Ask Collected Editions #5: DC Comics New 52's JSA/JLA generation gap

It's time for another in our "Ask Collected Editions" series! Responding to my interview with Ridiculously Awesome about the DC TPB Timeline ebook, Glint asked my opinion about the loss of "generations" in the DC New 52.

As always, if you have a question for "Ask Collected Editions," send an email to the Yahoo account or post it on the Collected Editions Facebook wall, and your question could be used in a future segment.

From Glint:

In your Ridiculously Awesome interview, much of which made me smile, you mention how the New 52 no longer has that generations of superheroes aspect. I know it's early days yet, but is that a problem as far as your concerned?

Well, Glint, I might get pilloried for this, but I don't necessarily think the loss of generations in the DC New 52 is a bad thing. Broad public perception ought not rule the roost, but if you ask a majority of non-comics readers who was the first superhero, they're likely to tell you "Superman." Then it's incumbent upon the informed comic book fan to explain, "No, it was the Crimson Avenger. And then after that, there was Green Lantern (but no, not that Green Lantern) and the Flash (but no, not that Flash) and they were part of the Justice Society (no, not the Justice League, the Justice Society. Pay attention!) ..." and on and on.

It is not that complicated, but it is pretty complicated. And while it's true story-wise -- the Justice Society were the heroes of World War II, before Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman ushered in the second generation of heroes -- it's not actually true historically, something I think we tend to forget. "Superman" actually is the correct answer for the most part; Superman, historically, pre-dates the Justice Society even though post-Crisis on Infinite Earths and post-John Byrne's Man of Steel, the Justice Society pre-dates Superman.

Again, what the majority of the mainly non-comics reading population thinks ought not dictate how things go, but removing some of the generational make-up of the DC Universe, and moreover returning Superman to his status as the "first superhero," since he was essentially the first superhero, makes some sense to me. And I'm certainly a fan of the Justice Society -- I'm still beating the drum for a JSA Omnibus -- but the original DC Universe depicted the Justice Society on a separate Earth for a very long time, so I don't necessarily cringe from that development, either.

Some fans (No, not you. Not you, either) treat these changes to Superman and the Justice Society in the DC New 52 universe as destructive and wildly unprecedented; rather, one thing I like is just how precedented they actually are.

Time will tell. I offer these opinions, admittedly, without yet having read a single book in the DC New 52. And I grant the DC New 52 is imperfect, not in the least as regards the legion of angry Wally West fans. But in terms of the generational issue, I'm pretty much OK with it, at least until I start to get into the books.

What do you think about losing the "generations" in the DC New 52?

Remember, if you have a question, don't hesitate to drop me a line, and your question could be featured next time in "Ask Collected Editions." Thanks!

Review: Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse deluxe hardcover (DC Comics)

The stories collected in the deluxe Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse are not what you would traditionally find within a deluxe book. I enjoy the oversized format, but there's a lack of event status here that usually underlies collecting a book in this way. That the story for which this book is named appears only at the very end of the volume, and has little to do with the rest of the book, further reinforces what a strange and arbitrary choice it was to produce this collection at all.

Yet still, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I'd entirely purchase another volume if DC Comics saw fit to continue this collection series.

[Contains spoilers]

The Curse is a fair sequel to DC's previous deluxe Legion book, The Great Darkness Saga, in that Curse cleans up a number of Darkness's dangling plotlines: the redemption of Chameleon Boy, for one; the fruition of Darkseid's curse; and the revelation of an impostor in the Legion's midst. This latter item makes clearer a bunch of strange scenes in Darkness, so in this way Curse is a good buy for Darkness fans. Curse would be a poor collection to read on its own, however; most of what concludes in Curse begins in Darkness, and whereas Darkness has an element of self-containment, most of Curse's narrative power comes in finishing stories begun in the first volume.

