Issue Review: Batgirl 25

This month, the ongoing Batgirl story arc, "Wanted," is interrupted for a 1-shot "Batman Zero Year" tie-in. This issue is written by a fill-in author, Marguerite Bennett.  It chronicles the story of Barbara and James Gordon trying to make their way through a Gotham City that is seeing a hundred-year storm and starting to flood.  First, Babs is mugged after buying bread and gas, although she gets away and makes it home with her supplies. Then her father goes out to do his job, and leaves her home to protect James. It's not long before the fire department shows up and tells the Gordons to evacuate, as they are in a flood zone.  They relocate to a fire house, but that then floods as well.  Babs helps get everyone onto the roof, but then one of the survivors betrays them, trying to make off with all their supplies. Barbara manages to take him down and then helps get the rest of the refugees to safety as the storm only gets worse.

Issue Review: Batgirl 24

Barbara Gordon, wearing a ninja-suit disguise but not her Batgirl suit, holds her boyfriend Ricky, who is starting to bleed out as a result of a gunshot wound from Barbara's father.  The rest of the police tell the gang members to surrender, and most of them do, but Barbara refuses to be captured.  She smacks the cops around long enough to escape.  After she gets away, Detective McKenna finds her, but McKenna seems to know who she is (whether that means McKenna knows the masked girl is Babs or Batgirl is unclear, as is whether McKenna knows that Babs is Batgirl). McKenna tells Barbara that Knightfall is behind everything. After getting some much-needed sleep, Barbara goes to the hospital to see Ricky, and learns that he is in a coma. She finally decides to go see her father, but before she can get there, Knightfall's minions invade his house and capture him, preparing to kill him. When Barbara arrives and recognizes what's going on, she decides to become Batgirl one more time, to save her father.

Statue 5: Batgirl - New 52 Covergirls series

Several months ago, I heard about DC's "New 52 Covergirls" line of statues, which includes two of my favorite heroines - Supergirl and Batgirl.  Both of these characters already had "DC Covergirls" statues in the past, featuring older "classic" costumes (I have reviewed the Supergirl version here).  Photos of the new Batgirl statue looked particularly good, with a flowing cape and having her in a great pose ready to throw a "batarang."

Today when I walked into the shop, I saw a box for this statue on one of the shelves -- it had just come in this week.  I was a bit surprised by this, as the DC website says the statue doesn't ship until end of September, but I was not going to argue the point.  I had no comics to pick up this week (I am not buying DC's "Villain Month" issues, and the Indy titles I currently pull at the shop aren't due out until later in the month), and was only at the shop to update my pull list (I added Ghosted and Miss Fury to it), so I decided to go ahead and pick up the statue today.

I have to say, when I took it out of the box, I was very impressed.  Whatever problems I may have with DC editorial and the content of their current New 52 line of comics, I have nothing but favorable comments to make in general about their statues, and in particular about this one.  This is a truly outstanding sculpt of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, with the flowing fiery red hair, the swirling cape, the cocked-and ready batarang, and the deadly serious expression on her face.  She looks every inch the heroine from the comics. The statue is highly detailed and holds up to the closest inspection. The colors are excellent and the proportions look good.

One of the very best features of this statue is the cape.  It flows very nicely and looks realistic.  The way it seems to flutter around her legs is perfect given the position of her body, and provides the illusion of real kineticism.

Overall, this is one really gorgeous statue, and if you like Batgirl at all, or heck if you just like really well-sculpted superhero collectible statues, this one is definitely worth a look.  This is a high quality collectible that will look lovely on the shelf for years to come.  I highly recommend it to anyone who likes items such as this.  Just beware the wallet -- this statue retails for $99.95 + tax.  But it's well worth it, in my opinion.

My score: 10/10

Issue Review: Batgirl 23

In this first part of a 3-part story, Barbara Gordon has given up her life as Batgirl, because she believes she killed her brother, James, Jr.  Comissioner Gordon, who witnessed that killing, has put out an APB for Batgirl, and is trying to hunt her down and punish her for the death of his son.  Gordon begins by approaching Charise Carnes, whom he suspects is the vigilante Knightfall.  After verbally fencing with Carnes and her attorneys, Gordon convinces her to let him review security tapes of the night Batgirl saved Ricky from the bear trap in the parking garage (way back in issue 10).  After he leaves, however, Carnes tells her team to keep their guard up, because this might all be a pretext for Gordon trying to collar her instead.

Meanwhile, Barbara tries to enjoy a normal life with her room mate Aleysia. The two of them go shopping, but end up being harassed by some low-lives, and Barbara threatens them.  She manages to pull back, but Aleysia takes her home to talk about it.  Before they can do so, however, she gets a call from Ricky, who has been threatened by his former gang members.  Ricky's brother has been kidnapped, and Ricky is going to save him. He calls Barbara to say good-bye.  Against her better judgement, Barbara puts on a black outfit (but not the Batgirl suit) and goes out to help him.

Gordon and Detective Mckenna have gotten onto Ricky's whereabouts by now, and just as he leaves, they try to arrest him.  He shoves McKenna, causing her to hit her head and lose consciousness. Gordon then puts out an APB for Ricky as well, for assaulting an officer.  As the book reaches its climax, the police, Barbara, and Ricky all converge on the gang's hide-out.  Barbara takes down most of the gang members, but when the cops get there, they shout for everyone to freeze. Ricky doesn't freeze fast enough, and although Babs tries to save him, Comissioner Gordon shoots him.  As the story ends, Ricky appears to be dead (though we will have to wait for next issue to know for certain).

NCN - 6/13/13

I was one day late for New Comic-book Night this week, because I have had to spend a great deal of time, including yesterday afternoon, at the new home, getting it ready for move-in. I wasn't able to get to the comic shop before they closed yesterday, so I went today.  I also picked up some digital stuff, including one that came out this week.  In the shop I picked up Katana #5, Thor, God of Thunder #9, and Batgirl #21. Digitally,  I picked up Worlds' Finest #13, plus some older back-issues (of Red Sonja and X-Men). There are no pictures this time -- my camera is in the new house and I'm still typing this in my apartment.

Katana #5 - I had already decided before picking up #5 that I would go no further with this series unless this issue was a substantial improvement.  It wasn't.  Although this issue was slightly better than #4, the story-line remains a haphazard mess with no sense of organization or forward momentum.  Random stuff just happens from page to page, with no clear cause-and-effect relationship among events.  It's entirely possible that writer Ann Nocenti is going to explain things later on, but as I have said before of other series that I've dropped (like Morrison's Action Comics and Remender's Captain America), if there is an underlying order to the chaos here, it has taken too long to be revealed.  I'm not going to wait half a year for the plot to start making sense.  To add insult to injury, the art in this series has just been downright awful -- sometimes I can't even tell what is happening in the panel, because it's drawn so poorly.  There's just not enough to recommend this series, and there are too many other potentially good ones coming out that I see no reason to continue wasting my time with it.  I give this issue a 5/10. Thus, I have now officially dropped Katana from the "potential pull list."

Thor, God of Thunder #9 - This series continues to pleasantly surprise and delight me.  Although I am not a fan of over-the-top violence, which Thor has in spades, it is handled well here, and the underlying story is compelling.  Despite the enormous potential for confusion that could result from telling a story with "Thors" from three different timelines, Aaron makes it work seamlessly, and the interaction between Thor's different selves is enjoyable to read. Ribic's art continues to look fantastic, more like oil paintings than pencil and ink drawings.  I have really enjoyed this title to date, and it continues to be solid. 10/10.

Batgirl #21 - Gail Simone turns in another wonderful story-line.  As usual, Gail's strength is characterization, and she does another outstanding job with Barbara in this issue.  Batgirl continues to struggle with the aftermath of (possibly) killing her brother James.  Her parents part company again.  And in the middle of all this, Batgirl has to battle the Ventriloquist in a rather gruesome fight.  Gail definitely has a taste for the macabre.  The art is decent in this issue, but I sorely miss Adrian Syaf, who did a much better job on just about every aspect of the art.  9/10.

