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The New 52: Fifteen Years Later #1

The Launch Titles, Vol. 1: Justice League

Fifteen years ago, the DC Universe was made anew by the events of Flashpoint. Series lived, series died, and nothing would ever be the same…until Infinite Frontier where we finally agreed to just pretend Post-Crisis didn’t end.

It was for the best.

This was the time I was just becoming a regular reader of DC Comics. I spent most of my high school years looking at the comics branded with The New 52! across the header, and honestly not really being a fan. Nothing was the way I liked it, and all of my favorite characters were put into terrible positions. However, since then things have become dramatically better, to the point that comics are better now than they’ve ever been in my lifetime, and so I can’t muster the same irritation I once did at the very thought of the New 52. There’s even a part of me that feels a bit nostalgic, though just a bit.

To sate that taste for the past, I’ve decided to do something I’ve always wanted to do but never bothered with: I am going to read every single first issue from the initial 52 series launch. This was a thing a few people did at the time, mostly YouTubers and bloggers. They even made an omnibus of the first issues, one I managed to find for cheap. So cheap that I bought it, and will now use it to subject you to 52 reviews of 52 comics from 15 years ago.

I am sorry.

And luckily I’m not doing this alone! Friend of the blog, well-known DC connoisseur, and fellow Barbara Gordon enthusiast @zahri-melitor will be doing likewise on her page. Go read her write-ups here!

As a note before we get started: my standard for this retrospective is dead simple: would I pick up the next issue? That’s all. There will be some titles that I think are good but not for me, and therefore will be a thumbs-down. Similarly, I pulled New 52 Superman despite hating every panel of it. In both cases I’ll make the distinction clear, but that’s going to be my measurement.

We’re going by the sections laid out in the omnibus, and in the order the issues are presented. Today, we’re covering the eleven titles under the Justice League umbrella, including the title that started the New 52, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s Justice League.

Justice League

This was and continues to be the single most important issue of the New 52. Not only was it the first of the initiative to be published, it was the “face” of the relaunch. The cover of Justice League #1 is arguably the most iconic of the whole era. As the flagship series, the direction of the entire DC Universe was contingent on what happened in this book, and since it was the start of a new universe it was also the beginning of many new readers’ comic journeys.

I think they whiffed it. At least first issue.

Now, this was not one of those titles I read back in the day–I generally prefer solos to team books–so this was my very first experience with Johns/Lee’s Justice League. A few things stuck out to me:

The tone for the new DC Universe is the exact reverse of its pre-boot counterpart.

They don’t have the full team present here in this first issue.

The design language is at odds with the story being told.

The art is still pretty great.

Let’s tackle that in reverse order to start with something positive, since I intend to be pretty critical of this whole issue.

The art holds up, and I say that as someone who’s hit and miss with Jim Lee, especially in more modern times. Here, I’d say he nailed it. He’s got a lot of help coming from the colors, done by the incredibly talented Alex Sinclair, specifically all the little lighting effects for Green Lantern which really bring him to life. It’s detailed, dynamic, it conveys tone and motion and power all at the same time, it’s just very solid art from one of the most famous comic book artists of all time.

As a side note, shout-out to letterer Patrick Brosseau as well for his excellent work. Lettering is a thankless job, and I know I certainly don’t give as much credit to letterers as I should, but his work here is clean and consistent and adds personality where necessary.

I will say–and this is a bit of an overly specific nitpick to be fair but given this is the most important book in the line I think the extra scrutiny is more than appropriate–I feel the story being told is at odds with the cohesive design language created by Jim Lee.

All the heroes have similar elements in their costumes (collars, panel lines, lack of trunks, less color blocking in general), but the story presented in this arc is about them all meeting accidentally. So they all made very specific design choices that all happen to align?

Again, this is not the most egregious thing in the universe, but it puts the art in conflict with the narrative when it would have been equally easy and sensible to just have them all don the new suits at the end of the issue. Batman says something like, “Here, I’ve taken the liberty of designing new uniforms for everyone. Each sport a number of improvements to armor, mobility, as well as tracking and vital sign monitors to keep us safe. I suggest you take them.” Then boom, two-page spread of the team in their new suits to end the book on. That took me two minutes.

It’s a little thing, but it could have been used to develop the characters as a team while simultaneously supporting the brand new aesthetic introduced by Jim Lee. That brings me to my far more serious critique: where is the rest of the team?