Invincible Iron Man: My Monsters Vol. 7 hardcover/paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Guest review by Doug Glassman]

When we last saw Tony Stark, his mind had been rebooted thanks to some help from the Avengers and his own guilt. I’ve decided to skip the Iron Man Stark Resilient books (volumes five and six) because, to be honest, they’re a bit of a slog. Matt Fraction is telling one very long story with these books, and while everything does interlock nicely, both World’s Most Wanted and Stark Resilient were heavily padded out. Each could have been shortened by two or three issues without losing any major details.

At some point, I may go back and review volumes five and six, but they aren’t really necessary to read Invincible Iron Man Vol. 7: My Monsters, which is very much a standalone. In fact, this trade is an unusual collection, containing Invincible Iron Man’s first annual, issue #500 and issue #500.1, plus a back-up story from a later issue. I find that Marvel’s “Point One” concept is rather silly, and I think that they would be better off either publishing a book twice a month or creating extra-long specials. However, no matter how they do it, I like that we can get more out of each story.

Everybody's Talking about the DC Trade Paperback Timeline ebook

To steal a line from our friends at the Source blog, the DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline ebook launched with a bang, and I've been so excited by the attention it's received and the new readers it's brought to my timeline efforts.

Among the highlights are an interview I just completed at the Ridiculously Awesome blog, where we talked all things timeline and how new readers can approach the DC Universe. From the interview:

What made you want to put together a chronology of DC’s trades?

I started “waiting for the trade” a few years before I began the Collected Editions blog. I was tired of waiting six months to finish reading a story in single issues, and also of all the advertisements in the issues. A couple years later when DC and many other publishers began releasing collections routinely (as I talk about in the introduction to the DC Trade Paperback Timeline ebook), there was greater continuity between trades; DC published trades that were specifically branded as tie-ins to event miniseries, for instance, or characters would finish an arc in one trade and their story would continue in another. This cross-trade continuity was interesting to me, and I created the timeline so that I and others could keep track of how DC’s trades fit together from the beginning of the current DC Universe to the present.

Were there any anomalies that you encountered as far as continuity?

I encountered plenty of anomalies working on the timeline — that’s part of what makes it so useful and fun! The Hawkworld anomaly is one famous one (one Hawkman appears from Legends through Hawkworld, and then that Hawkman is retroactively replaced by another one). There’s lots of times that books published at the same time don’t fit, like when Superboy Connor Kent is resurrected after Final Crisis but the Teen Titans title acts like he’s dead almost until Blackest Night. There’s also plenty of changes to continuity as the timeline progresses — Superman gets a couple new origins and so does Green Lantern, and these changes are presented at the appropriate time to read them.

So where would you recommend someone just getting into the DC universe to start reading?

In terms of how to start reading about the DC Universe, I encourage fans to jump in anywhere. I learned about the DC Universe by reading and then reading more and reading back issues, and I reject the notion that comics continuity scares off new readers; instead I think part of the joy is finding references you don’t understand and reading older stories to fill in the gaps. Crossovers (or their aftermaths) are good places to start reading, however; DC created a “jumping on” point for their titles just after Infinite Crisis, but starting at the beginning of Countdown to Infinite Crisis is good too. Adventurous readers, however, could start just after Zero Hour or even with Legends, the first crossover of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earth’s DC universe. Of course, the DC New 52 relaunch is also designed with new readers in mind.

Check it all out at Ridiculously Awesome.

Johanna Draper Carlson also mentioned the DC TPB Timeline ebook on Comics Worth Reading as part of their "digital and webcomics" coverage.

And on the audio side, check out Chris Marshall's recent Collected Comics Library podcast where Chris also reviews the DC Timeline ebook (if you're digitally-inclined, Chris has a Collected Comics Library app, too!).

i'm also grateful to long-time reader Mark Simms, whose review of the DC TPB Timeline ebook on Smashwords calls the timeline "a sensible order to read the stories of this shared universe, often with justification, but without spoiling any of the storylines ... Perfect for those trips to the comic or book store, when you're not sure what you should read next." Thanks, Mark!

There's lots more coming up related to the DC Comics Trade Paperback Timeline -- stay tuned!

DC Trade Solicitations for June 2012

So how about that new DC Comics website?

