In my opinion, If there is something that DC can do better than any other publisher in the last few years is make a comic book event.

Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Brightest Day and Flashpoint. I really think that all of them have been great stories, and miles better than what Marvel have done at the time.

When the New 52 started DC decided to give themselves a break from events to lead people familiarize with the new Rebooted universe, however they had planned an event for the future and that was Trinity War.

What is Trinity War?

Here is the problem.

Im not entirely sure.

so there is this girl named Pandora who has this thing that looks like a gold skull with 3 red eyes, and apparently is a box, if she opens the box something will happen, what? no one knows, we dont know if this is good or bad or whatever.

and there is 3 groups, the Justice League, which only want to do good things in the world, the JLA, which only wants to face the JL in case they go bad, and the Justice League Dark which deals with the supernatural stuff

I would be easy to just say that the Justice League is trying to face Pandora and the JLD wants to help her, but the JLA?

or also that the JLA is facing the JL because they are helping Pandora or perhaps the JL is against the JLA because of the "death" of Catwoman and JLD...

...

ok im just guessing I have no idea what is going on

AND THAT IS NOT ALL

we also have Superman and Wonder Woman having a romance on the JL, which apparently caused Booster Gold to reboot himself.

We have SHAZAM, who has his own story on the pages of JL, which has been pretty good, and apparently they have a lot to do with this entire thing, but we dont know how..

we have the Secret Society of Villains which has been around since the creation of the JL, and uses the same symbol of the gold skull that Pandora is after, but other than that we know nothing of them.

even the solicits dont help

TRINITY WAR, the action-mystery event of the summer, begins with a full-length epic adventure! The death of a hero ignites a violent war among the Justice Leagues! It’s League vs. League vs. League as an impending darkness approaches the DC Universe. But the truth behind it all will lead to an evil that threatens every hero on the planet. And what does the Secret Society of Super-Villains have to with this? Everything.

so the Secret Society has to do with everything but we dont know anything about themIs just some much build up going to who knows what.

and lets not forget that all of this is going to end on the Villains Month of August also known as Forever Evil.

I just really dont see this event as an event of the likes of Flashpoint, Blackest Night or the others.

Even Infinite Crisis had this Huge build up behind it going on and needed 8 issues and 8 months to wrap it all upTrinity War is going to end after 2 months and 6 issues.

The Preparation

Personally to me this is the part that had me more worried about, because to be honest the preparation for this event has been atrocious.

What do I mean by that? well for example JLA already had 4 issues and Simon Baz is nowhere to be seen

it also doesnt help that Baz was not supposed to be in this event at all the original picture, it supposed to have Hal Jordan

and talking about this picture.

Where is Constantine and the JLD here?

were they not part of the original idea either?

the problem is that it seem like the story is trying to chew more than it can swallow, I know is hard to judge the final idea based on this minor problems on production, specially when hasnt been out yet, but this reminds me a lot of The Culling.

The Culling was a crossover event based on Teen Titans, Superboy and Legion Lost, it lasted for 8 issues and it was one of the worst comics ever done in the New 52. The main problem was that the story was completely sidelined by the necesities of all the books on the crossover, it needed to do something with TT, something with Legion and Superboy and also present a new team name The Ravagers, and at the same time tell this Hunger Games ripoff of story which not even Lodbell thought was good. it had too much to do that it did nothing about anything.

and it seems like a similar case will happen here.

We have the main story with Pandora, then we have the Secret Society which apparently has to do with everything, then we have the Justice Leagues beating each other up for WHO THE F*CK KNOWS, and each of this titles beings a little bit of subplots with them which include romance of Super/WW, the induction of Shazam, etc.

Im not saying that the story will fail for this but it is something to consider.

The Pandora Paradox

there is one more thing I wanted to discuss because I think is funny

Where does Pandora comes from?

As the story of Flashpoint goes, when Barry Allen retconned the world of Flashpoint out of existence it gave a chance to Pandora to change the world by mixing it with Wildstorm and Vertigo.

this to i guess get to her gold skull thingy to take revenge against the wizard Shazam and the council...

...hmm

that created her.

...

and Phantom Stranger and the Ques......one moment

If the New Wizard Shazam and this new council didnt existed before the New 52.

not only to mention that The Question was not a supernatural entity and Phantom Stranger didnt had an established orignin before

And Pandora created The New 52, therefore creating the council, which in turn created her...

Then how the hell did any of this happen?

I honestly dont expect an Explanation to this because at the end of all Pandora creating the new 52 is just DC's way of saying "a wizard did it", it doesnt have the logic and creativity that Crisis on Infinite Earths had when it created the Post-Crisis world and since DC shows no intention of looking back at that world then we are left with a kind of unsatisfied conclusion to that world.

I Hope Trinity War be as good as some of the other events created by Geoff Johns, and I was honestly looking forward to it when it was first announced, however it is just a month away and after reading all the titles leading to this event Im not sure what am I looking forward too.

END OF BLOG POST

do not miss my latest article at The Comicbookfrontline The Self-Destruction of the New 52

please check it here: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

C2E2: DC All Access Panel - Comic Book Resources

ok here are my thoughts on this

Williams spoke to the other side of the "Green Team" launch – the new series "The Movement" which he will draw. "It's both fun and dark, so it's an interesting mix of tones that Gail Simone is very good at," the artist said. "All I can say about the story is that there's an awful lot of story mixed in there that almost kills me to draw. There's a lot going on. A lot of these new characters Gail has created for 'The Movement' feel very fleshed out...they feel like they have a lot of history." The artist said that he's in the middle of drawing #3 now and feels the book is getting bigger in ambition with each new installment.

ok first of all Fun and Dark a the same time,how does that works? is like Dark comedy like in family guy?

and even after reading this I still have no idea what the hell is this book about

Green Team sounds pretty simple but this I still dont get what is going to be the plot

Fan questions started up with a man asking about the transition of WildStorm characters into the DC Universe with the New 52 and whether or not the Milestone characters would follow in a more major way like Static and Icon. Wayne asked the audience for their opinion on the idea, which gained applause. "We'll talk to our colleagues at Milestone Entertainment and see if we can make that happen," he said.

you know this just tells me that prior to this question DC had pretty much no talks at all with Milestone.

