The New 52 Week Four

It's the final week of new #1's from DC, and they definitely saved a couple of the best for last. Let's get right to it.

Over the years I've given several writers the opportunity to make Aquaman the badass I know he can be, and almost every time I've been let down. Sure there was the occasional arc or story that wasn't half bad, but I've never been like "New Aquaman issue, fuck yes!" All that is poised to change this week though, as DC's best superhero writer, Geoff Johns, takes the...*ahem* fins , and attempts to make Arthur one of DC's premiere characters. If anybody can do it, it's Geoff Johns. As I mentioned in my week one post, he fixed Flash, Hawkman, and Green Lantern, I have every confidence that this will be THE defining Aquaman book. Joining Geoff is his long-time Green Lantern artist Ivan Reis. I'd almost buy this book just for his art, he's an extremely talented individual. Aside from the regular GL series, he also pencilled the Blackest Night series last year. Super stoked for this book.

Dave Finch's Dark Knight book is one that had only just really started when it was announced that all of DC's regular series would be ending. Honestly why this comic exists, I'm not entirely sure. Before the relaunch it sort of existed all on it's own, with no ties to anything going on is the other Bat books. I'm expecting that to continue to be the case, just as I'm also expecting this book to continue to be late as hell. Finch is a very good artist, not much of a writer, and extremely SLOW at both. The Batman completist in me is the biggest factor in my buying this comic. That and the pretty pictures. It's solicited as a monthly, but take my word for it, it will be a minor miracle if we get this in even a bi-monthly format.

This truly is a brand new book, not a restart, not a revamp, a new book. That being said, if not for the writer, I wouldn't be interested at all. In fact, I almost didn't put myself down for it. Josh Fialkov is a genius when it comes to comic book writing, anybody who read Elks Run will tell you that. Since that comic, I've followed wherever Mr. Fialkov has lead. Still, this is a vampire book, and I'm pretty damn sick and tired of vampires. Eventually my resolve gave way and I signed up for it. If the buzz from the internet is any indication, I'll be glad I did. I'm reading a LOT of "sleeper hit of the DCnU" and the like. Hoping this turns out to be a really great read. Joining  Josh is artist Andrea Sorrentino, which isn't ringing any bells whatsoever with me. If I've ever seen his/her art before I don't remember it. If the writing's good enough, and it should be, then I won't be all that concerned with the interior art anyway.

This is the last of the new Green Lantern comics, The New Guardians. In all seriousness, this book may not make it past three issues with me, or anybody else for that matter. I'm not thrilled with Tony Bedard's writing, and I'm not a big fan of Tyler Kirkham's art either. In fact about the only person working on this book that I even care for much at all is the inker, Batt. Then there's the premise, and characters involved. Members from each spectrum of ring joined together to be the new Guardians of the Universe, meh. Kyle Rayner, Saint Walker, double meh. I do like Larfleeze though, and Laira from the Red Lantern Corps. I can't see them being great together as a team though. Their interaction with each other is guaranteed to get on my nerves. Technically it's a Green Lantern title, so I'm giving it a shot anyway.





And that's week four. The only book left on the list from this week that I'm planning on making a decision after taking a look is All-Star Western. It's got a good creative team, great artist in Moritat, and it's even set in "Old Gotham", all of which make me interested. What makes me hesitant is that it's a western, and I don't really dig westerns. We'll see though. No interest in new Teen Titans, Hawkman, or Flash, due to either not caring about the characters, creative teams, or both.

After I get all caught up reading, my plan is to do a Top 5 post highlighting my five favorite titles from the new 52, I should hopefully have that ready to post by the weekend. In fact my mind is almost made up, I just need to read this week's books just to see if anything really surprises. Until then, happy reading.