[comics comics comics]

[tellitslant]

eta: hoshit! I can't believe I forgot to link to this! You MUST go watch beccatoria's fantastic Wonder Woman vidlet to "Holding Out for a Hero"! GO NOW. /eta

The subject came up on Twitter, and then beccatoria posted her DCnU pull list, and, well, I'm trying to figure mine out. So here's what I'll probably be buying come September...

Batgirl
Babs is my Batgirl and always has been, plus I am interested to see what the actual story about her being out of the chair will be. I just hope she still has her PhD in Library Science... :P (No, really: I'm sorry to lose Oracle, for so many reasons, but. Babs as Batgirl again, in a non-pre-Crisis world. Yes please.)

Batwoman
Finally finally finally FINALLY FINALLY I GET KATE KANE BACK. AND Bette Kane. And Maggie Sawyer. I've only been waiting on this forever, no big deal. Plus J.H. Williams III and Amy Reeder art throughout the series. So gorgeous!

Huntress
Okay, this is a mini and doesn't start till October but WHATEVER. HELENA. Paul Levitz wrote a lot of Helena Wayne's pre-Crisis Earth-2 adventures, which I loved and am currently re-reading (please let Power Girl show up, damn), and his intro to the Darknight Daughter trade that I have somewhere was really lovely. Plus it's tying in with BoP so yay!

Justice League Dark
Madame Xanadu and Zatanna! I'm pretty much sold just on that. The recent Madame Xanadu series (mainly drawn by Amy Reeder, which made me very happy about her work to come on Batwoman) set out some amazing backstory that I hope will remain consistent-ish. Plus, Zee! :D

Voodoo
The recent Advocate interview with Dan DiDio revealed that Voodoo is bisexual, which I did not know! I'd been considering the book before then, because it looks interesting, but that may have bumped it up to for-sure status. I am a little concerned about the emphasis on sexiness in the solicits, though.

Wonder Woman
I am kind of on the fence for WW? Chiang's art looks incredible and I've heard good things about Azzarello, the writer, but the current JMS/Hester run is just so wrong. Still, this new run seems to be going back to her mythology and the gods, which makes me optimistic, especially that they're including Eris (see also: Perez's and Jimenez's uses of the golden apples, squee).

I may beg, borrow, or download the following to check them out:
Firestorm - because of Gail Simone, and also mid-90s Firestorm was interesting, IIRC.
The Savage Hawkman - alien archaeology, plus Philip Tan art. Welllll... maybe.
Catwoman - did you know she's sexy? Sexy sexy Catwoman! Again, I may pick this up to see if it's actually good, or just all about The Sexy.
Birds of Prey - so unsure about this one. I mean, I love Gail's take on them so much and will miss that group, but this does sound interesting (they're covert ops - spies, guys, spies!), and Huntress will be tying in...
Blackhawks - but will Zinda be in it?
Men of War - solely because the solicit for issue #2 has Circe in it!
Demon Knights - this just looks interesting, dangit. (And not just for Etrigan/Madame Xanadu. Um.)

That's more than double what I currently buy (Secret Six and BoP, and I was reading WW but it's just SO WRONG that I've actually stopped), which is pretty impressive because I am a damn picky comics reader. I may have to go digital for a few of these - I mean, I've stopped buying books proper, and comics may be lighter but they're a bitch to pack. :/ Not for Batwoman, though - that I want in full JHW-artistic glory!

I will also pick anything up if and when Renee Montoya appears in it (the DiDio interview in the Advocate mentions the Question in the title but not in the article, which is... concerning), plus I'm sure that Alex and I will be trading a few things back and forth. I have a feeling it's going to be a very comics-y autumn.


Note: I know there are a few people who follow me for comics reasons whom I haven't followed back, and I'd like to up the comics portion of my reading lists before this autumn. If you can/are following me on Dreamwidth, drop me a coment there and I'll add you back right off. If you're on LJ... drop me a comment anyways and I may friend you, if you don't mind that you'll suddenly also be getting Way Too Much Information about my grad school experience. :P

Comments

[windwoodrose.livejournal.com]

I pretty much cringe when I see JMS' name attached to a comic series now, like a Pavlovian reaction. I miss Babylon 5 when he was actually good at story.

[tellitslant]

I was all excited when he was announced because B5 was so good. Man, what happened? Sigh.

