Let me say that I don't want to be a downer -and am pretty excited for some of the March relaunch books, especially WW.
The biggest problem of DC Comics is the fact that they cannot build up new franchises -namely turning Titans and Legion into successful multimedia properties.
We haven't read Titans Future State or there is not much information on Titans Academy but so far: There is a possible betrayal, and there are countless deaths. At this point these narrative tracks should be banned from Titans' stories for the next 50 years or so.
Legion... The book hasn't caught up with the reader. The narrative is all over the place. The reboot is not justified at all. Characters has no heart, no charisma, and they all act like spoiled brats. And Legion's big return is now stained by that stupid Superman villain nobody cares about. What the hell is DC paying Brian Cunningham for when it comes to editing this book? The book is a reboot but is not even consistent within its own inventions. And why would you refuse Legion's glorious history for the sake of a mediocre book? You are just cutting the franchise into confusing, unstable pieces until it cannot be put together ever again. I am a big fan of 5YL but I do get the criticism -no matter what, 5YL was a part of a bigger narrative and always offered a way back into more traditional Legion stories. Now, there is no place to go but Bendis' single-handed vision.
The shadow of AT&T is with us and another failure with these two books might bring us to final destination.
To prevent such fate, you need people with long-term ambitions and vision. And you have to have marketable team -big names, let's say it.
Ah! JSA is no different. In the 90s', you would see JSA in the pages of Starman, Shazam etc. It had its own space within the big frame of DCU. Then DC decided to put JSA in limbo for no reason.
I can understand WB's and AT&T's agitation with DC comic-book division. The editors are stubbornly refusing to take meaningful actions. The PR teams do not read the market carefully. The publisher is not ambitious enough. The past is not respected. And the future is not taken seriously. This is just bad business. And all the good characters that had been created over the last 80 years are paying the price and heading into the oblivion. It was an exciting idea to assume that DC would update the Titans/JSA/Legion teams with care but now I can't see such care and attention. I hope I am wrong.
Yeah, the X-Boards were constantly complaining about all the new, young, Mutants that each subsequent writer kept creating.
If it wasn't a franchise struggling so much to even use it's main characters right, or the various other characters in its pantheon, I don't think it would be that big an issue.
Ram V on Swamp Thing is a dream come true for me (given the contemporary industry landscape, that is). And Perkins is a good artist.
After the Batgirl cancellation, WW was the only title I was getting singles for. But I think it's time to convert to TPB w/ this creative team change. I like Cloonan, but Conrad misused me/I in a tweet...*shudder*... anyway, jokes aside, it's about time I went full trade-wait for all titles anyway. Future State seems to be the perfect time to.
Comics were definitely happier, breezier and more confident in their own strengths before Hollywood and the Internet turned the business of writing superhero stories into the production of low budget storyboards or, worse, into conformist, fruitless attempts to impress or entertain a small group of people who appear to hate comics and their creators. -- Grant Morrison, 2008
trade-waiting - Ice Cream Man, Monstress
backlog - Blade of the Immortal, Mignolaverse, Promethea, X-Cutioner's Song
I could swear that I have seen this exact cover on an x-men comic before. The three bat symbols are a bit much... but it's great to see that they finally remembered all the "founding" Titans. Except for Garth. Because of course.
I thought we would see some more teambuilding between the current Teen Titans and the NTT before diving into an all new roaster, but I guess they want to introduce Red X as fast as possible into main continuity. I'll still check out FS and the two TT comics this month because that's the team I care about but March doesn't seem to be for me.
Except for Garth and Wally.
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Teen Titans Academy is a bunch of newbies.
Where'd I put my pressure medication?
"Cable was right!"
I sincerely doubt it’s all newbies, especially if in Future State is focusing on characters like Emiko, Crush, and Bunker alongside Nightwing, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Red X.
If anything I’m expecting a kind of Wolverine and the x-men type feel, a bunch of characters in the background so that we see the place function as a school but in reality we will follow mainly a set cast of characters that will probably switch between the New Teen Titans cast and our current roster (Wallace, Emiko, Crush, & Roundhouse) plus some new kids depending on the story arc.
"It's fun and it's cool, so that's all that matters. It's what comics are for, Duh."
Words to live by.
Straight Wolfman era rehash would be the 2008 Titans before they turned it into Villains for Hire. But the new 52 TT did a Trigon rehash and the Rebirth TT while you could argue was more inspired by the 2003 cartoon (tho that was inspired by Wolfman era) did have little things like Wallace and Raven, like how Wolfman did Wally and Raven