DC Comics Thread

[Ezee E]

At least "Death of the Family" didn't end with a stupid surprise like Night of the Owls, but it really didn't deliver. So we don't have a Batman crossover for a while. Whoopiedoo. I bet when any of them are in dire trouble, everything is just fine in the family.

Between this and H'el on Earth, my comic buying is definitely dropping.

[number8]

A Superman pitch given to DC in 1998 written together by Tom Peyer, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison and Mark Millar.

http://superman.nu/theages/History/2...PERMAN2000.php

Reading it, a lot of this was obviously incorporated into the New 52 Superman.

You can also tell which writer came up with which idea by recognizing which detail from this pitch eventually showed up in Birthright, Red Son or All-Star Superman. Heh.

[number8]

Also, holy shit, Marvel completely ripped off this pitch for One More Day.

[dreamdead]

So this the last issue of Batwoman with Williams art for the discernible future (and I think at all, with the shakedown that DC's done recently). I look forward to reading it soon, but I'll be honest that I really want Williams to start an original project at Image now... the scripts he's done for Batwoman have gotten better in terms of being detailed (though maybe too narration-heavy), so I think he could do his own thing easily enough.

Gorgeous cover:

[ledfloyd]

yeah, Morrison is off Action as of today as well, so I'm reading Wonder Woman from DC and that's it. (edit: oh, and Batman Inc. duh.)

Williams' scripts have been narration heavy, but I feel like that works really well with his art. An Image book would be great, but I imagine we won't hear much from him until Sandman is complete.

[bac0n]

Wow think I'm gonna drop Batwoman and Action Comics too, which means I'll be down to Wonder Woman and Green Lantern and Batman Inc for DC and that's it. And GL is dropping Mahnke so I may be dropping that as well.

Amazing how in the past few months I've gone from mostly DC with a Marvel title or two, to the exact opposite.

[slqrick]

DC is really gonna try and cash in on Johns leaving Green Lantern...5 books a month is ludicrous, especially with all the creative turnover. Batman Inc. is almost over, so there's really nothing I'm looking forward to from them at this point.

I wish Morrison was writing some Marvel instead of that whole DC Multiverse thing.

[bac0n]

Yeah the whole GL universe has become muddled. The past several major arcs have all been messes.

[number8]

Trying my best to avoid the supposedly huge Batman Inc 8 spoiler that got leaked today.

"Little did I suspect when I accepted the BATMAN writing assignment back in 2006 that I’d wind up spending the next six years writing the longest continued comic story I’ve ever attempted. I thought I’d said most of what I had to say about the character with Arkham Asylum, Gothic, and Batman’s appearances in JLA. Clearly, I was wrong.

The original pitch was for 15 issues winding up with BATMAN R.I.P. but something happened along the way and, as I was researching his rich history, I became fascinated by the idea that every Batman story was in some way true and biographical - from the savage, young, pulp-flavored “weird figure of the dark” of his early years, through the smiling, paternal figure of the 1940s and the proto-psychedelic crusader of the ‘50s, the superhero detective of the ‘60s, the hairy-chested globetrotting adventurer of the ‘70s, to the brutally physical vigilante of the ‘80s and snarling, paranoid soldier of the ‘90s.

By taking his entire publishing history as the story of his life, I was able to approach Batman from a different angle and the multifaceted character that was revealed became the subject of my story.

What would such a man be like, realistically? This was a man who had saved countless lives, faced innumerable perils, and even prevented the destruction of the world itself. This was a master of martial arts, meditation, deduction, yoga and big business. This was a man who had tamed and mastered his demons and turned personal tragedy into a relentless humanitarian crusade.

Taking that man seriously meant I had to throw out a few of the accepted ideas about Batman as a semi-unhinged, essentially humorless loner struggling with rage and guilt. The totality of his history and accomplishments made that portrayal seem limited and unconvincing, so instead, my Batman was a true superhero at the height of his powers and the peak of his abilities, surrounded by a network of friends and associates, all of whom had been inspired by his lead.

I chose to build my story around the basic trauma, the murder of his parents, that lies at the heart of Batman’s genesis. It seemed to me there would be a part of Bruce Wayne that resented his parents for leaving him and especially resented his father for not being Batman that night, so the principal villains were an archetypal bad father figure in the form of Dr. Hurt and a dark mother in the form of Talia, our villain for the concluding chapters of the story.

This master theme of damaged and ruined families was nowhere more in evidence than in the creation of Damian, the first “Son of Batman” to be acknowledged in the canon. In many ways this has been Damian’s story as much as it has been the story of Bruce Wayne and it’s a story that had its end planned a long time ago - for what son could ever hope to replace a father like Batman, who never dies?

