Board 8 > What's hot at DC Comics right now?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I FOUND IT

Morning Glories

Nick Spencer

Wow this guy has written a LOT since then. I remember hating his Spiderman so much. Can't remember why form the life of me, though.

Man...

Has Swamp Thing ever NOT been good?

I'm sure there's some post Moore bullshit nobody remembers anymore I could track down somewhere, but as far as content I've actually engaged with it's never missed.

Post-Moore has some GREAT runs. Veitch has a good run, and Morrison/Millar come much later and close out the main series pretty well. But yeah, there's this Nancy Collins run that I consider absolute crap.

It's just like....a little frustrating really?

Swamp Thing is so consistentally incredible. Seeing him pop up in other stuff is always great. Everyone who gets into him likes him. Out if all DC characters, he has some of the biggest potential for a truly incredible adaptation.

But he's Swamp Thing...so he'll never be popular.

Just like how Animal Man will never be popular...because he's Animal Man.

scarletspeed7 posted...

But yeah, there's this Nancy Collins run that I consider absolute crap.

Art looks KILLER, though, so there's that!

Now THIS is what I needed. One Star Squadron, giving me some of that Giffen and DeMatteis energy. Sure, it's not the real deal, and Lieber is certainly no Maguire, but it's a decent enough store brand version.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Just like how Animal Man will never be popular...because he's Animal Man.

My all-time favorite comic character! I still think he has the best moment in all of the Infinite Crisis crossover books, where, while the rest of the world is burning around him, he's digging through Cliff and Maxine's toys trying to find his space suit.

I love Animal Man!

Whuke not my favorite book, Morrison's Animal Man is a run that I think might be the closest thing to a "flawless run" on a comic out there.

Just got to say that, as a longtime Titans fan, this Wally stuff is killing me. This MFer can't catch a break :(

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/3/7/AAeolZAADLWp.jpg

4 chapters in to the new Adams run of Flash and its already better than anything in the Williamson run.

Part of that is just that Wally is obviously better than Barry, but that entire run was just super comic book filler most of the time. 3 issues into this one and already we get Wally in the body of Jay punching Hitler in the face, immediately followed by him being teleported into the body of Reverse Flaah in the fucking Superfriends universe,

Wait so there's really an ongoing with Wally West as the Flash, and it's even good too? Is this for real reality?

AND Cassandra Cain is even Batgirl again though I have no confirmation on whether the new Batgirls is any good. Plus I still don't care for Stephanie Brown.

Yep, starts with Flash 768, first arc ends with the 2021 annual. Obviously caught up now since it hasn't been going on that long, and it's really, really good. It also retcons some of the really dumb Wally shit recently. Back to full on fun Wally.

I saw Cassandra was back too, but I haven't read any of that yet. I know it's not a solo book.

Just finished the annual and yeah wow this first arc was amazing. Made me laugh several times (esp the Legion of Doom issue), it's so refreshing to have Wally back in his complete form. Almost forgot how much I love him!

Have you read any newer bat-stuff? Just curious what's worth reading there, I see a new Robin ongoing but it's by Williamson so not sure if it's worth anything.

Definitely gotta check out this Superman/Batman World's Finest by Mark Waid though.

The Williamson Flash stuff was middling mostly (really don't know how that ended up being one of the longest comic runs in a character ever), but the recent evet buildup stuff from him with Justice League Incarnate has been pretty great, so I don't have a bead on him yet. Haven't checked the newer Bat stuff out yet, or much other newer stuff in general besides Swamp Thing. Thinking of doing Nightwing next.

And yeah seeing Waid's name on a DC comic again is nuuuuuuuts.

Oh, huh, didn't know they did a psudeo season 3 of Harley Quinn TAS in comic form!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/6/AAeolZAADMP-.jpg

The faces in this are so good.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/7/AAeolZAADMP_.jpg

Though I do wonder if this will overlap or deviate from what the actual S3 ends up being now that it's coming out.

Didn't expect any fourth wall breaking in a Flash comic, so that was funny. About caught up but gonna check out this War for Earth-3 event since Wally ties in with it.

Also was intrigued by Jessica Cruz being a Yellow Lantern, so went to read that annual and quite enjoyed it. I'm a lot more interested in this character now, it's a nice idea to have a human from Earth as an official member of the Sinestro Corps. A lot better than her just being another GL. Also paints the Yellows as a more justifiable force for good which I love. Sinestro seems like almost a good guy now, but it's Sinestro so

I could use more quality Lantern content now, I might just resort to reading through Johns' run again lol

I've been considering going back and reading the Marz run on Kyle.

Actually really liking this Jon Kent Superman book.

Need to go read the Damian Wayne ongoing too. Need to know where he got this sick new outfit.

