New52: End of the First Wave

Today, the New52's 9th issues start rolling out, which means the First Wave is behind us. Six of the 52 series were killed after 8 issues, making way for a Second Wave of books, hopefully more like DC's successes than the failures they're replacing. So it's a good time, I think, to look back at the first 8 months of the new DCU and see, first, if DC managed to make good on their promises and hype, and second to compare my reading habits after the first month and now.

The first surprise, I suppose, is that none of the 52 books are late. Each and every one of them hit #8 in April. To make good on its "no late books" promise, DC instead chose get fill-in artists as needed. Of the 52, 10 managed to do without help (All Star Western, Batman, Batman and Robin, Captain Atom, Flash, I Vampire, Red Hood, Static Shock, Voodoo, and incredibly, Hawk and Dove). The problem, of course, is that the new DC is much more focused on art, and marketed a number of books as showcases for artists. Consequently, Batwoman has lost some readers who were only in it for the J.H. Williams III art. Justice League hasn't had the services of Jim Lee in a couple issues. Chiang, Paquette, Morales... they've all missed the odd issue. Now, I'm NOT usually in it for the art. I'm a story-first comics reader. Not to say all the fill-ins have felt subpar. Some editors have found a way to integrate guest artists better than others, giving them flashback or offbeat stories set within a framing tale drawn by the book's main artist, for example. It's not just artists, of course, it seems that many series were designed to switch writers at opportune "for the trade" moments. This has felt particularly disingenuous from DC who put high-profile talents on the initial books with every intention(?) of yanking them off after the hype wore off.

Of the six books just cancelled, I was still reading two. Mister Terrific wasn't the strongest book, but its high-concept science-adventure kept me reading, wanting it to get better. The much-lamented OMAC (at least, on the Internet) was the other, a book too gonzo for the masses (what is it with Giffen's crazy little projects that the mainstream never wants to encourage them?). Of the other four, Men of War is simply turning into G.I. Combat, so it hardly counts. I predict it'll keep changing names until DC has solidified its copyright claim on every war title they ever published (see My Greatest Adventure for more of the like). I got to a couple issues of Blackhawks before giving up on what appeared to be yet another covert ops team book (if I really want that stuff, I'll just grab IDW's G.I. Joe). Lasted on Static Shock only an issue longer before giving up on it due to generic villains and lackluster art. And you couldn't make me support a Liefeld project to save my life, so I wrote off Hawk & Dove immediately. How Liefeld was then offered three more books to screw up speaks to the Image nepotism going on in Jim Lee's office, but at least, they're three books I actively dislike.

If the new stuff is indicative of what DC thinks were its successes, we might learn something from looking at them. A strange dark version of Dial H? Obviously, the big surprise hit of the New52 is the work being done in small Vertigo-lite books like Animal Man, Frankenstein, Swamp Thing and Demon Knights. The troubling thing from my point of view, of course, is that all those weird, wonderful books could still have been done within an unrebooted universe. On the flip side, it seems like X-Men rip-offs in which superheroes are treated like filthy mutants are also a success. How else to explain a book like The Ravagers? (Mackie and Churchill? Really?) Earth 2 and the related World's Finest seem to have been greenlit not because of any New52 book's success, but because of Robinson's Shade mini-series. And of course, there's Batman Inc. which we always knew would return. Between Morrison's return to Batman and the Huntress' participation in World's Finest, they basically added 2 Bat-books to the 52, which already had 10 (or up to 14 if you count All Star Western's use of Arkham, and Batman's and Red Robin's key roles in team books). The big loser? Variety. Three books headlined by minority heroes have been axed. A female-led book has risen from those ashes, which is hardly compensation.

My Reading List
Back in September, I read each of the New 52 books, and at the time, was enthusiastic about 15 and willing to give 25 more a chance. 8 months later, those numbers have dropped to 9 and 14. That's 17 books I've culled, some of them almost immediately despite my intent to check out a second issue (Blue Beetle, Savage Hawkman, Men of War, Detective), some before they hit #4 (JLI, GL Corps, GL New Guardians, Batwing, Birds of Prey), and others more recently, usually out of frustration after giving it "one more chance" (Fury of Firestorms, Batman and Robin, Legion Lost, Grifter). Stormwatch became a victim of the authorial musical chairs - I jumped ship after Cornell left - while I started picking up Green Arrow again when Nocenti started writing it. I have an interest in 4, maybe 5, of DC's six new launches, but even if you add them to the list, I've still culled 12 books, and I may yet make room for them from the 23 I'm already reading. DC Universe Presents could be in danger after jerking my chain with an abortive Challengers story, Lobdell on Superman may be a reason to finally drop the book, and both LSH and Resurrection Man are hanging by a thread spun only of loyalty.

