New Comic Book Guy (Easybroth) Sets Out to Read DC Comics from the New 52 on
I don't even know if these kinds of threads are allowed on here, I read the FAQ, but didn't see anything specific about content of threads, so I'm jumping in feet first.
I'm a 31 year old man who has very limited experience with comic books, that weren't meant to be funny. I had read [I]The Walking Dead[/I], and really that's about it. I enjoyed the Marvel movies, they were certainly entertaining. But, what I enjoyed more than the individual stories (which varied in quality), was the continuity between it all. That these things were building off of one another or even happening simultaneously, and then it begins to feel less like individual movies, but rather one large entity. But, frankly, I'm just not a movie guy. I much prefer reading and art, so it makes sense why the medium of comic books appeals to me. But, it's always been cost prohibitive and overwhelming, and the only thing that seemed cost efficient were omnibuses, which is why I've read [I]The Walking Dead[/I]! But, then about a month ago I discovered the subscription service for DC Comics, and suddenly it wasn't cost prohibitive (though still overwhelming), and with a nice iPad to look at, enjoyable and easy to read.
But, where to start? I chose DC over Marvel (since they obviously have a subscription model of their own), because I like Batman and Superman, and I'm over Marvel characters for now. I fell down the rabbit hole of research, trying to find the perfect starting point (which I now realize is a fool's errand) to get into DC comics and their universe (which I also now realize is not full of continuity and requires suspending disbelief as well as timelines) and despite the polarizing sentiments about it, I've decided to start with the New 52. Apparently, there are some real duds floating around in there, but that's fine! I really, really expect this to be a marathon and not a race, and have zero plans of ever being able to catch up to the present. This is likely a project that will take up years. But, I figure I can knock out a storyline or two a week (more in the summer, since I'm a school teacher), and really make some progress through the DC universe. I've been compiling various reading lists all over the internet, and I think I have a decent idea of my plan to approaching it, since I don't think there is a 'perfect' order out there. And I'll certainly take suggestions on my reading order as well.
My plan to get started has been about two weeks in the making (if that gives you any idea on what kind of person I am...I'm also one that likes using parentheticals if you can't tell), and I'm rearing to go. There are a handful of 'main' DC super heroes that I really don't know much about, besides surface information that any half-way nerd knows (Green Arrow, Aquaman), and there are a handful out there that I've never heard of up until now (O.M.A.C., Blue Beetle). I don't have much optimism for the ones that lasted 5 issues before getting axed, but the goal is to get through them anyways. I get the sense that it would be beneficial to read at least a few comics leading up to the New 52 for some important context and information, but I've got to put a limit somewhere or I'm going to end up following the crumb trail all the way back to 80 year old comics. So, New 52 it is, I'm sure I'll be doing plenty of googling anyways, so I'll pick up any information I need along the ways from wiki's, board members and the such.
I ask for no spoilers, I'm sure I'll accidentally spoil things for myself by being overzealous with the googling, but I'll do my best. I'm going to try to maintain a rough map of my plan to get through the comics, again by using an amalgamation of several website's reading orders (of which I'll credit in due time) and wherever my interest seems to take me.
I'm going to try to roughly follow publication orders, I thought about trying it chronologically, but I don't think I'd enjoy reading it as much, I also don't know if I trust that anyone who puts reading orders together could truly, accurately do such a colossal task. I don't want to just bounce around haphazardly as I know there is no way to perfectly line anything up. So my goal is to keep characters that make sense to be read together, together. If a character appears in a story and they have a arc out there in roughly the same publication period they are going to be moved up the list and be more likely to be read sooner. I expect this to be pretty interesting and a very long term project. I hope CBR is paying their server bill because I'm hoping this thread is around for awhile.
From the reading order sites I've used (comicbookreadingorders.com, comicbooktreasury.com, mythbank.com, readingorders.net, collectededitions.blogspot.com (probably my favorite) as well as the Patreon user ComicBookOrderly, who I paid a few bucks to access his order (which has a few issues, but it has an excellent checklist).
It seems I'm supposed to start out with the opening arc for [B]Justice League.[/B]
[IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/pX5q89jz/Justice-League-1-Origins.jpg[/IMG]
After that, it will be [B]Action Comics:[/B]
[IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/MZF9v0nz/Action-Comics-1-Superman-and-the-Men-of-Steel.jpg[/IMG]
Then, after that? I'm really not sure. I'll have to see where it takes me and/or take suggestions from the community. Looking forward to it and I'll take any suggestions you have.
Justice League, vol. 1: Origins
[B][SIZE=4]Review #1[/SIZE][/B]
[IMG]https://i.postimg.cc/pX5q89jz/Justice-League-1-Origins.jpg[/IMG]
[B][SIZE=4]Contains issues #1-6[/SIZE][/B]
[B][SIZE=4]*WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS[/SIZE][/B]
So, we jump right into it. Reboot or not, it makes sense that there isn't a need to painstakingly work through the origins of every main hero (except Cyborg), I know at least the basics about all of these guys (except Cyborg) so it's refreshing to be inserted right into the thick of things from page one. The other thing I noticed right off of the bat was how juicy Jim Lee makes the heroes lips! Especially Batman's, you could rest a cup of coffee on those things!