And so, via Batman, Batman and Robin, Return of Bruce Wayne and Batman Inc. this epic tale has finally reached its finale.

Thanks to all the artists who helped realise the story – Andy Kubert, JH Williams, John Van Fleet, Tony Daniel, Ryan Benjamin, Lee Garbett, Frank Quitely, Philip Tan, Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke, Frazer Irving, Scott Kolins, Chris Sprouse, Ryan Sook, Yanick Paquette, Georges Jeanty, David Finch, Scott Clark and of course, Chris Burnham.

Thanks to the inkers, colorists and letters and to my indefatigable editors.

Thanks to the readers who joined in the fun and contributed to the thought-provoking debates and analyses online.

The conclusion is finally here, with only four more issues to go. Four issues which take Batman to dark places he has never had to visit before. Four issues and I’m done, while Batman himself continues into as yet unimagined future adventures. He’ll still be here long after I’m dead and forgotten; long after all of us have come and gone, there will be Batman. It’s been a joy and a privilege to spend so much time in the company of pop culture’s greatest character but it’s going to feel weird waking up and not having Bruce Wayne’s calm, commanding, ever-so-slightly cynical voice in my head.

Batman forever…

- Grant

Scotland, December 2012"

[number8]

After all the titles I'm dropping next month at #18 because of creative team changes, I'm still getting Batman, Batgirl, Batman Inc, Wonder Woman (which I'm not enjoying all that much anymore) and All-Star Western. I can live with those for the foreseeable future.

[sevenarts]

I rarely see anyone mention Dial H in this thread. Easily one of the best DC series right now, mostly because it's so thoroughly divorced from everything else going on in the line.

[number8]

I dropped it from my pull list a couple of issues back.

[Ezee E]

Dial H seems to be a comic that many are sticking with here. I didn't care for it personally.

[ledfloyd]

It's still on my list of things to read, but I've been in a bit of a lull comics-wise lately.

[Sven]

I rarely see anyone mention Dial H in this thread. Easily one of the best DC series right now, mostly because it's so thoroughly divorced from everything else going on in the line.

I mention it. I feel like people are sick of my mentioning it. And I'd venture that it's one of the best because it's super well-written and illustrated.

[sevenarts]

super well-written and illustrated.

Kind of what I meant by "thoroughly divorced from everything else" at DC :lol:

[slqrick]

lol looks like Didio decided to drop the WTF branding for April. Seriously though, what in the hell is going on at DC.

[number8]

What idiots.

[Sven]

"Won't happen" is the first thing my LCS owner/former boss said about it. Too many pockets of the country that wouldn't hock books aimed at minors plastered with a label with an implied "fuck", is what he said.

[number8]

"Won't happen" is the first thing my LCS owner/former boss said about it. Too many pockets of the country that wouldn't hock books aimed at minors plastered with a label with an implied "fuck", is what he said.

At the retailer summit last week, this was asked and DC said the WTF stood for "What the Fifty-Two."

[number8]

Batman Inc. shiiiiit.

[slqrick]

Brutal. With 4 issues to go, I think Morrison's definitely got something up his sleeve. Some great art by Burnham, the "big" spread felt kinda like JH Williams.

[Acapelli]

best comic

[Sven]

Hm. I dissent. Damian/Dick's final team-up was too shoehorned and truncated to play as anything other than a fan service signoff (the double punch felt like the chicken fight in Family Guy... stripped of so much glee). Last two issues have been rushed, fraying. Fill-in pages, backgrounds dropped, transparent emotional ploys, lurching transitions (seems all the DC books are this way right now!). An inorganic build to Damian's dramatic moment. Sad that the li'l wunderkind had such a limp goodbye.

Am I saying it? Yes: Death in the Family read better.

[Acapelli]

Hm. I dissent. Damian/Dick's final team-up was too shoehorned and truncated to play as anything other than a fan service signoff (the double punch felt like the chicken fight in Family Guy... stripped of so much glee). Last two issues have been rushed, fraying. Fill-in pages, backgrounds dropped, transparent emotional ploys, lurching transitions (seems all the DC books are this way right now!). An inorganic build to Damian's dramatic moment. Sad that the li'l wunderkind had such a limp goodbye.

Am I saying it? Yes: Death in the Family read better.

i'm sorry sven that you have gone insane

"death of the family" had one of the limpest endings i've ever read in a comic

and snyder's joker is terrible

unless you're actually talking about "death in the family" which i haven't read and will defer to you on that one