It's finally over. I've now reviewed all of the 52 relaunches and only kind of want to die. Out of the comics this week, I'm saying 8 hits and 5 misses, which is pretty good. I didn't know what to expect from this week, and there were definitely some surprises.

A lot of people expected All-Star Western to be as good as Jonah Hex had been, and it really was. Using Gotham City as the setting for the first story gives it a nice little bump in excitement too. Another unsurprising hit was Aquaman. I'm really looking forward to following this series and think Johns is already doing better with Aquaman than he did with Barry Allen. Fury of Firestorm: the Nuclear Men came up with a pretty well thought out complete revamp of Firestorm. Green Lantern: New Guardians looks like it is going to be a really entertaining Kyle Rayner series. It's a shame Wally West couldn't get one. I, Vampire surprised a lot of people by actually being a good horror comic. Justice League Dark really pulled off a team book with an unlikely cast. And Voodoo was a good, sexy hit that took its time like Grifter did.

I was on the fence about Blackhawks, but it is trying to bring something new to the DC Universe and really did do that well.

Batman: the Dark Knight proved itself to be a completely unnecessary Batman title with nothing to offer. All the Flash proved is that Francis Manapul is a great artist but is not really a writer at all. Then, the Savage Hawkman really hammers it home that DC needs to stop having artists write.

Superman wasn't bad, but the it failed to sell me on the changes made to Superman and Lois Lane. Teen Titans wasn't technically bad either, but again, all the strange changes made really put the whole thing into question.

It's a bit close, but it looks like the hits win out over the misses in the New 52. We end up with 28 hit titles and 24 titles that just didn't live up to the hype. Honestly, I would have probably predicted the opposite. I can't say I came into the New 52 pumped with optimism. Do I have more optimism now? Some, but there is still a lot of skepticism. Actually looking at the hits, a large portion of them are titles that DC really didn't affect with this revamp. They're books like Aquaman, All-Star Western, Green Lantern franchise books and Batman franchise books. These are books that probably would have been hits whether or not the revamp happened. In contrast, a good number of the misses are titles that have been dramatically changed by the revamp. Books like Green Arrow, Teen Titans and Justice League International haven't really been changed for the better. I mean, I'm not saying every revamped book sucks and every untouched one is good. That sure isn't true. But there's definitely a pattern in the hits and the misses that don't really leave me with a whole lot of optimism about how well DC is pulling off this revamp.

I'll probably do a big post later about my thoughts on DCnU as a whole and how well it addressed its goals of creating a modern, diverse and more relevant DC Universe for readers.

And for the record, all these hits are not the books I'm going to continue reading. I was just trying to be objective about them. Some hits really didn't interest me much personally, and there are some misses that I hold out some hope for. All in all, it seems like I will be reading a few more DC books than I was before Flashpoint. For now, at least.

So glad I'm not going to be reviewing anywhere close to 15 books next week.

Fear Itself: the Fearless #4 & #5

Really? Really. Fear Itself needs a 12-issue aftermath series. ...Fear Itself didn't even need half of its own issues.

Defenders #1

Oh, what have you done to Dr. Strange's look? Purple and red? Where did you even get that?

Avengers Academy #23

Yes. Continue cramming every teen character you can in.

Journey into Mystery #632

Puppy!

Incredible Hulk #3

I swear to god... if Amanda Von Doom is a child character, Aaron...

Captain America #6

I don't know. Probably something like Bucky's death was faked by a LMD.

New Avengers #19

What masks? No one's wearing masks. Spider-Man is wearing a mask. We know who he is.

Secret Avengers #20

Make Ellis write more stuff, Marvel. Or let DC steal him. They could desperately use him over there.

Avengers: X-Sanction #1

And what status quo would you be shattering, exactly? I was not aware we had a stable one to shatter.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #6

A mysterious figure from Peter Parker's past who may or may not be totally and clearly shown to us on the cover.

Avenging Spider-Man #2

...Is the selling point of this book really the art? Really?

Carnage, U.S.A. #1

Yeah, this should be a lot of fun. I liked the first limited series.

Captain America & Bucky #625

So wait, what happened to Andreyko?

Alpha Flight #7

It's time for Wolverine to fight another team leader whose wife he tried to bang.

