DC is staffed by Goddamn morons!

[^o^CORVUS^o^]

He's less scummy, sure, but he's still a blight on comic illustration. His new Hawk and Dove cover already features butchered anatomy.

I really, really cannot stand that guy.

[Rust]

I'd rather buy a comic and laugh at the terrible anatomies then buy a comic where the characters and poses are traces from raunchy porno rags.

I'm not defending Leifeld in any way, but at least he takes the time to actually draw.

[^o^CORVUS^o^]

True, he does. But when an artist shows himself to be unwilling to do the work need to improve his craft, and in fact displays outright resistance to the idea, I'm not going to have any respect for them. I don't like Greg Land's "work" either, but its less offensive to my eye than Leifeld's.

[Dusty]

Secret Six is no more.

I have a sad.

[Akitsu]

I'm not sure why Leifeld's so adamant about being stupid. It's not like he didn't KNOW his flaws... people have been telling it to his face since he did that crummy button fly commercial.



Listen ladies and gents... when you've studied anatomy, and mastered it... you can distort it at your whim. Jack Kirby is a great example of this. His work doesn't follow the rules, but you can still see he knows them. None of his characters look distorted to the point you can say, "Oh, an arm doesn't work like that..." Even when simplified to blobbish forms, you can still understand what body part is which.

Leifeld unfortunately thinks he's Kirby, but never paid his dues like Kirby. He never drew what other people wanted over the course of years, changing art styles to suit what was required. He draws what he wants, how he wants it, and feels that his success in the 90's gives him free reign to do so.

The main problem with that is that he learned how to draw by looking at comic book art... but failed to take in the base art lessons all those people had in the first place. It's kind of like the lesson of Jurassic Park,

"I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility... for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it! You want to SELL IT!"

In fact the more I look at that quote the more fitting it becomes...

On the brighter side of DC reboot news... Harely Quinn joins Suicide Squad?!?!

[Maxx]

Well, they've decided the 90s were wicked awesome and want them back.

Harley's costume is evidence of that.

This smells to me like they're just trying to CHANGE EVERYTHING in such a negative way so they can switch it all back under the idea that they'll somehow gain more readership once everything is restored with probably a few new titles from this surviving.

[Akitsu]

This smells to me like they're just trying to CHANGE EVERYTHING in such a negative way so they can switch it all back under the idea that they'll somehow gain more readership once everything is restored with probably a few new titles from this surviving.

The "New Coke" ploy? Nah, I don't see it being that.

I think DC just decided it was time for a change. Some changes fans will like, others they won't. In the end though, I have to respect a company that makes bold moves like this. Deadshot looks awesome... and Harley, slutty as she's dressed, at least isn't slave to that outfit she's been wearing since she hung out with The Joker. (I do like the fact they kept the color scheme tho, and if you look closely she's wearing both a mini-cape and jester collar)

[Dade]

The Oracle issue is very personal to me. I hope DC knows they're leaving people who see her as their symbol out in the cold if they don't fill that void

Articles addressing my, and other readers feelings:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/oracle- ... 10606.html

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/gail-si ... 10609.html

On a positive note, I will give JL Dark and Demon Knight a try, I love occult comics. Morrison doing Superman sounds intriguing as does All-Star Westerns.

[Akitsu]

Yeah, that whole Oracle thing is a bit off putting. Personally I thought Barbara became a much more interesting character after the fact, as she had to reinvent herself despite what The Joker did to her.

Her years of being a Bat sidekick were nowhere near as interesting... but the decision is made, so I suppose we'll just have to see how they handle it.

Personally I'd cheer if at the end of that first issue you see her taking off a helmet, still in her chair, and the robot Bat Barbara collapsing into a display case in the bat cave or something. Some sly "best of both worlds" thing where she can occasionally get into the action via technology, but still has to deal with the reality of her situation at the end of the day.

[Dade]

Yeah, that whole Oracle thing is a bit off putting. Personally I thought Barbara became a much more interesting character after the fact, as she had to reinvent herself despite what The Joker did to her.

Her years of being a Bat sidekick were nowhere near as interesting... but the decision is made, so I suppose we'll just have to see how they handle it.

Personally I'd cheer if at the end of that first issue you see her taking off a helmet, still in her chair, and the robot Bat Barbara collapsing into a display case in the bat cave or something. Some sly "best of both worlds" thing where she can occasionally get into the action via technology, but still has to deal with the reality of her situation at the end of the day.