DC released their trade solicitations for June 2012 yesterday, and as has become pretty much the norm lately, there's a whole lot of DC New 52 material and not much else. I am excited to read the New 52 books, but I hope that after the first round is collected, we begin to see more balanced collection offerings from DC -- not just new stuff and second printings of old collections, but newer and richer collections as well.

* Absolute Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn

DC's big offering for the month is the Absolute-sized collection of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin. This'll be a beauty, no doubt, though I'm hesitant to trade in my deluxe volumes for it (would I feel differently if DC had released just regular hardcovers and not deluxe?). Either way, looks like the only extras this includes are the same as were in the hardcovers -- this was been a topic of some debate on the Collected Editions Facebook page, whether by virtue of being Absolute these volumes should always carry some extras not found elsewhere.

* The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns Vol. 3

I'm surprised, but it looks like this is the last Flash Omnibus. For some reason I thought the Flash Omnibus series was definitely four volumes, but this book collects through issue #225 (at least according to solicitations), and that's the end of Geoff Johns's run writing Flash Wally West, at least. Again, according to solicitations at least, this volume collects Flash: Ignition (one of my personal favorites), Flash: The Secret of Barry Allen (with ties to Identity Crisis) and Flash: Rogue War.

(I'm perhaps even more curious to see how much New Teen Titans will be collected in those omnibuses. To "Siege of the Zi Charam?" ... Probably not.)

* The Invisibles Omnibus

If you missed Zach King's series for Collected Editions on the Invisibles, take a moment to catch up. I didn't know much about Invisibles beforehand, but Zach's enthusiasm had me eager to check it out, and it sounds like it's required reading before picking up Grant Morrison's Supergods. Only, hopefully DC has their binding issue worked out by then, because this is a super-thick book (over 1,500 pages) and it don't want it to be more difficult to read than it has to be.

* Superman - Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel
* Batwing Vol. 1: The Lost Kingdom
* Demon Knights Vol. 1: Seven Against the Dark
* Grifter Vol. 1: Most Wanted
* Men of War Vol. 1: Uneasy Company
* Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Kicked in the Teeth

The next round of DC New 52 books. Action Comics is the star there, of course, the one I'm most highly anticipating, though Demon Knights is also high on my list. Men of War is a "done in one," essentially, now being cancelled; I'll be giving Suicide Squad one book to see if it impresses. I'm eager for Grifter mainly because I like the general idea of the Wildstorm universe merging with the DCU. And of course, I keep on rooting for former Outsiders writer Judd Winick, so we'll see how Batwing goes.

* DC Comics Presents: Superman/Supergirl #1

After we didn't see any DC Comics Presents volumes for a couple months, I thought these were more or less dead, but here's another (timed, perhaps, to coincide with Super Best Friends Forever on Cartoon Network, though I fear we'd have another "character in the comics is weirder and more sexualized than character on TV" on our hands). Superman/Batman #19 and Supergirl #1 are essentially Supergirl #0-1, the start of the character's new series. Superman #176 is a curious inclusion, a story in the wake of "Our Worlds at War" that doesn't include Supergirl at all (she wasn't around then; it's Superman talking to a counselor), but is written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Ian Churchill, the team on the Supergirl issues.

* Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labors

As I mentioned before, this 1970s storyline returned Wonder Woman to her classic look after the Diana Prince era. Had I the choice, I'd as soon see DC's collection release list filled with items like this -- notable but maybe relatively unknown stories from DC's history that illuminate current events, rather than new collections of material that's already been collected a dozen times over. To wit ...

* JLA Vol. 2

I'm sure Justice League books sell pretty well, what with the Doom movie and all, and especially Justice League books with Grant Morrison's name on them, but we've already seen this material collected in paperback and hardcover and now here it is in paperback again. Surely this will sell, but it seems like an also ran on this list of mostly "run of the mill" collections.

The sole bright spot in this one, to correct myself, is the inclusion of the JLA/WILDCats crossover. Irrespective of Grant Morrison's writing, I always thought Val Semeiks art was too stilted for this, and it's struck me as more wooden of a DC/Wildstorm crossover than I would have expected from Morrison. However, with characters like Grifter now appearing in the DC Universe proper, surely the "first meeting" of these teams must hold some interest.