Worlds' Finest #13 - Levitz turns in another decent issue about Huntress and Power Girl.  Desaad is going after them, apparently believing they may hold the key to getting back to Apokolips.  There's some great action as a giant blood-hound of Desaad's keeps attacking the two girls, and Helena does a great job of using the environment to fight him.  The dog can take Power Girl's best punches, which prompts her to wonder if she might be getting weaker on this earth.  I'm hoping this is not the case, at least long-term, because I see no reason why DC should want to weaken Power Girl.  The art in this issue was decent, but nothing spectacular.  7/10.

Overall, a pretty good week of comics.  Three of the four were quite enjoyable. And at least now I have made my decision about Katana, which I have bee vacillating over for the last couple of months.  This means there will be some room on my pull list. Katana's place will be taken next month by the new Red Sonja, written by Gail Simone.

New Comic-book Night - 4/10/13

It's New Comic-book Night once again... and this week, I finally have a new comic to actually buy (most of the comics I buy are digital, so I don't need to buy them on "the night" or go to the comic shop).  Actually, I had expected two comics tonight -- Batgirl 19 and Katana 3, but for some reason, Katana was not published this week.  Either it was delayed, or the poor thing has been canceled already (not an unprecedented move for +DC Comics these days).  On the other hand, I saw a solicit for Katana 6, so my guess is, there was just some sort of delay, or perhaps +DC Comics decided to change the publication week to match JLA and the other JLA-based books like Vibe.

In any case, that means the only new book for me to get on NCN this week was Batgirl.  I haven't read it yet, but I'm already ecstatic, because Gail Simone is back!  This means Batgirl will probably return to the top of my favorite comics list, since it has suffered badly in the 2 months Gail was gone.  Note to DC: Gail Simone is Batgirl. Do not take her off this book, ever again.  If I were running things, whoever fired Gail would have been fired instead.

Along with Batgirl 19, I also picked up two more trade paperbacks involving Supergirl's 3rd incarnation (the second version of Kara Zor-El) -- Supergirl and The Legion of Superheroes.  The two TPBs the comic shop had were "Adult Education" (the second of four trades starring the Girl of Steel in the 31st century) and "Dominator War."

One TPB remains ("Quest for Cosmic Boy") but my comic shop did not have it, so that will have to be ordered at some point.  Following this, there are two more TPBs of this version of the Legion, which I will also have to order, since the comic shop has very little "Legionalia."

What I really wanted to pick up tonight was Supergirl: Identity, which is the third TPB in the third Supergirl series.  Unfortunately, that seems to have sold out not only of my comic shop (and it was there three weeks ago -- ARGH!), but also of everywhere else for some reason.  I'm not sure why there is suddenly a "run" on that particular TPB, but I may have to wait a while before I can continue collecting that series -- or else try to buy the individual comics, which are issues 10-19 of that series.  It's an option (they are not that expensive), but I'm really trying to stick with TPBs this time around (I would have for the Peter David series but there really aren't any TPB versions of that one).

Well, that's it for NCN this week. Next week there should be three or four new titles to pick up (JLA, JL, Supergirl, and possibly Katana).

The death of the 'series' concept

As I looked over a picture of the upcoming "Trinity War" mega-crossover in DC, and pondered the idea of many books I'm reading having yet another crossover after having already been through one this year, a thought came to me: the traditional concept of the comic-book series is dead, at least in +DC Comics  and +Marvel Entertainment .  Truly, with very few exceptions, there is no such thing, anymore, as a comic-book series.

This may sound crazy to you, because series nominally do still exist.  They have names, editors, creative teams, logos, sequential numbering, and everything, just like they always did.  And yet, my claim today is, that these are series only in name, and not in actual fact.

First of all, let's get our definitions straight. What do I mean by a "series" - how do I define it?  I define a comic-book series, to paraphrase the definition of a TV series on Dictionary.com, as an ongoing, regularly published comic-book title with three traits:

1. it has the same cast of characters
2. it has a continuing story that gradually progresses from issue to issue; and 
3. it has a relatively stable creative team.  

Every single comic-book series when I was growing up met this definition.

The reason I argue that hardly any "series" meet this definition today is that almost none of them meet all three criteria, and many only meet the very first.  That is, most series do have a consistent cast of characters -- the Batgirl series is pretty much about Batgirl, and a few of her friends/family.  But for many titles, that trait (consistent characters) is the only one they can claim.  Many series have had rapidly changing creative teams (Superman had three different teams in 13 issues), although some, like Batgirl, have had a relatively stable team.

But the second criterion is where the "series" of today no longer make the cut. They lack a coherent, continuing story that gradually progresses from issue to issue.  And the reason why they lack a continuing story is the insistence by +DC Comics and +Marvel Entertainment to have multi-title crossovers every few months.  These crossovers are not self-contained, but spill over into every title, often for many months, and can de-rail or even utterly destroy the thread of continuity in the individual title.

Don't get me wrong: I like a good crossover now and then.  But the comic-book companies do it entirely too much these days.  To see what I mean, let's use the New 52 Batgirl series (one of my favorites, thanks to the scripting of Gail Simone) as an example.  To date, 19 issues (if we include #0) of this title have been released. Out of those 19 issues, 9 (or nearly half) have been part of crossovers, or had their stories strongly impacted by crossovers.  Issue 9 was a "Night of the Owls" Bat-family crossover. Issue 11 was a Knightfall Bat-family crossover, and issue 12 was the aftermath of Knightfall.  Issues 13-16 were Batgirl's part in the "Death of the Family" crossover, and issue 17 was the aftermath of DOF.  Issue 18 was part of the "Requiem" for the death of Robin.  In all, as I say, this is nearly half (47%) of all Batgirl issues to date -- meaning that only half of the issues can possibly be part of "a continuing story that gradually progresses from issue to issue."

And now, DC is getting ready to publish the Trinity War, which will probably consume most of the summer, which means even more issues will be crossover tie-ins rather than stories specifically about Batgirl.

Therefore, the concept of the comic-book series has altered.  No longer do we have a continuing story about the same set of characters by a relatively stable creative team.  What we have instead can be thought of as a container of sorts.... the Batgirl, Batman, and Nightwing comics are a delivery system, a vehicle by which crossovers can be brought to the reader.  This seems to be the main purpose for which comics exist.  Telling their own story month in, month out, about a small set of characters, no longer seems to be the job of these titles.  Instead, the series is used by the comic company to set up and portray crossovers.  All titles revolve now, not around their characters, but around whatever crossover is going on at the time (because there's always another one getting ready to come out, another one for which the title has to "prep").

There are happily some exceptions to the rule.  Wonder Woman, so far, has remained a series despite what the rest of the DC Universe is doing.  And the smaller companies, like Image and Dynamite, seem perfectly happy to produce series -- often completely stand-alone series that have nothing to do with the rest of their "universe."  But these are the exceptions, and they are few and far between.  By far the bulk of comic-books are simply vehicles whose purpose is to deliver crossover content to the reader.

The other readers out there must like this new formula, the "title as a crossover venue" approach, because otherwise I imagine the companies wouldn't do it.  I guess if you don't care all that much about the actual characters, the incessant crossing over would be fine.  But for those of us who become attached to, and grow to love and enjoy reading about, specific characters like Batgirl, having her series constantly be interrupted by stories that really have nothing directly (or sometimes even indirectly) to do with her is frustrating in the extreme.

If you're a fan of the true series concept, there really is no remedy at this point, unfortunately.  The bigger companies long ago embraced the "crossover after crossover" model of marketing. It's what they do now.  The only option is to go for the titles produced by smaller companies. And I'm starting to do just that.

Years ago, I gave up comic-books in part because of this very issue -- because each series I was collecting kept being dragged into one crossover after another, and the storyline of each title suffered as a result.  I'm obviously sad, but certainly not surprised, to see this pattern has not changed for +DC Comics or +Marvel Entertainment, but I think the solution isn't to give up comics. Rather, it's to find some titles produced by independent companies, or titles the big companies are willing to allow to stand alone, and follow those.  Dynamite's Red Sonja series is an excellent example of the former, and Wonder Woman (so far) of the latter.