Annihilators: Earthfall #4

This is how badly I want to see someone else write cosmic books -- I am actually RELIEVED to know Jeph Loeb is writing Nova's return. The world has stopped making sense.

Moon Knight #8

I figured Bendis was just waiting a little while before bringing in some familiar Moon Knight cast members.

Daredevil #7

Oh, bold claim there, Marvel. The most critically acclaimed launch of the year. I don't know that I necessarily disagree, though. And if I did... well... I'd probably be citing another Marvel book anyway.

Punisher #6

Like this. I may cite this.

Ghost Rider #7

You know, I meant to read this series. But I haven't.

FF #13

Jokes about FF and X-Force costume shopping in the same store have already been made, yes?

Iron Man 2.0 #12

I continue to love how Rhodey's new armor is so ugly and poorly designed that guest and cover artists don't even try to draw it accurately.

Thunderbolts #167

So this time travel story is still going to be going on in December? Eh.

Uncanny X-Men #3

That is a pretty sweet cover.

Wolverine and the X-Men #3

...So don't want to read this book.

X-Men Legacy #260

Kind of a weird setup here since we have already been told which side Rogue chooses. Unless that's not her final decision. Who knows. Carey's on his way out after this. That does make me wonder what the point of this book will be anymore, though.

X-Men #22

This sounds pretty cool. It sounds like it's taking the interesting Sentinel stuff from Schism and totally leaving out all the rest of the stuff with the stupid Hellfire brats.

Uncanny X-Force #18

Wow. That was a especially uninformative solicitation. "These guys bring you a story!"

New Mutants #35

If they aren't fighting Dethklok, I don't care.

Magneto: Not a Hero #2

You don't fool me, book. I know I'm not getting Magneto as a villain back yet.

This was a tough week. Only a few clear hits or misses and a lot of books hugging that line. I'm calling 7 books hits and 5 misses this week.

For the clear hits, there's Batman which came as no surprise at all to me or probably anyone. There's also DC Universe Presents, which was a HUGE surprise to me and my major dislike for Paul Jenkins' usual work. Catwoman was another easy call, despite the surprisingly prudish and judgmental outrage it seemed to spark with people. And Wonder Woman just kicked off what could easily become one of the best runs the character has ever had.

Then there were the tougher calls like Blue Beetle, which was a retread of a recent origin story but really did do the whole reader friendly first issue thing well. Separated from the Oracle controversy, Birds of Prey really was a good start to a series with an interesting conspiracy thriller genre to it. And please see my comment on prudishness and judgmentalism for how much Starfire's promiscuity bothered me in Red Hood and the Outlaws, which had its faults but was a pretty damn entertaining start to a series.

Now for the clear misses. Legion of Super-Heroes joins Legion Lost in this category for not even trying to be a good first issue. Captain Atom clearly wants to be a lot of things but doesn't really manage to be anything good. I feel kind of bad for J.T. Krul. I was really rooting for him.

The rest weren't bad, but I just couldn't bring myself to call them hits. Green Lantern Corps is just the same old stuff we've gotten from Peter Tomasi for years now in that particular franchise, and it's not even his best. Nightwing falls into the typical Batman-lite status quo, and the best I can say about it is that it shows the potential to get much better in future issues. Supergirl stretches out Kara's moment of arrival for the whole issue and saves all the substance for the second issue.

It's still close, but the hits have now overtaken the misses. I'm calling 20 titles hits and 19 misses. Next week is going to decide it, and I'm really not sure which way it will go. I'm expecting to like Aquaman and Green Lantern: New Guardians. I'd give good odds to All-Star Western too. The rest? I have no idea. They could all go either way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But will we actually be seeing the Justice League at this point? 

Aquaman #4 

 Bite off his hand! Bite off his hand!

Justice League International #4 

 The fact that this solicitation thinks we care more about the plot than the team just shows why this relaunch is so broken.

Flash #4 

 Okay, that cover is pretty freaking cool.

Captain Atom #4 

 Glad to hear the military aspect of Captain Atom isn't going to fade away. I don't want to read about Dr. Manhattan.

Green Arrow #4 

 After reading that first issue, I have a lot of trouble believing Krul's exit has nothing to do with bad this relaunch has started. Welcome, Keith Giffen. Please do everything different.