* Showcase Presents Rip Hunter, Time Master Vol. 1

1960s stories from Showcase and the Rip Hunter, Time Master series, including Rip's first appearance.

* Green Arrow Vol. 1: Into the Woods
* Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors Vol. 1
* Wonder Woman: Odyssey Vol. 1

Your paperback re-releases for the month. Some ambitious reader should look at what books from this DC did and didn't release in paperback after the hardcover publication -- that we lost the paperback of Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1, for instance, speaks to DC letting go of that Justice League International in favor of the new one. On the other hand, JT Krul's now out-of-continuity Green Arrow stories seem to warrant paperbacks -- we can't say that's entirely because of the Brightest Day crossover since, again, Generation Lost didn't make it to paperback. Another thing to watch is exactly how many of these make it to publication.

So, another month, another slew of DC New 52 collections and not much else (not, entirely, that there's anything wrong with that). What're you buying this month?

Ad incorrectly states hardcover Flashpoint tie-ins

Those of us who like hardcover collections almost (but not quite) got their way this month.

Back when DC first announced the Flashpoint tie-in collections, they were listed as hardcovers, though we quickly learned they'd actually be paperbacks. The Flashpoint hardcover was released last October, and the Flashpoint paperback would be released in March with the tie-in paperbacks.

I like uniformity on my shelf and I was happy to have hardcover tie-in collections along with the main event, as with Blackest Night. I was disappointed when these changed to paperback, though it makes financial sense for DC Comics given how little impact the "Flashpoint universe" has had so far and how Flashpoint has been greatly overshadowed by the DC New 52 books that followed.

We got a glimmer of hope that maybe things had changed back again with an advertisement in recent DC issues that promised "six hardcover collections" of Flashpoint and its tie-ins (scan pending). I was skeptical because for those who might have pre-ordered the Flashpoint books, DC would either have to cancel or deliver hardcovers for paperback price, neither of which seemed likely -- though I was still hopeful.

Alas, it seems it was just a typo, because more recent copies of the same advertisement have the phrase changed to "six paperback collections." Here's the corrected advertisement:

As you can see, a single word change, and we're back where we were before. The Flashpoint paperback and tie-in collections will be out later this month.

* Flashpoint
* Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring Batman
* Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring Superman
* Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring Wonder Woman
* Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern
* Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Featuring The Flash

I'm picking 'em up, but I know they're not real popular at this point. Anyone else going in for these?

(Thanks to Speed Force for the tip and Kent Hare for the scans!)

Review: Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga deluxe hardcover (DC Comics)

I've finally read Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, probably much later than I should have. I've read most of DC Comic's other legendary greats, like Sandman or New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, but I'm a late-blooming Legion fan and never felt the urgency to pick it up.

It's probably good, as a matter of fact, that I waited this long, until DC released the recent deluxe edition of Great Darkness Saga. The deluxe edition includes Legion issues #284-296 and the annual, while previous editions collected mainly just #290-294. Those issues do present the "Great Darkness" story, but I imagine to read those alone I would have had a lot to look up afterward. What this deluxe edition adds to "Great Darkness" doesn't greatly enrich the main story, but it at least sets the scene for the Legion before the main event.

Review: Batman: Noel graphic novel (DC Comics)

[Welcoming guest reviewer Zaid Alawi, who very occasionally posts his ramblings, thoughts, and stories on his personal site, Frakking Off.]

One of the most anticipated Batman releases this past year was Lee Bermejo's original graphic novel, Batman: Noel. Batman fans know Bermejo as the artist who collaborated with writer Brian Azzarello in the original hardcover Joker a few years back. This time around, it's a solo effort, as Bermejo's taken over the writing duties as well.

