Category Archives: Comics
Comic Reviews: DC Should Have Done a Full Reboot
Another week has come and gone, leaving me with another stack of new DC titles to read and enjoy. So far, my general opinion still hasn’t been changed by what I’m reading. I become more and more convinced each week that DC should have done a hard reboot right from the beginning. They should have set all of their characters back to Square One. None of this crap where some characters have been fully rebooted and some haven’t been touched at all.
I think the fans would accept a full reboot.
Just look at the evidence in sales so far this month. Justice League sold over 200,000 copies and is going back for its fourth reprint. (To you non-comic fans, that’s a big deal). Even books like Hawk and Dove have sold out and are going back for a reprint. People are buying these new DC titles in droves!
"Hey Marvel! Come at us, bro!"
So clearly DC’s strategy of getting people excited for just their revamp/soft reboot has worked. They did a great job over the summer preparing people for the changes. Comic book fans were ready and willing to accept the new continuity. Yes, there have been some grumblers (like me!) who have complained about some of the changes. But we’re still buying the comics. Which leads me to believe that we’d all still be buying the comics if DC had gone for a full reboot. They’re already retelling the origins of Superman and the Justice League in their respective books. But with the second story of each, they’re going to jump ahead five years. It’s a weird storytelling strategy.
They should have done a full Ultimate DC.
Just not this Ultimate DC
Why not retell all the origins of the characters with exciting new twists and focus? Look at the success of Ultimate Spider-Man. Have DC’s best writers plot out the birth of a new DC Universe. Weave characters together from the ground up into the Justice League and into the Teen Titans. Get rid of characters you don’t want anymore. Give new origins to some characters. Do whatever you want, but do it with some consistency.
But this would never work. I don’t know if comic book fans would have the patience to sit through everything again already knowing what’s to come. While I’d be happy with Dick Grayson back as Robin, with DC retelling his origin, I’d constantly be looking ahead for Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne. Plus some comic fans would definitely be bitter about losing all the continuity. I don’t know if they’d be pacified by the idea that all of that was still around and they could reread it whenever they like. Just DC is going forward with some new ideas.
Oh well. What do I know? This is probably why DC hasn’t given me a job yet. Click the jump for my reviews of DC’s Week Three, including Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Nightwing.
Review: X-Factor #225
X-Factor is my favorite comic book on the stands, mostly because it stars my favorite character: Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. But it’s also a very fun comic, with great characters, great stories and occasionally great art. So I want to dedicate my blog to giving X-Factor as much love as possible. Writer Peter David has penned nearly 80 issues (!!!) starring the same group of B and C-list mutants from the X-Men franchise. X-Factor doesn’t get a lot of press, rarely does anything to draw attention to itself, but maintains enough fans to keep publishing.
X-Factor #225
X-Factor is the little series that could.
So I’m going to start reviews with the latest issue, X-Factor #225. I should have started with the last issue, X-Factor #224.1, but I couldn’t get around to it that weekend. Such are the distractions of a wealthy, studly, millionaire cowboy/astronaut such as myself. In this issue, the team is still recovering from the last big storyline, which involved the birth of Rahne’s demon baby, as well as the events of the separate series Avengers: Children’s Crusade. X-Factory had a brief but very meaningful cameo in that series, which I’ll get to in a moment. The crux of this new issue is that Madrox and his team are pulled into a murder investigation in Kansas, one that occurred on the farm where Jamie Madrox grew up.
But the victim isn’t as dead as she seems.
Sex Sells at DC Comics
Wow. DC Comics is really taking the whole ‘sex sells’ thing to new heights with their relaunch. Issue after issue so far has featured their heroines and female characters either stripping naked, nearly naked, already naked or having casual sex. Not every issue has done this, but enough to stand up and take notice. I realize there is the unfortunate belief that comic book nerds are all lonely, depraved men living in their parents’ basements, but come on! Why are they doing this?
Because boobies, that’s why!
Bewbs, tits, tatas, melons, mammaries, jugs, etc.
Is this getting out of hand? Are readers titillated or irritated?
I haven’t read all of the new issue #1s, but I’ve read enough to notice this sexy trend. DC seems to be going out of their way to oversexualize their female characters, even the popular, famous characters. And it’s not like the nudity or sex adds anything to the specific scene or character. Most of these scenes could very easily be skipped or drawn with clothes on. And the sex is as gratuitous as possible. At least one superheroine, Starfire, was flirty and sexy before relaunch, but her new incarnation is that of a total slut who hops into bed with Roy Harper just for kicks and giggles. It’s practically the first thing she does once she appears in the issue.
And Starfire’s not alone. Check out the oversexualized moments I’ve found in just three weeks of new releases. There will be spoilers:
Review: X-Men: Schism #4
Finally, the confrontation between Cyclops and Wolverine comes to the breaking point. Or is that the slashing/eye-blasting point? Not only is the rift between them clearly laid out and understandable, but the two heroes actually do come to blows at the climax of this issue. And it’s an awesome fight. X-Men: Schism #4 is an exciting and tense issue, one that thankfully is not bogged down by the ridiculousness of the Hellfire Club Kids. It’s just Cyclops and Wolverine laying it all on the line.
X-Men: Schism #4
And I am completely on Cyclops’ side.
Wolverine comes off like a fool! I understand his reasoning, and I suppose it fits with the character, but in the context of everything we know about the X-Men and in the context of what we’re reading here, Wolverine is a blind, stubborn fool. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like we’re made to root for Wolverine anymore. Both sides are pretty clear and neither one comes off as completely favored over the other. The reader can choose for themselves who is right, and also see that both Cyclops and Wolverine are being more than a little selfish. That’s a plus and definitely helps to better define the titular Schism of the X-Men.
Spoilers after the jump.
Mutant Healing or Adamantium Claws?
Hilarious web video by Greg and Lou. They get to have a mutant power, and they both want to be Wolverine…but they can only afford one of his powers. Decisions, decisions…
Henchman-4-Hire