"NEW" DC : general discussion

[Valentine Smith]

Apparently the cover of All-Star Superman, the pose that Superman is in, that's how the guy was sitting during Grant's "interview" with him.

Gail Simone tweeted yesterday that she got some of the story beats from the first Action arc and wanted to stand up and cheer.

[Matt in the Hat]

GM: The big break for me was I got tired of looking at stuff like The Dark Knight and Watchmen, which are wonderful and beautiful works, but for me the idea of taking our problems into the superhero world is ultimately a dead-end. When I was 25 or 26 it occurred to me that trying to make superheroes seem real was insane. They were not real in that way, but what really hit me was, “Well, in what way are they real?” They’re absolutely real in the form of paper, and so I wanted to go beyond that spurious realism of here’s what would happen if Batman got a run in his tights, or, “How does he go to the bathroom?” “Where does he keep his change?” Which I think are very dumb questions. In the book, one of the things I say is that people always believe kids don’t understand the difference between fact and fiction. But they do! A child can watch The Little Mermaid and they know the singing crabs on TV are very different from the real crabs on the beach. You give an adult a piece of fiction, and the adult cannot handle it. The adult begins to ask, “How can Batman afford to run a business and be Batman at night?” “How do the lasers come out of Superman’s eyes?” “Why does he wear those clothes?” And all you want to say is, “Because it’s not real!” It’s made up, and only in the made-up world can these things happen. I find that, in the last 10 years particularly, there’s this idea of grounding Superman, which just seems insane to me. And that’s what you always get from studio executives, is, “How do we ground this?”

NG: The other thing I love that you hear all the time from movie executives is, “What are the rules of this world?” Nobody gives you rules for any world. You figure it out as you go along and weird s— happens.

GM: And obviously rules eventually arise, but it comes from the narrative. And it doesn’t have to be this world’s rules. Adults need to get a grasp of this. These things aren’t real and we can make anything happen. And that’s exactly what’s so wonderful about it.

I think this about sums up a lot of peoples thought processes about movie stuff as well as comics. The world can have its rules, but you don't have to be a slave to it. Just watch and enjoy, and forget about the "whys".

[crazy_asian_man]

I think this about sums up a lot of peoples thought processes about movie stuff as well as comics. The world can have its rules, but you don't have to be a slave to it. Just watch and enjoy, and forget about the "whys".

Agreed- I think there is a tricky balance on grounding comic book elements and letting others fly (no pun intended)- that some filmmakers seem to grasp better than others.

[Jor-L5150]

well, it seems that the biggest departure from real superman to NuDC superman is the (apparent) lack of the kents.

"rogect superman issue 2" is out, and it posits that Kal-L was captured by the military at an early age and held for experiments and so forth.
at some point i don't know if he escapes and lives with the kents or not.

[Valentine Smith]

The Kents will exist in new continuity, they're just both dead, ala pre-Crisis Superman.

[Jor-L5150]

go to the homepage and you'll see the TV-spot for the new 52.

they ARE puching it hard- even running it in theaters i guess.

(i'd post a link but they kicked me out)

[SupermanUF]

Jim Lee needs to stop drawing Superman.

That is my thought for the day.

[Deleted]

Afuckingreed.

[Valentine Smith]

Aug 23, 2011 11:23:47 GMT -5 SupermanUF said:

Jim Lee needs to stop drawing Superman.

Don't worry. You'll get your wish. Jim Lee hasn't met a deadline or finished a project in ten years. In 6 months time, he'll be off Justice League. You can take that to the bank.

[Deleted]

His characters either have two faces. Extreme anger or a slight smirk. There seems to be no in between. And everyone is either skinny as heck or ripped, like HUGELY ripped, even the pizza boy will be ripped if Lee draws him his way. And the poses he draws are just ridiculous sometimes.

He draws like it's the 90's still, all flash and style over substance. There's a lot in his art, sometimes too much, and he is magnificent at what he does, truly, I just don't care for it anymore.

I'm...actually starting not to like Alex Ross so much anymore either...I acknowledge he's a master of painting, but again, there's a lot in his art. Takes me like a minute to examine each panel to make sure I'm not missing anything.

[Deleted]

I love the Booster Gold series. Haven't read it in a while but it was so damn fun.

I'm pretty sure Jurgens is still my favorite artist ever. However, there are runners up, of course.

[Valentine Smith]

As far as I know, Johns has never written a Darkseid story.

I'm picking up Justice League despite my Jim Lee hate. I'm too curious not too. We're gonna learn a lot about the new DCU based on this first story arc, so I'm kinda psyched.

[Matt in the Hat]

Jim lee's characters have two expressions : silence and rage.

I.e. Superman : for tomorrow.

[SupermanUF]

Aug 24, 2011 11:12:43 GMT -5 cypher85 said:

I personally don't get the Jim Lee hate that is really so popular. Yes he can't make a deadline. But it's his actual art style that many people complain about these days.

He has a very sleek,crisp and sexy look to his art. I like it, for the most part. And it's head and shoulders above many artists working in the field today. I could nitpick his art, but overall it is of a high caliber with a very distinctive style. And I personally don't get the hate. The level of detail in his art is great as well. Overall I am looking forward to Justice League, and will be giving it a shot. Doesn't mean I will be sold on it. But, everything looks good from what I have seen so far. Plus Darkseid has been confirmed as the villain for the first arc. That right there is a hook for me. Has Johns written a Darkseid story? Or even anything heavily involving fourth world characters?