I have a standard when it comes to team books: I want every member of the starting line-up to be present in the first issue. Not everyone has to be the focus, but lat minimum everyone on the cover should be present. This issue features four of the seven Leaguers, only two of which have been given any focus in their heroic identity (Batman, Green Lantern), one is just a final page cameo (Superman), and the last isn’t even a hero yet (Cyborg).

Normally, I’d just call that a bit of a faux pas, grumble, and move on. But again, the flagship title of a reboot intended to bring in new readers. As far as I am concerned, not having every hero on the cover featured here in some capacity is a huge mistake. This book is not Batman/Green Lantern, this is Justice League.

Where is Wonder Woman?

Flash?

Aquaman?

I’m not even asking them to all meet (though they really should), but each needs some focus even if just a page. Establish their importance to the title, otherwise you give readers the impression that Bruce and Hal are the main characters of the book and the other heroes are secondary. That’s not the intent, so that shouldn’t be the outcome!

Plenty of books have established their teams in fewer pages, and there’s no way DC wouldn’t have given 64 pages if Johns felt it was necessary, so there is no reason for the other heroes’ absences.

To give Johns his due, the banter between Hal and Bruce is at least entertaining. They do come off a bit like huge dicks, but they also just are huge dicks so I suppose that’s unavoidable. And it is clever to flip their pre-boot dynamic. However, they take up way, way too much time and accomplish too little with it. There are five other heroes on this team, where are they? Vic is having his origin, that’s fine–great even. Makes the rookie feel special. Superman shows up at the end (don’t worry, I’ll get to that). WHERE IS WONDER WOMAN? FLASH? AQUAMAN? They aren’t even mentioned! The only thing we get from this issue–first of the new universe and flagship title–is Batman hanging out with Green Lantern.

I love Batman.

II love Green Lantern.

Where is everyone else?

I understand and share the desire for decompressed stories. I like my comics to have space to breathe and develop their characters, but this is too decompressed. This issue is supposed to get new readers hooked, and they don’t even see everyone on the cover. If a woman sees Justice League #1 on the shelves (a reminder that this and Flashpoint #5 were the only new issues published by DC the last week of August in 2011) and says, “gee, I’ve always been curious about DC, and Wonder Woman seems super cool, I’ll buy this!”

Then she reads it cover to cover only to discover a distinct lack of Diana; I think she’s well within her rights to be pissed. Same goes for anyone who saw a character they were interested in on the cover and didn’t get them.

Because it stood alone on the shelves in August 2011, because it was the sole representation of New 52 DC even for a moment, this should be held to a higher standard than any other book.

Even just as a singular work of art, I find it lacking. Why should I read the next issue? To see the other characters promised to me on the cover of this? To learn about the mystery of the exploding alien? There is not enough story here to keep my interest personally, and not enough of a team dynamic for me to want to read on just to see more of the characters.

Finally, and for me most importantly, I fundamentally disagree with the standard set here in this issue. I’m going to attempt to not belabor the point for once, since if you’ve been in comics circles for even a short time you’ll have already heard these same complaints from approximately 25 million people, but it has to be said: the grim tone and condensed history are at odds with what makes for great DC stories. This issue establishes two things:

Heroes have only been around for five years (woof).

Heroes–at least as of five years ago–are hated and feared (double woof).

The five years thing is just…I mean it just utterly destroyed the timeline before it even got started.

That’s putting aside that one of DC’s most cherished roster of heroes is the Golden Age/World War II generation, and that alone is enough for me to declare this to be a horrible mistake. While Marvel has plenty of WW2 heroes, many of them created in the 1940s to boot, they aren’t as prominent and celebrated as the JSA or Freedom Fighters (outside of Captain America and Namor obviously). It was this sense of history and legacy that made DC feel special, and it’s always a mistake to underplay it.

That said, technically speaking that’s a modern development. From 1956 to 1986, the WW2 heroes were from another dimension. Superheroes began with Superman regardless of era. This is effectively just reverting to a previous Silver Age status quo of DC. There is precedent, even if it's one I really really really disagree with.

This five year thing could be easily salvageable beyond that, if Dick Grayson was Robin.

He is not.

He is Nightwing, and that is a huge issue (which will be addressed when we talk about Nightwing #1, as if there was any doubt I wouldn’t find an excuse to bring up Nightwing).