The whole thing was kind of a whirlwind. I'm all for in media res, but the decision to have all the characters meet (besides Green Lantern and Flash) due to a massive world threating event was an interesting choice to me. It establishes that Darkseid and his minions are the most existential threat that the Earth has faced in modern times, because it so quickly gathers so many powerful entities (and creates a 7th). It's also interesting how these characters have their own specific cities or environments they operate in and consider their domain, and despite how crime ridden Gotham is and the immediate alien threat residing in it, Batman's still salty that Green Lantern isn't in Coast City, minding his own business.
Issue by issue, a new main player in the Justice League pops their head in, establishes their character (some better than the others), particularly in the context of dealing with one another. If there's a character arc to be had in a volume titled [I]Origins[/I], it certainly belongs to Green Lantern. The astonishment as Green Lantern continually is exposed to people more powerful or more clever than he is was entertaining, and it was interesting to see have to come to terms with it, because he definitely gets his ass whooped by the largest variety of things in these six issues. Him having the realization that Batman was "just some guy in a bat costume" was the line of issue 1. But, between Superman blasting him out of the way and Batman pilfering his ring off of him, Green Lantern definitely comes off as ill-prepared and cocky early on. I was a little disappointed that Superman makes mincemeat of Batman, Green Lantern AND the Flash right off the bat, I was hoping at least one of them would be able to do something to stop him, besides Batman eventually being able to talk him down before he destroyed them.
The sub-plot that runs through these issues is that of Victor Stone and his transition to Cyborg. I know of Cyborg, but really couldn't have told you a thing about him before reading these issues. Stud athlete with a inattentive genius scientist father seems like a fairly original origin story, but what do I know? I certainly see the benefit of having him on the 'team', and he proves it by the end of the volume and being instrumental to defeat Darkseid, but he has such a horrific 'birth', gets unceremoniously called 'Cyborg' by Green Lantern in Issue 6, and as far as I can tell that's where he's given his name. Plus, the dude has crazy tech in his brain, so he's probably pretty fucked up (can I curse here?). It was funny that Batman had to turn into a coach and pep talk Victor into being able to close the portal. It'll be interesting to see how his relationship plays out with the rest of them going forward (or if he has his own line of books, which I don't see that he does in the New 52).
Aquaman pops in to make some sharks eat a bunch of monsters and to let everyone know he's in charge of the sea. Aquaman is another character I know very little about, I have a few assumptions about him from things I've picked up from pop culture over the years, but essentially I associate him with being kind of lame. I'm sure he's not, I doubt a character would last decades and decades if he was lame. But, this issue didn't really dispel that for me and he certainly was the least developed personality wise of the members. Batman's a jerk who is used to working solo, Green Lantern's an over confident ass, Flash is a cop and acts like it, but I didn't pick up anything about Aquaman, heck even to the uninitiated like me, I at least picked up that Wonder Woman loves to fight and kill, as well as enjoys the simple things like ice cream and is far more of a fish out of water than the others. Nothing like that for Aquaman.
After defeating Darkseid, the arc ends with the President kind of forcing the crew to acknowledge that they might have to work together to stand a chance against such colossal threats like Darkseid, and I am looking forward to seeing the dynamics of their personalities. The narrative framing of the last issue was a bit odd to me. An author David Graves who was saved by the heroes writes a book about the crew, and christens them with the name Justice League. But, what the hell is this book about? Did he get interviews with all of the heroes? Is it a retelling of the battle against Darkseid? His editor raves about it, but it's a thick book! What's in there?!
The epilogue with Pandora was all kinds of confusing, so I did a little googling and a little wiki'ing (hey she's in every issue #1?!). It looks like she's responsible for the timeline chaos and it pissed some people off, so this is something where I have to make myself resist to go back and read a story arc or two prior to the New 52 (as has been suggested!) and just roll with the punches and fill in the gaps as we go.
[B][SIZE=4]Overall Score:[/SIZE][/B]
I've gone back and forth on how/if I should rate these arcs, and what system I want to use. Am I going to be a 5* guy? a x/10? Go all Pitchfork and add a decimal point so now I'm giving things 8.3's like a real asshole? But, I figured I should just put in categories of: I loved it, I liked it, it was okay, and I was ready for it to be over. [B]I liked this one.
[/B]
I'm going to keep a ranking of the arcs I read, and try to slot any new reviews in as I go so I can maintain an order of the series I've read from favorite to least favorite. In competition, there aren't too many words sweeter than 'by default', but right now the #1 ranking belongs to:
[code]
1. Justice League #1: Origins
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Next will be the 8 issue arc in [B]Action Comics: Superman and the Men of Steel[/B]. After that, I'm leaning towards Green Arrow: The Midas Touch (issues #1-6), based on the recommendations of the reading orders I'm leaning on.
Thanks for reading!