The New 52

I've read some recent posts at iFanboy and other corners of the internet that I have to respond to. WTF. The New 52 is pretty awful. I mean, here's the thing: it's not worse than D.C. was before, but it's not really better. It's a deck chairs on the Titanic thing.

D.C. has a fundamental problem: a central lack of writing. Their writing staff is weak to terrible. Geoff Johns is just not as prolific or proficient as the top of Marvel's talent. He is on par with Rick Remender...maybe (Fear Agent is awesome, but his Marvel stuff so far has only been good, not great -- X-Force though is trending up). Grant Morrison is inconsistent intentionally. He's experimenting on D.C.'s dime right now and it's hurting their product. It's nice to see Pete Milligan getting work. I just cancelled half of his books though. Justice League Dark reminds me of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen...the movie. Even Jeff Lemire isn't even saving this foray. While Animal Man is excellent and haunting, Frankenstein is a disaster at best. Paul Cornell, who I've very publicly stated is the most talented writer at D.C., is languishing in the New 52 -- Stormwatch is on the ropes and Demon Knights is awful.

Many of the re-launches were dead from the beginning. I think Birds was terrible, in spite of my love for the first, oh, 70 issues of the regular DC series. I'm not entirely sure what happened to Gail Simone, but right around the time Marvel pulled Deadpool in 2002 (?) she basically fell off for me. Birds sustained a couple more years. But this book is terrible. Suicide Squad was the same way. I love the idea. I even liked the 80s version of this book. But the new launch was trash. It's mostly the same everywhere. Blackhawks? OMAC? All-Star Western? Most of these books don't even deserve a mention.

There are a few stand outs. The Bat family has faired very well. Of course, most of these books didnt really need saving; they were doing well before the re-launch. Superman family books likely improved the most (except, notably, Action Comics -- I think the Morrison Action is worse than Paul Cornell's excellent, maybe historic, version). The Vertigo re-integration of Animal Man and Swamp Thing has been strong for Animal Man, but I have real questions about the viability of the new Swamp Thing book if it needs to go direct to Arkane. Red Hood and the Outlaws looks gorgeous and I like the new Jason Todd, but what IS the story? You could say the same about a lot of the line-up. Green Lantern is solid, but the rest of the line is getting worse (I just dropped Corps). Wonder Woman has some promise, but that's easy for 5 issues and has been hard for more than that for 50 years.

Some other big titles appear to have a flimsy veneer. Flash, for instance, looks pretty good. It's the namesake of the event that kicked off the new 52. It also has _________ going for it? It has an artist on scripts, never a great a idea. It has a new villain that's a lot like Madrox, so that's not going to get the job done. Aquaman? What else needs to be said about that? Justice League will be terrible (and, honestly, it's not very good now) when Jim Lee leaves and the inevitable revolving door of artists starts. Teen Titans won't stay at the level it's performing. It's all coming back to reality at some point. And then, the DC books will be right back where they were: Batman books, Action Comics, Green Lantern, and a pile of discounts at Half-Price Books.

Honestly, which DC books compares favorably to the last 60 issues of Captain America? Nothing. Not even approximately. And I'm including Scalped in that list. If you stick to the main DC universe, it's an even bigger blow out. And here's the thing, I think you have to go pretty deep into the Marvel coffers to find a book that isn't better than the best DC book. Let's say that Detective Comics is the best (it's prolly close -- maybe Batwoman). Here are books from Marvel I think are quite a bit better:

1. Cap
2. Daredevil
3. Fantastic Four/FF
4. Secret Warriors
5. Secret Avengers
6. Avengers
7. New Avengers
8. X-Factor
9. X-Force
10. Punisher

It gets close after this: Invincible Iron Man, Uncanny, Wolverine -- all of these books are ON PAR with Detective Comics. I do not see the "proof" that iFanboy and others do that Marve is in deep trouble and D.C. is doing great.

Sales numbers? Ok, that's fair. But they're a gimmick obviously. A full company-wide relaunch is causing everyone to look at and read these books for a minute. But is anyone reading AND enjoying them? I don't think so for the most part. Marvel's top 20 is a sustainable product. The writers are excellent. The art is good to great. The principals involved (characters, teams, concepts) are top notch. They're pretty too big to fail. And with newly developing titles w some fresh talents popping up (Paolo Rivera is the truth -- the absolute truth -- he is a star FOR SURE), it's hard to see Marvel not gaining strength over time. D.C. staff is aging and generally stale already. Levitz? Lobdell (and his books are some of the gems of this group to be fair -- but for how long can we expect someone who's been out 13 years to continue to produce at a high level)? Perez splitting scripting duties on Superman? It's not getting the effects you want, D.C. There is no buzz.

The New 52 doesn't fix the biggest problem that D.C. has faced for the better part of the decade: a lack of writing talent. Geoff Johns can't do it all and you don't WANT (and neither does he, frankly) Grant Morrison determining the direction of your company. Morrison writes great interesting, thought-provoking retconned stories. But don't make him the DC universes script-writer. You have to purchase some additional writing talent. Guys and gals who can write 40 issues of Nightwing. Some Teen Titans vs. Amazo stories. A Robin and Black Canary team-up. Just some comic book writers. You have not done this so far. And, while I dont work in the industry so I'm not an expert really, I have been around comics a long long time and I'm just guessing this is an editorial issue -- and maybe an EIC issue -- that the brand isn't getting the right talents and when it is it is not applying those talents where they belong.

It seemed like DC was getting better BEFORE it hit the panic button and is getting worse now. For sure, Jeff Lemire was better on Superboy than anything he writes today (except Sweettooth). Paul Cornell was better on Action Comics than any book he writes now. The Bat books are basically unchanged from before the event. Flash is worse now. Green Lantern is better; Corps is worse. The others shouldn't even exist. Wonder Woman is improved. Aquaman exists/is readable. Justice League is temporarily improved. Teen Titans is better. For the most part, the change has been marginal and mixed. And certainly not even close to enough to narrow the gap with a dominant House of Ideas. That suggestion is too crazy to even contemplate.