As for Trinity War.... like most mega-crossovers since probably the late 1980s (when they first started doing them), I will do my best to ignore it. If there are special issues or a limited series called "Trinity War," I will probably not buy them.  When the TW issues of those titles I collect come out, I will buy them, read them, accept that I will be confused since I am only reading a tiny portion of the story, bag them, probably never read them again, and wait until it's over.  And if it lasts long enough, some of my pull list titles will probably get dropped, and replaced by independent titles.

New Comic-book Night - 3/13/13

It is once again New Comic-book Night.  For 2-3 weeks each month, NCN doesn't require me to visit the comic shop, because either nothing I collect comes out that week, or else I buy the issues digitally.  However, twice each month (usually weeks 2 and 3, although it can be weeks 3 and 4 in a month with 5 Wednesdays), I actually purchase new print comics on NCN.  Yesterday was one such Wednesday.

Also, in the past, I have been using NCN to pick up print copies of the third Supergirl series (Peter David's series about the Matrix Supergirl).  With my recent completion of that collection, I had no individual back issues to purchase.  However, I have begun collecting another Supergirl series -- series four, which ran for 67 issues from 2005 to 2011.

Unlike the previous Supergirl series, series four was published during this modern era of "trade paperbacks," in which a series consists of story arcs lasting 5-8 issues (on average), and those story arcs are then re-printed a year or so later as a single paper-bound volume (the "trade paperback" or TPB).

In many cases, buying TPBs is the most efficient way to read older stories. The TPBs are often more readily available than individual back-issues, and are frequently much less expensive. For example, a single near-mint copy of Superman/Batman 19 (which is the launch story for the fourth Supergirl series, then continued in Supergirl 1) can cost upwards of $8 on its own, while Supergirl 1-5 cost $4, $3, $3, $2.50, and $2.50 respectively, or $23 total.  On the other hand, the TPB of Superman/Batman 19 plus issues 1-5 of Supergirl costs only $14.95.  TPBs also save lots of space and are much easier to keep in good condition (because of their firm spines and their more durable covers).  Therefore, at least for this first story arc, I went with the TPB instead of the individual issues.

And so, for NCN this week, I bought two new comics -  Batgirl 18 and Katana 2 - and one TPB - Supergirl: Power.

I've already read the two single issues.  Katana 2 was interesting.  The art is a bit questionable in this series -- perhaps it's the inker's fault, but most of the panels look like they could use some additional "finishing." The story is fairly good and has me curious about what is coming next. I haven't decided to add this series to my long-term pull list just yet, but it's getting close.

Batgirl 18 was a decent issue, but the writing is decidedly inferior to Gail Simone's.  I'm hoping Gail will be back for issue 19, because this series loses a lot without her unique voice behind Batgirl.  The other problem with the Batgirl series is the need for it to regain its own path and identity.  Batgirl has been leading into, participating in, or leading out of, cross-family storylines for 6 months now -- #0 is the last issue that has been just a Batgirl story.  It's enough already. Let's get back to some real stories focusing just on Barbara and her supporting characters.  For instance, we haven't even seen her room-mate in three or four months.  Again, I think this will be fixed once Gail returns -- at least, I hope so.

I've also gotten about 2/3 of the way through the Supergirl: Power book.  Although the overall plot is interesting, the writing is juvenile.  The way all the superheroes just blindly attack not only Supergirl but even their friends without stopping to talk is simply absurd.  I might, perhaps, be able to understand the "punch first and ask questions later" mentality when they go after a villain, especially a known villain like the Joker or Lex Luthor.  But to behave that way with a girl you've never met but whom you have every reason to believe is a hero (and Superman's relative to boot) makes no sense. And to do it to your own fellow team mates (as the Teen Titans do to Superboy in this story) is simply inexcusable, no matter what they think about his powers being "out of control."

I'm honestly rather surprised by this story arc, because I thought Loeb's writing was quite good in the Superman/Batman: Supergirl storyline that re-introduced Kara to the world.  But the "Power" story arc is written like the kinds of stories I dreamed up when I was 10 (with lots of silly fights between heroes for no reason other than to just have fights).  Hopefully the last 2 stories in the TPB will be an improvement.

Statue 4: New 52 Batgirl

Since getting back into the comic-book/superhero scene, one of my most pleasant surprises has been the New 52 Batgirl series.  Whereas most of the New 52 material has been nothing great to write home about (e.g., Supergirl since issue 8), and some has been downright awful (Action Comics, Superman), Batgirl has been absolutely superb since day 1, due primarily to Gail Simone's top-notch writing.  Because of how well this series has been both written and drawn, the Batgirl character has risen rapidly to become one of my favorite superheroes in all of comics.  In fact, although as a general rule I would say that Supergirl is my all-time favorite, I have to admit that, just comparing New 52 incarnations, Batgirl has it all over Supergirl up to this point.

Given my growing esteem for this character, and my plans to create a small display dedicated to her (admittedly much less extensive than what I will be able to do for Supergirl), I thought it was high time to add a Batgirl statue to my collection.  There are a few choices here, but only one that captures the New 52 version of her suit -- the Batgirl Bust put out by the +DC Comics line of collectibles.  And I have to say this for +DC Comics -- their New 52 stories may only be mediocre, but the new line of busts they are putting out for the New 52 characters is absolutely first rate.  Now if only the comics could be this good.

The statue I picked up at the comic shop was the "display" model.  For some people, who never take the item out of the packaging, I suppose this would be unacceptable. But since the thing had been sitting in a glass case for several months, untouched, and was in mint condition, I saw no reason to turn up my nose at the floor model.  The guys at the shop always keep the boxes, so they were able to give me the box and styrofoam packaging to go with it.

I don't have any way to make a real display with this statue yet (first I need to buy a house, then I need to buy or build some kind of display stand or curio for my collectibles), but I pulled out some of Batgirl's biographical literature (including my signed copy of Batgirl #0) to provide an admittedly rudimentary display background for photographing.  The statue stands about 6" tall, the same height as all the other busts, and is not really a bust so much as the upper half of Batgirl's body from just below the waist to the tips of her bat-ears.

This is a really well-posted statue.  Batgirl is clearly in the middle of fighting some villain like the Joker or Riddler. She has her left hand cocked back, holding a bat-a-rang, ready to throw, with her right hand thrust out forward for counter-balance.  She looks to the right, clearly planning to throw toward the right, across her body, with the 'rang, and the flow of her movement has caused her cape and hair to fly to the left.  This really is a wonderful action pose for this character, and her facial expression is wonderful -- determined, but with a slight hint of a smile. You can almost imagine that, as she pulled out that bat-a-rang, she made a classic Batgirl wise-crack to the villains.

The statue is made of porcelain, and is beautifully sculpted and painted.  The colors are outstanding, with a shiny black for the armor and a golden-yellow for the boots, belt, and bat symbol.  Her hair is reddish-brown, and the purple underside of the cape makes a nice contrast with all the black and gold.  She really looks like a superhero.  The base is a dark purple, matching the inside of her cape, and there is a very nice raised gold bat-symbol on the front of the base.  Strangely enough, like the Supergirl statue, the symbol on the base is the old, classic (pre-New-52) version of the symbol, not the current symbol for either character.  I'm not sure why they did that, but it doesn't do anything to detract from the beauty of the piece.

As with the New 52 Supergirl bust, which I reviewed back in January, the Batgirl bust is a very high quality, well-crafted collectible.  It retails for around $67, as most of the busts in this line do, and is well worth the price if you are in the market for a Batgirl statue.  They had two other statues of this character in the comic shop, with the classic/previous costumes, and although they were nice, I felt this was the most attractive Batgirl statue I have seen.  I give this one 10/10.