And here is the big one

A fan voiced discontent with writers being dropped from titles after one or no issues saying he felt the quality of the books would have to suffer as a result. "I can assure you that nothing anyone does at DC – the writers, the artists, the editors – is designed to put out a subpar book. Everything is meant to put out the best possible book," Wayne said.

ok first of all that doesnt answer anything regarding the writers that were leaving

second of all, if they are trying everything they can to put the best books possible then

why the hell did they give Rob Liefeld 4 books to write!

and I know he is just evading the question but this is just a bad evasion, we know that this sudden departures will have an effect on the quality saying that they are not doing this on purpose fixes nothing and it even sounds like they dont even awknowledge that there might be a problem.

Another fan took the mic to lament the loss of Cartoon Network's "Young Justice" asking if there was a way to bring the show back as an animated movie. "The guys who work on 'Young Justice' with Warner Bros. Animation, I don't think there'd be any disagreement with them on that," Wayne said before promising DC would pass the idea along to the animation department...whatever false hope that might incur in the audience.

this is not a bad idea

overall nothing important or big happen here, it was obvious that they were going to evade the hard questions but it was the final question of the panel that really and genuinely pissed me off

A young lady who was a self-described "fangirl" of "Hellblazer" asked if the change of that legacy title to a DCU book was made to make the appeal of the character more soft and for a younger audience. "I think that in many ways, the Swamp Thing/Animal Man/Justice League Dark stories told in the New 52 aren't much different than the stories that were told at Vertigo," Wayne said, noting that the first two issues of "Constantine" have sold out and gone back to press.

now, that my friends is a gigantic pile of

BULLSH!T

if he is really serious about this then he never read a single vertigo book in his entire life

BTW one more thing from the DC - Entertainment

Newsarama.com : C2E2 2013: DC COMICS 101 - What Makes DC, DC?

Q: More original digital content? A place for Stephanie Brown and others, perhaps?

by Lucas Siegel 1:24 PM

Cunningham took it as a statement and said "Very good, thank you."

I saw this question on the livestream and you could see pure contempt on his face when he heard Stephanie mentioned

Is not like he confused this comment as an statement, he just plain refused to give an answer.

Q: What is the possibility of a pre-new 52 book exploring the characters that have slipped through the cracks like Stephanie Brown?

by Lucas Siegel 1:30 PM

Harras: That is not a possibility. "We are not doing anything pre-Flashpoint." He pointed out some of their other strong female characters and said that other characters could come back into that world.

I really dont get why the hell do they hate a character which was in a critically acclaim just a couple of years ago and has a good fanbase

The Self-Destruction of the New 52 Part 1

Source

Almost two years ago DC announced that in the wake of its most recent comic book event that the DC Universe was going to be relaunched with a new initiative called The New 52. All of the previous DC books would end and 52 new #1s would take their place.

I still remember that time very vividly. In forums and comic news sites, the speculation about what would happen was very high but DC reassured everyone and I quote “this is a relaunch, not a reboot”

Of course anyone who has been paying attention in the past two years now know that that quote is an utter lie and the DCU was indeed rebooted. However it was not a complete reboot and the objective of the reboot was to attract new readers to expand the horizons of who shall be reading comics and reach a wider demographic. The reboot would gain the interest of new readers because of the new digital market (typo) and their would be an impulse on the diversity of titles that would be added to the New 52.

Personally, I was really optimistic about this event because at the time I believed the books that were already working DC on both ambits of quality and sales were going to be left untouched. Those titles were Green Lantern and Batman. While Titles that did not work during the pre-New 52 like Teen Titans, Superman, and Justice League would be reworked and have a chance to become better.

Little did I know that the price for such opportunities was going to be high and was never going to pay off.

I read almost every single comic from the New 52 and for each of those comics I read I gave them a fair chance. Even comics like Mr Terrific by Eric Wallace, Deathstroke by Kyle Higgins, Hawk and Dove by Liefeld and Gates and more. Comics which will probably disappear from everybody’s memories in just a couple of years if they haven’t already. I gave all of these comics the same opportunities and I saw very little to be amazed.

I’m not going to complain about just a couple of bad books or even the initiative itself. The idea of the New 52 is about starting fresh, revitalize old concepts, reviving old characters and old possibilities but the reality is chances are only as good as how they are taken. Almost two years after the fact I can honestly say that the New 52 has been a Complete Failure.

Since DC implemented their new policies for digital comics their sales are still far from comparing with the direct market.

New characters and new comics that were suppose to push diversity in this new universe are now either gone for good, cancelled or just simply changed to something missing the original point of the comic.

The new focus of the New 52 is to play things as safe as possible with little to no regard on quality. As long as the sales are doing well there are no other concerns.

The Failures

We don’t need to look far to find the failures of the New 52.

You just need to look at every single comic that has been cancelled to realize why these titles were cancelled. Then you will understand the problem of the New 52 as a whole.

Static Shock, Mister Terrific, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Blackhawks, O.M.A.C., Captain Atom, Resurrection Man, Voodoo, Justice League International,Grifter, Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E, Legion Lost,Blue Beetle, Fury of the Firestorm, Savage Hawkman, Ravagers, Deathstroke, Sword of Sorcery, DCU:Presents, Team 7 and I, Vampire

22 Cancellations

22 Failures

Just think about it for a second. If a book was cancelled because of its quality then is obvious that there was a problem with the book, either with the characters, or the writers, or the editors, etc. There had to be something wrong with the title.

However there is more to this. What if a book was cancelled and it was actually good?

Then you have to wonder, why did DC allow it to be cancelled? Why wasn’t it promoted better? Why didn’t it get the impulse that it deserved?

An example is I, Vampire, a fantastic horror comic. It was amazingly drawn, well written, had huge critical success, nominations to a couple of awards as well as being one of the highest selling graphic novels on NYT and yet it was recently cancelled with issue 19 because of very low sales on the direct market.

Those who aren’t familiar with I, Vampire should know that is a really surprising book because it doesn’t maintain an stable status quo for more than 7 issues. There is a reason for this, Joshua Hale Fialkov speeded up his own storylines to get them done as soon as possible.

