Which New52 Title Fell in Quality the Quickest?

[electr1cgoblin]

OK, I'm not a basher of the Nu...a few books were cancelled that I really liked and I'm still following a few, too.

But I was thinking today about how good some of them started and how quickly they fell. For me, Earth 2 was a VERY high quality book for the first 26 issues or so, and the spark is just no longer there after Robinson and Taylor left. It's stunning how different I feel about it now.

Of course, Batwoman has to take the crown here. Enjoyed the first 25 issues a lot, and even liked the Wolf Spider stuff. But after that, argh. The breakup with Maggie, the Nocturna junk, Unknowns (in space!). Stunning.

Anyone else?

[TeenWonder]

Well, while I certainly haven`t followed too many of New 52 I certainly saw some decent titles suddenly falling in quality and suddenly noticing I did not enjoy them as much anymore.

While I haven`t read titles like Batwoman and Earth-2. I noticed that Flash fell in decline rather quickly after the first few graphic novels and it became just not that entertaining or good to be honest. Secondly I would have to mention Green Arrow by Jeff Lemire, the quality was extremely good for the first few issues but then the quality began to decline and it just became very average when compared to Jeff Lemires usual quality.

But of course then there were titles that were a trainwreck to begin with aka Teen Titans (Lobdell) and Red Hood and the Outlaws

[PennyDreadful]

Demon Knights. First issue was a hoot. The rest was a crashing bore.

[Robotman]

Definitely Earth 2. It was one of DC's best books, now it's horrible.

[vartox]

Earth 2 declined a bit in quality when Robinson left and then dropped like a rock when Taylor left. It's probably been the worst quality change between writers of any book in the new 52 so far.

Green Lantern took a nosedive when Johns left but that feels like it's been climbing back up at least.

[electr1cgoblin]

Earth 2 declined a bit in quality when Robinson left and then dropped like a rock when Taylor left. It's probably been the worst quality change between writers of any book in the new 52 so far.

Green Lantern took a nosedive when Johns left but that feels like it's been climbing back up at least.

I'm close to you on Earth 2, but honestly think that Taylor's run might have even been a bit stronger than Robinson's.

And yes, Green Lantern should be included, too. Maybe not 'quite' as drastic a drop, but I just couldn't stand Venditti's characterization of Hal and left fairly early in his run.

[vartox]

I'm close to you on Earth 2, but honestly think that Taylor's run might have even been a bit stronger than Robinson's.

And yes, Green Lantern should be included, too. Maybe not 'quite' as drastic a drop, but I just couldn't stand Venditti's characterization of Hal and left fairly early in his run.

I didn't care much for Taylor's run, I didn't like many of his cast additions and it felt more like a widescreen popcorn flick than the slow burn world building Robinson was doing. But yeah Taylor and Robinson's runs felt closer in quality, Wilson/Bennett/Johnson is just straight up bad.

I did the same for Green Lantern, gave it a couple issues and dropped it. I only picked it back up recently and it's gotten a little better.

[HsssH]

I'm close to you on Earth 2, but honestly think that Taylor's run might have even been a bit stronger than Robinson's.

And yes, Green Lantern should be included, too. Maybe not 'quite' as drastic a drop, but I just couldn't stand Venditti's characterization of Hal and left fairly early in his run.

Taylor's run was crafted better, its just that it focused on different elements and characters than many E-2 fans are interested in. There is a reason why when people talk about Robison's run they only mention world building and his love for characters - execution was at best mediocre and at times pretty awful.

[Starchild]

*sighs* The E2 hate continues.

For me it's Birds of Prey, Justice League Dark, Stormwatch & Future's End.

[electr1cgoblin]

*sighs* The E2 hate continues.

For me it's Birds of Prey, Justice League Dark, Stormwatch & Future's End.

I followed JLD for a while. What did you think was the 'good' period and what's the 'bad'?

[BohemiaDrinker]

*sighs* The E2 hate continues.

Well, it isn't coming out of nowhere; the book did get turned into crap, fast.

For me, besides Earth 2, I'd have to say StormWatch (which DC people clearly didn't get), Green Arrow post-Lemire and, it saddens me to say, Flash post-Manapul.

[Young Corn God]

Birds of Prey was one of the first nosedives.

The New 52 line started with books that absolutely sucked (Static Shock, Mister Terrific, Hawk & Dove) and books that were simply uninteresting or underhwhelming (Blackhawks, Green Arrow, Justice League International), but seldom had a book started strong only to be shattered upon the rocks of incompetent editorial manipulation.

In the first few months of the launch, a large number of people thought that Starling was one of the most interesting new characters of the New 52. By the time DC removed the new writer and put in Christy Marx as an apology because they couldn't keep the Amethyst book alive, Starling was relegated to a traitor for Mr. Freeze (?!?!) and shown the door, never to return. So much for creating new IP! The book soon became unreadable, and shortly thereafter became literally unreadable, as in canceled.

So BIRDS OF PREY is my vote for the earliest New 52 nosedive.

EARTH 2, as too many have mentioned, has been damaged beyond repair. The property is now virtually worthless. Worst, with so many classic characters murdered to add oohs and aahs to a big crossover event, there's no longer even a conceptual connection to the Justice Society characters. There are now several worlds on Grant Morrison's Multiversity map that have numbers associated with their concept more closely than does Earth 2. The worst result of the World's End debacle is that it has rendered this version of the world pointless, and has ultimately doomed it. There is enormous value in the Justice Society characters. DC is about extracting dollars from that value. The less Earth 2 resembles those heroes, the less likely it is that they are worth profiting from in exclusion of the 60-year franchise that spawned them.

To put it another way, look for a revised Justice Society closer to the classic version after World's End, probably introduced as part of the Convergence event. They're going to use that to fix their mistakes, and what has been done to Earth 2 is undoubtedly one of the biggest mistakes they have made yet. One of the reasons, no doubt, that they are so willing to trash the world is that they already know it is not worth saving.

It will soon be replaced, and nothing of value was lost (save some cool costume designs that can still be used next time around).

I also remember VOODOO dropped off pretty rapidly. It was an alien mystery comic featuring a morally ambiguous lead character and then all of a sudden that version was a clone or something and then even more all of a sudden it was over before anyone understood WTF was happening. And when I say "hardly anyone" I mean some number significantly lower than the 11,328 copies DC sold of the final issue.

[Rocker75]

I'd say Batwoman was a predictable nosedive, but the shudderingly awful turn Nocenti brought to Catwoman led to me dropping the book after a few issues - and I almost never drop a book.

[Punisher007]

Batwoman took a nosedive in quality once Williams III/Blackman left, beyond repair in fact.

Green Arrow has been a roller coaster when it comes to quality. It went from mediocre at the beginning, to awful under Nocenti, to great under Lemire, and now back to poor under Kreisberg.

Wonder Woman has also taken a big dip in quality, but I want to wait at least a few more issues before writing it off completely.

Birds of Prey went from decent if unspectacular, to godawful.

Green Lantern post-Johns is another one.

Batwing after they took away the actually interesting hook and turned it into just another bat-book with the protagonist change (and having Alfred refer to Luke as ALWAYS being Batman's "first choice" was just a cheap shot to David Zavimbe and his fans).

[mr_crisp]

People have been mentioning Green Lantern and I think it took a dive before the New 52.