New Comic-book Night - 2/13/13

Once again, it is New Comic-book Night (or NCN, for short).  For the last couple of weeks, I have only purchased back-issues of the older "Matrix" Supergirl series, because I did not need any of the new releases on those weeks. It's not that I didn't want to read any of the comics that came out over the last two weeks, but rather, I mostly read digital comics now, and those can be bought any time. I'm still frantically trying to catch up on most of the New 52 series from +DC Comics, having gotten current so far with only four (Batgirl, Supergirl, Superman, and Justice League), and one of those (Superman) is about to get the hook.  For most of the other titles I collect, I am many months behind, still (for example, I just read Wonder Woman #10, and #17 is about to come out this month).

However, there are a few titles that I want to collect "on paper," for various reasons I shall not discuss here.  Those include one that came out this week, Batgirl.  Indeed, Batgirl is on my pull list at my comic shop (one of only three titles to earn that distinction, the other two being Supergirl and Justice League).  Also this month, the new JLA title is being launched (but it's not out yet), and one of the new series affiliated with it is Katana, debuting at #1 this month.  I don't know much about Katana as a character, but I tend to like Samurais, and I will be picking up JLA for the first few months, at least, to see how it is going, so I thought I'd give Katana a try.  I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if I will like it or not.

Along with those two new comics, I also picked up a few more "matrix" Supergirl issues -- 61, 65, 67, 70, and 71. Now, before tonight, I did not have any issues of that series past 60, so you might be wondering why I didn't continue to move up in chronological order.  Well, I wanted to, of course. But my comic-shop was missing most of the 60s. The three I purchased were the only ones they had.  They're also missing about half of the 70s as well, so I am going to have to do a lot of mail-ordering to complete the series.

I noticed with some dismay that Gail Simone did not write Batgirl #17. I wonder if this issue was written during the brief period after she was fired, but before she was re-hired.  It wouldn't be surprising to have one such issue, but I'm a bit befuddled that it would come out so quickly.  They fired Gail in early December, and this is only two months later. I always thought comic-books had a longer lead time (3-4 months from scripting to publication). But maybe these days they are not so far ahead as they used to be.  They did re-hire her, so hopefully Gail will be back by #18.

New 52 Superman - Year 1

Because I just got back into collecting comics only recently (about two months ago, see here and here for details), it has taken me a while to select which series I am going to follow, and to catch up with them.  I began with +DC Comics The New 52, which is basically a rebirth of the entire DC Universe.  All their characters have been rebooted to one degree or other (for details, check out my review of The New 52), and all their previous series were canceled, and re-launched starting at #1. Being a long-time fan of the Man of Steel, it was a slam-dunk that I would at least begin reading the first few issues of both his series -- Superman and Action Comics.  Whether I would continue past the first few issues would depend on the quality of the individual titles.

I have now read the first year's worth of Superman, which includes #1-12, and also the #0 issue, which was published after #12 (during the special "#0 month" in which +DC Comics celebrated the first anniversary of The New 52).  Not counting #0, which is an "origin" issue, the first year of Superman is divided into two distinct story arcs, and produced by two different creative teams. The inaugural story arc was called "What Price Tomorrow?" and comprises issues #1-6.  The second story arc, which doesn't seem to have had a particular name assigned to it (at least that I can discover), lasted from issues #7-12.

Story Arc 1: What Price Tomorrow (#1-6)

In the first story arc, writer George Perez and several artists (Jesus Merino, Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott, and others) dealt with the re-introduction of Superman.  The story is set "five years" after Superman's first appearance in Metropolis, and this is where some of the confusion starts.  Many references are made, in the very first issue, to a variety of events no one has ever seen (at least not yet), some of which sound very similar to events that happened before the reboot represented by The New 52.  At the very start, the old Daily Planet building is demolished, and a new building, that enables the Planet to get involved in broadcast journalism (with Lois Lane as news director of the new station) is introduced.  Superman is characterized as being "known" already to the people of Metropolis, but also seems to have "been away for a while."

As the first issue progresses, Superman ends up in a fight with a powerful fire creature that speaks in an odd language but uses the word "Krypton."  The fire creature is defeated and disappears, leaving behind the unconscious night guard who was apparently a vessel for the creature.  Several of the city's residents express the opinion that Superman's presence is inducing these super-powered attacks, and maybe it would be best for Metropolis if he weren't around.

I will admit, these mistrustful reactions to DC's flagship superhero, a hero who has always been loved and trusted by the public in prior incarnations, gave me immediate misgivings.  The reason I no longer read Marvel is the pervasive "mutant hate" that has existed in their universe since the 1970s.  I prefer when superheroes are recognized for the good they do (at least generally), and they usually have been, in the DC Universe.  That the rebooted Superman would be mistrusted right out of the gate made me very nervous for what would happen in the rest of the DC Universe.  However, George Perez is an old hand at this, and I trusted that he would not take the character into places I would hate.

As the story continued to unfold, however, it seemed like George was, in fact, headed down that path.  With each issue, new villains appear in Metropolis, specifically targeting Superman, and causing no end of trouble for the city's residents.  More and more people start blaming Superman until it seems like Lois Lane is the only one left who believes he's one of the good guys. Finally, in issue #5-6, Superman seems to turn completely bad.  He starts going after villains he has caught and attacking them, even killing some of them.  He ignores the police and starts acting just as people have feared -as judge, jury, and executioner.  Even Supergirl is unable to stop him.

It turns out, however, that this is not Superman, but a simulacrum created by nano-creatures.  Superman has been trapped in orbit by the creatures while their simulacrum has been doing all these terrible things.  Finally, he breaks free from the trap, and returns to earth to capture the nano-creatures.  Superman defeats the creatures, and at Supergirl's suggestion, hurls them into the sun, thus destroying them (at least for now).

When people realize that Superman was not responsible, they finally understand just how restrained he has been. They have seen what the world would be like if Superman really did consider himself above the law, and since the world has not been like that, they finally realize that he's one of the good-guys.

I have mixed feelings about this story arc.  I like the way it ended, and true to my trust in him, George Perez did manage to "fix it" by the end so that the world does not mistrust Superman.  The arc itself was not bad when viewed in total. However, the problem with it is that it doesn't work at all as a reintroduction story.  As I said in my critique of The New 52 as a whole, the character needs to be established first, before he's "broken."  I know that Superman is not a new character to the readers, but he is a new(ish) character to the world.  Let's establish some ground rules first, before breaking them.  This arc, then, would have worked better after the character has been around for 15 or 20 issues.

Story Arc 2: Superman #7-12

For the second story arc, a new team came on board, including Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, and others.  The second story arc is not really an arc, in that it doesn't follow a single story-line the way the first one does. Instead, there are three separate two-part stories.  In the first story (#7-8), Superman faces a demon-creature called Helspont.  Helspont wants to conquer earth and use it to get revenge on a cabal called the Daemonite. He offers to give Superman control of earth for the Man of Steel's aid.  Superman, of course, refuses, and eventually defeats Helspont.  In the second story (#9-10), a female villain named Anguish tries to rob a bank and Superman battles her. She has the ability to control her density, making herself hard to hit, but also able to hit hard, at will.  As part of this story, a blogger mistakenly fingers someone as Superman in "secret identity" and Anguish goes after the man's family, thinking to use the family against Superman.  In the end, Superman manages to save the man and his family.  In the last story (#11-12), a Russian sub discovers an inter-dimensional being, who then breaks free and starts slaughtering people. Superman battles him, losing the first time (#11) but then winning the second time (#12).  After returning home from Russia, he goes on sort of a date with Lucy Lane (Lois Lane's sister).

This second story arc is at the same time both better and worse than the first one.  I liked it better in the sense that this is more traditional, classic Superman.  Nobody doubts his heroism (well, the Russians do, but they're being paranoid).  He has a commanding presence. He is confident and in control of the situation (for the most part), rather than suffering from what could only be described as a near nervous breakdown the way he was in #1-6.  On the other hand, these stories were all entirely bland and seemed like they were re-treading very well-worn pathways.  At least the first arc, for all the troublesome elements, was original.