By issue 6 the story had taken a twist that was meant to happen until the 2^nd year of the book, by issue 12 it was getting into plots that were meant for the 3^rd year. When this book ends it will have an ending that Fialkov envisioned but sadly it will not have the time and respect that it deserves.

The whole concept created by these three “seasons” are very limited. They had to be rushed because if they hadn’t, it would have never seen an end. The editor, Chris Conroy, knew that they would never see a second year of publication.

This is an example of one of the failures of trying to diversify genres, which was one of the main objectives of the New 52. Even with quality and a good reputation it is not enough to ignore the book is doomed for cancellation.

To Be Continued…

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Part 1

Part 2

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Added Part 4

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TO SEE THIS ARTICLE WITH MORE PICTURES PART 1 PART 2

Comic books are more diverse than people give credit to them, they are not all just superhero books. Even though DC and Marvel are the first things that come to mind when people think about comics but they are not the only comic book companies out there.

There are many good books that focus on very different styles that are pretty good and enjoyable reads. People tend to ignore these books because they aren’t from Marvel or DC.

First of all I must admit that I’m also a culprit of that same crime and most of the books I read end up being from the Big Two. I know that I’m very possibly missing some very good gems out there. Here is a list of the best comics that the non-big two have to offer that have captured my eye.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by IDW

I know what many are going to think “My little pony? That little girl’s show.” Well how many little shows have you seen make a reference to The Big Lebowski.

In this picture there are references to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Steven King’s IT and The Shinning.

The first arc is an “Overcoming the monster” plot. We see the main heroines going on a journey to defeat one of the main villains of the show. What really makes this stand out is the humor.

This is just really funny and it makes me laugh a lot. It has a ton of adult references and clever ideas. The plot is simple,andwell executed, and the characters are all likable.

It’s a great lighthearted adventure for the young, the old, men, women, comic fans and non comic fans

Adventure Time by Boom

Also based on the popular TV show of the same name.

I only very recently started to watch this show and I have to say that I love it. It is a show that I wish had existed when I was a kid because it really makes me feel nostalgic about my own childhood memories. It helps that it is so imaginative, it has great animation, and the show is well written. I consider the episodeof“Burning Low” as not only the best episode and what made me fall in love with this show but I also consider it as one of the most romantic and emotional stories I have ever seen. It is masterfully executed even for a cartoon.

The comic doesn’t disappoint at all It shows us the ongoing adventures of Finn the Human and Jake the dog fighting the evil Lich with the concepts of time travel and a legion of evil robots.

The book is fun, it’s entertaining, it’s just like the show.

Supurbia by Boom

Written by Grace Randolf Art by Rousel Dauterman

In essence this is basically “Justice League: The Soup Opera” but it is so much more than that when you get to read it.

We have a group of heroes, who on the surface are just the archetypical Justice League, but the focus of the comic is not them fighting criminals. The focus of the book is their families and this is where the story shines. All of the families work in a different way and all of them are interesting in their own regard.

For example, we have a character name Sovereign. He is the Superman of this book, and he is having a romance with a supervillaness. The only reason he is attracted to her is because he needs to have a dark side. He is just using her for his own benefit while at the same time the villain Hella doesn't really want to be bad anymore. This is a very interesting conflict that just would never work in a Superman comic.

Then we have Batu, the Wonder Woman of the book. She is married to a normal guy. They have two kids with each other, a boy and a girl. Even though Batu tries to raise her daughter with all the love and respect she can, but because of quasi-amazonian background she ends up being a terrible mother for her son.

Supurbia is a thrilling story with very interesting twist for a superhero genre.

The Walking Dead by Image

Written by Robert Kirkman

The Walking Dead is one of the most popular comic series out at the moment. The property has even found success in other mediums like video games and television.

I don’t watch the show regularly but the few episodes I have seen are much better than some story arcs in the comic, with that said this comic is still very good.

The comic’s plot is about: a zombie apocalypse and the struggle of a group of survivors to keep on living.

The book is about seeing the characters survive. Without giving any spoilers away we don’t get to investigate what created this apocalypse. We don’t even get to see the characters try to create a cure.

If there is a single rule in this book it would be anyone can die, and anyone can get hurt at any moment.

There is no “main character immunity” in this book which keeps the suspenseful atmosphere in place. This is what drives the entire series but this can also be really annoying because you don’t know when one of your favorite characters will go crazy and die. I will confess that my three favorite characters were killed long ago but this is still a thrilling story and an excellent comic book.

Peter Panzerfaust by Image

Words by Kurtis Weibe Pictures by Tyler Jenkins

This comic lies in the categories of war, adventure and fantasy. The entire pitch of this comic is simply “What if Peter Pan was fighting in WWII” and that is what guides the entire comic book.

The story is told with flashbacks of a grown up lost boy who traveled with Peter. During the war, Peter goes to France to look for his girlfriend. He encounters a group of orphans and together they fight the Nazis.

Peter Panzerfaust is an slow-paced story, but full of fun moments with a very good concept behind it.

X-O Manowar by Valiant

Written by Robert Venditi Art by Lee Garbett

Aric of Dacia, Heir of the Visigoth, fights against the fearsome Roman Empire when suddenly he encounters and even greater enemy, the Alien race of the Vine. These aliens kidnap him and his peopleenslave them for centuries. They submit them to the worst tortures they can experience until the day Aric escapes from his cell, and finds a sacred orb of the Vine. This contains the most powerful weapon of the Universe, the Manowar Armor.

This book is a mixture between Spartacus and Green Lantern. The combination of the two makes this book amazing. The main draw from this book is the world itself as it is full with interesting characters and interesting ideas all which come together surprisingly well.

Aric is a compelling protagonist with a ton of possibilities he is shown as a man out of time, a space adventurer, and a man fighting for revenge.

Without a doubt, one of the best series at the moment.

Glory by Image

Written by Joe Kentinge Art by Ross Cambell

For those who don’t know who Glory is: in the 90’s Rob Liefeld got tired of working at DC and Marvel and went to create Image Comics. At Image he decided to create new original properties, but since he doesn’t have the talent to create original ideas he just decided to copy them, with that he created GLORY. That character was nothing but a clone of Wonder Woman. Glory was an anorexic supermodel with white hair who is half amazon and half demon.

