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Post by Action Ace on May 31, 2016 22:52:58 GMT -5
Read it this afternoon, I'll give Johns this, he knows what buttons to push to appeal to fanboys, but really there was nothing there to attract anyone who is not already in love with the DCU to come to the party. Nothing there to interest me enough to buy into any of the Rebirth titles moving forward. It was a lot of calculated melodrama to hit the points that resonate with fans without bringing anything new to the party except leaching off Watchmen's popularity and status within fandom. Calculated melodrama to excite those who already have bought into the DCU and wear that fandom on their sleeves. It will rejuvenate their sales to the lapsed crowd, but it will do nothing to build readership beyond that; the fact that it is a 2 year plan shows that ownership/suits paid attention and recognize the flower comes off the bloom after two years on a stunt like this, and the sales spurt of returning lapsed readers will have crested and be on the decline by then, so it will give them one last burst at the end with the wrap up and then on to the next stunt to try to woo back lapsed readers. Solid business plan for maximizing sales in a niche market, but it will not do anything to grow their business outside the already dedicated market. -M Oh good. If you had liked it, I would have been worried.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 23:53:30 GMT -5
Read it this afternoon, I'll give Johns this, he knows what buttons to push to appeal to fanboys, but really there was nothing there to attract anyone who is not already in love with the DCU to come to the party. Nothing there to interest me enough to buy into any of the Rebirth titles moving forward. It was a lot of calculated melodrama to hit the points that resonate with fans without bringing anything new to the party except leaching off Watchmen's popularity and status within fandom. Calculated melodrama to excite those who already have bought into the DCU and wear that fandom on their sleeves. It will rejuvenate their sales to the lapsed crowd, but it will do nothing to build readership beyond that; the fact that it is a 2 year plan shows that ownership/suits paid attention and recognize the flower comes off the bloom after two years on a stunt like this, and the sales spurt of returning lapsed readers will have crested and be on the decline by then, so it will give them one last burst at the end with the wrap up and then on to the next stunt to try to woo back lapsed readers. Solid business plan for maximizing sales in a niche market, but it will not do anything to grow their business outside the already dedicated market. -M Oh good. If you had liked it, I would have been worried. I didn't dislike it, it was par for the course big 2 super-hero fanboy fodder, nothing revolutionary, nothing new, the art was solid, not spectacular, the plot turns and beats were predictable if you've read anything by Johns before or pretty much any standard super-hero comic book since the Bronze Age, and the characters were familiar and flavorless to the point of cardboard stand-ins for the characters. The emotional hooks felt contrived and calculated rather than genuine outgrowths of the character with the twists (oh if I only could find Linda she has always grounded me and brought me home...wha? Linda forgot me I am doomed, you hear me doomed oh woe is me, oh Barry the hero I have been building up since the opening panel swoops in at the end to save me, oh happy day) pretty much standard connect-the-dot comic book soap opera writing. It was comic book comfort food for fanboys worried about the future of their hobby/shared universe sandbox they have been playing in for years and years. That's not a bad thing, if you like that sort of thing, but I have hundreds, if not thousands of comic books just like that already in my collection, so I don't need to spend new money on the same old, same old I already have done at least as well if not better. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2016 5:01:42 GMT -5
Read it this afternoon, I'll give Johns this, he knows what buttons to push to appeal to fanboys, but really there was nothing there to attract anyone who is not already in love with the DCU to come to the party. Nothing there to interest me enough to buy into any of the Rebirth titles moving forward. I felt exactly the same way - in all the positive response, I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who wasn't moved at all. |
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Post by Trevor on Jun 1, 2016 9:01:16 GMT -5
I hope I never die on the inside.
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Post by Warmonger on Jun 1, 2016 9:13:37 GMT -5
Was thinking about jumping back into Batman with "Rebirth" but I'm skeptical after reading up a little about some of the more current Batman events...
Gordon is now Batman? There is now a team of something like 100 different Robin's?
Is any of this stuff carrying over to Rebirth? Is any of it handled better than it sounds?
Will I be completely lost if I'm ignorant about the New 52 Batman?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2016 13:05:24 GMT -5
I hope I never die on the inside. See that's just it, I see DC doing Future Quest with Parker and Shaner and they are taking something old and familiar and doing something new and interesting while retaining what made it classic and appealing. If feels fresh and familiar at the same time, like I am discovering a new batch of stories that are part of the already existing ourvre that I just hadn't encountered before. So I know they have people available to them who can accomplish this type of thing. I see Bunn doing the same thing on Micronauts and Ryall doing it on Rom over at IDW... What I see Johns and Didio and crew doing is trying to run a current through the DCU and Frankenstein it to do the same dance it has done for decades, so they can have their "It's Alive " moment, but in the end they are trying to sell me a dancing corpse. It's a danse macabre mimicking what came before that is dead on the inside so has no life of its own. There are lots of wonderful comics out there worth the money, some familiar, some brand new, but this thing DC is doing doesn't feel like one of them to me. If feels like Johns and company are just regurgitating what has already happened ad nauseum without offering anything really fresh to it, more like poking a corpse with a stick than anything else. -M |
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Post by Action Ace on Jun 1, 2016 17:42:00 GMT -5
Was thinking about jumping back into Batman with "Rebirth" but I'm skeptical after reading up a little about some of the more current Batman events... Gordon is now Batman? There is now a team of something like 100 different Robin's? Is any of this stuff carrying over to Rebirth? Is any of it handled better than it sounds? Will I be completely lost if I'm ignorant about the New 52 Batman? The Gordon as Batman era is over. We Are Robin is over as well, so we're back to Dick as Nightwing, Tim as Red Robin and Damian as Robin. Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan (Cain) and Batwoman will all appear in Detective Comics with Batman in sort of a new Batman Family comic. I don't think not reading New52 Batman will hurt your enjoyment of Rebirth Batman. Snyder will continue on in All-Star Batman, so that could be the one with the most New52 Batman content. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 11:14:02 GMT -5
I'm going to wait until December and my Comic Book Store have a large stockpiles of reserve books and since I'm a preferred customer I can make a judgment call of which of the Rebirth Comics is worthy of my attention. So, it's a waiting game for me and with good intentions.