Superman #0

After 12 months, Superman #0 was published during DC's "backstory month." Here, some of Superman's backstory was revealed.  This issue was penned by Scott Lobdell, who then took over the reins of the title going forward.  It's a story of Jor-El discovering, deep in the roots of Krypton, that the world is dying.  When he returns, however, he finds out the science center where the discoveries were being made has been bombed, and he and Lara, who is pregnant with Kal-El (Superman), are attacked by a group of militants. Jor-El traps the attackers in the Phantom Zone, and finally tells Lara that Krypton is doomed.

This story was interesting, but also had many confusing elements.  Lobdell doesn't bother to explain who the militants really are or why they are attacking (he hints but does not explain).  Large gaps are left in the story -- probably because the latter parts of it had already been told in Action Comics #5.  I understand that DC publishes Superman in two books simultaneously, but I question the wisdom of them fragmenting the backstory across the two titles and at very different times (with some parts coming months after the other parts).  There is not one single, coherent re-telling of the Superman story in the comic-books (although there are two hardcover graphic novels that do seem to do the trick).

Reflections

This is a very hard series to evaluate even after a year's worth of issues.  It's hard to believe, because I can usually decide in three or four issues (max) whether I like a series or not, but I'm still on the fence about this one.  The problem is that they have changed the creative team three times now, and you don't know what the new team will do. Perez did a better job of almost everything with the first arc -- it just shouldn't have been done first out of the gate, and as a result, was confusing and difficult to follow in spots.  Jurgens and Giffen produced more "standard" Superman fare, which is good for us traditionalists, but the stories were very flat and uninspired. There was really nothing original there.  And since he just started, I honestly have no idea what Scott Lobdell will do with the stories going forward.

I think Superman, as a character, is suffering from fragmentation.  He's appearing in two books, and in one of his books (Superman) he's had three different writers in a year.  That's four writers total, in the first year of the New 52 Superman version, and I think this is unhealthy for the character. Beyond this, I think the character is suffering more than most, because he is one of their flagship characters, from a complete lack of organization or planning on the part of the +DC Comics  front offices.  As George Perez explained in some detail to a live audience back in June, DC did not have any guiding principles for what was going on in its books (and I bet they still don't). According to George, he, as writer of the new Superman starting on issue #1, was not able to discover whether Ma and Pa Kent were still alive (they're not).  The status of the Kents is a foundational element to this character, and DC didn't know what that status was?  They also didn't seem to know Superman's relationship to other characters in the DC Universe.  George was being handed orders for what to write that didn't make sense to him, and when he questioned them, the editors did not know the answers.  In George's own words, he said, "Oh my gosh, you're deciding all these things and you mean even you don't know what's going on in your own books?"

Sadly, this one sentence from George sums up the impression one gets from reading the Superman family of books during this New 52 relaunch.  The stories are presented to the reader in about as confusing and disorganized a fashion as one could imagine. I'd almost think it was deliberate except nobody in his right mind (other than maybe the Joker, who on second thought isn't in his right mind either) would be able to come up with something this disjointed on purpose.  The stories hop-scotch around the timeline, taking place in different years or even different decades.  The characters act inconsistently from title to title and even from issue to issue within a single title.  Clearly what is happening with the Superman family books is that the writers can't be consistent because their bosses, the editors, don't know what the hell is going on.

As a result, Superman has been a mediocre book at best. It's not a terrible book, but given that this is the flagship title of the flagship character for +DC Comics, mediocrity is not the target at which they should be aiming.

I will keep reading Superman for now... but honestly, if it doesn't get better soon, I will probably drop it.  There are too many other interesting titles out there for me to keep reading a mediocre one, no matter how much I like the Man of Steel as a character.

New Comic-book Night - 1/23/13

It's Wednesday, which means it's "New Comic-Book Night" (a phrase I picked up from +The Big Bang Theory ). Most weeks of the month, since I buy comics digitally and I am still working on issues from 10+ months ago, "New Comic-Book Night" is not very important to me.  But I am collecting three titles in hardcopy form right now -- Supergirl, Batgirl, and Justice League.  Last week, Batgirl #16 came out, so I had to stop by the shop last Wednesday to make sure I got a copy.  This week, both Supergirl and Justice League #16 came out, so again, it was time to make a stop by the shop.  It'll be a few weeks before I need to go on a Wednesday again, because nothing else that I'm collecting comes out in print for about three weeks.

In addition to picking up the two new comics, I also wandered into the back-issue section to look through the Volume 4 (Matrix) Supergirl back-issues.  Before today I had #1-35, and #37-45 (I'm still missing #36, which is apparently very rare for some unknown reason).  Acme Comics (the shop in Greensboro that I have been patronizing) had #46-48, so I picked up those three back-issues, bringing my total number of Matrix Supergirl issues to 48 out of 81 (if you count #1,000,000, which I sort of don't).  All in all, it was a decent haul for under $20:

Next week, I will probably pick up a few more Matrix Supergirl issues (at least to #50, and perhaps beyond).  But I don't know if I will bother to go on "New Comic-Book Night," since I can get those any old time, and I'm not aware of any physical copies coming out next week that I will need to buy (it's too soon for Batgirl to cycle around again -- her book just came out last week).

I have to admit I'm having somewhat mixed feelings about the print copies.  On the one hand, I really do prefer reading comics on the printed page, the way they were "meant" to be viewed.  I still feel I get a better sense of the layout and panel dimensions that way than I do electronically.  And I do enjoy the feel of going into the shop for "New Comic-Book Night" and seeing the next issue of my favorite title there in a nice, crisp, mint-condition form, waiting for me to pick it up.  There is a sense of satisfaction one gets from getting there "in time" to pick up your copies before the book sells out (this is mostly fictional, since most books never sell out, but the thing is, you never know if one will or not ahead of time, so there's always that little bit of adrenaline rush when you walk into the store, wondering if your favorite mag will be there for you).

On the other hand, I can live without the hassle of the crowded shopping mall parking lot, and the crowded store full of people who want to stand around and talk about comics instead of moving the line forward so they can buy them.  I don't mind talking comics on a Saturday morning, but on Wednesday evening after a long day of work, I just want to buy my stuff and get out of there so I can come home and make dinner.  And I also appreciate the fact that digital titles can be bought "whenever." There may be less sense of "accomplishment" in amassing a digital collection (all it takes is money, assuming the digital versions of your title exist), but there's also no chance of annoying gaps, or having to read things out of order. It's all there fore you, whenever you want it.  A part of me likes that.

This is why, right now, I am hyrbridizing my print vs. digital copy purchases.  I definitely want to keep getting Batgirl and Supergirl in hardcopy form, because I have plans for those series, involving a nice curio display cabinet, a bunch of statues and action figures, and a "Steve's favorite heroines of the DC universe" type of display.  I have been toying with the idea of a Justice League display as well (it would give me an excuse, as if I need one, to buy statues or figures of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman), so that is why I am buying those physically.  For everything else, though, I think that just reading the stories (not necessarily having the issues) is sufficient, and I am sticking with digital for everything else.  Hopefully I won't end up changing my mind and wanting to re-buy everything in hard copy like I did with Supergirl!

New 52 Batgirl - Year 1

I'm still a little late to the "New 52" party, and I am still playing catch-up with DC's new set of "rebooted" titles.  As I have explained in earlier articles, I had stopped collecting comic-books for over 13 years, from early 1999, until December of 2012 (see this article and this one for details).  Because it's fairly easy to get "back issues" these days as electronic copies, I started with some of the New 52 #1 issues, and then began building my collection forward.  I am currently on #5 of most titles.

However, early on, I decided to buy the physical issues of two titles.  These are the titles most important to me. One, Supergirl, I collect physically because it chronicles my favorite superhero of all time.  And the second, I decided to collect physical copies because it is just so damn good, I wanted it on paper.  Within a few issues it had vaulted to the top of my list as the pinnacle of DC's new line of comic-books. And that title is Gail Simone and Adrian Syaf's Batgirl.

Indeed, I enjoyed the digital version of Batgirl issues #1-4 so much that I went to the comic-shop and re-purchased them (sort of) as part of the "Darkest Reflections" hardcover (which collects issues #1-6 of the original series).  I then prowled two different comic shops to purchase all the remaining issues up to the current one, #16.