After many years, Image decided to reboot Glory. Despite having no original premise at all the writer Joe Kentinge managed to create something unique.

The new Glory is completely astonishing from every angle of her design, her personality, and history. It is original which makes this series one of the best rebooted properties ever.

The story is brilliantly written from every point of view but the biggest impact from Glory is the art. Ross Cambell does an amazing job each of the characters have a real design. There are no two characters with a similar body shape or a similar face. Every character has an original look. The action sequences are livid and gruesome. It is just as gory as you can get in a comic book series.

The worst part of this series: Its ending, this week’s issue #34 was the final issue of the series but it is still a comic worth reading.

REMEMBER TO CHECK BATWATCH.NET

The Problem with Worlds' Finest

After DC launched the New 52, not all the books remained for long. 6 books were canceled, 6 new books were produced, and 2 of those books from the Second Wave dealt with a completely new universe. Those books were Earth Two and Worlds' Finest.

Earth Two deals with a new portrayal of the Earth 2 universe and gives a spin to the JSA concept while WF deals with the Supergirl and Robin of this same universe now stranded on the main DC Earth, and the book is just not very good. In fact, it really sucks.

THE PLOT

Worlds Finest has a very simplistic main plot. It is basically a Gilligan's Island scenario. The heroes get stranded in a place, and all their effort goes on trying to go back home. The problem is that, just like in Gilligan's Island, the circumstances are set so that they will never return home.

This kind of plotting is not bad on its own, but it has a major flaw, and that is that looking at the heroines attempting to do something which they are meant to fail at again and again and again is repetitive and tiresome. We don't get anything from this experience, and worse, neither do the characters because the entire plot revolves around their attempts to return to Earth-2. They are literally in Plot Limbo.

However, you can make the argument that the plot is not about them going home but accepting Earth-0 as their home which would be acceptable except that the book is not moving in that direction. Everything just focuses on how them trying to return to E2.

That attitude is the impetus of the plot, and at the same time, it stops the plot completely.

THE STRUCTURE

Another huge Problem with World Finest is the structure of the stories. In most cases, the chapters are divided between past and present. The "Past" section is drawn by Kevin Maguire, and the "Present" is drawn by George Perez. The problem is that this two sections NEVER connect to one another either plot wise or thematically, and most times, we not only don't learn anything new, but we get the same information that we already knew.

THE CHARACTERS

This is definitely the biggest problem with the entire book because even if the plot and structure are somehow flawed those still can be fixed, but the characters can't change who they are in an organic way without provoking other problems.

There are two ways in which we can analyze this characters in the book: how are they on their own books as completely new characters and how they are compared to the older versions.

Power Girl

The new Power Girl is the Supergirl from Earth Two . As such, she was pretty much raised by a darker version of Superman. Her first introduction was in Mister Terrific #1 where she is presented as Karen Starr, C.E.O. of Starr Industries and Michael Holt's friend with benefits.

This introduction comes as a big problem for Worlds' Finest because for all intents and purposes this is the same character despite having been written by different writers. The attitude and actions of Karen in the Mr. Terrific series not only still count from a matter of continuity but are also relevant to the story. In Mr Terrific, Karen uses her powers and her proximity to Michael to steal his research and technology to cross dimensions which in all honesty makes her look like a Terrible Person.

Anyone can understand her situation; she just wants to go home, but the problem is that she is willing to do anything to go home without any morality behind her actions, and that is the problem with Power Girl in both series. Power Girl doesn't act like a hero. She is selfish, she uses her powers for her own benefit, and she doesn't measure the consequences of her actions. This doesn't apply only in Mister Terrific. This is exactly how she acts in Worlds Finest. This is who she is.

The irony is that in the comic the flashback sequences are often the most interesting part of the issues even though they lead absolutely nowhere.

Probably her biggest problem or at least the most noticeable is her oversexualization in the book. Most of the flashbacks to her arrival at Earth-0 start with her making a sex pun or saying how she wants to sleep with a bunch of guys. This happens in practically every issue. In the present, her costume gets torn apart as a running joke in practically every issue.

There is a huge difference between a sexually liberated woman and a nymphomaniac, and honestly, Starfire got bigger complaints for much less.

This is where I make the comparison with the Old Power Girl. Kara has always been a sexualized character because of her design, but she is not really a sexual character per say. In fact her old series treated that factor with a lot of comedy and humor.

However in Worlds' Finest, all these sexual comments and innuendos are not really funny because it is meant to be taken seriously to certain degree. Sex is not just a joke like in the Old Power Girl series, but in this case it is Power Girl's new hobby, and it is never relevant for the plot or the character.

There is one final problem which is the costume. I personally never consider costumes as anything important since it is just a superficial change, and even now the costume that Power Girl uses will return to its more iconic iteration. However, the problem that I have with the redesign that she got for the start of the series was the "P".

The "P" symbol in the front of the costume shows how much different conceptually this Power Girl is this old version of Power Girl.

These little panels come from All-Star Comics #64, and I think it speaks loudly of what Power Girl is at the very core. She is not just Superman with boobies. She has her own personality, confidence and strength. She is, in one word, unique, and I believe she kept that uniqueness for most of her history.

Power Girl is not that in World's Finest. She is not a hero, she is just a selfish and spoiled Supergirl of another Earth who doesn't care about anything but her best friend and her nameless sex partners.

Huntress

Helena Wayne is the daughter of both Batman and Catwoman on Earth 2. On this other Earth, she is raised to be Robin. Catwoman is not a criminal but a costumed heroine and a great mother while Batman has no problems using lethal means to fight crime.

This is actually a very interesting backstory and a very interesting set up. Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter much or at all. Huntress feels very alienated from all of this because of her context in the New 52 Earth.

The first appearance of Huntress in the new 52 was in her own miniseries written by Paul Levitz. The miniseries dealt with Huntress going to Italy to disarm a slave trade operation, and it was very boring. The story had a very monotone feeling, and even though things were happening, the plot didn't seem to be moving forward at all. It felt very repetitive and boring, and Huntress is just like that.