First Wave Floatsam and Jetsam
So what are my thoughts about this new DCU after 8 months of life?
-I really like the Dark corner of the DCU, which reminds me of that golden hour just before Vertigo was created when the craziest, darkest, most literary stories were told without jumping through that abstract partition. However, I see absolutely no reason why those books couldn't have existed in the pre-reboot universe.
-Even in some of those books, the new DC has a disturbing love affair with the splash page to the point where I wonder if it's part of an editorial mandate. DC now provides very quick reads indeed, and it's clear the focus is on art and not writing. The fact that some writers have multiple assignments may be a factor, as those books (Johns, Lobdell, Lemire, Krul) have a tendency to be splashier. Are DC's writers using the Marvel method to push their stories out?
-DC was unable to make the Milestone or Red Circle properties fit in the DCU, but somehow the Wildstorm universe is playing a huge role (because of Jim Lee, of course). There are persistent rumors that the Daemonites will be the next big thing affecting all the books, Grifter, Voodoo and Stormwatch, despite serious problems, have yet to be cancelled, and worst of all, the art design and character personalities across the whole DCU feels Wildstormed. The original Crisis merged Earths 1, 2, 4, S and X and we got a huge canvas filled with heroes from different eras and cities. Here, Earths 1 and 50 got hitched and it feels so much smaller. Shorter timeline, fewer heroes, a smaller scope in which people don't feel inspired by their heroes.
-As predicted, a partial reboot has proven a confusing affair (the intact Batman history makes no sense in the context of the new 5-year background, for example), but it would help if the books didn't contradict each other RIGHT NOW. I didn't think a reboot was necessary, but to speak FOR the reboot, I don't think most writers really went far enough. You've got Morrison on Action, a reinvention of the Firestorm mythos, and a lovely Robotman story in My Greatest Adventure. But then you've got the Green Lanterns and their played-out War of Light, Batman Inc. largely untouched, and Blue Beetle rebooted just so the same old stories can be told. And then you have some awful stuff like the Titans played as X-Force, thin and sexy Amanda Waller, and Billy Batson acting like a grade-a a-hole. Most of the reboots are tweaks that could have been arrived with without world-shaking events. Some show an obvious misunderstanding of what makes the character interesting and misidentifying of what its problems were. Fewer still actually create something new from the components of the old, while retaining the something iconic about the characters.
-Either to copy what they think the better-selling Marvel Universe was about, Image influences that stole wholesale from the MU, or more likely Bob Harras' philosophy, there's definitely a sense that the DCU has been Marvelized. The population mistrusting heroes is right out of X-Men. Heroes fighting each other for no reason steals a bazillion pages from Stan Lee. Frequent crossovers between books. Fewer of DC's fictional cities in favor of real places. Various secret organizations vying to be the next SHIELD. Bat and GL franchises treated like X- and Avengers franchises. It's probably why I like DC Dark so much - it's one of the things that feels most DC because Marvel never successfully tapped into that tone, and consequently never got its own version of Vertigo going.
-And of course, the other thing Harras and the golden boys of 90s Image are bringing with them is: The 90s. Now if only all anti-heroes with guns were like the weird and wonderful Frankenstein! Vertigo was a product of the 90s, so that gives us DC Dark, for which I'm thankful. It also gives us over-designed costumes on "heroes" with swords and guns, steeped in gore. At its best, it gave us gray moral areas like L.E.G.I.O.N. and John Ostrander's Suicide Squad. At it's worst, Punisher and Wolverine clones galore. Between Deathstroke, Grifter, Glass' Squad, Red Hood and Red Lanterns, guess which category I think nuDC falls into.
-For purposes of comparison, I am enthusiastic about 11 Marvel books and read 5 others, and am enthusiastic about 10 books from other companies and read another 10. (Oh yeah, and I enthusiastically read 4 non-nu52 books published by DC, all Vertigo; the number would grow only slightly if I threw in series I only read in trade.)

How about you? What's DC's scorecard at the end of their First Wave?