Now, I am taking my time reading these titles. I don't want to get too far ahead of the other New 52s that I am reading, because if there are any crossovers or guest appearances, I know it will confuse me.  So I haven't read every one of the Batgirl issues yet. However, today I finished reading issue #12, meaning that I have now finished the first year's worth of Batgirl. I thought I would take this opportunity to review this series and post my reflections of it.

The Batgirl hardover (issues 1-6) and Batgirl #7-12

I'm not sure I can find enough words to sufficiently praise what the Batgirl creative team has done with this title.  I've liked the Batgirl character (and her secret identity, Barbara Gordon) since watching the old Batman TV show as a kid.  I had a bit of a crush on Yvonne Craig, to tell the truth... but I also thought she was an interesting character.  After Batgirl was shot and crippled, I always admired the way Barbara Gordon persevered as the wheelchair-bound hero known as Oracle.  However, as a superhero, I would never have placed Batgirl on a par with my other all-time favorites, like Supergirl, Captain America, Hawk, and Dove. In fact, if I'd had to list my top 20 or even top 50 favorite heroes, I doubt Batgirl would have made the cut.

Until now.

In a relatively few short issues (a year is not a long time in the world of comic-book series), the Batgirl creative team has catapulted her to near the absolute top of my hero list, along side those favorites I mentioned above.  And although the book's art is excellent, the primary reason why Batgirl has become one of my new favorite heroes is because of the incredible talent of the book's writer: Gail Simone.

Because I had been out of comics for a long time, I had never heard of Gail Simone. I knew nothing about her history (as long-time writer of Birds of Prey). So I started reading Batgirl #1 with no real expectations.  And right from the very first issue, I was blown away.  Simone is probably the best comic-book writer on the market today, and I would already (after only 12 issues) rank her as one of the best all-time, right up there with my other favorites like Walt Simonson and Barbara and Karl Kesel.  She has the uncanny ability, when writing the narration, to become Batgirl.  It really feels like the narrative boxes are coming right from Barbara Gordon's "real" diary.

But the immersive, in-character narration is not where Ms. Simone's talent ends.  She also writes snappy, realistic-sounding dialog, and always works to reveal character as the people in Batgirl converse and interact.  Simone develops a wonderful cast of supporting characters, including not just Barbara's dad (Commissioner Gordon himself), but also her room-mate (Alysia), Detective McKenna, Mrs. Gordon (Barbara's long-lost mother), and others.  Unlike many of the other titles I'm reading these days, Simone really infuses these characters with personality and depth, rather than giving them short cameos in between fight scenes.  Make no mistake about it: Batgirl is not just about super-fights; it is about characters.

However, I don't want to leave the impression that the action sequences are thin on the ground in this title. Quite the opposite. Batgirl gets into martial-arts style brawls over and over again in the pages of her new comic.  The battles are wonderfully choreographed, revealing a clear bond of synergy between writer/plotter Simone, and artist Adrian Syaf (whose illustrations are top-notch).  But even here, Simone and Syaf repeatedly surprise the reader.  The fights are not predictable and often do not end the way you would expect.

Perhaps the most important element to the new Batgirl title, though, is how Simone and Syaf have so skilfully infused Batgirl with humanity.  She's not invincible. She makes mistakes. She screws up. She gets scared.  She gets cocky. She criticizes herself.  She does all the things, in short, that we would do if we had a shot at being superheroes.  This makes Batgirl a character the reader can easily identify with, and also, a character the reader can't help but fall in love with.  I defy anyone with a heart to read "The Darkest Reflection" story arc from Batgirl #1-6 and come away with it not rooting for this wonderful character. She won my heart immediately, thanks to the creative team.

Every once in a while, a comic-book series enjoys a run by a creative team so talented, and so in sync, that every issue is a must-have.  Examples include the Kesels' 33-issue, two-series run on Hawk and Dove, Walt Simonson's 45-issue run on Thor, Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema's 50-issue run on Rom: Spaceknight, Chris Claremont and John Byrne's 33-issue run on X-men, George Perez's 35-issue run on Wonder Woman.  Often, as a reader, you don't realize while these issues are being produced, just how fantastic the run of comics is.  But every once in a while, a creative team is so outstanding, that even while the issues are being produced, you know you are involved in something special.  What Simone and Company are doing on Batgirl falls into this category.  This team's run, which hast lasted 16 issues and will hopefully go on for many, many more, will almost certainly go down as one of the great comic-book runs of all time.  These comics are just that good.

And that is why Batgirl is currently my favorite comic-book series, why Gail Simone is currently my favorite comic-book writer, and why the Batgirl character has leapfrogged a few dozen other superheroes to headline the top of my "favorite characters" list along with Supergirl, Cap, Hawk, and Dove. And since this site is called "Statues and Superheroes," you can bet I will be adding some Batgirl statues to my statue collection some time very soon.

If you're collecting comic-books right now, but haven't given Batgirl a try, you should give it a chance. It is not a title to be missed.  And if you've never read comics, and don't know anything about them, I can highly recommend the hardcover volume, "The Darkest Reflection," that reprints issues #1-6. I promise you won't be lost or confused.  Simone references other events in the DC universe, but unlike most authors, she respects her readers enough to explain them, quickly, concisely, and clearly, so that as a reader, you are never lost, never confused, and always, always, immersed in a deep story about wonderful, human characters.  If you've never tried comic-books, but always wondered what was so "great" about them, Batgirl is the place to start. Just be careful. Because I suspect that, like me, Gail Simone, Adrian Syaf, and the rest of the Batgirl team will get you hooked on her but good.

DC's New 52 - another messy reboot

Every once in a while, it seems like the DC comics company decides to "reboot" their continuity.  In 1985, they collapsed their multi-universe of alternate "Earths" into a single one, killing a bunch of characters (like my favorite, Supergirl) in the process, in a series called Crisis on Infinite Earths.  When the series concluded, the DC continuity had a single universe -- one timeline without alternate earths -- and all the previous stories were (or should have been) erased.  All the signature characters (Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.) had their origins re-told, and many of the DC comics were re-numbered starting on #1.  Because the Crisis story involved the characters going back to the beginning of time and preventing the single Earth from splitting into many alternates, logically, none of the stories people had read from Action Comics #1 in 1938 until 1985, could ever have happened.  This allowed DC to completely restart their universe.

Unfortunately, DC did not do a 100% "clean" reboot.  Some of the characters in the universe remembered the previous timeline, even though they shouldn't have.  The Spectre, who in a way lives "outside" of time, remembered the old continuity, even though under the new continuity the old one was supposed to have never existed.  The character Harbinger, who was invented for the Crisis series, continued to exist (even though, since the heroes had changed the past, in the new continuity the Crisis had never happened). And many past events from before the Crisis still supposedly "happened" in some form. For example, in the post-Crisis limited series Hawk and Dove, Hawk explicitly remembers his brother Don (the first Dove) dying "when the skies turned red" (the Crisis events). Thus, as the years progressed, DC's writers kept making references to pre-Crisis events.  These references confused everyone, as people were left to wonder, "What stories that I read before 1985 are still canon, and what stories aren't?"

To make matters worse, over the years, DC's writers and editors repeatedly made decisions that confused and screwed up the new continuity.  They could not resist eventually adding alternate versions of Earth (not surprising because this is a very common comic-book trope, and I can't imagine any company with as many titles per month as DC going very long without the need for alternate realities).  And the fans kept clamoring for pre-Crisis characters to return -- most notably Supergirl and the original Flash (Barry Allen).  DC tried to appease folks with substitute versions of these characters, such as the shape-shifting artificial being "Matrix" which could take the form of a female character that people called "Supergirl." But the fans were not satisfied.

Over the years, DC has screwed their universe up enough times that they have had to have more "Crises" to try and correct the continuity -- such as Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis.  I wasn't reading comics as these course corrections were attempted, so I don't really know exactly how they proceeded, but I do know that they must not have done the job, because in later summer 2011, DC Comics once again decided that their universe was such a complete and utter mess, and so incomprehensible to new fans (or returning folks like me), that they needed to completely restart their universe over again, with new, fresh stories. Because there were (originally) 52 titles being put out per month, they called these titles "The New 52."