It means what was roughly 15ish years of history pre-boot was cut down by two thirds, while keeping intact huge swaths of history that could not fit in five years. Conversely, many characters and events were erased seemingly at random. It’s going to be a huge anchor on the rest of this timeline, but cap it off here I’ll just say I find it extremely telling that the first step taken by DC Rebirth was to extend the timeline to ten years.

Then we have the tone.

The heroes are hated and feared, and the N52 DCU is a deeply cynical and paranoid place.

As demonstrated in this book, the heroes are assholes even to each other.

This could work if this was a brand new universe in the same vein as We Can Never Go Home, in fact it could be really good! One company has been producing comics with this same tone for sixty years, and have made some of the highest grossing movies of all time!

The trick is that said company is Marvel Comics. Now, Marvel and DC are far more similar than they are different, let’s be fair, but even still they do have different mindsets and priorities.

Historically, the Marvel U has been much less trusting of their heroes, and generally speaking Marvel’s heroes tend to be more cynical. Why then does this book move in that direction, away from DC’s more traditional optimistic tone, in favor of grim’n’gritty?

Well, it was 2011 and that was what was more popular at the time. Here in 2026, edgy nihilism is seen for what it is, childish nonsense, but back in the early 2010s we were under the collective delusion that bland, unthinking cynicism meant more serious and by extension KEWL.

Let me be frank–the only thing sillier to me than a cynic is a literal clown, though I repeat myself.

Now, since this story is set in the past, one could argue that this isn’t so bad. Perhaps in five years the people have come around! That’s not a bad thought, but again unfortunately this set the standard for DC stories from 2011 to 2016. This pessimism was reflected across every book in the line to some degree or another, and it's arguably the primary criticism of this era of DC. It doesn’t go away, even if perhaps it was intended to.

It permeates the entire initiative, and this won’t be the last time I bring it up, but I’ll end on the thing that I really did not care for, which coincidentally came right at the end.

Batman and Green Lantern are going to Metropolis to confront Superman. Hal recklessly charges forward to arrest him, and we get a shot of him going through the wall as we end on a splash page of Big Blue asking what Batman can do. I’ll admit, that’s decently cool! It further establishes Hal as a hothead, and demonstrates that Superman is not one to be trifled with. Problem: this is our introduction to this universe’s Superman.

I will state my bias upfront, Superman is my favorite character ever. In anything. Superman is what got me wanting to read comics monthly, and ever since I was a kid if I was having a crappy day, I’d watch or read or even write something Superman related to help me feel better. Just hearing John Williams’ theme puts me in a better mood (and you best believe I had the biggest, dumbest grin etched into my face for the entire runtime of Superman ‘25). This year I am attempting (and to be honest: failing) to read a Superman comic every single day. I don’t know if there’s a character I’ve spent more time thinking or talking about than Superman. Just saying or writing the word “Superman” feels good, which is why I keep doing it. With that said, I am more picky about Superman than I am any other character (and yet I still can’t help but buy every little thing with that damn “S” on it within sight). If a portrayal is even slightly off in my opinion, I will inevitably complain about it.

I hate this, at least as an introduction to Superman in a new universe. This is our first impression of the Champion of the Oppressed (which due to Grant Morrison is a title I’m allowed to use quite liberally during the New 52), beating Hal Jordan’s ass.

Now Hal was in need of a beatdown, I cannot deny that, but I feel that was inappropriate for Superman.

I am under no delusion mind you, this is comics–they fight because it’s what they do–but this started Superman on the completely wrong foot going into the reboot.

Instead of being a symbol of hope or doing good, of being a leader he’s dropping hammers on GL’s head. We prioritized cool over what was best for the character.

I wouldn’t be so miffed if we saw Superman earlier, helping people or doing something heroic even for just a page. Again, the lack of focus for the other heroes is killing this book.

I know I’m being picky, but this is a retrospective and I know the consequences of this decision. Superman in the New 52 was borderline non-functional, so much so they had to kill him and replace him with his Pre-Flashpoint self. Admittedly, that’s probably more the fault of the solos, but we see the start of it here. We see the start of everything here, and I do not care for any of it.

Final verdict: 👎

Justice League International

Well, that was four pages wasted. Let’s see if we can’t bash out JLI a bit quicker?