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Post by Gene on Jun 3, 2016 9:43:50 GMT -5
I picked up two of the Rebirth specials this week: Superman and Batman.
Superman was decent. I like Tomasi's approach to the character and this genuinely felt like the start of a new chapter in an ongoing story. The story of the New 52 Superman doesn't seem to be quite over yet and that's a good thing in my mind. Hopefully, Lana Lang sticks around for awhile.
Batman was more of a mixed bag. It felt more business as usual than the Superman book. It was co-written by Snyder, so maybe that will change when King takes over full time.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2016 15:02:15 GMT -5
I picked up Superman and Batman this week.
Superman: I enjoyed seeing the pre-52 Superman interacting with Lana. Looking forward to where all this will go and how Clark will explain his appearance as the world believes Superman is dead.
Batman: I loved the art and the story had light moments. I didn't know who the kid hanging out with him was, but a friend brought me up to speed. The new Calendar Man is creepy. Not sure I will be adding Batman to my list, but I'm interested.
My store sold out of the Rebirth Special and all Rebirth #1's for the week had sold out except Batman, and there were only a few copies left.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2016 19:19:25 GMT -5
Bought Superman, Batman & Green Arrow this week. Liked all 3.
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Post by String on Jun 3, 2016 19:59:28 GMT -5
For me, Rebirth, it's developments and it's new titles have more of my interest than the same old song-and-dance Marvel is currently doing with heroes-vs-heroes in their rehash of old events.
Read Superman, Batman, and GL Rebirth. All of them were good. Seeing this Superman with this Lana was somewhat bittersweet, especially given Superman's almost simple but devout belief about this Kal-El being able to resurrect like he did. Johns had some great dynamics between Simon Baz and new GL Jessica Cruz and the set-up between their partnership has me looking forward to their title. Batman... was Batman which was good. Calendar Man was freaky but interesting and what is really the focus of this 'new' direction that Bruce wants Duke to take? (Like the new costume too).
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2016 22:45:53 GMT -5
DC's Rebirth special is sold out and going to second and third printings already announced, yet there are dealer son the floor of Wizard World Philly with cases and cases (thousands of copies-I've seen the photos of the booths at Bleeding Cool and on facebook posts of people I know at the Con) selling them at $6 each (the price of the 2nd printing) or 2 copies for $10. SO it's a sales success for DC, but not as many people have bought and read copies as the going to additional printings may indicate. A lot of speculators seem to have bought this up (and are buying every copy of Before Watchman Dr. Manhattan #4 they can get their hands on and flipping it for $20). It also looked liked they had a few hundred if not a few thousand copies of the Rebirth issues released this week at their tables at the con, so I am curious to see how much of the sales boost is real and sustainable and how much is dealers buying up copies on spec to make them short and hot in demand items in the short term. Seriously, hoarding the $2.99 special until a second print for $5.99 was announced and then flooding the market with the first print priced at the 2nd print's cover price is a dick move by a lot of retailers and not helping DC build a long term customer base with this. But then again, that is what the direct market is these days, so you reap what you sow. -M edit to add: here's a pic of one of the tables at Wizard World Philly...  |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 4, 2016 6:38:22 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought it was an okay issue. My only negative about the issue is having Wally go in and out of scenes. It seems like I've seen that in so many DC issues. Maybe Flash ( or a version the Flash) will always introduce a major change in the DC universe every few years.
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Post by sabongero on Jun 4, 2016 7:30:08 GMT -5
For the first time in a few years, I bought my first recent comic book. By recent I would say it either came out this week, or last week, or last month, etc. I enjoyed reading Superman Rebirth #1. There isn't much action with the exception of the Flashback of pre New52 Superman's recollection of his battle with Doomsday and the finale of that battle that ultimately "killed" him. The best part is the almost full length small talk interaction between pre New52 Superman and New52 Lana Lang. You can feel the genuine empathy from that Superman, and that Lana's emotion, especially at the end comes through as realistic. I loved pre New52 Superman's reaction when he saw his "parents" being honored by New52 Superman at the Fortress of Solitude.
I always first and foremost loved the storytelling aspect of comic books. The small talk interaction of characters is always great as it makes them come out as people. It's not for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I love those Action-oriented Slam Bang Action Slugfest too. But they can only go so far to hold our attention if it happens over and over.
I thoroughly enjoyed this issue that I am now curious and will purchase Batman Rebirth #1, Green Lanterns Rebirth #1, and Green Arrow Rebirth #1.
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