Cypher, I didn't say anything about not liking Jim Lee's style. To be clear: I loved his Marvel work, and I think his run on Batman: Hush was one of my favorite depictions of the character ever. I just don't care for how he draws Superman... he just always makes him look like that Marvel villain Mr. Sinister.

[SupermanUF]

True.

But his face-- He always looks... well, sinister. And his \S/ is lacking in any style... it's just sloppy.

[Valentine Smith]

Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited. The only books I'm definitely grabbing right now are...

Action
Superman
Justice League
Stormwatch

Batgirl is a strong maybe.
Flash is a less strong maybe.

I'd buy more, but I'm so broke.

[Jor-L5150]

getting the superman family of books, exept superboy.

i want both justice lague books and hawkman.
some batman books- maybe.

i have a good chance at picking up the superman variants as i was one of the first to ask about it, and the shop guy was relieved to have people "pulling".

for the first time in MANY years i'll have a "pull"... ;D

[Valentine Smith]

I'll be honest...GL has been boring me for at least a year. It's certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination. And honestly, I'm REALLY intrigued by the Sinestro storyline that they're kicking off with.

But, y'know what? It's been six good years with that book. I need room in my budget for the Superman books, and the end of War Of The Green Lanterns seemed like a good "jumping off point" for me.

Here's the thing. I don't think the book ever matched the heights of Sinestro Corps War, which was not only the best of Johns' run, but the best GL story I've ever read! Ever! I think they moved too quickly bringing in all of the other kinds of Lanterns, and I think Blackest Night was a little...bloated. The whole "armies of different Lanterns" thing, which is something I've wanted since childhood, kind of wore thin pretty quick for me, as I think they were overused too early.

I'm not dropping the book out of malice or anything like that. I just figured it was a good time to move on to another book. I'm sure it'll still be very good. But, I've been left a little flat by at least the last two storylines (although War Of The GLs had a really promising start), and I'd rather use that $2.99 a month for one of the Superman books or Warren Ellis' Secret Avengers or something.

[Paul (ral)]

I am not an avid comic reader. Jeez I barely read, period.

I have never had a pull list, subscription...instead I buy the odd graphic novel or TPB and loose single issues whenever I am around a comic shop.

Today I arranged my first 12 issue subscription. 12 issues each of:

Action Comics
Superman
Batman
Detective Comics
Batman & Robin
Batman: The Dark Knight

The DCnU has finally gotten me into collecting single issue comics.

[Valentine Smith]

Welcome to the fold, my friend.

[Jor-L5150]

almost went to pick up JL (volume... 5? 6? ) today but i'll wait.

next week imma head down and get it and some back issues and some boxes.

[Paul (ral)]

An interesting thing I heard today from my local comic store:

When they buy in comics from DC they can't return the ones that don't sell...they are stuck with them.
For the first time because DC are pushing the DCnU so hard they have promised to take back any unsold stock so the retailers will buy excess stock.

My local shop says they will have shit loads more copies than usual over the next few months.

Now there is all this talk about Justice League #1 selling out and going for a 2nd printing....when in fact shops are holding more stock which may end up going back!

[Jor-L5150]

i'm gonna sit on the NuDC for a couple weeks- i want a handul to go through in a single afternoon.

(reminds me of "doomsday"- as we knew how it ended i put each episode away and waited for it all to be finished then sat down to read them all at once)

[Valentine Smith]

ZOMFG!!!!!!!!!!

www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album_view.php?gid=3581&page=2

6 pages from Action Comics #1. Straight-up, 1930s-style, badass, social crusader Superman. This is amazing!!!!

Forever, when I read pretty much any Superman comic published after about 1970, the ONLY voice I hear in my head is Chris Reeve, or some variation of the Tim Daly/George Newburn gentle midwestern lilt. It's fitting.

THIS is the first Superman comic I read that isn't actually a Golden Age comic where the voice I am hearing in my head is BUD COLLYER, or maybe George Reeves. Every single word Superman says here could come straight out of his dialogue from those first few years of Superman comics, or the radio show (which really, is as important as those early comics).

He says everything with a half-smile. It's all, "So, you wanna play?" type old-fashioned badass. THIS feels fresh and different. And the best thing is?

It's still clearly Superman. He's a little cocky but not arrogant (like Golden Age Supes) He's not hitting or hurting people less powerful than him. He's not being Batman and beating confessions out of people. He's a young man, reveling in his athletic physical power (appears to be like Golden Age/Fleischer Cartoons Supes in that he can't fly yet). My favorite thing about Fleischer Superman is his athleticism. Even in the ones where he's already flying, he still runs and leaps and crouches and REVS UP for those big fantastic feats. It's never quite effortless, but it's always GRACEFUL.

That's how this feels to me. THIS is different. Nobody's tried to do this in a modern setting with Supes. I'm all over this.

[Knight]

I hope my local Forbidden Planet (even that is a train journey away!!) has a few copies of #1 left of Superman. I have never read any,well the odd one here and there.


But,this looks amazing! I definitely want to get into reading this...