It does look like the artists can't decide how tall he is, though.

Williamson back on top for me for making Damian Wayne canonically enjoy reading shoujo romance manga so much he sneaks it into a murder island tournament.

Yeah Infinite Frontier was great fun. Williamson has a nice handle on dialog, so his blunder with the Flash must have been Barry just being a boring character lol

So Damian Wayne ongoing is good? Glad to hear, I'll be reading that soon then. Probably after Justice League Incarnate. I'm REALLY hoping Thomas Wayne eventually meets up with Bruce and his family. I want Grandpa Batman.

Good so far, just a few issues in.

And yeah, Barry is just boring, not sure why they thought they would be able to pull off a Hal Jordan by bringing him back. The different Forces stuff they set up in his run is also super lame and boring compared to the Ring Spectrum, it's not even remotely comparable, and doesn't result in anything interesting (kind of just peters away, too). Other than a couple decent arcs, then entire run reeks of editorial mandate and Didio's grubby mitts.

Unrelated, but I've read a lot of it now. I want to say that, at a fundamental level, the entire Dark Multiverse plot line and concept that's effect the entire DC line for what appears to be the last few years is SUPER lame. I'm really hoping it's a Didio relic that Dark Crisis does away with the concept altogether. As an idea for a like of one shots to release overtime, like a Marvel "What If...?" thing, it's pretty interesting, and all those one shots were at least solid or better. But as an actual concept effecting the entire DCU, it's some real lame 90's amateur shit.

CassandraCain posted...

I'm REALLY hoping Thomas Wayne eventually meets up with Bruce and his family. I want Grandpa Batman.

Yeah....this didn't work out....great, from what I understand.

I think he may have killed a few of Batman's allies...

Welp, Connor Hawke is in Robin So I guess I have to read Green Arrow Rebirth now.

Definitely the major character who got fucked over the most in New 52.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/6/5/AAVwGKAADMzR.jpg

They knew what they were doing, dammit.

They really made a mistake not putting these fake shoujo manga pages right to left. Comic readers know how to read manga, making it left to right is a detriment, makes it more confusion.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/7/9/AAeolZAADMzf.jpg

Flatline probably my favorite new character.

Let's give Robin a potential girlfriend who's the sidekick of Lord Death Man.

LORD GOD DAMN DEATH MAN

After only one issue I am all the way sold on Jon Kent. The son of Superman is a character I never knew I wanted this much. His main bro being Damian makes it even better.

This made me think about the Marvel side of things and why I'm so less interested in their comics now. They won't ever let their characters grow. Spider-Man specifically. Just let him be married and have a spider-kid or two! Let him grow and be a father for fucks sake.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/5/5/AAVwGKAADM5X.jpg

This is the moment I was hooked.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

LORD GOD DAMN DEATH MAN

oh did he get off the moon sometime in the past decade?

Cassandra is adorable

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/9/3/AAVwGKAADNil.jpg

I thought Superman: Son of Kal El was strong for the first few issues then suffers hard from Tom Taylor Syndrome

I haven't read much from Taylor, what's the specific shtick that irks you?

Not to discredit the stance, considering the sinking pit of despair that fills my stomach once Bendisism starts to keep into a book. I just haven't read enough to nail down whatever his trend is.

I do have The Detective and Dark Knights of Steel on my list from him but haven't read yet. I know DCeased is a big deal but I just can't get myself interested in zombies unless a black ring is involved. No interrst in reading Injustice which I know is his claim to fame.

I'm 100% confident I would have encountered his run on The Authority way back in the day, but I don't remember enough about it to seperate the runs in my mind.

CassandraCain posted...

Cassandra is adorable

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/9/3/AAVwGKAADNil.jpg

This book is cute! I was worried it was a miniseries because the chapters out right now are all named "# of 6", but there's no actual indication of that on the covers and it looks like it's been solicited for #7 and #8. Don't know that I've ever seen an arc in an ongoing just state how many issues it was gonna be before.

Oh yeah I got tricked by that too apparently, been under the impression that it was a 6-issue series so glad that's not actually the case. More Batgirls can not be a bad thing. The only problem I've had with it is the goofy narration, but it's easy enough to ignore now that I've realized it's largely unnecessary. I also now like Stephanie Brown more than I used to.

Eddv posted...

I thought Superman: Son of Kal El was strong for the first few issues then suffers hard from Tom Taylor Syndrome

Yeah I can see where you're coming from a bit, it definitely started out strong then sorta dwindled somewhat in quality. I still enjoy it for the most part, particularly when Jon interacts with other heroes. Don't care a whole lot for this Jay guy, hoping it's just a first relationship deal. It kinda looked like Jackson Hyde is a potential romantic interest and I think that'd be sweet.

