DC March '09 Previews

[TheCorpulent1]

Newsarama has a few solicitations up.

- I'll be getting Action Comics once Rucka comes on. He hasn't failed me yet, and if Conner is Nightwing, I'll be very happy. If Conner is not Nightwing, I'll probably end up dropping it before too long because, frankly, Action Comics with Nightwing and Flamebird instead of Superman doesn't seem like it'd be worth reading.

- I was hoping Mary Marvel would just go off somewhere and stay out of sight. It's rare for me to go from liking a character to absolutely hating her, but this boring flirtation with evil they've had Mary doing for the last 2 f***ing years is long past due to be dropped. Also, what's this about Billy being kicked out of the Rock of Eternity? Just a temporary plot point for this story or the beginnings of Billy returning to his role as Captain Marvel instead of being shoehorned into Shazam's position by shortsighted DC editorial? Hopefully the latter.

- Okay, so the Teen Titans will be Wonder Girl, Kid Eternity, Red Devil, Blue Beetle, f***ing Bombshell of all people, Static (clearly the guy above Wonder Girl's head), and who else? I'm thinking Miss Martian is the shadow over Kid Eternity's head and I'm hoping the shadow between Wonder Girl and Kid Eternity is Aquagirl. Lorena's a great character that deserves to be revisited. I almost want to read this issue, but I'm worried that McKeever will be as terrible as he was when I last tried his Titans.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Johns specializes in continuity damage control, so one would hope he's taking the opportunity to do something about the Marvel Family.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If "do something" means "undo Trials of Shazam," I'm all for it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

IGN's got Battle for the Cowl solicitations up here.

 

[yenaled]

GOTHAM GAZETTE: BATMAN DEAD? #1

Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by various
Cover by Dustin Nguyen

A city looking to kill itself. A population without its dark avenger, without answers, without hope. A cop looking to save Gotham from its own madness. A reporter looking to reclaim her career by revealing that it's no coincidence the city's top billionaire and its urban legend are missing at the same time. A doctor seeking to regain her soul by stepping back into Hell. One hero who can't quite get it right no matter how hard she tries. Harvey Bullock. Vicki Vale. Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Stephanie Brown. What do all these people have in common?

Without Batman, Gotham City continues to fall apart, and these extraordinary "ordinary" people try to mend the city's wounds, looking into a dark night for answers. This one-shot special explores the effect a missing Batman has on the citizens of Gotham City.

That sounds pretty good actually.

 

[sethcohen]

i have a funny feeling thats not Jean Paul Valley in that Azrael suit

 

[yenaled]

Yeah :/

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That sounds pretty good actually.

I thought the same thing.

i have a funny feeling thats not Jean Paul Valley in that Azrael suit

I thought the same thing.

 

[Aristotle]

On the whole, the event looks pretty cool, but what is it with DiDio teasing that he'll give fans what they want, only to give them something else?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Don't know. I'll probably start reading a bit of Batman again with this, though. That Gotham Gazette one-shot sounds damn good, plus I'm mildly interested in seeing how Battle for the Cowl itself plays out.

Also, I think that Gotham Gazette cover cements Dustin Nguyen as the best Batman artist in recent memory. His art works so perfectly for Batman. A dreamy, cerebral quality mixed with a touch of shadowy darkness and characters that look only a couple steps removed from the B:TAS universe. Beautiful.

 

[BrianWilly]

I'm not crazy about all these random untested writers getting the batkeys to the batkingdom for an event that's supposed to be so significant. Tony Daniel, Royal McGraw, Kevin VanHook? Sorry, but...who? What?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Tony Daniel drew much of Morrison's run and RIP itself, so he's technically not untested. He's not very good either, at least to my eyes, but he's not untested.

The rest... yeah, no clue.

 

[Aristotle]

I'm not batcrazy about all these random untested batwriters getting the batkeys to the batkingdom for an event that's supposed to be so batsignificant. Tony Daniel, Royal BatMcGraw, Kevin VanHook? Sorry, but...batwho? BatWhat?

BatFixed.

 

[yenaled]

I'm not crazy about all these random untested writers getting the batkeys to the batkingdom for an event that's supposed to be so significant. Tony Daniel, Royal McGraw, Kevin VanHook? Sorry, but...who? What?

Royal McGraw wrote a pretty good Dr Phosphorous story in Detective, I seem to remember.

Never heard of Tony Daniels writing ability or who VanHook is.

 

[BrianWilly]

Tony Daniel drew much of Morrison's run and RIP itself, so he's technically not untested. He's not very good either, at least to my eyes, but he's not untested.

Yeah but Tony Daniel is batwriting this event, not just batdrawing it. He might as well be a complete batn00b, considering that writing and drawing things are usually very batdifferent. Some artists take to writing very well. Many batdon't.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He wrote that creator-owned series he had... The Tenth. I never read it, so I don't know if it was batgood or bats***ty.

 

[Aristotle]

Yeah but Tony Daniel is batwriting this event, not just batdrawing it. He might as well be a complete batn00b, considering that writing and drawing things are usually very batdifferent. Some artists take to writing very well. Many batdon't.

Inbatdeed. Still, I'm giving him the benefit of the batdoubt for now.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Full Solicits:

- After last issue's rather bad cover, Lopresti's new WW one is pretty good; it has a very old-school feel (you could almost see a "This Issue! Enter: The Olympian!").

Pretty quiet for me; just Simone's two, GL, and Northlanders.

EDIT - Oh, and Booster.

 

[Aristotle]

Why do forums always overhaul everything without any warning? It's very jarring.

 

[fifthfiend]

It wouldn't be so bad if the reds and blues weren't cranked up to OMFG!!

Pastels! Look it up you pricks!

...Or I mean jesus, at least leave the old template availabe in the options.

 

[Mee]

A. Tony Daniel's art sucks enough, now he gets to write too?
B. Bruce Wayne better not be gone long.
C. He's still around in Superman/Batman
4. The End

 

[Alex Summers]

Yeah, I don't think Azrael is Jean-Paul, either. Based on the brief summary it looks like a completely different character. Dammit DC!

 

[Spike_x1]

Boffo! I new trade collecting The Question's old series is coming out again. t:

 

[Darthphere]

Wow, at last some stuff to get excited about at DC.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

A. Tony Daniel's art sucks enough, now he gets to write too?
B. Bruce Wayne better not be gone long.
C. He's still around in Superman/Batman
4. The End

Superman/Batman'll probably be canceled soon. The good JLA stuck around in JLA: Classified for a while after Meltzer relaunched the main book, too.