Ranking DCnU Week One

Last Wednesday, September 7th, marked the first official week of the reborn DC Comics Universe. 52 new titles will launch this month, and last week saw the release of the first 13 titles. Below I’ve ranked those 13 titles, plus I’ve thrown in the new JUSTICE LEAGUE which debuted the last Wednesday in August. I’ve broken the 14 titles into 5 different categories and keep in mind the dip in quality between the last title in one group and the first title in the next group is significant. Now here’s the best of the best:

MUST READ

1. ANIMAL MAN: The DC model has often been plot over character, but Animal Man is unquestionably a character driven title. Where many of these DCnU comics start with the cliche first issue “hero in mid-battle” scene, Animal Man starts around a family’s kitchen table. At the same time, it’s not all talking, there’s plenty of action, and a trippy dream sequence revealing Animal Man’s villains. Animal Man balances the mundane with the fantastic brilliantly.

2. SWAMP THING: While a little heavy on narration, Swamp Thing offers a very interesting lead character and some truly impressive and disturbing horror sequences.

————————————————-

PROMISING

3. BATWING: I have to be honest, before reading Batwing I thought it would be taking up residence at the bottom of this list. But Batwing is a pleasant surprise. Taking place in Africa, Batwing offers something new and is a welcome addition to the overcrowded Bat-corner of the DCnU.

4. STORMWATCH: I had high hopes for Stormwatch given it was penned by Paul Cornell, it didn’t live up to my expectations. Nonetheless, Stormwatch #1 has a few moments of greatness. Here’s hoping the second issue can deliver them more consistently.

5.OMAC: While I think Dan Didio had a fairly awful run as DC’s Executive Editor, I have enjoyed the couple books he’s written. His Metal Men story for WEDNESDAY COMICS was old school fun and the same can be said for OMAC. Didio isn’t reinventing the wheel here and OMAC feels a bit derivative of Marvel’s INCREDIBLE HULK, but still, OMAC is a light, campy ride and a needed departure from all the darker titles that were released in DCnU’s first week.

6. MEN OF WAR: Another nice surprise, Men of War starts as a fairly standard war comic, but gets tipped on its head when super-powered beings enter the mix.

————————————————

DISAPPOINTING

7. JUSTICE LEAGUE: The new Justice League feels like a relic from the 1990s. If you’re going to reboot your entire universe, shouldn’t the formation of the Justice League feel new and epic? Here it feels stale and unoriginal.

8. JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL: Remember all those 1980s cartoons where a character from another country would always be a one-note walking stereotype? Well, those days are back in the DCnU with the new JLI! I have a soft spot for Booster Gold, and his character is fairly enjoyable here, but the rest of this book is a mess.

9. ACTION COMICS: Action Comics #1 may be the most boring comic Grant Morrison has ever written. Morrison-penned comic books almost always elicit a strong reaction (whether positive or negative), but they are rarely boring. Here though, the author of the outstanding ALL-STAR SUPERMAN delivers a truly yawn-worthy tale.

10. BATGIRL: If you’re going to put Barbara Gordon back in the Batgirl costume and eliminate Oracle from the DCnU, you sure as hell better deliver a story that justifies such a drastic action. This issue fails to do that in any fashion. On the bright side, the events of THE KILLING JOKE haven’t been written out of continuity altogether.

——————————————————–

FORGETTABLE

11. DETECTIVE COMICS: While this issue ends with one truly haunting page, the rest of Detective Comics #1 is otherwise just another generic Batman/Joker tale.

12. STATIC SHOCK: I was happy to see Static was getting his own book as part of “The New 52″ but, sadly, this book is a bore.

—————————————————

BURN IT

13. HAWK AND DOVE: Honestly, I could bash Rob Liefeld’s art here, but if you buy a Liefeld book, you know what you’re getting. The story, however, is a bigger mess than the art. I criticized JLI for having one-note characters earlier, but JLI at least has a large cast of characters that each need to be given time. Hawk and Dove has two and both are about as three-dimensional as the paper this comic’s printed on.