The new Helena is just not interesting as a character, and it is very hard to care for her or anything that she does because she doesn't really have a good motivation to do anything. She has no attachments on this Earth, but at the same time she doesn't care to go back home like Power Girl. It is not like she doesn't want to be back. I imagine that if she gets the chance to return she would do it, but she has nothing to return to since her family is gone.

On the other hand, the motivation of Helena Bertinelli is different. That Huntress was the daughter of a mobster, and a rival mob boss ends up killing her whole family except for her. She HUNTS mobsters because of that. It is very easy to understand and empathize with her. However, the new Helena Wayne doesn't have that. She just hunts people because thats what she was trained to do. It has nothing to do with avenging her family or returning to home; her motivation is nothing.

The final problem with Huntress is the "death" of Helena Bertinelli in the first issue. From the point of view of a fan of Helena Bertinelli, by saying that she is effectively gone, DC is just saying that this new persona of Helena Wayne has nothing to do with Helena Bertinelli. Aesthetically, she may look the same, but she is a completely different character on the inside.

CONCLUSION

Both Power Girl and Huntress were characters that had a loyal fan base, and the title of Worlds' Finest evoked the best team in the DCU, Superman & Batman. By making PG and Huntress the new Worlds' Finest, you might think that it would elevate all their good traits and make them worthy of that title, but they are not worthy.

Despite all the problems with the writing and the art, the real problem with the book is the main characters. The funny thing is that Huntress used to be a very sexual character who slept around a lot while being a bada** and PG was a caring well centered character. It could be that the intention was to invert their personalities, and that is the reason for all the problems, but for what reason would anyone do that?

It is sad to see two characters that were once so interesting and complex being put through so much of a change that they are practically unrecognizable and uninteresting.

How to Start Reading Comics?

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How or why people start reading comics?

With this simple question I will begin to share my personal experience.

The first introduction I had to the Marvel and DC universes didn’t come on colored pages of paper; but from the screen of a television with shows like Spiderman, X-men, Batman The Animated Series, and Superman The Animated Series. Even when I was child I use to watch Superfriends and the animated Batman show with Adam West.

I never read comics as a kid, I knew they existed, but I didn’t know where to buy them. There were no such things as a comic book stores. The internet didn’t sell comics at the time, which is the way I buy comics now. Even If had the availability to get comics on my own I still would had to struggle with the same question that all non-readers must face to break into comics: where to start?

The first time I finally read a real comic book was when I was 20 when I read the X-23 miniseries. The reason for me picking that book was because of two reasons. First it was completely free, I got it from a friend who let me borrow it. Second, I was actually interested in the character because of X-men Evolution.

Once I read it I was instantly shocked, the book is full of violence and the story was really hardcore for how X-23 is dehumanized and tortured to be turned into a weapon. I thought it was an okay story it really didn’t make me want to keep on reading these kinds of comics, but it did make me want to read other kinds of comics. I liked more the DC shows than the Marvel shows so instead I decided to start looking for DC comics.

When I was looking for DC comics I kept hearing these terms, before crisis, post-crisis, crisis this and crisis that. So, I imagined that “Infinite Crisis” was a nice place to start. Eventually I found a store that sold the comic, and with the idea of only buying that sole book I stumbled on a book called Countdown to Infinite Crisis

This lead me to get a ton of other comics that I still read to this day.

Looking back at that experience makes me realize what is necessary to make people read comics and that is simply to get people interested in keep reading about the characters, not just keep ON reading forward.

I couldn’t just keep on reading the same new comics every month. I wanted to know more about the people and events some of those comics were referring to. This got me to backtrack onto some older comics, comics from 10-20 years ago, That’s how you get a new reader, not by making him want to read a comic every month but by making him want to read twenty years worth of stories.

The more I knew about comics the more I knew about popular comics. Things like Neil Gaiman’s Sandman for example, which got me to read other works by Gaiman like Black Orchid and Books of Magic.

I think the biggest problem for a new reader or someone who just wants to start reading comics is the sole decision of what to read. I didn’t knew I liked Neil Gaiman’s writing before I read Sandman and I didn’t know I liked Sandman before I read it. People told me the series was good, but I couldnt know until I read it myself.

It is all a blind jump into the dark. Most people don’t know if they like comics until they read one that they like. No one wants to invest money in a comic they might not enjoy.

I read the X-23 book only because I was interested in the character, and that is something that a lot of people do. They try out one particular character more than others because they know them from a movie or a television show. After reading X-23 I wasn’t impressed. It didn’t make me want to keep on reading. I didn’t like comics until I decided to read DC, it was a risk but I didn’t lose anything from it. I didn’t waste money by reading the X-23 series. Countdown to IC was pretty cheap for a 80 page book. Even now you can get it free at comixology.

It is all about taking a chance to test what you might enjoy. If you have your doubts just look at the list of best reviewed titles. Those are the titles that are popular with fans. Those are the titles that fans remember the most. Look for the A-list writers in the medium because they usually don’t disappoint.

And for those who are already readers, share your comics, because there are a lot of people out there who still don’t experience the joy of a good story told with great art.

So how did you start getting into comics?

I often hear people joking that if the new 52 failed DC would just reboot again and make the newer 52

this is sadly very close to that

the rumor says that DC plans to cancel 16 titles and replace them with 4 ongoing weekly comics which will focus around Superman, Batman, The JL and Green Lantern, all with rotating creative teams

of course if the rumor is true that pretty much marks the point where DC just gave up on trying to launch new creative comics that are outside the regular superhero genre.

It doesnt help that in the month of June DC will launch only 50 ongoings and not 52, which indicates basically that DC is just cancelling the titles faster than they are producing new ideas, and those same new ideas dont end up working anyways hence are the first to be canceled by the next wave.

personally i would had liked DC to gave a couple of extra titles for Sword of Sorcery if only to keep the number at 51.

but anyways, what are the bottom 16 you may ask?

