Summing It Up

Pretty funny viddie about the much hyped DC Comics relaunch.

“Superman has kneepads!”

This Looks Horrible

I’ve been looking at some of the announced plans for DC Comics’ upcoming “reboot” this September when the company will release a staggering 52 new #1 issues, restarting their entire line with new creative talent and, in some cases, complete character overhauls.

It just looks like an awful idea, folks.

Not just that it’s a tired ploy to generate interest and sales, restarting a title at #1, or even that it’s a tired ploy that never really seems to work in the long run. It’s the ideas behind it and the selection of the creative talent that seems to be what’s truly frightening here.

Jim Lee? Jim. Lee? The guys been done for years. In the same way that a lot of artists whose style and talent shone through in their youth (see John Byrne) he has slipped into the realm of stock pose hack work (see John Byrne) and it’s clear he’s not really invested in his work. Look at the above cover of Justice League #1 for all the proof you need. Lack of detail and original creative ideas, anyone? The absence of such is screaming off the page in the same way the absence of Hal Jordan’s ring is.

Sloppy fucking work, people.

It doesn’t end there, however. Check out this rundown of some of the initial releases planned.

Dan Jurgens? Dan. Jurgens? When was the last time a single word that guy wrote was relevant. When was the last line he drew that wasn’t a generic piece of shit? It’s a trick question because the answer is never. But, hey, let’s give him not one but two titles to make totally irrelevant.

Right down the line the selection of writers and artists is pretty questionable, with few exceptions. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, two of the few actual notable talents on board, are being wasted on a doomed title like Aquaman. When has an Aquaman book ever succeeded? When will DC understand that one never will.

The new Wonder Woman artist looks brutally bad, as does the youngster being handed the reins to The Flash, despite DC’s deranged claim that he’s a “rising star”. The work is wholly unremarkable. Not half as bad as the apparent Firestorm or Captain Atom redesigns, though. Actually, if you look closely, you’ll see that some of the information released is inaccurate, listing the wrong cover artists for various books. Again, sloppy. And confusing.

The whole notion just seems savagely ill-conceived. You have to wonder if Grant Morrison, currently helming a Batman title or two, will use this as his chance to pull the ripcord and bail out of the flaming zeppelin before it hits ground and erupts into full fledged conflagration. Because that’s my prediction for this entire relaunch, folks.

Total. Failure. Crash. Burn.

Sorry, DC. There was a time you understood that the foundation for good and successful comics was to hire talented professionals willing to take chances with their art and tell mature, intelligent stories. Not tired, disinterested, used-up talent with naught in their bag of tricks but an attempted flashy new #1 issue or costume redesign.

This just looks super-fucked.