Grading the New 52, Part 1
16 Sep
In case you didn't know, I've been pretty excited about DC's New 52 initiative ever since I first heard about it a few months back, and since August 31st when Justice League #1 was released I've been eating them up like candy. Over the next few weeks I'll be grading the ones I pick up as well as writing short little recaps. Here's the first four:
Action Comics #1
I'll be honest: I've never been a big fan of Superman. He's too powerful, too idealized, and thus, inhuman (both figuratively and literally). I've never seen any of his movies and I only watched the animated show because it came on after The New Adventures of Batman and Robin. But you have to hand it to Grant Morrison for making the character feel fresh again. His Superman is a different kind of superhero. Feared by the authorities and struggling to make a living as the mild-mannered Clark Kent, Morrison's Superman is at once more badass, and more relatable.
It's still hard for him to seem like anything other than an anthropomorphized ideal, but Morrison comes close to making him feel like a real person. He can't pay his rent. He wears jeans. He believes in justice. And instead of being a poster-boy for American patriotism (a la The Dark Knight Returns), here Superman is instead a champion for justice in a broader sense.
Rags Morales' art was good, though I wasn't the biggest fan of his depiction of Lex Luthor- a bit pudgy for my taste. But all in all this was a great new origin story for the Man of Steel and in all likelihood, much better than this month's upcoming Superman #1 (Sep 28).
Score 8.3
Animal Man #1
Animal Man is by far my favorite #1 of the New 52 to date. I'd never heard of Buddy Baker before, but now he's definitely in the running for one of my favorite DC heroes. After reading the first issue I did a little studying up and learned that Buddy's finest moments came in a run scripted by Grant Morrison in which Morrison literally wrote himself into the comic. So clearly, Animal Man is a superhero comic that takes risks and new writer Jeff Lemire doesn't disappoint.
I think what makes Animal Man such a special entry in the New 52 is that unlike most other heroes, Buddy is a family man. He's got a loving, if not begrudging wife, a spunky young daughter and a headstrong tween boy. He puts them first and thus hasn't donned his costume in quite some time. And when those he love are put in danger, the stakes are that much higher and the tension feels more real than say, Lex Luthor stealing forty cakes. Buddy's also a former actor, adding another dimension to his already rich character. And unlike many of the other #1's, Animal Man doesn't feel overwrought or expositional. The reader is given all the necessary information- who's who, how Buddy's powers work- without any heavy-handedness.
Apparently readers have had mixed feelings about Travel Foreman's art, but personally I thought it was amazing and it's one of my favorites so far, rivaled only by Batwoman and Swamp Thing. Characters are real and emotive, and yet also somewhat stylized, like an Egon Schiele sketch, and though Lovern Kindzierski's inks are a bit harsh and monochromatic at times, there's something about their pastel feel that worked for me.
All in all, Animal Man is definitely a series worth checking out, and you can rest assured that if you're like me and unfamiliar with the character, it's still a great read.
Score: 9.8
Batgirl #1
In case you were unaware, about 60% of the New 52 are Batman comics. I'm not kidding. That's seriously how much DC has invested in their most popular character. So there's a lot to choose from, but so far all the issues I've read have been great. I'll admit I was a little tentative about Batgirl, but thankfully writer Gail Simone (one of the New 52's few female writers) has turned me around. Longtime fans were upset about Barbara Gordon's return to the batsuit after a decades-long run as the wheelchair-bound Oracle. However, the events of Alan Moore's The Killing Joke are fortunately not retconned, in fact they play a major part in this incarnation of Batgirl.
In Simone's new take, Barbara Gordon has secretly returned to the mantle of Batgirl after three years as a paraplegic and some intense physical therapy. It may be hard to swallow that someone who was shot in the spine can now be vaulting atop the roofs of buildings, but this is also a Batman comic we're talking about, so if you're reading it you're probably the kind of guy who can suspend his disbelief. Plus, there's some awesome flashbacks to Barbara's shooting at the hands of the Joker that look like they were ripped out of the pages of Moore's original tale.
Fans were worried that Barbara's return as Batgirl would strip her of the strong femininity that made her so popular as Oracle. However, here we are given a different Batgirl, one who is no longer a sidekick, but on her own, doing her own thing and struggling with her own personal demons. Superheroes are always more effective when they have a human side, when they feel fear and love and loss just like we do. Barbara feels all those things, and it's perhaps why, at least for now, she's a stronger character than the New 52's Batman.
Score: 9.0
Batman and Robin #1
Oh, Robin. What a bizarre, bizarre creation you are. Conceived during the Silver Age, Robin was probably originally no more than a ruse to boost comic sales by getting kids to read them again. "Hey kids! Is Batman too old for you? Well, what if YOU could be a SUPERHERO too?!!" I've never really liked him. Tim Drake was okay on the cartoon, but I've tried time and again to wipe the memory of Chris O'Donnel and his Robin-nipples from my mind. However you look at it, Robin is a weird character. If his inclusion in the Batman mythos isn't homoerotic it's pedophiliac, and when it's neither of those things it's just illogical. How is making an orphan don a costume and then putting him in harm's way going to help him get over the deaths of his acrobat parents?
And yet, I have to admit, I really found myself liking Batman and Robin #1. And you know why? Because the character finally makes sense. Gone is Dick Grayson- he's once again Nightwing. Gone too is Jason Todd, now Red Hood. Tim Drake? Yeah, he started heading up the Teen Titans a long time ago as Red Robin. Enter Damian Wayne, the bastard son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, and a petulant little brat at that.
The issue opens with what is probably one of the more momentous character beats for Bruce Wayne I've ever seen. Batman takes his son and sidekick to a manhole below the infamous Crime Alley, the site of his parents' murder, now set to be demolished and replaced with new housing. Bruce explains that he no longer wants to remember his parents as they died but as they lived, a huge turning point for the character. Damian, meanwhile, says that "Grief and remorse are a disease of the weak," a callousness he no doubt picked up from being raised by the icy-ass Ghul family in the eight or so years before Bruce figured out he existed.
Damian is a good foil for Bruce because in addition to being a headstrong kid, he's cold and calculating. Batman understands that fear is as a weapon he can use to combat crime and thus make Gotham a safer place- Damian just wants to beat the shit out of goons because he finds pleasure in hurting people. It makes for some good drama and I'm excited to see where this off-color father/son adventure is going to go.