Savage Hawkman #4 

 Dr. Kane! The Black Plague! Morphicius! ...Stop letting Tony Daniel name things.

Mister Terrific #4 

 Awww, man. Do not tell me that along with the Fair Play prison tat that Mr. Terrific now also has a shiv on that cover. Looks like Wallace's weakness for writing scifi is going to catch up to this book real fast too.

Action Comics #4 

 Steel! Hunh. So what is the continuity of the Death of Superman now? Superboy is now completely detached from it. Is Steel going to be too? Was there no Reign of the Supermen?

Superman #4 

 See? The less like armor it looks, the better it looks. Let's keep toning it down.

Batman #4 

 The Court of Owl just sounds cool.

Batman, Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1 

 Man, DC so screwed up Grant Morrison's run. Having to do a oneshot like this is such a mess.

Batwing #4 

 I really don't know about going from Ben Oliver's style to ChrissCross'.

Birds of Prey #4 

Don't tease me with Stephanie Brown's costume like that. It's a low blow.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #4

Shut up. I approve of Starfire's magic breasts.

Green Lantern Corps #4

Please don't tell me Tomasi is trying to introduce yet another mysterious enemy from the Corps' past. Johns has drained this well, man. Go find a new one.

Red Lantern #4

Now this sounds more like what i wanted to see from the first issue.

Demon Knights #4

That cover is pretty awesome.

Stormwatch #4

That cover is... not. Good lord. I'm sorry for what they have done to you, Midnighter.

Suicide Squad #4

Don't tell me Captain Boomerang is still going to have those Black Lantern boomerangs that never made any sense in the first place.

The Ray #1

Never been a big fan of the Ray, but I'm even less interested in a complete reinvention. Looks a big generic too.

Static Shock #4

A foe from Static's past? Seriously, pull your head out of Static's continuity, guys. This is a revamp. You aren't doing anyone any favors. I hope whoever takes this book over realizes that.

Blue Beetle #4

Monkey! 

Now for a much needed break from all the DC stuff. So much needed.

Marvel is killing me with this Schism and Regenesis stuff. Let me be clear. I really want to like this. I really love the parts of Schism dealing with the proliferation of Sentinels and the philosophical rift growing between the X-Men. But man, I can't stand the stupid Hellfire Kiddie Club stuff that's now invading the whole story. Jason Aaron is murdering his story with these poorly conceived brats.

Regenesis has been the light at the end of the tunnel, though. New lineups! Or in some cases... lineups! Books like Uncanny X-Men and X-Men would conceivably have concrete casts again. Well, we now know those casts. And... yeah. Let's go through this.

First up, we have Generation Hope. This is not a series I have been able to get into, despite liking virtually everything else Kieron Gillen has done. I'll admit it has gotten better in recent issues, though. I was really welcoming some kind of big change here, and I got... Sebastian Shaw? Huh? I was thinking something more along the lines of mixing in some of the other younger mutants into the cast to contrast with Hope's creepy clique. This is basically just the same cast plus Shaw. I don't even know what to make of that, and I don't mean that in a way that suggests I'm now curious about the book.

Next is X-Men. This is the one I actually really like, because it's so new and different. I like Jubilee's new vampire status, and her being separate from Wolverine should have really interesting repercussions. This is just also a cast of characters we haven't really seen together before. So this achieves the goal of getting me excited and interested.

Uncanny X-Men. Yeah. You know, I'm someone who is generally pretty laid back about characters. I tend not to hate them. I'll hate a certain writer's handling of them, but I almost never hate the character. There are rare exceptions. Two of them are in this cast. Magik and Danger. I also prefer my Magneto villainous, and Colossus' Juggernaut design looks a bit dumb. Yeeeeah. What really sucks is that I'm pro-Cyclops and this was the book I was really wanting to read.

And finally, New Mutants staggers in. That's it? The same cast? Nate Grey's not new. We've known about him since DnA started hyping up their run. He's already in the book. I thought the book could be mixed up more than that to make it less of a pure nostalgia book. I don't have New Mutants nostalgia. So much for this book.

