Three books from The New 52 this week and I'm excited about all of them. While talking with some comics folks and the fine folks at my local comic shop, this first round of New 52 books seems to be doing for DC just what it wanted: its creating sales and creating excitement. The excitement is, well... the exciting part. Its been a while since I was amped to make a trip to the comic shop to get new books. Since August 31st, its been just that. And this week didn't disappoint.
In Third Place:
Supergirl #1
Michael Green and Mike Johnson lured me in on their arc of Superman/Batman years ago. Since then I've been fans of their work. I was on the bubble as to whether or not I was going to pick up Supergirl until I saw they would be writing it.
While this issue doesn't go in the "blew me away" pile, it does go in the "I'm interested" pile.
There wasn't a whole lot in this issue. Its basically 20 pages of some Rocket Reds(?) trying to contain a newly-crashed-to-Earth Kara. What they do write well is Kara's disorientation from being in suspended animation from for what could have been years.
Mahmud Asrar is an unknown quantity on art. This is the only work I've seen of his and so far I really liked it. I would like to offer credit to Dave McCaig who really makes all the colors pop in the day and night scenes while keeping it a fairly soft palette.
This team looks great on the first issue. Looking forward to #2.
In Second Place:
Wonder Woman #1
Wonder Woman is a title that has been in shambles for a while. Well, since the JMS arc. I was very happy with the Gail Simone/Aaron Lopresti run buy my loyalty alone wasn't enough to keep them on the book.
So we get a reboot from Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. I've read some of Azzarello's work and was never overly impressed. And I knew nothing about Cliff Chiang. So this is one of those books that I rolled the dice on, and unlike Green Arrow where I got seriously burned, this one payed off.
Most of the press and interviews for the DCnU Wonder Woman used the term "horror." For as much as that may make people nervous, it really worked in this book. There were some seriously grisly things happening, but it was much more sci-fi-horror than slasher-horror. Azzarello sets up some cool characters and a lot of questions surrounding what's going on.
What issue #1 doesn't get into is who Diana is. As far as this issue is concerned, this is the same Diana that we've been reading for years. We're going to have to keep reading to really get to know this new Wonder Woman.
It's new artist week for me. Much like Mahmud Asrar on Supergirl, I know nothing about Cliff Chiang. All I've seen of this work have been the preview pages for this issue. I was nervous it would be too sketchy and not crisp and sharp enough for yours truly. But it was damn good.
Wonder Woman #1 was a success. And she works much better without pants. She's just not the same character with them.
In First Place:
Green Lantern Corps #1
I would like to welcome back writer Pete Tomasi to Green Lantern Corps along with artist Fernando Pasarin. While Pasarin wasn't on Tomasi's initial GL Corps run, he's a great replacement for Pat Gleason who really helped make the Corps what they are.
This issue isn't anything amazing, but its exactly what this creative team should be known for: writing good stories. Tomasi knows who the Green Lantern Corps are and Pasarin knows how to draw their world. Other artists have drawn Corps' stories and haven't been able to capture the grandeur and scope of what a space epic is about.
This issue starts with Guy Gardner and John Stewart trying to get regular jobs on Earth. But these characters have become bigger than that. Especially Guy Gardner. Gardner is a full-time GL. After a brief stop on Earth it looks like that's what we're going to get.
Great start to the new series.
Panel of the Week:
This weeks' Panel of the Week is dedicated to DC's new dedication to gory shit. More than not during the run of New 52 books, we've seen a lot of gruesome panels like the one above. I'm not against it, its just surprising when you turn a page and get someone chopping off the head of a horse and a person growing out of the stump.
-Gint
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