Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Green Lantern & Superman Recent Issues

Last night I read the last two weeks worth of Green Lantern and Superman titles, and...

I am enjoying the heck out of all of these books right now. Which is absolutely awful for my pocketbook, but makes being a DC fan a lot of fun at the moment.

Some of the Batman books are enjoyable, such as Morrison's "Batman & Robin" and Rucka and JH WIlliams III's stunning "Detective", but the line isn't holding in the same way here as it has been for me for the extended "New Krypton" storyline in Superman, and certainly not the way I have been grabbing every darn comic with a "Blackest Night" tie-in on the cover (I was "meh" on the Batman Blackest Night, but actually sort of enjoyed the Titans tie-in).

If you read the internets (and I do), then as a comic fan, you're not supposed to like anything that smacks of a tie-in/ cross-over/ event. The funny thing is, this sort of thing is more or less what's keeping the Big 2 alive right now. Fans have consolidated around a few core concepts, and they seem to be more than happy to keep pace with events either to know what's going on (and hate every minute of it), or because readers enjoy this kind of storytelling in numbers greater than what it takes to sustain individual titles.

My guess (and you know I've got one) is that it's nice to know that the story you're reading isn't filler or won't be ignored completely and has seemingly built out of something as part of the greater architecture of the shared universes that can sustain these sorts of events.

Whatever.

I'm not really supposed to say "I'm enjoying Blackest Night", but I am. It feels like its got gravity, there's a massive threat that seems undefeatable, its wrapping in characters I enjoy, and seems to be setting itself up as a watershed event that will affect things for years. Not just because its a big event, those get swept under the rug all the time, but because its not an arbitrary idea thrown into the middle of other ongoing stories, and which builds on what's been happening in the DCU for a while.

I might also point to the way the Superman books are handling the current storyline to create an environment in which events are building upon one another and each issue is a chapter in a larger story (and has been since 06 or so). Its practically unheard of in monthlies at the Big 2, and is usually only seen in book at Vertigo, etc...

2 comments:

Simon MacDonald said...

Batman & Robin's first three issues were pretty good but it's hard not to like Quietly's art. Now the follow up with the new, new Red Hood I'm not to sure about at this point.

Rucka/Williams Detective Comics is a thing of beauty. People should buy it just for the art but the story has been pretty damn good too.

I've been keeping up on Blackest Night as I've been a big fan of Green Lantern/GL Corps so it dovetails into those titles nicely. Not as well as the Sinestro Corps War in my opinion but I'm enjoying Blackest Night too.

I haven't been looking at any of the associated minis. I guess BN Teen Titans has some really crucial plot points in it and I wonder how that'll come to play in issues 5+ of BN. Seriously, this trend of putting the solution to these big events in tie in books is really starting to get my goat! See Deadpool in Secret Invasion for another example or Final Crisis Superman 3D as well.

Haven't been keeping up on the Superman books but I hear they are great. Read that new Brainiac story a while back and I've been meaning to pick up some more Supes trades.

The League said...

I think waiting for the trade on the Superman books is probably a good idea. They're definitely being written with that angle in mind, and it will keep you from puzzling out "what happened two weeks ago?" as the story unfolds.

I am wondering if the "solution" as presented in the Blackest Night Titans mini will be the key or a step along the way. But it may be worth a read just to see "Zombie Terry Long", which cracked me up. I am completely baffled why DC stacked the Superman Beyond mini the way they did with Final Crisis, but NOTHING DC did in the 1.75 years around Final Crisis made sense to me, from a publishing standpoint.

My gut tells me that we'll get another Corps book or two out of Blackest Night, which wouldn't be a problem for me. But I also think Saint Walker is super cool, so... I'm a terrible person to ask.

Still enthused about "Batman and Robin", but it feels like a bit of a let down without Quitely's art.