• All-Star Western
• Batwing
• Birds of Prey
• Demon Knights
• Dial H
• Justice League Dark
• Katanna
• Legion of Super-Heroes
• Phantom Stranger
• Stormwatch
• Suicide Squad
• Superboy
• Talon
• Threshold
• Vibe
• Worlds' Finest

source: Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. - Top 100 Comics: February 2013

of course this list doesnt considerate the idea that titles like Movement and Green Team which arent even out yet would start at the bottom of sales like Katana and Vibe did this last month

Source

I dont think i need spoilers tags since pretty much by now everybody knows what happen.

Damian Wayne, the 5th Robin was killed recently in Batman Incorporated #8 and i have already talk a lot about what i think of Death in comics in another blogpost but my thoughts on this matter are slightly different here.

I dont think this death was made because of shock value or something similar but this is a death that really leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Not just because Im a fan of the character but because i feel that this is an step backwards in many ways.

THE NEW 52? What about the NEW Batman?

Before the New 52 was implemented I was actually really enthusiastic about it, I felt that it was an opportunity for DC to clean its continuity and open new possibilities while at the same time allowing the old things to work in different ways, Now I think very different about it specially when talking about Batman here.

I have read Batman since DC changed his universe forever in 2005 with the event of Infinite Crisis and with that evenet came Morrison's epic Batman run. Whatever you like it or not Morrison changed Batman and he changed the way people see Batman not only readers but writers too and the way he did that was by simply evolving the concept, taking it into its next logical step.

Many remember that Morrison's first arc was title Batman & Son, what not many seems to recall is the title of the first chp

Building a Better Batmovile

That right there is the core concept of Morrison's entire run, Building something better, and to do that he used all the parts that he could, this is why he tap into all those old stories of the silver age, he revived old concepts and all those things that preceded his run as base for his run and by doing so he created a new level by simply supporting himself into those old forgotten parts of Batman's own history.

Thats how he build a new Batmovile and therefore thats how he build a new Batman.

The replacement Batmen, The death and return of Bruce Wayne, The New Son, The New Red Robin, The New Batman and Robin, The New Batgirl and Oracle, The New Outsiders, The New Batmovile, The New Villains, a New Purpose.

Those things were genuinely NEW.

The idea of "new" implies that there was something old however it doesnt imply that it is something different.

Those things were the product of the evolution of Batman and that was suppose to be the new Status Quo and here is the thing about evolution, it goes up as in an spiral pattern.

However DC using the new 52 got rid of all that in the name of NEW, all got lost in the name of "progress" and we got back to the same old status quo.

The new Batman is just the same Old one in a new package, Dick Grayson no longer wears a cowl, the Batmovile cannot fly and from now on Batman no longer has a son so at the end of the day when the last page of Morrison's run had been turn and assuming Robin remains dead, if Dick is Nightwing and the Batmovile is still the same and if pretty much every is back as it was before Morrison's run and in certain cases like Oracle for example have regressed even further then...

What did we accomplished? where is that next level on top of all of this?

If the only accomplishment of this journey was the sole journey on its own then for future references you might as well completely ignore it cause it has nothing do to with this NEW Batman..

So go tell the future writers and readers to just be oblivious about it because there is nothing NEW coming from this, that there is no next stage, it doesnt exists and Batman wont move up that spiral anymore and will keep going in an never ending cycle.

The Morrison run has officially become old and obsolete and the "NEW" in my respect is just something even older and even more obsolete.

The Problems with Damian

JUST 5 YEARS?

Suffocating, There is no other word to describe what the 5 year timeline means to Batman.

Its constraining, Its limiting, its cutting his oxygen and stealing his life out of it and the reason is simple to understand.

Morrison made Batman progress not despite of his continuity but because of it, all those experiences, all those years cant be compress into 5 years, its taking away what made it advance.

Its basically like removing the engine of a car with the idea that it will go faster cause the car is lighter.

This has been a huge problem with Damian Wayne simply because he is 10 years old and even the most moderated calculus put only 7 years in the continuity of Batman, but thats just a general timeline since In Batman & Robin 0 he had a total of 5 birthdays 1 year and a half before Batman and son which indicates that he grew in real time and wasnt artificially aged, of course it doesnt help that writers just deal with this problem by ignoring the issue entirely.

It almost seems like Damian just doesnt fit into this NEW 52 continuity

Robin is dead, All Hail the new Robin!

It just amazes me that the second that it was hinted of the possibility of Damian dieing a ton of people start speculating about who or when would a new Robin, i guess thats the fan mentality and even i would lie if i dont admit that I did contemplated the possibilities.

Some people say Its going to be Harper Row, becoming the 5 robin in continuity and the 3rd girl wonder

other say a big return to either Cass Cain or Stephanie Brown would be well received too.

But what people doesnt seem to think about is what does to have a new robin?

What does it mean to Batman and what does it mean to Damian.

does having a new robin so soon implies that Damian's return will be much later than sooner and if it is sooner what happens if he returns and finds himself replaced already.

would he take on a different name then or would we have 2 robins?

What does this means to the fans who still want to read about Damian?

What exactly is this "Death" you talk about?

There is a huge difference between the death of Jason Todd and the death of Damian and that is that Jason just wasnt popular when he died so not many people missed him and the impact of his dead was actually bigger than the impact that he made in life. still Jason returned to life and his return brought a lot of other interesting elements.

But with Damian and in the current state of comics, its practically impossible to thing that he will stay dead for 15 years much less a full year

Even though Morrison thought on killing him on his first appearance, he didnt, he survived and he became popular

There is the Lazarus Pit, thats how Jason return officially

Maybe he will get revived by the white lantern

Or some supernatural

Some people even say he will sell his soul to the devil to return like it was hinted in Batman 666

And some even say that he will be back before the end of Batman Inc.

So at the end of the day, What is this death about?

because even if you consider that the death of Robin is bad because of the absence he provokes on batman as well as the inconcequense which leaves Morrison's run in, on the other hand the death of Damian is still part of Morrison's run.

Therefore the inevitable return of Damian becomes nothing more than a complete disconnection of Morrison entirely, this of course assuming that Robin stays dead by the end of Morrison's run.

His return marks the end of everything Morrison created because a resurrected Damian would just be something else entirely or just a pale copy of Morrison.

