, most of whom do not like the objectification of Starfire (by herself) and the change in the character. So if you’re offended by things like Starfire casually throwing herself at Arsenal, think twice before reading this.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, IGN, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, MTV Geek, Crave Online, Major Spoilers

10. Captain Atom #1
Written by JT Krul
Illustrated by Freddie Williams II

Buy %: 38% – Pass

Average Grade: 5.3

Consensus: This book is the first non-Buy rated book, as it only had positive reviews from 38% of reviews. Overall, the biggest complaint people had was that the story was impenetrable and that it did not do a great job of introducing the character. Most were down on JT Krul’s efforts, but some found it to be a fun, Firestorm like read. Artist Williams was mostly praised, although some, like MTV Geek, said it was hard to tell what was going on at times in his art. As I said though, it was largely positive, and his work was reminiscent of a poor man’s Francis Manapul here (this is not meant to be an insult).

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, MTV Geek, Crave Online, Major Spoilers

11. Catwoman #1
Written by Judd Winick
Illustrated by Guillem March

Buy %: 54% – Pass

Average Grade: 4.8

Consensus: The most controversial book of the week! This book has grades that go from .1 of 10 (POINT ONE!) to 8.5, with most negative reviews almost completely ignoring any technical work by the writer or the artist and simply killing the book because of the sexual exploits of the character.

Here’s my take, as my review grade was the closest to the average. This book definitely has some errors in judgment in it…a gratuitous beginning, a fan fiction-y close…but overall, Winick has some nice character work and March’s art is often quite beautiful. About half of the book is pretty rough, but you can see the groundwork of goodness here. They just need a little more focus on story and character and less on Selina’s sexual appetite and at-home fashion choices.

Continued below

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, Savage Critics, MTV Geek, Crave Online, Major Spoilers

12. Legion of Super-Heroes #1
Written by Paul Levitz
Illustrated by Francis Portela

Buy %: 25% – Pass

Average Grade: 4.8

Consensus: For the second straight week, a Legion book finishes last! While its average grade is not the lowest yet (that distinction belongs to Legion Lost), this book does have the lowest Buy % so far at 25%. Let’s take a look at a snippet of CBR’s review to see why this happened:

“In the end this might have been a good, or even a very good random issue of “Legion of Superheroes,” but as a number one issue it’s a mess.”

It’s biggest problem is too much, too soon, and a very impenetrable intro to characters that are familiar to only hardcore LoSH fans. Francis Portela’s art, on the other hand, was praised consistently.

Reviews from: Multiversity ComicsBleeding CooliFanboyRobot 6USA Today, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Newsarama, Comic Vine, ScienceFiction.com, MTV Geek, Crave Online


David Harper

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