This was more what I was looking for from the first issue of Justice League, though even still I’m not crazy about it. Part of that is a JLI without Ted Kord is blasphemy (though with that said I love how this is actually an international team, that’s awesome), but more so because this book doesn’t have a particular identity outside of “alternate JL roster.”

I’m not necessarily opposed to that, but I struggle to see why this had to be a launch title? What niche is this filling? Who does this appeal to? Doesn’t really give me that, and because Justice League hasn’t even filled out its own roster yet I see no reason to have a spin-off title.

Love Dan Jurgens, and his writing here is solid (as is the art by Aaron Lopresti), but there’s nothing here that’s particularly compelling on its own. I’ll say it’s structured far better than its counterpart, we meet the entire team and get little insights into their characters as well as build dynamics right from the jump. Exactly what I want from a team book! But its story hook didn’t do much for me.

Now you can skate by on that if the characters are good, and these here are decent but not exceptional. I liked everyone on this team already (aside from August General in Iron and Godiva who I don’t know), especially Guy and Mari, but there’s not enough here to get me really invested in them here if I didn’t.

The cynical tone continues, and I imagine at least some of the talk surrounding the Hall of Justice is pre-empting internet criticism which is always a lot of fun to be subjected to, but there’s a bit less pessimism here. It still annoys me.

I don’t have much more to add. I thought it was decent, but it didn’t wow me. If I was reading the complete publication history of Booster Gold, I certainly wouldn’t dread seeing this come up. However, I don’t have any burning desire to continue at the moment.

The Verdict: 👎

Aquaman

Full disclosure: this is one of the books I’ve read before.

I know I gave Johns a really hard time on JL–which again I feel is warranted given the magnitude of the title–but now it’s time to sing a bit of praise, as I really enjoyed this issue!

I do feel there are times when the whole “Aquaman isn’t lame” bit is worn thin, however, I also acknowledge that 2011 was a much different time for Arthur than 2026. Aquaman was seen as a joke for most of my lifetime until that movie with Jason Momoa came out, and so at the time it was probably necessary.

That said, this issue has everything I want from a #1! We establish a threat for the arc, we get a look at the new setting, we see Arthur as a hero, we meet his most important supporting cast member (I <3 Mera), and we set a tone going forward. Perfect!

If I had to nitpick, I’d say his speech about wanting to be among humanity was a bit oddly timed, given the last scene of him interacting with surface dwellers was being harassed about being lame. But honestly, that’s fine. It’s a very minor misstep in what is otherwise a very solid start to a great story.

The art by Ivan Reis is gorgeous, possibly my favorite from this batch of issues (this or Flash). The design of the Trench is exquisite, looking like a humanoid hybrid of piranhas and anglerfish, and definitely the best looking “villains” we’ll see for the Justice League titles.

The Verdict: 👍

Wonder Woman

This one was the toughest one to coherently put together my thoughts for.

On the one hand, this issue checked all the boxes I ask of a #1.

It showed us Diana being a hero while also showcasing her skills and personality, it introduced us to the conflict of the arc, and told some semblance of a complete story. Unlike some of the other comics I’ll cover here, it also did all of this while being reasonably compelling. I can see why new readers would be attracted by this issue. The art by Cliff Chiang is a pretty weighty argument by itself. However, I am still hesitant to give this the thumbs-up. In fact, I don’t think I will.

I am trying to keep my feelings on the various retcons introduced in future issues from my mind, but even still I see the cracks in the foundation here. For a small example, all of the major heroes we’ve seen in this retrospective thus far have had cool splash page introductions. Batman, GL, and Superman all got great entrances in JL. Wonder Woman’s is her naked in bed grabbing a helpless woman by the throat. It’s a very minor thing obviously, but you’ll notice none of her male counterparts are depicted like that. Her voice is also way off in my estimation, saying to the same distraught woman who was nearly killed,

“And I can take that key right out of your hand. But I would prefer if you gave it to me willingly.”

This woman is in a panic and came to you for help. Do you really think now is the time to be showing off how dangerous and badass you are? Don’t Amazons pride themselves for their commitment to de-escalation and peaceful conflict resolution? Again, perhaps this is coming off as nitpicky, but this is going to be many new readers’ very first impression as well as old readers’ test of Diana (especially since she ain’t in JL #1), now is when one needs to be the most careful about how they are portraying her.

Instead of that, why not, “Zola, I will do everything in my power to help you. But first, I need you to trust me with the key.” Something that shows Diana trying to put this woman’s mind at ease, and make her feel safe. Simple things, but vital to characterization.