THE MAIN PROBLEM

There are 2 possibilities and only 2

• Either Damian comes back to life soon
• or he doesnt come back soon

And even though this will be my humble opinion, BOTH CHOICES SUCK

You may notice that I dont include "he wont come back ever" because its just not a realistic choice, because if it isnt soon maybe in 10 or 20 or 50 years someone somewhere will try this character again.

so the manner in question is simply When will he be back and he can come back sooner or later

Either way, he is just not going to be here for some time, writers wont be able to write his stories anymore and for a long time and that is exactly why this is such a terrible thing.

Whatever if it is a year or 20 years it is still a huge step backwards, it simply ending that world that Morrison created..

Im not discrediting writers like Snyder, Layman, Tomasi or Hurwitz by thinking they cant create a new world for batman like Morrison did, and in some cases Snyder has created some genuinely new interesting concepts too as well as utilizing the own history of batman and respecting his continuity.

What Im questioning is the sole idea of making Batman new utilizing new parts and forget about what made Batman good in the first place.

I read comics because i want to see what happens next, what will be the next step, the next adventure and how will the story progress and thanks to the new 52 and the lost of Morrison's concepts i feel that we are not progressing and its because we are not, we are not moving forward anymore

I dont want an story where Batman deals with the dead of a robin cause we already had that or where he gets a new robin who is a girl or not because robin left/died, already cover.

We are moving Backwards. and DC thinks that is something New just because we are seeing the same scenery from another point of view.

End of Blog Post

Check out my Personal Blog lets-talk-about-comics.blogspot.com

Also Check out Batwatch.net

I am planning on making a huge blogpost about what i feel about the new 52 after all this time but first i had this idea that might be interesting exploring, i want wanted to make a top 10 of the things that are the most annoying in the new 52, and maybe i will do in the future but this time i will just focus in specific characters that have just been utter failures lately.

though usually in this kind of post you might expect me to make Barbara Gordon as Victimgirl my #1 choice for worst reimaginated character, but i have already talk to much about her so i want to explore other options to keep my rants fresh.

What exactly do i mean by reinvention? well by that i mean characters that are by all means and purposes in no way the same characters(i.e. Barbara Gordon) that they were before the new 52 and were given a new intention concept or purpose.

4- Captain Atom

I know for a fact that in may ways Alan Moore was inspired by Captain Atom in order to create Dr Manhattan

to be specific, Moore was inspired by THIS

In turn the new Atom turn after Watchmen took a lot of liberties of its own

Before Captain Atom was a soldier stranded out of his time because of an experiment imposed punishment for a crime he didnt commit with powers he could barely understand, his skin was shielded with a alien metal that gives him strength, durability and the capacity to flight and energy powers.

The new Captain Atom is Jesus.

he is immortal, he cures cancer and he died for your sins, all hail the space jesus.

ok seriously the new Atom is for all practical purposes the same as Dr Manhattan, which is really ironic when you think about it since now the original is copying the same product that it inspired, even though i know many will admit that the new Manhattan is interesting, it is just not Captain Atom.

3- Shayera Hall, Hawkwoman

One-dimensional doesnt even begin to describe the new Shayera Hall, she is completely empty of personality, she is mostly based of cliche and even sexist ideas.

the new Hawkwoman is the sister of Corsar, the leader of Thanagar, she is also the lover of Carter Hall, The Savage Hawkman, and all goes nice and easy until Corsar starts acting as a crazy tyrant who wants to use the Nth metal for evil reasons, which ends with Carter "Savagely" attacking Corsar and then fleeing to Earth.

Now this conflict has kind of Shakespearean in the sense that now Shayera needs to search inside her own soul for answers as she tries to capture her own true love for the crime of killing her own brother and king, and might even result in good drama and character development if it wasnt because this character was introduced by Robert Liefeld who has as much understanding of Shakespeare as a Neanderthal would.

Instead the "death" of Corsair flips a switch inside Shayera's brain that transforms her from loving partner mode to vengeful biatch mode in a manner of seconds and proceds to hunt down Carter like a dog showing absolutely no conflict, remorse or any emotion whatsoever.

what is worst of this change to villain is that she really sucks at it, failing at capturing Carter at every step until she gets help from...

spoilerCORSAR, who is alive

... for some reason

but of course now this development "unflips" her Biatch mode and in the last issue(#16)she tries to save Carter at the cost of her own life.

Now it is unclear if Shayera's dead is permanent but who would really care at all with a girl like this.

2- Lady Shiva

...

my god, just look at that costume, how is this in any way and form anything like the old Lady Shiva?, this is not Lady Shiva, this is Armadillogirl.

in case you didnt knew the old Lady Shiva, this is Lady Shiva

Lady Shiva is the 3rd best fighter in the entire DC Universe, only bested by Bronze Tiger and Richard Dragon, she is the mother of Cassandra Cain the best Batgirl ever and also is one of the deadliest assassins in the world and has defeated in combat even Batman.

and the new Shiva is just a bland version of that.

I generally dont pay that much attention to redesign in costume, primarily cause in most cases is only superficial changes, but here is way more than superficial is a radical change in concept and for what exactly im not sure.

the new Shiva is younger to the point that now she has the same age as Nightwing, which is like 21+, but she also defeated Batman when he was just starting to have Dick as robin which is kind of hard to digest.

1- Powergirl

I like to think that the comic fandom has always kinda made jokes on Powergirl at her own expense, mainly because she had a hole in her costume that has no other purpose than allowing us to see her boobs, not necessarily something positive but neither negative, there are many funny bits about powergirl(pun intended) and it has been well explored, for a long time Powergirl's own ongoing was a comedy.

and a really funny and enjoyable one.

but Neither of those things meant that Character WAS A JOKE

now it is one XD

The problem of Powergirl goes beyond her costume, is her personality, even though she was a very sexualized character and just really sexy, she didnt really had a sexualized personality, she was fun and loyal and heroic.

Now the new powergirl is hypersexual, in Worlds Finest most of the flashbacks to her time in E0 practically start her making a sexpun or saying how she wants to sleep with a bunch of guys, this happens in practically every issue, there is a huge difference between a sexually liberated woman and a nymphomaniac and honestly Starfire got a bigger complains for much less.