When I decided to get back into comic-books, after learning about this, it seemed to me that the #1 issues of The New 52 were the logical place to start.  I had no idea what I would like, or dislike, so I began with a few of them.  It became immediately apparent to me that DC comics had again made a mess of its reboot. Once again some events from before the reboot are still remembered by some characters (for example, Barbara Gordon still remembers being shot by the Joker back in the 1980s). But they've made it even worse by having the comic-books take place at different points in the timeline relative to each other.  For example, the two main books about Superman, Action Comics and Superman, take place 5 years apart, even though they are being published concurrently. And Justice League #1 takes place some time after the events of Action Comics but before the events of Superman.

What DC is left with in the mish-mash that is The New 52, are three types of comic-book titles: true reboots, reboots with backstory, and a third category I can only call complete messes.  Below, I will outline each of these categories.

True Reboots

 What I call "true reboots" are comic-books like Justice League, Action Comics, and Supergirl, where absolutely no stories we've ever read about the characters have ever happened, and everything is completely new.  Supergirl #1 has Kara Zor-El arriving on earth for the first time in her life. Justice League #1 has Batman meeting Green Lantern for the first time ever.  Action Comics #1 has Superman wearing street clothes and a cape, and still not quite able to fly yet.  These comics all start completely from square one, and move forward only.  There are no real flash-backs (nor any need for them): it is the clear start of a totally new set of characters.  In my opinion, quite apart from how good the individual plots are in these comics (Supergirl's is excellent; Action Comics' is a disaster), this is the category into which DC should have placed all 52 titles.  Unfortunately, it seems to be occupied by the vast minority of books.

Reboots with Backstory

What I call "reboots with backstory" are comic-books where the character has been rebooted, but some elements of the backstory from as far back as the 1986 era right after Crisis, still "happened," or perhaps there is a longer backstory that is not part of the past continuity, but still happened for some years before the publication of issue #1.  Examples in this category are Batgirl #1 (in which the title character remembers being shot by the Joker and paralyzed, but not all the many events of her life as Oracle after that), or Wonder Woman #1, where the title character seems to have been around in the world for a while (people in issue #1 already know to call her "Wonder Woman"), but none of the previous stories people read about in her earlier comics seem to have happened.  Another example is Superman #1, which takes place five years after the events depicted in Action Comics #1 (although they were published the same month -- see how confusing it is?), and repeatedly references events that are in the comic-book's past, but have never been printed by DC comics before (they're not referencing past issues of Superman or any other title).

Complete Messes

Finally, there are the comics I can only call (from a reboot/continuity perspective) "complete messes." These are comics that are an utter Gordian knot of confusion, mixing old printed stories from the past continuity, with "backstory" that is fictional (never printed but still in the "past" of the current storyline), and total reboot material (new stuff that assumes no prior story).  Examples of this include Green Lantern #1, which clearly references a whole variety of events that took place in earlier published comics, Batman #1, Detective Comics #1, and Hawk and Dove #1.  For instance, in the Hawk and Dove series (which only lasted 8 issues), Dove repeatedly makes reference to her relationship with a character named Deadman, with whom she got involved during a story-line that existed in the previous published (pre-New 52) continuity.  But ask yourself -- how is that possible? Some of the characters who were completely rebooted, such as Superman, were involved in that previously published storyline. So how can Dove remember something that involved Superman, but Superman be rebooted and not remember it?  You can get migraines trying to unravel these messes.

And after 5 issues... in many cases I still don't know what is going on

The upshot of all this mish-mash with some characters being given a "clean" reboot and others a messy one, is that DC has made a complete hash of The New 52.  One of the main goals of their company-wide "reboot" was supposed to be to make it easier for new readers to jump into DC's titles, to make it less intimidating to read Superman, who before 2011 had a multi-decade continuity.  It presumably was supposed to make lapsed readers like myself have an easier time getting back into things.  For some titles, like Supergirl and Batgirl, this has absolutely been true.  For other titles, like Detective Comics and Green Lantern, I gave up after the first issue, being so utterly and completely confused that I could not follow them enough to bother with further installments.

And it's not just whether the series got a complete reboot or not that is confusing (although complete reboots, or near-reboots, did help a lot). It's that the comics are taking place all over the history of the DC universe.  Some titles (Superman, Supergirl) take place today.  Others (Justice League) take place five years ago. Still others (Action Comics) take place even earlier (perhaps 5.5 or 6 years ago... it's hard to tell). Even others (Wonder Woman) take place in an indeterminate time period.  This was true in issue #1, but I figured it would be cleared up after a few months.  So far I am on #5 of the titles I am currently collecting, and nope -- it has not been resolved. Worse, a friend of mine is current (on #15 or so) with these titles, and he's still not sure whether Justice League takes place before, after, or concurrently with Wonder Woman.

I think I understand what DC tried to do with the early issues of The New 52. They tried to make them exciting, maybe a little confusing to draw readers in, and complex.  They wanted to slowly reveal the relationships between the titles and between the present and the past.  And perhaps those goals were admirable. But the problem is, with 52 different titles, all with different levels of "reboot," all taking place at different time periods, while being published the same month (or even week), DC has just produced a massively confusing universe.  I'm not at all certain that it would have been any harder for me to just jump into ongoing comics that had 13 years of continuity that I'd missed, than it has been to jump into series that claim to be "rebooted" but often have vestiges of stories I haven't read, and that have incredibly confusing connections to one another.  And my confusion, which is high in many cases, is partially mitigated by the fact that I am buying these early New 52s as back-issues, so I have been able to read #1-#5 in a very short time (about 5 weeks, instead of 5 months). I can't imagine how confusing it must have been for people to read this stuff "live" -- and wait more than 5 months (in most cases) to figure out what the hell is going on in each series.

Comic-book collecting is a slow hobby, not for the impatient, and I know that.  You can't expect, and in most cases don't want, a story to wrap up in one or two issues. But, it seems to me when a company is rebooting its whole universe specifically to make it more "user friendly," they shouldn't then turn around and make the interrelationships between the various rebooted characters so incomprehensible that even an old hand at it can't figure out how the titles connect to one another.

Now, that said, I am enjoying a few titles, and if you are new to comics, I can definitely recommend four that will not confuse you too much (other than not knowing whether they all take place at the same time or at different times).  Supergirl and Justice League are true reboots, and one can easily read these titles without having ever read any stories about the characters before.  Wonder Woman has been cleanly rebooted but has an indeterminate backstory that occurred "before" issue #1.  Up to #5, we know the backstory is there, and see hints of it, but it isn't confusing at all, and the story moves forward in a comprehensible way.  Finally, Batgirl has been rebooted with a somewhat involved backstory, but it's entirely possible to read the Batgirl series (up through at least #8) without knowing the past story -- or with knowing it, because there are references to what you might already know, but they are vague enough not to be continuity-twisting.

I'm afraid I can't really recommend any of the other series I am currently reading (or that I tried to read).  Although Action Comics is a "clean reboot," the stories in it are a mess, and there is no sense of plot or continuity to them.  The story hop-scotches around, with the story in #4 not being picked up again until #7, and with the Superman of the far future making a sudden appearance at the end of #5. Although, as an old-time reader, I understand the Legion of Super-heroes references and the appearance of Steel, a new reader would surely go "wtf" and probably give up the series by #5. I know I'm on the verge of it myself, but I will give it a few more issues.  Similarly, although it pains me to say it because the series is written by a favorite of mine, George Perez, I can't recommend the Superman comic either.  The story is not as much of a mess as Action Comics, but the references to the (so far unpublished) "five year backstory" of Superman are highly confusing, and the storyline in which Superman finds himself (basically having a mental breakdown) is not appropriate for the first few issues of a new series with a "new" Superman -- the character needs to be established first, George, before you "break" him!