I could vibe with the modern mythological take on the gods; they have very cool designs for one thing. I think Wonder Woman is at her best when she’s facing mythological characters and threats. However, we only get a taste here. We see Apollo and Hermes, of which I think Apollo has the more interesting look. I think I would like them if I continued on, but for now I’d just say they look interesting and leave it at that.

I think my verdict comes down to this: I don’t care for Diana’s voice. Everything is done competently–no, that’s not true, it’s done well–BUT I have learned that if I fundamentally disagree with a take on a character, I will in the end dislike the run.

It can be well written and beautifully rendered, but if I don’t align with the interpretation it really won’t matter.

They may be small things, but I must remind both you and myself, dear reader, that we are working on a small scale for this portion of the retrospective.

Did I like this issue?

As a singular piece of art, I think it’s decent. I can see why people like this run.

Did I like this issue as a Wonder Woman fan (casual though I may be)?

No. I see incongruities and I do not care for them. No matter how pretty the art.

The Verdict: 👎

The Flash

I did not expect to enjoy this nearly as much as I did!

I have never cared much for Barry Allen. I am a Wally West fan, in fact I would consider him to be just behind Superman and Tim Drake in terms of my favorite DC characters (as you can imagine I had a rough go of things in the New 52).

That said, I like the Barry we see here! It’s not amazing by any means, but we see him affected by the death of a friend, a death that he played a small part in. It helps us feel for him, and is definitely more emotionally engaging than “1950s Uber-Competent White Conservative Man.”

Plus the art by Francis Manapul? Electric. It’s between this and Aquaman for who has the best art.

The story is also decent for a single issue of a decompressed arc! We get a little action, we set up a fun mystery, and all while showcasing Barry as a hero. Love it. We also meet a good chunk of the supporting cast right off the bat, plus setting up Iris as a possible love interest. (Which now that I type that out feels exceedingly stupid, why did N52 insist on making us sit through these romances all over again?)

No Rogues yet, but that’s fine. As long as our villain has something interesting going on, I don’t need to or honestly even want to see recognizable antagonists. Just something to catch my interest.

That right there sums up my feelings on this one, it caught my attention when I didn’t really expect it. I think this was a really strong first issue, and I would definitely read #2 as soon as I could.

Verdict: 👍

Captain Atom

I don’t like Captain Atom.

There aren’t that many DC characters that I just cannot stand, but Nathaniel Adam?

He’s one of them.

In fact, he may be number one in that regard, at least for heroic characters.

Maybe I haven’t been reading the right Captain Atom stuff, but whenever I see him he’s either working as a stooge for the United States or whining and crying about becoming Monarch. Either become Monarch or shut the fuck up.

I felt that should be said before we get into things properly, just as a warning to readers who do like Captain Atom.

This issue sucks.

Now, it did all of the things I ask of a fist issue. We see Captain Atom do some heroic things, we get a taste of his personality, we set up a conflict for the arc, so I’d say this was a competent issue. The art–done by the wildly talented Freddie E. Williams II (possibly my favorite Robin artist besides Pete Woods)–is decent, but Williams has better stories with even better art.

Here the linework isn’t really present, and the colors are what separates the characters and background. Now Jose Villarrubia’s colors pop really well, but the overall picture ends up being sort of blotchy.

The story is…it’s okay. Captain Atom is going to explode.

Again.

But it didn’t really compel me to keep reading. They didn’t endear me to this character in any meaningful way, it’s just kinda rolling on with the assumption that I already care about CA. I don’t, and therefore don’t really have any incentive to keep reading. I’m not invested in the fate of America’s #1 goon, or any of his loser friends, or the big monster at the end.

The Verdict: 👎

The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men

What in the recorded history of fuck was that?

Now I suppose I should do what I did the last time and make it clear: I love Firestorm. I think Firestorm is cool as hell. I prefer Ronnie to Jason, but that’s mostly because I’ve read more from Ronnie. Still, I really like these characters.

This? I do not like this at all.

This one was a bit odd, as from what I understand it was pitched by Ethan Van Sciver and then scripted by Gail Simone.

Now Simone, I love. Her BOP and Villains United are two of my favorite reads from last year (still need to acquire her Secret Six omnibuses).

EVS?