We have X-Force, with Psylocke interestingly enough pulling double duty. I remember when Kyle and Yost restarted X-Force with those monochromatic, mostly black looks. They were boring but did make sense. Black is stealthy. ...Let me repeat. Black is stealthy. Monochrome costumes that are mostly white are not stealthy. So what is the point? Look at AoA Nightcrawler in that costume. He looks like crap. Drop the nonsensical team colors already. They are still boring but now you have lost any sense behind them. ...Besides that, the inclusion of AoA Nightcrawler does make things a little extra interesting, but I'm disappointed not to see more of a new cast here.

Wolverine and the X-Men really bothers me, because it is the one that gets the interesting cast of characters. But it is also the book that gets Chris Bachalo and the Hellfire Kiddie Club. Seriously, just look at Wolverine right there. What's gone horribly wrong with his aspect ratio? It would do my sanity no good to expose myself regularly to this book.

X-Men Legacy is still around, even though Mike Carey will apparently leave it soon after. The only point this book has ever had was to let Carey just do whatever he felt like on an ongoing basis. That's it. If he's leaving, the book should just end. And again, this is a book where almost nothing seems to be different. We have Rachel Grey now. That's cool. But this is X-Men Legacy. The cast changes every few months, usually more drastically than this. I'm underwhelmed.

X-Factor just seems to have everyone. This is a huge cast. I do love the book, though. I'm not worried about Peter David being able to handle it. The inclusion of Havok and Polaris does mix things up quite a bit too. X-Factor has been redefined as Madrox's team. How will Havok adjust to that new reality? So even though the change here isn't drastic, at least it shows me something new and interesting.

So that's it. This whole thing has only gotten me interested in two books, and neither are even one of the two main books. Uncanny X-Men, the one I want to read, has a cast I don't like. Wolverine and the X-Men, the one I don't really want to read, has the more interesting cast. Most of the other books barely seem like anything has changed. They have just now taken sides, which... kind of doesn't mean anything for about half of them.

Exciting.

Man, this was a tough and surprising week. So many books were not what I was expecting, even though the final results here are basically what I predicted. This week saw 6 hits and 7 misses, in my opinion. So things did break in favor of the misses like I figured, but this stayed much closer than I expected.

There were some pretty good hits this week. Green Lantern was, as expected, one of them as it has generally been one of DC's best titles and nothing's really changed about it in this relaunch. The long-awaited Batwoman lived up to expectations. Grifter was one of the surprise hits for me, and it did a really good job at bringing Cole Cash to the DC Universe. Demon Knights was another surprise hit for me after being let down by Stormwatch. I had a feeling Deathstroke would turn out good, and it certainly did.

Mr. Terrific is one I kept going back and forth on. Really tough call here. But after putting aside my distaste for the JSA being wiped from continuity and Eric Wallace's previous work, I decided this issue really did do an impressive job at setting Mr. Terrific up as a solo hero. The job wasn't perfect, but the job was done well.

Then, there are the misses. And let me just say... even these really weren't so bad. They didn't quite hit the mark, but a lot of them were actually surprisingly good or solid. Resurrection Man actually had an interesting portrayal of its lead character. The overall story was solid but territory that has been covered several times already. Batman & Robin was decent but turned me off to the idea of reading about Bruce and Damian's annoying partnership on an ongoing basis. Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. has a great concept but spent too much time throwing weird crap at the wall seeing what stuck. Suicide Squad was so much better than I was expecting but still had some big flaws. Superboy wasn't bad. It just has its work cut out for it still to sell me on the new Superboy. The only one I would say just did a poor job in its first issue is Legion Lost, which was just kind of a mess for a first issue.

In this category, Red Lanterns was the tough one for me. It was a good book. It really was. I liked it, and I figure I will keep reading it. But if I'm being honest, that has so much more to do with loving the Red Lantern Corps than anything in this issue. Ed Benes' art was awesome, but Peter Milligan spent too much time strangely monologuing with Atrocitus and not even giving me... you know... Red Lanterns. Plural. I was left more disappointed by this book than impressed.

This is still a close one. The New 52 is currently at 13 hits and 14 misses. Things could easily shift in the other direction. In fact, I expect it to next week because there are quite a few releases next week that I'm feeling good about and only a couple I'm dreading.

I really like this image. I like it so much that I think I'm going to try to use it next month.