Look, even to a DC Comics Zombie, the company's September relaunch can seem intimidating. The information is almost overwhelming—52 brand new books, a smattering of new characters interjected into the publisher's traditional roster, and completely new creative teams on almost every book. On top of that, the chances of all 52 (or even a high percentage) being worth buying is minuscule. So, for you gentle reader, I have taken the time to separate the wheat from the chaff, to isolate the cream of the crop, and to highlight the must-haves of the DCnU. Once a week, between now and the end of August, I will attempt to explain and justify my choices for the 15 most important books of DC's upcoming relaunch.
This week, the Justice League, Part One: Featuring Justice League, Action Comics, Batman
Justice League (Geoff Johns
and Jim Lee):
It seems like it's been forever since the Justice League had a truly top-flight roster. The most recent attempt to rebuild the Justice League with A-listers was Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes' 2006 post-Infinite Crisis relaunch, Justice League of America. It was a run I panned at the time but, after watching the book languish under the direction of Robinson for the last few years, those Meltzer/Benes days are almost a happy memory.
Of the 52 new books DC is launching, Justice League has, perhaps, the most high profile creative team. Geoff Johns has established himself as an exciting and even potentially epic storyteller, and Jim Lee, is one of the most famous “working” comic book artists in the industry. (I put working in quotation marks because this is Lee's first ongoing interior work since the aborted debacle of Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder.) L'il Trey from 10 years ago would have been excited about Lee's involvement, but his style has been copied so much that even going back to the originator feels a little safe and maybe even boring. But, he's a big name to bring in new readers and that was the point of the DC relaunch. Johns has re-branded and relaunched several of DC's properties in new, more-streamlined packages. From the Justice Society of America in the early 2000s to his gigantic run at the head of the renovated Green Lantern franchise, Johns has rebuilt large sections of the DCU already. Now he and Lee set their sights on a book that the company is obviously placing a heavy emphasis on. Justice League will be the first of the DCnU to debut. It is the only comic book that DC will ship on August 31—a full week before any of the other new books.
For these reasons, it is hard to leave Justice League off of any must-read list of DCnU launches. This is the “big” book. The Justice League is the amalgamation of the DCU's most powerful heroes and Johns will treat them as such. He's shown that he can turn books starring characters like Green Lantern and the Flash into blockbuster-like epics and there should be little doubt that he can do the same with the original super-team. This should be the book at the forefront of the DCnU. Whatever larger-than-life stories are going to be told in the newly refurbished DC Universe will most likely start or end with Justice League.
Action Comics (Grant Morrison and Rags Morales):
It is somewhat obvious that the powers-that-be at DC are attempting to walk the thin line between relaunch and out-and-out reboot. They seem to have employed an “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” philosophy to the entire undertaking. So, while long time bestselling characters like Batman and hot, newly reinvigorated properties like Green Lantern are barely being touched (and even being expanded upon) much of the rest of the DC is getting a second look.
At the forefront of this examination is Superman. The original superhero, the genesis of the medium, and DC's oldest property, Clark Kent has seen better days. Despite a decade that has seen a (kind of) high profile, long running television show, a popular original graphic novel origin retelling and a legitimately brilliant twelve part maxi-series all starring the Kryptonian, the ongoing tales of the same character have languished in mediocrity. After a strong start to the 2000s by writers like Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, some of the comic book industry's biggest names tried with varying degrees of success to guide the hero into the new millennium. This all culminated in truly bizarre series of events surrounding J. Michael Straczynski's run on DC's most iconic character. He wrote an overwrought and heavy-handed story where Superman made a baffling trek across the United States by foot. After being panned by critics and readers, Straczynski abandoned the project, like a friend that comes over to play, breaks your favorite toy, and leaves before your parents get home.