Well, he’s spent the last decade as a far-right grifter, making money off of starting moral panics and calling things woke.

He supported Jan 6 as it was happening, spread lies about the 2020 election afterward, misinfo about COVID, and hate toward trans people.

And that is just the stuff I know about.

This is an extremely roundabout way of saying that I hate him. His art is quite detailed and he puts a lot of thought into how best to use the artwork to tell a story and develop characters, which I love to see, but that doesn’t really matter to me at this point.

I think every conversation about EVS should begin with a condemnation, as he’s made it his life’s work not to draw great comics, but to be a vector of hate and make money off of the suffering of others.

Also wasting all those words on him helps me put off talking about this comic, because frankly I don’t have nearly enough to say outside of it’s bad. Art’s decent? Done by Yıldıray Çınar. I think if EVS had drawn this (he did the cover) I would have more to say, but it’s just standard late 2000s-early 2010s artwork and coloring. Completely serviceable.

The story? We open with a family being tortured for information by the guy who, in the previous universe, became the Thinker and terrorized Barbara Gordon.

I see we’re not courting the family audience.

Actually, I was thinking about that. We really are microtargeting older teenage boys across pretty much all these titles so far. Everything is tactical and edgy and looks like an exceptionally shit Call of Duty.

Firestorm is a Spider-Man archetype, shouldn’t we be appealing to younger teens? Not saying they don’t appreciate tasteless violence too, but maybe that there’s no need for that here? We should be aspiring for Ultimate Spider-Man, not Ultimatum.

Then we jump straight from torture to a confrontation over racism, and it just puts this issue in a very weird position. It’s very awkward, not just for the characters but for the audience. We’ve just met these people, so it’s a bit like walking into a room mid-argument. Given I know Post-Crisis Ronnie a bit, I think Jason is probably correct that Raymond is blind to his privilege, but again: we don’t know these people.

Then there is Jason’s line about,

“Double how smart you think I am. Then double that.”

Hey dumbass, we don’t know you! For all we know we are multiplying nada by nothing and getting bupkiss!

We gotta be shown them being smart before you can say something like that. All we know about Jason here is that he works for the paper and he does really terrible interviews.

Also, we get an example as to why I like seeing heroes do heroic things in their first issue. Not just because that’s the exclusive reason for buying this type of rag over any of the innumerable comics of countless other genres, but also because now the only impression I have about Ronnie and Jason is that they don’t like each other and will probably just argue about the other being a bad person.

Who cares?

I wanna see people do great feats against impossible odds to save innocent people. Show us that! Or at minimum, show us Ronnie and Jason’s shared love of helping people and doing the right thing so that we the reader get a sense for their brand of heroism.

Otherwise, I’m going back to Superman.

Also with the separate colored costumes they look like Colonel Mustard and Kaptain Ketchup, what a terrible decision to break up the iconic Firestorm costume like that.

The Verdict: 👎👎👎

Green Arrow

Okay, another character I really like!

As a matter of fact, this was the first book I ever pulled from DC!

Well, one of them.

We’ll get to the others, but just know that I really love Oliver. Reading every issue of BOP has brought me to liking Dinah significantly more–whereas I only slightly preferred her–but I still enjoy some tales of the Emerald Archer.

Would you believe me if I told you this might be the worst one yet?

It’s in contention with Fury of Firestorm, unfortunately.

Again, it checks the boxes. Checkin’ boxes, people are great at checking boxes, let me tell you.

Actually providing good sequential art to go with the checked boxes?

Nearly impossible apparently.

Dan Jurgens' art is again very decent. Jurgens is one of my favorite writer/artists working. I love almost all of his output. His Action Comics run remains my favorite modern Superman run. His work here is fine, but a bit stiff. There isn’t much motion conveyed, which as the guy who killed Superman I know he’s more than capable of. Not helped by the writing polluting the panels.

There is so much talking in this book, primarily about nothing.

Just words on the page that contribute almost nothing to the reading experience. A lot of dialogue is very “older man in the early 2010s writing about technology in a way that reveals he doesn’t use it.”

Then there’s the characters, and frankly there isn’t much to say. Everyone aside from Oliver is new as far as I can tell, and none of them leave much of an impression. The villains are particularly generic. GA doesn’t have the best rogues, but they usually bring something to the table. A cool gimmick, an interesting design, a good name, something. Here? They’re completely forgettable goons in t-shirts.

