DC Comics omnibus thread

[The Z]

 

 

I don't get the Geoff Johns' hate myself.  I'm not a fan of the Nu-52 or the other sales stunts, but I doubt that's entirely (or even largely) Johns' doing.  I assume he does have input, but still....

 

Johns is co-VP of creative for DC, his input is vast.

 

Except its pretty well known that the reboot was entirely Didio's baby and killed a lot of Geoff's work and plans.

 

 

Nu52 never seemed like anything Geoff Johns wanted any part of, to me.

The guy is clearly a continuity nut. I'm sure he wasn't a fan of his 10-year long run on JSA being rendered completely noncanonical.

And Green Lantern was the one thing that was left almost completey untouched by the reboot.

[LooseCannon]

If Didio wins a war against Johns, maybe he expresses his victory by giving the Didio treatment to Stargirl, who Johns based on his dead sister. Well, that's what I would do if I were Didio and hated Johns.

[Matt D]

I wonder how much the failure of the GL movie hurt Geoff politically.

[Brian Fowler]

Johns had some great work, but the more huge became DC's top guy the less I liked his output.

[WholeFnMachine]

I have to think that at this point, they look at Scott Snyder as their golden boy and well they should. His Batman run has been fantastic and American Vampire is amazing. The Wake is very, very good and I think Superman Unchained will pick up steam.

[Ryan]

If Didio has a falling out with Snyder, I expect him to kill off Batman for a decade to punish the fans.

[Brian Fowler]

Eh, dead Bruce was the best era of Batman in decades.

[LooseCannon]

Bruce is dead and Cass Cain returns as trasngender Batman to take his place.

[Ryan]

Returned*. They're already doing your plot.

[LooseCannon]

They made Cass a transgendered character?

[Cliff Hanger]

The Dick/Damian era is literally the only time in my life I have bought more than one arc of a Batman title in a year.  I loved it so much, I guess because Bruce has always been the least interesting bit of the Bat-family to me.

[Brian Kenny]

I thought Johns' work really took a nosedive around the time Identity Crisis came out. I don't know if Identity Crisis had anything to do with that or it was just a coincidence; but all the titles I was reading from Johns (JSA, The Flash, Teen Titans) were better before that story came out.

[Ryan]

They made Cass a transgendered character?

There's probably a bondage club somewhere that Joker attends with Cass Cain working there, give Snyder time.

[Brian Kenny]

I just purchased Superman: Man of Steel TP, which is a collection of stories from the Superman Adventures comics. It include Mark Millar's 22 Stories in a Single Bound. I've always wanted to read this ever since I first heard about it. However, the issue in the TP is only 15 pages. So, is it safe to assume that they didn't collect the whole issue?

[Eivion]

Read Gotham Central Vol. 1. I really dug this. I like how it plays out as a proper cop drama using Gotham as a backdrop. I was pleased with how they managed to avoid focusing on super villianry and heroics while not outright ignoring them. They found generally solid balance there. It was surprising seeing the first two arcs focus on a completely different crop of detectives from the usual you see in other Batbooks, but I rather liked the new characters. Didn't care for Freeze's characterization in the first story, but it was still a pretty solid story all in all, especially as it combined with the next arc. I loved the final story focused on Renee. Thought the drama on her being forced out quite good with a nice realness to it the way people reacted. it was also a great conclusion to the general story between her and Dent that Rucka started way back in NML. Good read overall.

 

Anyone here ever read Batman: GCPD, Gordon's Law, or Bullock's Law? I've been interested in checking out all three, but I have no idea if they are any good. Also why did Mackenzie Bock suddenly disappear? He was a good character that got some decent focus and good stories in during NML, but I haven't seen in of the books post-NML. He doesn't even pop up in Gotham Central from what I can tell.

[The Natural]

Read Gotham Central Vol. 1. I really dug this. I like how it plays out as a proper cop drama using Gotham as a backdrop. I was pleased with how they managed to avoid focusing on super villianry and heroics while not outright ignoring them. They found generally solid balance there. It was surprising seeing the first two arcs focus on a completely different crop of detectives from the usual you see in other Batbooks, but I rather liked the new characters. Didn't care for Freeze's characterization in the first story, but it was still a pretty solid story all in all, especially as it combined with the next arc. I loved the final story focused on Renee. Thought the drama on her being forced out quite good with a nice realness to it the way people reacted. it was also a great conclusion to the general story between her and Dent that Rucka started way back in NML. Good read overall.

 

Anyone here ever read Batman: GCPD, Gordon's Law, or Bullock's Law? I've been interested in checking out all three, but I have no idea if they are any good. Also why did Mackenzie Bock suddenly disappear? He was a good character that got some decent focus and good stories in during NML, but I haven't seen in of the books post-NML. He doesn't even pop up in Gotham Central from what I can tell.

