It's official, the nuDC is a hit for DC Comics. All 52 books sold out, which is unheard of in comics these days. One series might sell out a lot, especially an event, but not all the books published in a month. Week 0/1 was great, week 2 was average, but week 3 and 4 seemed to have found a pleasant medium.
Week 3 had a good blend of critical hits and flubs. I bought hard copies of Batman and Nightwing. I also bought digital copies of Wonder Woman, Red Hood and the Outlaws, and Catwoman. Batman was more brilliance by Zach Snyder, and Nightwing had a good start. Wonder Woman made me actually care about the character, something I could never do in past volumes. The horror aspect worked very well, and having the gods walk amongst human beings is a great style choice. Then I read Red Hood and the Outlaws and Catwoman.
First off, these are bad comics. The writing was just bad. I had no real reason to care for these characters or pick up the comic next month. And then there is the art. Yes, they both hyper sexualize women, especially Starfire, but the art does look good. The action looks great and is pretty to look at. The way the artists drew these female characters is ridiculous though. Catwoman is bad, but nothing as bad as Starfire. Starfire's uniform is down right pornographic, with only her privates and nipples covered. This could have happened in the 80's (maybe), but not today. Not only that, Starfire is shown as a sex starved women who will have sex with anything that has a penis and breathes. There was so much negative feedback by fans, I wouldn't be surprised if DC changed this in the upcoming months.
Looking at reviews, this week seems to be even. There were some, like Batman and Wonder Woman, who had high ratings on multiple sites, then some like Red Hood, where everyone wished DC had not released the book. It's good to see Wonder Woman finally finding a direction that works for the character. The majority of the others though had good reviews.
DC Comics
Week 4 continued with the good things of Week 3. I bought hard copies of The Flash and Aquaman. For digital, I bought Superman and The Savage Hawkman. The Flash and Aquaman were great reads, especially Aquaman. Geoff Johns took an interesting angle in making fun of Aquaman the entire issue while still making him seem like a bad ass. It worked really well. The Flash shows how well art and script can be intertwined. The script wasn't as good as Geoff Johns', but I'm sure Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato will figure out how to script well. They show a ton of potential.
Superman and The Savage Hawkman were just average. Hawkman has a lot of potential though. Tony Daniel could have given Hal Carter a personality instead of just reacting. But I have never been one to be interested in Hawkman, and this issue peaked it. I'll give it another month to see if Hawkman gets better. Superman was the victim of to much dialogue. The art looked good, but it was hidden by the insane amount of dialogue. Much like Manapul and Buccellato, I'm sure George Perez will figure it out.
For the rest of the books, they as well fared well. Wildstorm characters seem to be having a hard time of pleasing critics, as this week had Voodoo, and critics weren't big fans. Voodoo was also a victim of a lot of T&A, but at least Voodoo stripping was part of the story and not put into the book to just sell issues. The biggest surprise was I, Vampire getting good reviews, as early polls by CBR had this book as the least appealing book of the new 52. I'm not sure how, but Batman: The Dark Knight got decent reviews.
The other big thing of this past month has been the mysterious woman that has been in each issue of the new 52. She appeared on one of the last pages of Flashpoint #5, and has appeared in the background of each issue this month. Many think she is a backdoor into the old continuity if the new 52 failed, and that won't be happening with these sails numbers. Another theory is that she is the lead in to next summer's big event. I'd more lean towards the second theory, but only time will tell.
DC's strategy of releasing one big name book a week is a great plan. It gives every fan a reason to go to the comic shop that week. For these two weeks, we had Batman and Wonder Woman for Week 3 and Aquaman and Flash for Week 4. It keeps the shelves from being cluttered, but also keeps some weeks from being lack luster. This has been a problem for Marvel in the past. Actually this past week is a great example. Marvel released a good number of big name books, and next week there aren't as many. It not only hurts my wallet more, but also puts my attention at another publisher.
The next nuDC report will come after Week 6
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