14. GREEN ARROW: The emerald archer battles a group of baddies who post videos of their crimes on the internet. The subject feels so forced, you’d think writer J.T. Krul had never been on the web.  Meanwhile, Green Arrow’s weird new beard looks less like facial hair and more like Oreo crumbs or ants crawling over his chin.

So what are your thoughts on DCnU’s first week? Post your comments below!

The DCnU Dead Pool: Picking the 10 Titles Most Likely to be Canceled

Unless you’re not a comic book fan or you’ve been living under a rock without wireless internet access, you’ve likely heard about the DC Comics relaunch. DC will be rebooting their entire super hero universe and launching/relaunching 52 comic book series (you can see the full list here). Taking a cue from Charles Darwin, DC is clearly utilizing a “survival of the fittest” method to decide which series will live and which will suffer a quick death. Titles featuring Superman and Batman are obviously destined to survive the initial bloodbath of cancellations, titles like BLACKHAWKS and ANIMAL MAN might not be as lucky. These are my picks for the first ten DCnU titles to be canceled:

10. Resurrection Man: Resurrection Man squeaks in at number 10 because the book features a virtually unknown character (a commonality between most of the comics on this list). What spares Resurrection Man from a higher spot in the DCnU Dead Pool is the writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (who created the title character back in 1997). Abnett and Lanning have a bit of a following from their work on the cosmic titles over at Marvel. Whether that audience will follow them over to Resurrection Man is anyone’s guess.

9. Deathstroke: DC is launching it’s own mercenary book, but the likelihood Deathstroke will come close to the popularity of Marvel’s myriad of Deadpool titles is highly unlikely. Having a villain as the title character does give Deathstroke a very small chance at standing out in the DCnU crowd.

8. Blackhawks: Military books are a tough sell even with a top notch creator on board. Writer Mike Costa is a virtual unknown. Blackhawks’ place on the list would be higher, but I’m betting DC will hold the non-super hero titles in the relaunch to a slightly different standard.

7. Hawk and Dove: Is anyone out there clamoring for a new Hawk and Dove series? No? I didn’t think so. With Rob Liefeld on art, the series may just die from an inability to keep on a monthly schedule.

6. Men of War: See all of my reasons for Blackhawks and add a generic title and a generic cover for the first issue.

5. DC Universe Presents: This sort of spotlight series never lasts. Some Deadman fanatics may stick through the first 5-issue arc, but when the second arc starts with a new character, readership will drop. Heck, even Deadman fans might not pick up this book given he’s featured in Justice League Dark as well.

4. Blue Beetle: DC has tried to shove this new Blue Beetle down readers throats multiple times and each time DC has failed. There’s no reason to believe a new Blue Beetle series will survive this time around… unless in this universe Jaime Reyes dies and Ted Kord takes up the mantle of Blue Beetle.

3. Voodoo: Directly from the solicitation info: “Who is Voodoo? Is she hero, villain – or both?” Does anyone care? There are a few Wildstorm characters who could carry their own book, Voodoo is not one of them.

2. Mister Terrific: I was a huge fan of Greg Rucka’s series Checkmate, in which Mister Terrific was a major player, but that book was constantly on life support from a sales standpoint. If the inclusion of Mister Terrific couldn’t bring readers to a team book with a top tier writer, what makes DC think he can survive in a solo title?

1. Captain Atom: I’ve not read a single comic book written by J.T. Krul, but even the most ardent DC supporters seem to hate him with every fiber of their being. A loathed creator writing a character few readers care about would appear to be the perfect storm of likely cancellation and puts Captain Atom at the top of the DCnU Dead Pool.

The scariest part of making this list, for the DC fan in me anyway, is how difficult it was to narrow it down to ten books. I could have easily expanded this to a top 15 or top 20 list. There are so many titles that seem destined to get the axe. Demon Knights, Frankenstein and Animal Man escaped the top ten because I’m excited by their creative teams and hope the likely good reviews will keep them alive a bit longer than other titles. Batwing didn’t make the list only because it has the word ‘bat’ in the title. And OMAC wasn’t included because Dan Didio’s writing it and I have doubts the co-publisher would cancel his own book so quickly.

Feel free to share your picks for the DCnU Dead Pool in the comments section below.