Can't recall ever reading any Tom Taylor stuff in the past so I'm also interested to know what his specific quirks are.

Tom Taylor just gets very self indulgent, writing for moments that might get people talking or might trend well on twitter at the expense of like...sense or logic or just a satisfying character arc. He is a lot like Bendis if Bendis were less into teenagers.

https://twitter.com/DukeOfGotham/status/1524067501843402752

Oh helllll yeah

Apparently whether or not this gets a series is up to a vote between it and some zombie Suicide Squad thing?

I know where mine is landing.

Edit: Just found where to vote and it's not even close, Superboy is crushing this thing.

Wow I had not heard about this DC Universe Infinite and it seems fantastic. Series I'd been reading decade old scans for are her crisp and clear, stuff that scans didn't even exist for are here in Hi definition, fully collected.

Absolutely putting down the money for this.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/7/0/AAeolZAADN7O.jpg
I'm back home, baby.

Been digging in deep into Gerard Way's Youung Animal line. Doom Patrol, Shade the Changing Girl, Mother Panic, Bug, with more to go. This is too quality stuff, doesn't look like DC is running it anymore which is a damn shame. Can't imagine any of it sold well.

Shade the Changing Girl definitely convinced me to check out Castellucci on the Babs Batgirl series, though.

Just finished the modern Justice League Dark. This got a little crossover happy towards the end but the core was VERY strong, James Tynion has come a long way since his days as Scott Snyders second fiddle, following the same path Peter Tomasi did as Johns backup really. Ram V also seems to be a very strong writer in what Ive read from them so far.
The Upside Down Man was a very effective villain, wont be forgetting him for quite a while. Not sure if this was canned or ended on purpose, but other than that last event tie in issue this seemed to be a pretty open and shut start to finish narrative. Certainly better than Justice League Odyssey which didnt really go anywhere, and the main JL book which I just cant seem to get into at all other than some of the Priest stuff (I hear his Deathstroke is sublime and am looking forward to reading that).

I just found out that The Human Target is a stealth Justice League International book from Tom King, so definitely hitting that next

Thought it would be fun to go back and look at those initial inquiries I laid out.

New Batman comic from Jock forgettable, The Black Mirror really just made me obsessed with always checking out Jock Batman but nothing matches up.

New JLI style wacky D-lister comic One Star Squadron was fun but its a completely out of continuity thing and theres something slightly uncanny about it. Power Girl seems to be the only big name DC character still getting the shaft and getting basically nothing outside of out of continuity books, unless shes in a book in not aware of. Hopefully shes involved in the heavily rumored JSA book.

Mark Waid is back at DC Worlds Finest is only 3 issues in but its FANTASTIC, Mark Waid is still a king. Im going this isnt just a one off thing for him.

All Star Batman reboot for Snyder and JRJR This is a strange one, thats for sure. Like the first story but couldnt engage with anything after. I actually dont hunk Scott Snyder is all the great now, he came out of the gate swinging HARD but he seems to have petered out a bit. Im also of the opinion that JRJRs art is just ugly, never really like it in anything.

Grant Morrison writing The Authority and also Batman is there Obviously this is recent but it was very entertaining. I havent been able to get into any of the other Authority adjacent DC stuff though.

Nightwing is supposed to be good? Have only read 2 volumes, its fine, we'll see where it goes.

Scott Lobdell got the Red Hood reboot again?? How did that call get made? I mean I'm the only maniac who liked that book! Only read one issue but still on the docket. I hear that theres a point where the name of this book changes and you should just drop it wholesale at that point, but people seem to REALLY like everything up to that point.

DC is publishing RWBY comics...like what the fuck is that? terrible is what it is. Throwaway digital exclusive stuff. Not sure why any of this exists, then I remember there are 3 separate official RWBY manga from different creators that are just the regular RWBY story adapted, so I guess Rooster Teeth is a just a licensing whore.

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Things I don't know about....well, I want I know about anything that's good, but things I am curious to know about regardless of quality