I liked Morrison's Cyberbat idea, but I'm offcenter like that

[^o^CORVUS^o^]

Yup. The new Superman costume looks like absolute shit. Jim Lee, what the hell is wrong with you?

Anyway, there's no way that costume will last. If it lasts a year before they revise it into something more similar to the original, I'll be shocked as all hell.

Also, looks like DC is going to begin a major TV ad blitz to promote the relaunch.

[Rust]

Well, they've decided the 90s were wicked awesome and want them back.

Harley's costume is evidence of that.

Nah. Comic Companies have always treated the female heroes and villains as glorified sex objects. Look at the Golden Age of Wonder Woman, which was effectively a female bondage comic. Or even the initial run of the X-Men, where everyone including the Professor, was in love with Jean Grey simply because she was "cute".

Yup. The new Superman costume looks like absolute shit. Jim Lee, what the hell is wrong with you?

...why?

Superman is one of the super heroes that it really makes sense that he'd be wearing Spandex or another tight fitting costume because he routinely wears it under his clothing. "Armoring Up" bits and pieces of his costume simply doesn't work because how the hell does he change into it on the fly?

At the same time, I think Supes' new duds proves Maxx right. It really is the 90s all over again.

[Chiclo]

Harking back to Liefeld on Hawk and Dove, there was something significant about his work on Hawk and Dove in the past. Like it was his first major work for the big two or his first cover or something.

[Akitsu]

I'm kind of worried that Superman might end up being a bit more Kryptonian... like they may reboot out the whole Smallville thing and make it so that THIS Superman is some sort of cliche alien infiltrator who falls in love with humanity or somesuch nonsense. The classic fish out of water thing.

It's one of those things that kind of gnaws at the back of your mind, "What if Superman didn't land on Earth until he was much older..." If it was a new character it might be an interesting origin to have someone programmed by a space capsule who suddenly has to deal with all us silly, emotional, irrational human beings... but I'll be right pissed if they pull something like that with Supes.

My main reasoning for even thinking this is the fact his suit looks high tech... which our Superman most definitely is not. Maybe it's just a matter of having an excuse for Supes to have some high tech gizmos worked into his outfit, maybe artists were simply tired of his clothes ripping off all the time, maybe they finally realised that doing a 100mph slam into the ground would destroy normal boots... who knows. If nothing else it's fun to speculate.

Anyone reading Flashpoint? There any hidden clues as to just why all the characters are changing in there yet?

[Spike]

Speculators aren't keeping comic shops alive, and haven't been for a long time.

That is very true.


I will attempt to avoid getting too much into the philosophical reasons I think this is a bad idea (other than saying, as I have elsewhere, for DC and Marvel both the returning to #1 for books like Action and Uncanny is about as cheap a gimmick as there is) and stick with my practical ones:

- Since it's been in existence, I have probably consistantly enjoyed Secret Six more than any other comicbook, and it is no more. One less DC book I'm buying.

-I thought Batman Inc. was perhaps the ultimate evolution of the Batman mythos and was hoping it would grow and thrive. Apparently they are chucking it aside before it had the opportunity to be anywhere near what it could have been. One less DC book I'll be buying.

-Part of what I loved abot Batman, Inc. was that it was a logical way to let Dick stay on as Batman after Bruce's return. No more Dick as Batman is very disappointing to me. Overall, this will probably lead to one or two fewer books I'm buying since the Batbooks don't have as compelling storylines now, and the writers as whole won't be as strong a group.

-I really enjoy Birds of Prey and the dynamic Simone has maintained there over the yeas. Barbara's book may be good, but right now part of me thinks of it as the book that killed Birds of Prey.

So there are four to six DC books fewer I'll be buying because of either changing writers/dynamics or them simply being cancelled.

There are some benefits:

-Morrison in my opinion is the best Superman writer ever by a wide margin. If he does indeed have a Superman book that will be one more book I'll be buying.

-I like seeing more of Atrocitus.

-The Johns JLA will hopefully be good, but I, too, feel like his recent work, while still good, hasn't been up to the quality of what he did a few years ago. I think the Green Lantern books have been so pumped full of MAJOR UNIVERSE SHAKING EVENTS for so long now they are feeling a bit...tiring. The stories are still good, but the big events are losing their punch as we've seen so many of them. Hopefully on JLA he'll regain some of his nuance.



So, in the final tally, there are some positives. But I definitely see more negatives.