[windwoodrose.livejournal.com]

He was also the writer behind "Sins Past" (When Spider-man finds two evil twins that were the HYPER-AGED OFFSPRING OF GWEN STACEY AND NORMAN OSBORN WTF) and "One More Day" (When Spider-man makes a deal with MEPHISTO TO ERASE HIS MARRIAGE WITH MARY JANE). I am not sure if all of these storylines were editorial mandates or if he had significant story input but it's enough to provoke the "JMS - Oh no!" reaction from me.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Random commenting! Hello! I have no idea whether the twins thing was editorially mandated, but I do know that the erasure of the marriage was a directive from Joe Quesada who apparently never liked it in the first place. Though I don't know whether that included the idea that he made a deal with the devil. And, yeah, whatever his role in that debacle, he's long since blown his good writer credits with me. :(

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yay, thank you for the rec! ♥

Also your list is interesting. Honestly I know next to nothing about Huntress and really not that much about Birds of Prey either, which I know is criminal. It's kind of my secret dark geek secret that even though I really love both Black Canary AND Oracle I've never really been moved to read through BOP for various dumb reasons. Although! I did very recently (like on Saturday) find THIS POST (http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/3525065187/dixonscript) about the image in your icon, and OMFG THAT IS AMAZING. We play a DC-based tabletop RPG game at the weekends right now and obvs, I had to tell everyone about this. Sometimes during the course of the game, we describe how we imagine the comic panel for the moment would look? Predictably there was lots of yelling, "I DON'T EVEN WANT A *HINT* OF THE SEXUAL!" That artist deserves some kind of award for excellence in comics.

Kev is really excited about Catwoman, but like you, I'm uncertain what she's going to be doing except wandering around in a catsuit, flirting with Batman. Kev says if he was in a comic that's how he'd spend his time, but I remain unconvinced. I will be reading it though since we're buying it, so I can let you know what I think? Ditto Savage Hawkman. Except without the catsuits. And possibly without the flirting. In exchange you can let me know if JL: Dark is worth a pick up! Because it looks sort of interesting? But also like it has the potential to just be emo and all, "Look! We're ~dark~!" so I think whether I like it will depend a lot on execution.

BUT WONDER WOMAN. KEEP THE FAITH. IT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE AS BAD AS IT IS NOW. Actually, I'm really uncertain what to think of it - the guy writing it is someone I know nothing about, but seems to have more of a reputation for writing noir style Batman stuff. Which could actually be...a really intriguing take for Wonder Woman, but then again, it's not exactly what I imagine as a fit. I don't know if you know about this - cus I only found out recently! - but there was a leaked document about the incentives DC was offering retailers to get them to order the new titles. Lots of them are returnable at 90% of the price or something if you don't sell them as long as you order X amount or something, which is nice, so the stores can be a little more experimental with their stock. Then the really big name stuff just has the more traditional variant covers available. And then there's like, a list of, ugh, I can't remember what they were called, but what DC were sort of billing as their "breakout" stuff - books they thought were really good but might struggle to reach an audience. And those books were just hugely discounted to stores for the first couple of months. And most of the ones on that list were the lesser known and weirder stuff. AND ALSO WONDER WOMAN. So on the one hand, omfg, it's sad that Wonder Woman has to be on that list. On the other hand, I'm hoping that speaks well for both DC's faith in the title as something that people will want to keep buying if they just try it, and also it's...nice that they really do seem to be pulling out all the stops to get it on shelves? I'm not sure what to make of it, but I figured it's information you might find...informative. o.O

JUST THINK OF ERIS?

Anyway...roll on comics autumn! I'm so glad there's at least one other person on my flist who'll be reading some DC stuff! :D

[tellitslant]

OH GOSH HUNTRESS. <3 <3 <3 Hey, you know what I could do instead of writing, I could totally do a post about Huntress and BoP and why everyone should read them and guilt you into doing it too! :D Okay, I probably won't, but I do love almost all of BoP. And OH MAN YES, I saw that post about the disconnect between script and artist and LAUGHED SO HARD. I have to admit it makes me kind of sad that Chuck Dixon as apparently WORRIED that people would DARE to think there could be something going on between Babs and Dinah and so he had to take steps to ward it off preemptively, but we did get out fabulous supergay moment of awesomeness so I guess I can't be too upset. :P

I am definitely going to be trying to blog about my thoughts on what I'm reading and will be looking forward to seeing what you think about yours! The solicits for Catwoman are worrying. I am trying to stay optimistic, though! And, hee, you know, since they are apparently de-aging a lot of continuity, the JL: Dark group could end up a bunch of emos - I hadn't thought about that before! Though now I'm trying to picture a teenage John Constantine and failing. I think they're aiming it more to a horror audience, which is not something I'd usually be interested in, but I do love Zatanna and Madame Xanadu sooooo... we'll see. I think I'm going to give this list till the end of the year to se whether I like them all - that's four issues each before I re-think, that's pretty fair, eh?