 

I've read Gotham Central #6-40 from my local library either as Vol. 2 (Half a Life) or Books Two-Four (Jokers and Madmen, On The Freak Beat and Corrigan), they've never been able to get Gotham Central #1-5. Wouldn't mind getting that myself so I've read all of it. This your first time reading the series, Eivion? How many issues did it collect?

 

Sorry I can't help you with your question as I've never read them.

[Eivion]

It collect issues 1-10, and yes, this is the first time I have read any of the series.

[Ace]

Read Gotham Central Vol. 1. I really dug this. I like how it plays out as a proper cop drama using Gotham as a backdrop. I was pleased with how they managed to avoid focusing on super villianry and heroics while not outright ignoring them. They found generally solid balance there. It was surprising seeing the first two arcs focus on a completely different crop of detectives from the usual you see in other Batbooks, but I rather liked the new characters. Didn't care for Freeze's characterization in the first story, but it was still a pretty solid story all in all, especially as it combined with the next arc. I loved the final story focused on Renee. Thought the drama on her being forced out quite good with a nice realness to it the way people reacted. it was also a great conclusion to the general story between her and Dent that Rucka started way back in NML. Good read overall.

 

Anyone here ever read Batman: GCPD, Gordon's Law, or Bullock's Law? I've been interested in checking out all three, but I have no idea if they are any good. Also why did Mackenzie Bock suddenly disappear? He was a good character that got some decent focus and good stories in during NML, but I haven't seen in of the books post-NML. He doesn't even pop up in Gotham Central from what I can tell.

 

Bock pops up once or twice in the background. He was promoted out of MCU to Chief after Gordon's shooting.

[The Natural]

It collect issues 1-10, and yes, this is the first time I have read any of the series.

 

Cheers, Eivion. Hope you get to read the rest of the series. I'd particularly recommend Soft Targets.

[Eivion]

 

Read Gotham Central Vol. 1. I really dug this. I like how it plays out as a proper cop drama using Gotham as a backdrop. I was pleased with how they managed to avoid focusing on super villianry and heroics while not outright ignoring them. They found generally solid balance there. It was surprising seeing the first two arcs focus on a completely different crop of detectives from the usual you see in other Batbooks, but I rather liked the new characters. Didn't care for Freeze's characterization in the first story, but it was still a pretty solid story all in all, especially as it combined with the next arc. I loved the final story focused on Renee. Thought the drama on her being forced out quite good with a nice realness to it the way people reacted. it was also a great conclusion to the general story between her and Dent that Rucka started way back in NML. Good read overall.

 

Anyone here ever read Batman: GCPD, Gordon's Law, or Bullock's Law? I've been interested in checking out all three, but I have no idea if they are any good. Also why did Mackenzie Bock suddenly disappear? He was a good character that got some decent focus and good stories in during NML, but I haven't seen in of the books post-NML. He doesn't even pop up in Gotham Central from what I can tell.

 

Bock pops up once or twice in the background. He was promoted out of MCU to Chief after Gordon's shooting.

 

I read about that. I'm happy he was promoted, but I wish he was more than a background figure.

[The Natural]

Today I read Batman #19, a monthly UK magazine collecting Batman #24, Nightwing #20 and Batman and Nightwing #23 in this order. Batman #24 continues the story of Zero Year, Batman’s origin as Bruce Wayne in and out of the costume goes up against the Red Hood gang. Shame it was split in half and will continue next issue. The first part was great. Nightwing #20 continues Dick Grayson trying to settle in Chicago with a latest adversary, the Prankster. This was a fine story. Batman and Nightwing #23 is the fifth and final stage of grief about Bruce Wayne’s reactions to Damian Wayne’s murder, called acceptance as he tries to find out whether he could have saved Robin the night of his death by playing simulations. Nightwing and Alfred play key parts. This was the best of the five, a great issue.

[Eivion]

Went through my DC reads the other day while waiting for the Thanksgiving meal.

 

All Star Western #25 - Kind of disappointed the Hex stranded in the present arc is still going on, but the writing is still good and I enjoy Hex's interactions with characters like Constantine and Swamp Thing.

Superman #25 - This was the conclusion to Krypton returns. Overall it was generally decent though mostly telegraphed sans for Jor-El and Clark getting to interact. The story as whole is a solid concept, but it felt a bit rushed/condensed  only being four issues long and the writing could have been better all around. I like Lobdell on Superman, but I really do wish they paired him with someone to do the acting scripting on his books.

