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DC Reviews

The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong

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In 2011, DC rebooted their universe spinning out of Flashpoint, and called the initiative the New 52. 52 as a number has had a level of significance at DC since their standout weekly series 52, which was fantastic and ran for a whole year (52 weeks). The New 52 is pretty much unrelated to this series, but since DC loves the number they made sure it had its own significance – namely, the reboot started with 52 monthly ongoing series at launch, 13 per week.

If there’s one thing that can be learned immediately from this initiative, it’s that 52 monthly series all starting in the same month is just too much. For a comparison, DC Rebirth ran with a much lower 22 launch titles, with a few of them running twice a month. The upcoming DC Infinite Frontier line is starting with 2 anthology books and 17 monthly titles in March. But if there’s one good thing about launching way more titles than anyone can reasonably read in a month, it’s that there’s an incredible variety of stories, and there’s all but guaranteed to be at least some good books in there. This assumption led me to embark on a quest that some might call foolish, as I decided to read every single New 52 launch book. And now for you, dear reader, I will be revealing the results of my research. What didn’t work here? [Read more…] about The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong

BATMAN, INC. by Grant Morrison: The Dark Knight Undone

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Batman is everywhere. Batman is everyone. But what becomes of Bruce Wayne when his most personal enemy yet targets everything he holds dear? And what will become of a son who can never escape his father’s shadow?

Grant Morrison’s Batman saga is the experience of one hero facing the greatest evil imaginable and winning by conquering both time and death, asserting his own eternal nature. And when Bruce Wayne returns to conquer the devil after being sent hurtling through time by Darkseid, he’s compelled to become a greater version of Batman than the world has ever known. But with a worldwide Batman comes a worldwide threat. [Read more…] about BATMAN, INC. by Grant Morrison: The Dark Knight Undone

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? | Unreliable Narrator

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It would take Crisis on Infinite Earths to stop Superman. Wolfman and Perez’s cosmic classic was meant to be the first story in a new era for DC’s heroes. Which meant the end of Superman and Action Comics, and the creation of one last story.

Alan Moore’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? marks the “end” not for the hero, but more for Superman’s two on-going series and what they represented. It’s a bold book that provides a kind of final statement on the hero’s whole ethos, and it’s still a magnificent example of how to say goodbye to not just heroes, but particular definitions of heroism.

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? is, unabashedly, an attempt to recreate that prior miracle. Like its predecessor, it comes before an important reboot (in this case, the major developments and cosmic expansion between Final Crisis, Blackest Night, and New Krypton), the death of an iconic hero (Batman: RIP.), and ushers in the ending of two of DC’s longest-running titles (Batman & Detective Comics). [Read more…] about Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? | Unreliable Narrator

What Was Wonder Woman Really Up To In 1984?

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Wonder Woman has been around for a really long time – since 1941, in fact! Yet, there are huge swathes of her comic book history that modern readers know next to nothing about. Diana, Princess of Themyscira, is a character that spent a notable portion of her history being written by writers that didn’t seem to fully click with her, which makes revisiting her vintage era a pretty dubious prospect for even her most ardent fans.

Yet, it is also true that a lot of the less-remembered comics of DC’s Silver and Bronze Ages are full of underrated gems, so it’s always at least worth a look. With the release of Wonder Woman 84, it got me wondering – what exactly was Diana up to in 1984? For that, dear reader, we have to look to Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #311-322. [Read more…] about What Was Wonder Woman Really Up To In 1984?

Nightwing: The Prince of Gotham Omnibus Review!

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Are you a Dick Grayson fan who enjoyed his run as Batman, checked out of the New 52 for obvious reasons, and came back because you heard good things about Grayson and find yourself asking “Hey what the heck happened in the *thirty* issues of comics in between these two series?” Well Nightwing: The Prince of Gotham Omnibus is here for you! And now you may ask yourself, “Dope but…are these many pages of comics…good?” and dear reader you are in luck because I have the answer for you in a resounding…eh. Nightwing’s New 52 era was a run helmed by writer Kyle Higgins and mostly consisted of three main artists over the 30+ issues: Eddy Barrows, Brett Booth, and Will Conrad along with a handful of fill-in artists and collaborators. 

New 52 Nightwing’s biggest sin is being sandwiched in between two huge swings with the character of Dick Grayson. Grant Morrison had just electrified the character by having him step into the role of Batman and creating a strange psycho-pop Gotham for the Bright Knight and his surly Boy Wonder, Damian Wayne to traipse through. Immediately after this run Tim Seeley and Tom King took Dick out of Gotham and into the world of psychedelic espionage in another fresh and radical take. And unfortunately in the middle child is Nightwing, a mostly standard Batman family comic with a largely forgettable supporting cast and constant derailment from crossovers that it felt hard for any of the interesting things it had going for it to stick. 

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