52 #1
The stack of things I have to read is growing continuously larger, so I figured I'll start with the top. I have kind of mixed feelings about 52 going in - I like most of the writers involved, it seems to be focusing on characters I am pleased to see being treated nicely again (which is to say, Booster Gold), but I'm not terribly excited about group-written comics (particularly after that Countdown to Infinite Crisis disaster) and don't really want to be buying anything on a weekly basis.
That said, the first issue was pretty good. I felt like Infinite Crisiswas having a little trouble conveying the scale of the disaster they were portraying - after a while, it got hard to keep track of which cities were getting destroyed by whom (Was there a cross-over I missed with the Monster Society demolishing Opal? Because that seems like a shame to skip over...) The slower pace of 52 makes things a little easier to catch up on - gives the reader a chance to really take in the scale of the story they were telling - something that really wasn't apparent from Infinite Crisisitself (though, there was at least a hint in the Villains United one-off). So, while I'm not entirely eager to see more misery dumped on poor Ralph (though, I'm kind of intrigued by the plaque in front of his house? Did he put that there? Or was it the Opal City tourism board?), I'm holding out some hope that he's going to get to move on a little bit.
I was also pretty pleased with the presentation of Booster Gold here. It felt much more like the issues of his own comic from back in the day. It's been a long long time since I read them (since I read them when they came out), but I remember it focusing pretty heavily on Booster's attempts at pre-packaged herodom and reliance on knowing what's going to happen already. Much as I like Giffen/DeMatteis' JLI, their presentation of Booster (and Ted, for that matter) wasn't quite in line with the versions that had been in their respective solo series.
The other big highlight is the apparent return of the Fawcett villains who have been sorely underused in recent years. I want Mr. Mind back to his proper, pre-acquisition status - with the little speaker around his neck... and a boater hat? Or am I remembering that wrong? And looks like we are going to get some more Monster Society appearances, which will make me happy. Now all we need is a reappearance of the Monster League of Evil and Captain Thunder, and I'll be really pleased.
So, I guess I'm kind of sucked in here. We'll see for how long.
That said, the first issue was pretty good. I felt like Infinite Crisiswas having a little trouble conveying the scale of the disaster they were portraying - after a while, it got hard to keep track of which cities were getting destroyed by whom (Was there a cross-over I missed with the Monster Society demolishing Opal? Because that seems like a shame to skip over...) The slower pace of 52 makes things a little easier to catch up on - gives the reader a chance to really take in the scale of the story they were telling - something that really wasn't apparent from Infinite Crisisitself (though, there was at least a hint in the Villains United one-off). So, while I'm not entirely eager to see more misery dumped on poor Ralph (though, I'm kind of intrigued by the plaque in front of his house? Did he put that there? Or was it the Opal City tourism board?), I'm holding out some hope that he's going to get to move on a little bit.
I was also pretty pleased with the presentation of Booster Gold here. It felt much more like the issues of his own comic from back in the day. It's been a long long time since I read them (since I read them when they came out), but I remember it focusing pretty heavily on Booster's attempts at pre-packaged herodom and reliance on knowing what's going to happen already. Much as I like Giffen/DeMatteis' JLI, their presentation of Booster (and Ted, for that matter) wasn't quite in line with the versions that had been in their respective solo series.
The other big highlight is the apparent return of the Fawcett villains who have been sorely underused in recent years. I want Mr. Mind back to his proper, pre-acquisition status - with the little speaker around his neck... and a boater hat? Or am I remembering that wrong? And looks like we are going to get some more Monster Society appearances, which will make me happy. Now all we need is a reappearance of the Monster League of Evil and Captain Thunder, and I'll be really pleased.
So, I guess I'm kind of sucked in here. We'll see for how long.
posted by padgett at
1:02 AM
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