Teen Titans #25 - See above. Pretty much the same problem as Superman, decent concept, but a bit weak in the scripting/dialogue component though I d o think it was an improvement from the last few issues of TT.

Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. - I'm not digging this one as much as I hoped. Gates is trying to do some world building for ARGUS, but is too focused on Steve and his pet character Killer Frost. Gates also writes a fairly mediocre Deathstroke. Really wish Kindt hadn't been pulled off. His plans to focus on elevating other agents and bring in the Duchess were far more interesting.

Red Lanterns #25 - Decent stuff though I'm still not too into it.

Aquaman #25 - Solid conclusion but definitely rushed. This really felt like three issues of material folded in one. its sort of obvious Johns was likely rushed off of this title which is a damn shame because he had truly made it one of more interesting titles since Throne of Atlantis. At the very last Johns isn't completely done with Aquaman as there is a nice little post-Forever Evil epilogue that teases on the next big stories for Aquaman and the League.

 

Also read Fables: Animal Farm and Fables: Storybook Love. Dug Animal Farm with the politics being argued, Snow getting a rude awakening to reality, and the general consequences of the failed revolution by the animals. Goldilocks as villain wasn't bad though it feels like there could have been something more too her character. She was a bit too obvious in talking bs about revolting and made some fairly stupid moves. The stuff done with Rose Red wasn't too bad. I actually don't completely buy that she wasn't legit revolting, but I do believe cared for Snow. I do think he reasons for hating Snow did come across as petty bs though Snow really needed to bitch slap her for. Storybook Love was nice. I liked how they built things up with Bluebeard's fall. The stuff between Bigby and Snow on the run and discussing their relationship was also pretty good. Goldilocks fall was pretty damn brutal, maybe even a bit too much though I can't complain much as I did kind of loathe her. Anyways both books were good reads, probably did more for me than the first volume. I can totally see how some consider Once Upon a Time on ABC a ripoff.

[Brian Fowler]

What is Fabian doing these days?

[odessasteps]

Went through my DC reads the other day while waiting for the Thanksgiving meal.

 

All Star Western #25 - Kind of disappointed the Hex stranded in the present arc is still going on, but the writing is still good and I enjoy Hex's interactions with characters like Constantine and Swamp Thing.

Superman #25 - This was the conclusion to Krypton returns. Overall it was generally decent though mostly telegraphed sans for Jor-El and Clark getting to interact. The story as whole is a solid concept, but it felt a bit rushed/condensed  only being four issues long and the writing could have been better all around. I like Lobdell on Superman, but I really do wish they paired him with someone to do the acting scripting on his books.

Teen Titans #25 - See above. Pretty much the same problem as Superman, decent concept, but a bit weak in the scripting/dialogue component though I d o think it was an improvement from the last few issues of TT.

Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. - I'm not digging this one as much as I hoped. Gates is trying to do some world building for ARGUS, but is too focused on Steve and his pet character Killer Frost. Gates also writes a fairly mediocre Deathstroke. Really wish Kindt hadn't been pulled off. His plans to focus on elevating other agents and bring in the Duchess were far more interesting.

Red Lanterns #25 - Decent stuff though I'm still not too into it.

Aquaman #25 - Solid conclusion but definitely rushed. This really felt like three issues of material folded in one. its sort of obvious Johns was likely rushed off of this title which is a damn shame because he had truly made it one of more interesting titles since Throne of Atlantis. At the very last Johns isn't completely done with Aquaman as there is a nice little post-Forever Evil epilogue that teases on the next big stories for Aquaman and the League.

 

Also read Fables: Animal Farm and Fables: Storybook Love. Dug Animal Farm with the politics being argued, Snow getting a rude awakening to reality, and the general consequences of the failed revolution by the animals. Goldilocks as villain wasn't bad though it feels like there could have been something more too her character. She was a bit too obvious in talking bs about revolting and made some fairly stupid moves. The stuff done with Rose Red wasn't too bad. I actually don't completely buy that she wasn't legit revolting, but I do believe cared for Snow. I do think he reasons for hating Snow did come across as petty bs though Snow really needed to bitch slap her for. Storybook Love was nice. I liked how they built things up with Bluebeard's fall. The stuff between Bigby and Snow on the run and discussing their relationship was also pretty good. Goldilocks fall was pretty damn brutal, maybe even a bit too much though I can't complain much as I did kind of loathe her. Anyways both books were good reads, probably did more for me than the first volume. I can totally see how some consider Once Upon a Time on ABC a ripoff.

 

well, ABC passed on an actual Fables pilot and the next year picked up OUAT, execed by the two guys from LOST.

[Ace]

What is Fabian doing these days?

 

Freelancing. He's just done a couple Marvel stories, including one for X-Men: Gold a few weeks ago.