It doesnt help the fact that her own costume gets torn apart as a running joke on practically every issue, the problem is that its never funny.

see, here is actually meant to be funny and it is.

if this tried to be funny, It Failed.

and if that wasnt enough, she is just very mean spirited, she has a constant feeling of apathy for anything that doesnt involve E2, which leads her to say things like this:

and do things like what she did in the Mr Terrific comic, in which she discovers that Michael Holt is investigating how to travel through dimensions, so she befriends him and sleeps with him only to use his toys when the time was right in which then she subsequently robs his investigation.

this is really not a role model for anyone and a waste of a good character.

End of Blog Post

Check out my Personal Blog lets-talk-about-comics.blogspot.com

I just finish reading the Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual and it just got me thinking on how changed are the GL comics right now

Everyone heard that the New 52 was going to affect pretty much everything except for Green Lantern and Batman, and it is just not true for Batman and it is not true for Green Lantern.

I will to start with the New Guardians Annual, the basis of the issue goes like this, Carol, Kyle Arkillo and Saint Walker go to Zamaron so that Kyle can train to use the violet side of the spectrum, then The Zamarons command Carol on a mission, to go to the place of Lady Styx called the dominion to get an alliance against the 3rd army, Carol contact with a Green Lantern name Jediah Caul, who is the GL of the sector and is working undercover, he informs them of a group of smuglers who can bring Carol with Lady Styx, but the smugglers are just a$$holes and betray carol, capture her and sell her to a tv show that is pretty much Hunger Games kind of thing in space, that is actually interesting, of course Arkillo and SW saves Carol but betray Jediah in place and he ends up in the game.

The issue was ok but it had a few plotholes like if Jediah knows that the Guardians went insane and created the 3rd army then why the hell is he still undercover for them? and if he is still undercover how did Carol contacted him or why did the Zamarons send Carol to Lady Styx instead of going themselves or sending a message with energy, or a phone call or an e-mail, and at the end of the comic the group ends in sector 9008, which is odd since there are only 3600 sectors, but maybe is a typo.

But reading this just kind of brought back a lot of memories of Green Lantern comics of the last few years and made me realize that all of that is gone and i dont think is for the better. Starting with Carol who was a prominent character in this issue, she is no longer the same Carol from the new 52, which got me thinking of how different are the star sapphires and how those affected the whole universe and there are a lot of things that were planned for Carol and them that now gone.

Like Carol as the Queen of Star Sapphires, that was something that came from Brightest Day, Queen Aga'po gets killed and the Star Sapphire Battery gets weak for losing the dead bodies of the pharaons of Hawkman and Hawkgirl and Carol is the one who helps everyone and the Zamarons make her their new Queen and that goes... Absolutely Nowhere.

Just nothing happens with that, and it was very interesting, I think Carol was just a great character in GL from the beginnings of Blackest Night to that point, where she is given the ring and she makes the choice to use it instead of just being possessed by it and that leads her to this point, and no i feel like she is not different from any SS, like her personality is gone, and i felt a lot of that while reading the Annual.

how about the other Sapphires like Mirri

or Fatality who did nothing in New Guardians and now she is appearing in GLC but again, she doesnt seem the same

...

and you know what else, before that there was an interesting aspect from the Sapphires which began in the Sin of the Star Sapphires storyline in GLC, which was the 3rd new Law of the book of OA, Green Lanterns cant be in love with other GLs.which i thought was a great idea to create a great conflict on the GLC and it did for a while when Kyle and Soranik Natu were dating despite being in violation of the New Law

and then the Law is revoked, and nothing happens with that, in fact there were suppose to be 10 new laws in the book of OA since Sinestro Corps War

Laws 1 and 2 allowed the GLs to use lethal power, law 3 forbid romance, law 4 made the sector of Larzfleeze no longer out of reach for GL

and thats it, there is no laws from 5-10

...

you could almost tell by reading GL during that time like i did that this was actually counting down to something and when law #10 was getting released that it would mean a new event coming on. but no it just didnt go anywhere.

and now that i was talking about Soranik Natu, what happen to her.

for those who dont know her she is the daughter of Sinestro and Arin Sur, the sister of Abin Sur, she is a doctor and appeared for the first time on the first chp of Green Lantern Corps Recharged and became a prominent character of it until the relaunch and then nothing...

we dont even know if she exist, we know Abin Sur did had a sister and was married to Sinestro but we dont know anything about Soranik, so maybe she doesnt even exist to make Sinestro, younger i guess...

in fact we dont know anything about most of the people of Green Lantern Corps before the new 52

What happen to Arisia, Iolande, Steel, Sodam Yat and others?

What happen to the the entities, to Parallax and ION and the rest?

we know now that Hal Jordan never died, that he probably was never parallax and definitely never Specter

what about Cowgirl?

does anyone even remembers her?

and now recently in Green Lantern, The Blue Lantern corps was destroyed, so was the Sinestro Corps, the Star Sapphires seems to go the same way and despite getting their own series the red Lanterns seem to lack an independent direction, also Sayd died and the Alpha Lanterns were destroyed.

I feel like the Green Lantern world has just suddenly gotten smaller, or it has the same size, it has less things on it.

and is part because of the recent storylines but also because of the new 52 and the changes that it has done, not only to its continuity but to its place

before i read GLC as an comic that was an Space Opera, now is like a war comic in space

New Guardians had its ups and downs but after a while it felt like it didnt even had a proper dirrection

Red Lanterns is the same, it started like a kind of vertigoeske GL book but the connection with the 3rd army seems hurtful, like i cant believe that they are doing what they are doing now while the 3rd army is going on

and Green Lantern, the first arc felt like if that story was written before the new 52 and had no changes on it, then issue 0 happens, and i like the book, but it feels like and entirely different book, Its like that was suppose to be the new 52 GL, anything before is prenew-52

and thats only the books themselves I dont even bother in trying to figure out how everything fits with the new 52, like if the Blackest Night still happen, how much of that affected the DCU, like was Wonder Woman still a Star Sapphire for a while, who lived who died and what happen from Brightest Day that is still the same, in fact did anyone was even revived at the end of BN?

it was an slow process but I know realize that it is no longer the same thing that got me excited about every month.

does anyone feel the same as me?