DC Comics: Six Books Out, Six Books In - My Thoughts

SOURCE: Six DC Comics Canceled But Six New Titles Are Planned To Keep The Magic 52 Number

Word is that the characters from the canceled series will be popping up in other titles, so not all is lost. Let's count them down.

THE CANCELED

Blackhawks - Unsurprising. The artwork was lackluster and the concept was basically G.I. Joe for adults. Problem is, most of the fans of that sort of book were buying the much more adult official G.I. Joe comic series.

Mister Terrific - This one hits me hard. I honestly enjoyed this series, though apparently I was one of the few who did. I think the series was just starting to find it's footing and needed a little more time to find an audience. Maybe the multi-dimensional storyline will get resolved in time for Michael Holt to find a place in the new Earth 2 title? We can only hope.

OMAC - Another good series aimed at a limited niche. I guess there weren't enough Jack Kirby fans willing to shell out three clams a month for a tribute book.

Men At War - Again, it was a good series for what it was. But there wasn't enough appeal to make it sell to the majority of comic readers who don't typically like war comics.

Static Shock- Unfortunate, but predictable. John Rozum leaving the book early on worried many long-time Milestone fans and Scott McDaniel - while a skilled artist - is relatively untested as a writer. Throw in the fact that the book opened mid-stream, with plot threads from previous Static comics going unexplained (such as why Virgil's older sister now had a clone) despite the series being meant to be a jumping on point for new readers, and it's not hard to see why this one failed to find an audience.

Hawk And Dove - Perhaps the least surprising cancelation of all, given poor reviews and the widespread hatred of Rob Liefeld among the comic-reading mainstream. The one thing this book had going for it was Sterling Gates' scripts. When Gates jumped ship, it was just a matter of time.

THE NEW BLOOD

BATMAN INCORPORATED – Writer: Grant Morrison. Artist: Chris Burnham.

The acclaimed ongoing writer of ACTION COMICS, Grant Morrison, presents a fresh take on BATMAN INCORPORATED, in which the Batman brand is franchised globally in preparation for a major international threat.

Despite generally enjoying Morrison's work, I'm not a big fan of the Batman Inc. concept. And do we really need another Batman book at this point? Still, this has been in the works for a while and I'm sure it will sell well.


EARTH 2 – Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Nicola Scott.

The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.

This series has also been in the planning stages for a while and I've been looking forward to it for several reasons. My fondness of Robinson's work is well-known but I also loved Nicola Scott's work on Birds of Prey and Secret Six. Putting Robinson in charge of the Earth 2/Golden Age heroes makes perfect sense given his track record with them and Scott's style will be well suited to such a title. A definite must see once it comes out.


WORLDS’ FINEST – Writer: Paul Levitz. Artists: George Perez and Kevin Maguire.

Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2. Perez and Maguire will be the artists on alternating story arcs.

Levitz work is hit and miss with me. His Legion work is largely inaccesible to me but I have enjoyed his Huntress mini-series. Despite this, having either Perez or Maguire on art duties would tip the scales in favor of me giving this book a shot. Having both of them clinched it. Can't wait to see this one.


DIAL H – Writer: China Miéville. Artist: Mateus Santoluoco.

The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, this is a bold new take on a cult classic concept about the psychological effects on an everyman who accidentally gains powers to become a hero.

Unless this gets particularly rave reviews, I'll probably pass on this one personally. I've never been a big fan of the H-Dial concept. I'm not familiar with Miéville's work. And Mateus Santoluoco's artwork looks far too dark and dirty for my tastes though well-suited toward a psychological tale.


G.I. COMBAT – Writer: J.T. Krul. Artist: Ariel Olivetti.

Featuring the return of a classic DC Comics series, THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT, along with rotating back-up stories and creative teams – including THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, with writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Dan Panosian; and THE HAUNTED TANK, with writer John Arcudi and artist Scott Kolins.

Cancelling one war book to publish another? Even with Gray and Palmiotti doing a back-up, I'm having a hard time working up an interest.

THE RAVAGERS – Writer: Howard Mackie. Artist: Ian Churchill.

Spinning off from TEEN TITANS and SUPERBOY, this series finds four superpowered teens on the run and fighting against the organization that wants to turn them into supervillains.

Hey kids! Is Scott Lobdell's Teen Titans not angsty enough for your liking? Have we got a book for you!

Ignoring that the concept sounds like a blatant rip-off of Marvel's Runaways, there's still the matter of the creative team. Howard Mackie, lest we forget, was the writer of most of the Spider-Man Clone Saga. Ian Churchill is the poor man's Michael Turner, who was responsible for putting Supergirl into a stripper version of her own costume back when Jeph Loeb was writing her book.

Three words. DO. NOT. WANT.

Men Of War #1 - A Review

Looking at Men Of War #1, I find myself wondering why the big comic book companies haven’t tried to revive the War Comic genre before now. I don’t mean books like Captain America or G.I. Joe – I’m talking about an honest-to-goodness War Comic, centering upon real soldiers in realistic combat situations.

An anthology series by design, this premiere issue gives us two stories. The first updates DC Comics’ most famous soldier hero – Sgt. Rock – for the modern day by introducing us to Joseph Rock. Grandson of the original Sgt. Frank Rock, Joe is a Corporal, repeatedly denied promotion due to a series of discipline problems. Joseph Rock is recruited for a special covert action, due to the actions of another Sergeant who sees something in the young man. Suffice it to say, Joseph is called upon to live up to that reputation by story’s end. The second, much shorter story, centers upon a team of Navy Seals.






For the genre, the writing here is above par. There’s not a lot of depth to the characters but there doesn’t need to be. Is Joesph Rock’s continual self-sabotage of his career an effort to avoid comparison to his famous grandfather or does he fear that he will not be able to live up to that legacy? The story doesn’t tell us and damned if he’ll ever discuss it. He is not that sort of man, to open up about such things. The Navy Seals are more developed, with our main protagonists – Ice and Tracker – being established as two men who disagree on much, but still respect one another for what little they have in common.






The artwork is a mixed bag. The artwork for the Sgt. Rock story is stylistically appropriate to the genre, by which I mean it is as gritty and ugly as War itself. What really sells this story is the coloring. The people and the backgrounds are, for the most part, painted in muted grays with the only vibrant colors being the red and yellow glow of fire and the green of the world seen through a pair of night-vision goggles. It is a choice that works well. By contrast, the Navy Seal story is more traditionally colored, with lots of tan and browns. Many of the panels in this story lack a background, with the vast majority of the panels merely showing the soldiers in-close up, making it difficult to tell the individual characters apart in the scenes with more than two soldiers talking.






Out of all of the DC New 52 titles thus far, this one has been the hardest for me to review objectively. I’m a long-haired hippie peacenik and damn proud of it. I’m missing whatever part of the Y-chromosome is responsible for instilling a love of war movies. I prefer Errol Flynn to John Wayne. To speak plainly, I’m not the target audience for this book. But I think those of you who ARE the target audience of this book – you manly men who like your heroes simple and your stories ground in realism – YOU will love this book.