GL Ive got no interest in getting up date with modern GL at this point. Ive read the offshoots like the Asian kid and the the 12 issue Black Label book (forgetting all these character names), and they were good. Morrisons The Green Lanterns season 1 was excellent, season 2 felt like he was writing it while high. Introducing Kid Lantern feels like theyre fucking losing their minds. I feel like they need to use this event as a GL line wide clean reset. Consolidate, focus, hell maybe even put out a new #1 issue, educe the number of books. Get back to basics like they did in 2005, doesnt have to be Hal we just need one main lead to focus and then one clean Corps book. Hell, pull a Flash and it Kyle back in the seat like they did with Wally.
Flash already talked extensively about this but yeah, mostly boring and what felt like editorially written run from Williamson which was insanely long, but I kept reading so I feel like there was just enough intrigue and banger issues to see how it kept going. The Reverse Flash kept me reading more than anything. Jeremy Adams Wally stuff right now is waaaay better.
Booster Gold Theres a Blue and Gold book but I struggled with the first issue. I just really need Giffen for this.
Shazam flat. Johns can still do great work, Doomsday Clock was incredible, this was just wheel spinning though.
Martian Manhuhter almost entirely consolidated into the middling main JL like, but his 12 issue series under Orla do was a great read. Steve Orlando in general seems to be a very solid talent all around, hasnt let me down so far.
Titans/TT/YJ all pretty booty. None of these groups have had anything resembling a strong run since Johns finished up on Teen Titans in the 2000s. It would take a lot to fix it, and if they do actually go through with this younger Justice League setup post Dark Crisis, I cant imagine there will be much use or sensibility in a young adults/teen team book even being on the market.

Good Supes stuff. Like REAL good Supes stuff I'm hoping. I do like the Son of Superman series a lot so far. Sounds like Supes had a ROUGH run under Bendis on several fronts (Man, big name Marvel talent coming over to write awful Superman runs has been a trend huh), but I have heard great things about Peter J Tomasis run. Tomasi is always reliable.

Harley Quinn but only if they made the smart move of making a comic that took after the show. as I brought up, I love the season 2. 5 Harley Quinn comic. Her actual ongoing that ended recently not as much. Seems like it should be a slam dunk but it just felt meandering. However, I do really like the current ongoing from Phillips. Rossmos art is just as charming as it was with Martian Manhunter, a total rejection of house style. The are still a couple of one off issues scattered here and there from different teams which are terrible, all of which seem like theyre trying to change the Harley Quinn status quo. Its like theres an editor who hates the direction Harley Quinn is going in and keep trying to change course with filler talent. Doesnt look like Phillips is letting it get him down, though.

Also any books Johns has done since stepping away from being a frontline player. It's so wierd that him doing a book feels like Didio doing one now. Basically went over thee least. Doomsday Clock good, Shazam whatevs. His Green Lantern story in the 80 page giant made me sad hes not on the book. Weird hes doing this new Flashpoint series

Did people warm up on Jason after he became Red Hood? I still have no idea who the second most liked/popular Robin is after Dick since Jason and Damian have fair amounts of hatred while Tim kinda seems to be less of a big deal these days? I always wanted to see more of Tim

I think most people would say Tim is their favorite Robin overall, even considering Dick since he's better as Nightwing. Damian has gained a ton of popularity and Jason is an anti-hero like the Punisher and has been for quite a while. I don't remember people hating him as much after returning. I've always liked him and Damian.

In fact here's a recent moment between the two of them that I really loved.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/7/9/AAVwGKAADP4X.jpg

Granted it was a ruse by Damian but I believe the emotion behind it was real.

I would say that all of the Robins are looked at favorably at this time in their current state by the fanbase.

Tim is in a wierd nebulous zone though since he's still wearing the Robin outfit even though he's not Robin, and he's not headlining in anything or from what I can tell even prominent in anything...not sure why they haven't just given him Red Robin back yet.

I wonder if the emotion behind that crowbar comment was real too. Thats pretty harsh. Most of what Ive seen of Damian has been in animated form, but I did see a little of him in a couple comics and hes just such a prick its hard to feel anything positive about him. He feels like he got a lot of the worst qualities of some other characters and gets the OP Batman stuff on top where hes constantly either having ties or outright beating some of the other Robins. He even sucked in the Injustice movie too lol

I was never an enormous Damian fan outside of Morrison's Dickbats, but his current ongoing Robin series is running pretty strong and warming me up to him a lot.

The animated movies made him a lot worse, like he has no business beating most of the characters he does in those films. The only movie that seems to get him right sadly is the last one he appears in, Apokolips War.

He was never that terrible in the comics though. Whenever he challenged someone that should beat him, they do. Even Tim beat him down once when Damian was getting too mouthy and full of himself.

The reason I like Damian is because of that reason, he's had a real character arc influenced by the various personalities surrounding him, especially his adoptive brothers. Each one of them teaches him a valuable lesson at some point and you can see how much respect he has gained for each of them in that page I posted.

But he can absolutely still be a little shithead. He's a kid, one that was raised to believe he would become better than everyone else. Batman and the Robins have had to do a lot of damage control to fix his past conditioning.

Oh yeah I'm gonna LOVE this.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/3/0/AAeolZAADP5K.jpg

I'm melting.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/1/3/AAeolZAADP8B.jpg

Oh god dammit Scarlet this is what you meant when you said they killed off Guy.

You God damn troll.

Yeah I didn't want to respond to you enjoying the story... but I do like trolling.