The supporting cast is even less interesting, just a couple of stock Tech Friends™️ who help Ollie with his Tech™️.

Finally, Green Arrow himself is utterly dull. This feels like the most base version of Oliver Queen, with the vaguest allusion to his politics. To put it simply, it feels like they removed as much of his personality and charm as they did his beard.

The Verdict: 👎

The Savage Hawkman

The Hawks are arguably some of the characters who would benefit most from a reboot, though from my understanding it didn’t really work out that way. I doubt I’ll find out, because I have no desire to ever read the next issue.

The book wasn’t bad (necessarily), the art by Philip Tan was actually very pretty, but it offered nothing to latch onto.

Carter Hall doesn’t want to be Hawkman, tries to burn the suit, fails, fights a big monster guy at the end.

Okay?

Not much to go on. There’s nothing here that really invests me in the story.

Why should I care if he stops being Hawkman? He’ll save me $2.99 if he does! What’s so special about this monster guy? Might he save me my $2.99?

If this was Hawkman #57, I think it would be fine to just have a standard little fracas with some dude. But issue one? Our first meeting with this character in a brand new universe? Nah. Nothing here.

The Verdict: 👎

Mister Terrific

Okay, here’s where I have to restate some of the rules: the test is not “is this a bad comic” but “would I buy the next issue?”

Because, I don’t think Mister Terrific is bad. I think it’s okay, and I see the bones of a really good comic, but for me this issue relied far too heavily on narration rather than letting the art speak for itself.

Specifically the flashback, where they could have cut out a ton of narration to let the art tell the story, but instead we’re inundated with text. And sometimes a comic needs a lot of text! I enjoy the reading aspect of comics! But when I (someone who is in no sense an artist) see the opportunities for visual storytelling slip by, I know that the comic will probably end up being okay at best.

And unfortunately, the art is not strong enough on its own to carry it here. Faces don’t really convey emotion very well, including a panel that should be a reaction shot but instead shows the effect. It’s not terrible by any means, but I cannot say that I would buy the next issue of a comic that I would rate somewhere between low B- and C.

Also Michael why are you supporting a Republican…ever?

“He agrees on education.”

One: doubtful.

Two: then do you agree with him on gutting healthcare, women’s rights, civil rights, and transferring wealth to 0.1%? And that’s just the 2012 Republican Party, now you have to contend with straight up fascism. But do you like any of that garbage to start?

No?

Then don’t be stupid.

I don’t care what the vibe of the era was, that instantly put a bad taste in mouth.

The Verdict: 👎

DC Universe Presents: Deadman

We come to our final issue, and luckily we are going out on a positive note! This was a good issue, very good even! Now, since this is an anthology, our little metric has little weight. The next arc could come out and I could hate it, but for the issues presented in the omnibus, I would say it’s one of the strongest from the Justice League section.

It’s a partial origin for Deadman, which is nice, but it also presents us with a new conflict, which is even better. Boston’s voice is spot on, and Bernard Chang’s art is spectacular. Also that cover? Class.

Best part is Deadman got to keep his costume, which I am always in favor of.

Honestly, not sure what else needs to be said. If you can find the trade, or honestly just use DCUI, I would say read it. I know that’s what I intend to do.

The Verdict: 👍

And that’ll do it for this time! Again, if you haven’t already, now would be the perfect time to read Zahri Melitor’s takes on these titles.

For me, we are sitting at 3 out of 11 titles. Mister Terrific and to a lesser extent Wonder Woman are borderline, but if I had to choose which of the second issues I’d spend money on it would be Aquaman, Flash, and DC Universe Presents (for now).

I think once we get some more offbeat titles or characters I have a stronger attachment to, that number will shoot up.

I would say as of now, the general theme is that none of them outside Firestorm and Green Arrow are terrible, but almost none of them are really exceeding my expectations.

Now admittedly, that’s very hard for a first issue, but that’s the point!

This was supposed to be a complete reset of DC, a chance for new readers to be enticed into giving their funny books a chance.

You probably do only have that one issue before they check out and move on to other things, so it was vitally important for each to nail this. To get the reader sucked in and wanting to learn more about this exciting world of superheroes.

Very few of the titles managed to do that, and I have theories, but for now I’m going to let those marinate a while longer.

That should do it for now, see you fine folks same Bat-Time, same Bat-Blog, for coverage of the Superman books.