DCU Dark

The problem with Snyder's run is that it spends the first 8 issues setting up a conflict and transformation of Abby that amounts to nothing...and then spent the next year doing it again with Arcane added. The fact that it was covering much of the same ground made an already overly long arc feel even longer. And it was all going so well, in both SW and Animal Man, but just lost so much steam (Animal Man especially was kind of coasting for a while there) And then their big cross over issue? The two characters basically just explaining to each other what had happened over the first 12 issues. It was pretty bad.
 
Something must be done with Constantine, each issue is worse than the last.

Issue 1 started ok, imo. When i opened the book the first page blew my mind, the colours were awesome, the art solid and the monologue pure Constantine. After a couple of pages it started to feel like a meh superhero book. That's my main problem, it has too many things going on, too many superthings, broad and big with michael bay special effects. Hellblazer was subtle and when something happened you felt it.

The issue when John goes back to London was interesting but the next one with Zatanna and Papa Midnite was crap, absolute crap. I hate it when they force writers to tie in their stories with crossovers or just reference the crossover but that really took the cake. I think John's line about him not wanting to meet Superman and Batman is Fawkes and Lemire saying piss off to DiDio.
 
I know Justice League showed a one-sided scene of what appeared to be Zatanna quitting the Justice League Dark... but was the actual scene somewhere else? I don't think it was actually in Justice League Dark unless I'm forgetting about it. Her presence is greatly missed in that book.
 
Yeah I' am thinking about dropping Constantine until it gets a new creative team.
 
The characterization of Swamp Thing right now is a little odd. I get that a lot of things are still new for this iteration of Alec, and he definitely is Alec in a Swamp body this time, but certainly with still having the memories of the old swamp thing, this new one can't be that green (pun intended).

The conflict with the Seeder is interesting, I don't really like how the whole thing with Cappucine was just kind of sidelined off hand though.

Animal Man is okay but it hasn't regained its foooting the same way Swamp Thing has though.
 
In his review of Swamp Thing 21, Minhquan Nguyen at weeklycomicbookreview.com sums up the current Alec/Swamp Thing character perfectly.

"Alec behaves less like a demigod and more like someone who has a job that pays well, but which he hates"
 
The characterization of Swamp Thing right now is a little odd. I get that a lot of things are still new for this iteration of Alec, and he definitely is Alec in a Swamp body this time, but certainly with still having the memories of the old swamp thing, this new one can't be that green (pun intended).

The conflict with the Seeder is interesting, I don't really like how the whole thing with Cappucine was just kind of sidelined off hand though.

I think your first paragraph really sums up how I feel about the book. There's so much unexplored territory for this iteration of Swamp Thing, but it's undermined by the silly continuity changes that Snyder made to Arcane. Add in this events of this issue, Alec and Constantine having no recollection of each other beyond perhaps those 2 JLDark issues.

Supposedly all of Alan Moore's run is still canon, and given two off the cuff references by Soule last issue that implied that the Rick Veitch and Doug Wheeler runs, to some degree, still are within continuity, I'd like to see an issue or an arc actually deal with some of that. Snyder/Soule's Swamp Thing can't be this stupid.

I also still want a more metered, poetic speech pattern for the character. Yes, this is technically Alec in a Swamp Thing body, but despite that, his consciousness was still in the previous incarnation. So I like to think the character is a little more intelligent and has a little bit more insight into things than the average joe he's being portrayed as.
 
This is a character being introduced in Swamp Thing Annual #2. His name is the Burgher King.

....


....

BURGHER KING.

1016887_10151732643413485_2022736289_n.jpg
 
Lady Weeds design by Jesus Saiz- 19th Century Swamp Thing.

Lady%20Weeds%202%5B1%5D.jpg
 
While the story was ultimately satisfying, the artwork and particularly the printing of the artwork was some of the worst that I have seen in a professionally printed comic book. There were panels that were so clearly thumbnails of larger drawings, shrank so small that the details became muddled and in contrast there were low resolution splash pages blown up far too large. In particular there is a splash page where you can basically see the pixels of the scanned image and parts of it aren't even fully inked. It is also odd how inconsistent Foreman's faces are. More than just expression, the proportions of Buddy and cliffs faces change throughout the book. Its as if there is an artist switch, as is common with DC issues, but in this case it is in fact one artist all the way through. I'm not much for Travel Foreman as it is, but Animal Man Annual 2 is an ugly book.
 
Oh man, that Animal Man Annual #2 was GREAT! Lemire has really done some great work on Animal Man but this was just awesome. And ****ing heartwrenching
 
Has Zatanna appeared in Vertigo books? If so, which ones? I know she had a thing with John Constantine at some point, which books are those? Has she appeared in Hellblazer? I ask because after downloading her in Injustice, I'm all about the Zatanna love now. Must find her...
 
Zatanna appeared in a couple of early issues ofHellblazer at Vertigo. The only one that stands out in my mind right now is John's 40th birthday party issue.
 
I didn't see the Seeder being
Jason Woodrue/Floronic Man
coming.
 
I didn't see the Seeder being
Jason Woodrue/Floronic Man
coming.

Me either, but that had more to do with the fact that I didn't read Swamp Thing Annual #1. So the revelation, while coming as a surprise, didn't really have a huge impact, mainly because it also seems that this version of Woodrue isn't the same Woodrue from previous volumes of the book, despite the fact that I was pretty sure Snyder said atleast the Alan Moore stuff was retained and also because I didn't even know Woodrue still existed.

It sounds nit-picky, I know. But I'm still working to get used to the new continuity with the character. I'm digging what Soule is doing, and I think his run runs miles over Snyder's work, which felt like a jumble of cool ideas that went unrealized. The Arcane issue for Villain's Month was all kinds of "meh" though, because Soule is at the mercy of Snyder's horrible revamping of dear Uncle Anton.
 
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Man, this week's Animal Man was ****ing great. Seriously one of my favorite books right now. This Hollywood Babylon story got off to an outstanding start and DAMN! That last page! Brother Blood and The Master of Limbs ain't ****ing around! Gotta love seeing super villains threaten a Hollywood award show though haha
 
I have it but haven't read it yet. I haven't gotten to read August's issue yet!
 
Glad to hear it. Have it but haven't gotten around to reading it just yet
 
Swamp Thing Annual was amazeballs!

Quite honestly one of the better issues of Swamp Thing in a long long time. In the end I really loved the new Swamp Things it introduced, though I'm glad they shied away from that whole "Burgher King" name for the Wolf. Grape mutton chops are the best.

The way this issue incorporated elements of Rick Vetch and Alan Moore's "My Blue Heaven" was really surprising.

It is interesting to me how much of Soule's run has really just been incorporating and reframing some of the lesser elements of Snyder's run and really the whole problem of the new 52 reboot, particularly in completely subverting and denying the whole "Chosen One" trope Snyder was introducing.

Also, I absolutely love any glimpses we get of pre-human avatars of the green. This issue set up what the Avatar is supposed to be in a far better fashion than it had ever been before.

Great issue.
 
I am not even mad. Fantastic book and i think its better for it to end on a high note. Animal Man in Justice League sounds a bit meh but Vertigo is dead so there is no point to expect any more vertigo stuff with him or constantine.
 

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