WONDER WOMAN. MAN. I know you're right - it CAN'T GET WORSE. And frankly I'm THRILLED at the possibility that the current run will be erased from continuity. I can pretend it never fucking happened. And the art looks fantastic, and it's only when writers ignore the gods that they really go off WW, but... I'm just worried. I'm pretty sure I'll buy it, but... I am trying to manage my expectations, as it were. :P

I had not heard that about the incentives, and, eek! It is worrying that WW is on that list, omg. (Though if this current run wasn't so awful maybe it wouldn't have to be aaaargh) I am glad to see they're pushing it, but man, do you think it would help if they could figure out how to make a tv show that isn't CRAP and maybe decide whether or not she should keep wearing pants and blah blah blah dammit. Sigh. I just hope it stays good.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I would definitely be interested in hearing what you have to say about Birds of Prey mainly because I really want to like it but have never been able to get into it, which may just be a function of reading the wrong arcs? I think part of it is that - please don't hurt me! - I've never been a huge Huntress fan. I don't hate her or anything, but Oracle's quiet competence and Black Canary's...aggressively joyful stance on things are more my thing. And the arcs I recall reading was firstly some story where it turns out Oracle has been trying to psychologically manipulate/fix everyone in the team (or possibly just Huntress? It was a while ago?) which didn't quite sit right with me somehow - I don't know, possibly just because it was the very first thing I read. And then the other arcs I've read were the ones when Black Canary left for child-related, marriage-related, editorially-mandated reasons and the Secret Six crossover which was actually pretty cool but not enough to really make me want to jump all over BoP, possibly because Spy Smasher was...really damn annoying. Although obviously intended to be.

So like, I think me and BoP have had an unfortunate series of bad first dates? I'd definitely be interested in hearing your take on it.

Regarding the picture in your icon, though, dude, that writer sounds like a total douche. I really don't think there's any way to read his instructions to the artist that aren't blatantly homophobic. I like to think the artist deliberately "misunderstood". I'm not sure if I want to believe that the writer never realised what had happened or almost died of apoplexy.

In Final Wonder Woman News, you've seen they're going back to the pantsless design? Again, I have mixed feelings. I've actually come around to her bathing suit costume, because I now view it as BARBARIAN GARB, like Conan or something, for Grecian Wrestling and such. But I know it puts off some people. But just adding trousers doesn't really do much to, well, brand what kind of character she is. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wish they would just put her in armour. She always looks amazing in it. Even the skimpy totally valid for a superheroine in today's comics climate variety.

[aural-stimulatn.livejournal.com]

EEE--I am putting together my own pull-list for the new 52, and my mood is ... cautiously optimistic. I have really only ever known Babs as Oracle, but I'm willing to give the new Batgirl title a shot. The Advocate article piqued my interest about Voodoo, too, so I might grab that, as I'm giving the reboot the opportunity to expand my horizons. Huntress!! and BATWOMAN!! Those are really the only two that I'm convinced already that I'll definitely pick up issue #2.

And I expect that Renee will get cameo'ed around, which I'm cool with, because it increases her appeal, when she's written well, and in character. Which is rare these days. So we'll see :-/

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

Could you give me some Batwoman recs? I've read the Elegy TPB and Batwoman #0 but am hungry for more while I wait for September...

[tellitslant]

Hmmm, there's not a whole lot more that she's been in! If you can track down the other three issues of Detective Comics (#861-863) that come after Elegy, they're worth reading, although the art is totally different and kind of disconcerting. She was introduced in 52 and the backstory is worth knowing, but the trouble there is that there is a WHOLE LOT of other stuff going on and there hasn't been a Batwoman-edit. So unless you're really focussed on reading everything, I wouldn't recommend it. The other thing I would recommend is The Question: Five Books of Blood - it's mostly a Renee book, but there is some great interaction between the two of them in it. And Renee is completely and totally awesome ANYWAY. :P