I think DC could have had a great idea on their hands with a clean reboot. I believe that the Justice League, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman comics prove this. They are among the best-written comics of all the ones I've tried so far, and they work very well as truly restarted titles.  If only DC had done this clean a reboot with everything, The New 52 would have been a great deal better off.  Because they didn't, I hate to say it, but I would not be shocked at DC having to do yet another reboot some time in the next 5-10 years, to untangle the whole mess they have got on their hands already, 1.5 years into the current continuity.

The curse of being liked by me

I started collecting comic-books as a kid.  There are several approaches to collecting. For example, some people collect everything having to do with a particular character (such as trying to buy every appearance of Batman).  Others try to follow creators, such as collecting everything written by Walt Simonson or everything drawn by George Perez.  Others will try to collect particular series, such as trying to get every issue of the Avengers or Teen Titans.

I didn't really follow any of those patterns. I liked certain characters a great deal (Supergirl, Batman, Captain America), but what I tended to do was decide it was time to add a title to my collection list, and then cast about among different comic-books for a few months until I settled on one that I really liked -- one with good characters, decent writing, and attractive art.  If it was good enough, and the team had been working on it long enough, then I would try to get back-issues and build up my collection both going forward, and backward.

Unfortunately, over the years it seemed like, as soon as I became truly interested in a title, especially as soon as I became a devotee, the company would either cancel it, or else would change the staff or the series in such a way that the title was no longer enjoyable.  There is a long list of such occurrences, but let me recite a few examples, and then I will mention the most recent one, which happened just in the last few weeks.

X-Men (1983)

In the early 1980s, my friend +Stuart Johnson was a huge fan of X-men, and he finally convinced me to try it.  X-men was in the 160s or so at the time, but I started with some re-prints he had of the first five or six issues (by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby), and then some other issues in the 50s to 60s, followed by reading "Giant Size X-Men #1", in which the team was completely changed to a new roster, and finally reading his individual issues from the early 100s to the current ones.  Since Stu had many issues, this meant reading probably well over 75 comics, over a course of many months, as he loaned me a few at a time.  By the time I had reached the 160s, which had a story-arc about the X-Men battling some space aliens, I had decided I loved the comic and wanted to start collecting it.  The artist at that time was excellent (Paul Smith). And my favorite X-Man had become Storm, for her elegance, grace, nobility, and purity of heart.  She was a true hero.

And so, I got to the end of Stuart's collection, and went to the comic shop to buy the current issue.  And within 4 months, X-Men changed the art team (replacing Smith with John Romita Jr., who's sloppy-looking style was not one I appreciated), and had dramatically changed Storm into a bloodthirsty Wolverine-type character.  Literally as I started collecting X-Men, two of the main reasons I had for collecting the series (based on dozens of back-issues) were destroyed.  This is a perfect example of the historical pattern, that when I decide I really love a series, the company finds a way to ruin what I loved about it.

Thor (1987)

That same friend, +Stuart Johnson, a few years later insisted that I try reading his Thor back-issues.  That series was being written and drawn by Walt Simonson, a creator about whom I knew very little at the time. For months, I stupidly resisted, because I had never really liked Thor as a character.  But Stuart is persistent, and eventually, I agreed to read a couple of issues. He gave me Thor #338, the second issue Simonson had done in what became a 45-issue streak, and I enjoyed it.  He then loaned me a few Thor issues each week as I slowly got caught up. By the 340s, I was hooked, and by the 350s, I had made up my mind that, once I finished with all the back-issues, I was going to start collecting Thor myself.  Well, reading Thor a few issues per week for such a long run takes a while, so a few months went by.  Then, finally, I got to the most recent one, Thor #382. It was excellent, as usual.  I was all set to start collecting the series starting the next month. Except... Thor #382 was Simonson's final issue.  The next issue, the first new one I bought, featured an entirely new creative team, a new direction for the title, and an erasure of all the reasons I'd had for wanting to collect it in the first place.  Once again, just when I decided I loved a series, the publisher changed it in a way that made me not want to read it. (The story does have a bit of a happy ending, since I eventually managed to acquire all 45 back-issues, and they are currently stored in Mylar bags in my apartment... that run has been the pride of my collection for many years.)

Hawk and Dove (1990-1991)

I'd never heard of Hawk and Dove until I read a friend's back-issues of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which the original Dove, Don Hall, is killed.  Even so, I wasn't all that interested in the characters.  They had their own series, and I paid very little attention to it, until a friend of mine started telling me how good the series was.  Finally, when the Hawk and Dove series was on #22, decided to try it.  I also was able to grab #21 and #20, since they were still on the news stand.  It took only the very first issue (20) for me to be hooked. The writing was fantastic, the characterization was great, the main stars had interesting powers, and the art, if not mind blowing, was solid.  Over the next 6 months, I spent money and time tracking down the rest of the series, as well as the entire 5-issue mini-series that had pre-dated it (and re-launched the duo).  It took me until issue #27 was on the stands to complete my Hawk and Dove collection.  And what happened next? They ended the series on issue #28, and then, during the "Armageddon 2001" summer crossover that year, they killed off Dove and made Hawk a villain.  Once again, no sooner do I get "on board" with a series and become a devotee than they destroy it.

Batgirl -- almost (2012)

Fast-forward to today.  Just last month, in December, I decided to get back into comic-books for the first time in 13 years (for why, see this article and this one).  Once again, because I tend to have similar tastes to his, I relied upon my good friend, +Stuart Johnson, for which titles are worth collecting.  Among his recommendations was one that surprised me: Batgirl.  Stuart's never been much of a "bat-fan" -- I don't think he's ever spent much money collecting Batman, Detective Comics, Catwoman, or any of the other Bat-related series. Since I had always been more of a bat-fan than he was, I figured Batgirl was a reasonable series to collect, along with my old stand-by series of Batman and Detective Comics.  It took only one issue for me to see that neither of the titles about Batman interested me, but Batgirl was a different story. It was very well written by author Gail Simone (one of the few women working in comics today).  Her characterization of Batgirl was outstanding. The writing was witty and clever.  The plot was easy to follow but complex and interesting.  Within a few weeks, I had read the first 6 issues (I ended up buying a hardcover book of the first 6-issue story arc, I liked it so much), and firmly placed Batgirl written by Gail Simone at the top of my list, as probably the best-written comic title on the market today (at least, of the ones I have read).

So what do you think happened?  Apparently, on December 11, pretty much on the day I started reading (and loving) Simone's Batgirl, the morons running the show at DC Comics fired her from the book. According to Comics Alliance, Simone tweeted her departure from the title on that day.  Now, given my immediate love for this series and this author, the firing of Simone should come as no surprise.  Steve likes the series, therefore DC will do everything in their power to either ruin it, or will cancel it.  It's practically a Law of Nature at this point.  But apparently, some new supernatural forces are at work (maybe the whole Digital comics thing has changed the nature of reality?), because that same article states that within 2 weeks, Simone made another tweet that she had been re-hired to continue on Batgirl. And maybe the Digital age has interfered with the erstwhile rules of nature. In the past, by the time we found out Simone was off the title (when the first issue without her was put on the stands), it would have been too late to do anything about it (months go by between the time a comic is written and when it is published).  But in today's digital age, people found out the day it happened, and were able to bombard DC with enough backlash about this to force the editors to reconsider.

The backlash, by the way, was well earned by DC. Simone is easily the best current writer of comic-books that I have seen. She's doing an outstanding job of writing Batgirl.  And she is one of the few women actually doing the writing on a comic starring a female character (something we need more of in comics, not less).  What kind of editorial stupidity would it take to fire her in the first place? I suppose that question will remain forever unanswered.

Collector Beware

The upshot of all this is to just warn folks. If you love a particular comic-book series, you should be very careful about suggesting to me that I might like it, or worse convincing me to collect it. Fair warning here: My devotion to a series is like a death sentence either for the character, the creative team, or the series itself. Indeed, you're probably better off telling me your favorite series sucks.. Or waiting until the run you are enjoying is over and then telling me to pick up the back-issues, so I can't destroy it by loving it.  Because one of the things that you can almost always count on, is that Steve liking a series is pretty much the end of whatever was good about that series in the first place.