It did not have to be this way. At the turn of the century, DC famously shoved aside a creative proposal to reinvigorate Superman written by major comic book talent (Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Mark Waid, and Tom Peyer) to promote a much more traditional retelling of the character led by the aforementioned Loeb. Over a decade later, DC has chosen to amend this oversight by letting Morrison take the reins of Action Comics. The way Morrison has talked about his plans makes it pretty clear that elements of the Superman 2000 proposal will not be appearing. (It should also be noted that many of the ideas from the proposal have already been used in other works by Morrison, Waid, and Millar.)
Morrison is, understandably, a polarizing figure. He does not shy away from Golden and Silver age comic book craziness and has a tendency to allow a certain level of abstraction to seep into his work. Morrison is one of the few comic book writers that rewards readers for paying close attention to narrative clues. This can require a certain amount of reading between the lines and paying extremely close attention. (In fact, some of his recent Batman Incorporated stories have encouraged a certain level of basic historical knowledge.) However, if a reader is willing to learn and pay attention, Morrison will reward them with some of the deepest, most detailed stories the industry has ever seen. The weak-link for Action Comics would seem to be artist Rags Morales whose work can shift from fantastic to flawed from panel to panel. So far the covers we have seen by Morales have trended toward the former and not the latter, so that is a good sign.
Here's the bottom line: You should buy this book. This is might be the most important book that DC is publishing in the relaunch. The first time Morrison wrote a Superman book the result was All Star Superman. The new Action Comics might be worth buying even if the artist rendered the entire book in nothing more than stick-figures. With an competent, if not spectacular, artist working off of Morrison's scripts, this book is a “must-have.” Just remember Rule #1 for Morrison books: Do not let the concepts scare you away. Sure, Bruce Wayne franchising the Bat-logo and Superman wearing a short cape and jeans sound bad on paper, but only Morrison could bring them full circle into awesomeness.
Batman (Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo):
With the DC Relaunch comes a Bat-regime change, chum. The Bat-books, headlined by Grant Morrison for nearly half a bat-decade are shifting to a new creative Bat-talent. Scott Snyder, who has Bat-helmed Detective Comics since October of 2011 moves to the Bat-flagship, Batman. (That was the last Bat-prefix, I bat-promise.)
It appears that Batman franchise (along with other solid seller, Green Lantern) is going to be the least changed of the DC properties. While other characters get de-aged, disappear, or are repurposed, Batman and the majority of his supporting cast seems to be left intact. At Comic-con last weekend, DC editorial even pointed out that all of the Robins (presumably the male ones) are still in continuity. (Interestingly, this does imply that the DCnU Bruce Wayne moves through Robins as quickly as he does Bat-mobiles. Four (maybe five) Robins in five years seems a little crowded. Yet, what is the point of reading comic books without a health dose of suspension of disbelief?)
In the DC Relaunch, a whopping 14 books are related to Batman in someway. Later on, I will discuss the best of the ancillary Bat-books, but for now let's focus on the one where Bruce is the solo headliner. Scott Snyder's Batman seems to be head and shoulders above the rest of the Batman-centric books. Tony Daniel's Detective Comics promises to be underwhelming and David Finch's Batman: The Dark Knight will probably be similar (if more than 2 issues even get published). Both books are written by artists turned writers, and while others have successfully made that transition, it has not gone well for Daniel or Finch. The previous work of both was uninteresting and Finch has a serious problem meeting deadlines. Meanwhile, Snyder's pre-relaunch run on Detective Comics featured solid writing, intriguing mysteries and a well rounded take on the Dick Grayson version of Batman. Artist Greg Capullo, a Spawn alum, will bring a sharp, dark and kinetic look to the book. It will be interesting to see what Snyder and Capullo bring to the original Batman.
This is the Bat-book. If you are interested in reading a series starring just Bruce Wayne that is well-written and deeper than a paper plate, this is the book to buy. Snyder's vision and grasp of Gotham will make this the premiere book of the Batman lineup. His move from Detective Comics to the main Batman book indicates that DC want his hand to guide their biggest franchise.
Next week: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and....Aquaman?!
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