Noel is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic story, A Christmas Carol, set in Gotham City, with the Dark Knight fulfilling the role of Scrooge. Most audiences will probably be familiar with the oft-adapted Christmas Carol's basic story -- Scrooge, a miserly old man is confronted by the ghost of his longtime friend and business partner, who tells him that he must repent his miserable ways or else face eternal damnation. Scrooge is then visited by three spirits (representing the past, present, and future, respectively), and ultimately learns his lesson and becomes a new man -- friendlier, kind-hearted, and generous in spirit.

Review: Carnage: Family Feud hardcover/paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Guest review by Doug Glassman]

Sometimes, all it takes to revive a good, but overused villain is some downtime. For instance, the Mandarin went unused in the pages of Iron Man for years because the writers and editors had difficulty reconciling his deep Communist roots with the post-Cold War world. John Byrne then brought him back for the epic “Dragon Seed Saga” and cemented him as Iron Man’s greatest nemesis once again.

Similarly, Carnage was one of Spider-Man’s most formidable villains ... in theory. In practice, his overexposure led to him becoming more of a joke and annoyance. When he was ripped in half and sent off into space by the Sentry in the pages of New Avengers, a good section of the fanbase wished him “good riddance.” But that was all the way back in 2005, and as per good old Marvel tradition, Carnage has returned. The explanation for all of this comes in issue four of Carnage: Family Feud, and it makes sense considering what we know about symbiotes.

Review: Batman: The Dark Knight: Golden Dawn deluxe hardcover (DC Comics)

That David Finch draws pretty pictures is not at issue here. Batman: The Dark Knight: Golden Dawn, the deluxe edition, is a visual feast. From Finch's depiction of Batman's new costume, to Finch's unique take on some of Batman's rogues, to his grotesque supernatural characters, to the sheer scope and detail of Finch's work as presented in this over-sized format, Golden Dawn is a joy to look at.

Coming at the cusp of the DC New 52 relaunch, however, Finch and Dark Knight find themselves the inheritors of all sorts of thorny issues.

Finch has been primarily an artist, given Dark Knight to write as part of the DC New 52's controversial trend toward writer/artists. However, almost as soon as Dark Knight was relaunched, Finch ceded writing duties to Paul Jenkins and then Gregg Hurwitz.

Though Finch has had a significant comics career already, his work wasn't known to me prior to his exclusive DC contract. What I saw of his art in the beginning was a now-infamous Justice League cover in which Wonder Woman is smaller and more sexually styled than the other characters, and some Brightest Day covers where the women were again sexually styled and to an extent cookie-cutter copies of one another. This at a time when DC is taking some heat for their portrayal of women.

What I Really Do: Superman

See also Batman.

What I Really Do: Batman

See also Superman.

Green Lantern: Sector 2814 is Dave Gibbons spotlight book

One of the few surprises in DC's recent Fall 2012 trade solicitations was Green Lantern: Sector 2814 Vol. 1, a collection of early 1980s Green Lantern stories by Len Wein. I'm glad to see a collection of this mostly-uncollected period of Green Lantern history, but its inclusion on the DC list amidst all the DC New 52 books seemed fairly random.

It turns out you can thank Before Watchmen for this one.

Well ... maybe not Before Watchmen per se, but despite the fact that Sector 2814 also includes art by Dick Giordano and possibly also Gil Kane, the impetus for this collection appears to be Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, and I can't believe the timing is all that coincidental ...

Review: Batman and Robin: Dark Knight vs. White Knight hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)

Batman and Robin: Dark Knight vs. White Knight, the final pre-Flashpoint volume of the title, offers three three-part stories by three different writers, mostly in a classic Batman style. That is, Peter Tomasi's titular story and Paul Cornell's contribution both introduce Batman Dick Grayson and Robin Damian Wayne to weird new rogues, with considerable space given over to their origins, reminiscent of old Shadow of the Bat stories. In the third story, Judd Winick returns to pen Red Hood Jason Todd, bringing some tie to Winick and Grant Morrison's versions of the character.

They are none of them poor stories, but neither do they much move forward this Batman and Robin. In the space between the return of Bruce Wayne and the DC New 52 universe, Batman and Robin bides its time, enjoyably but not ground-breakingly.

Review: Thunderbolts: Violent Rejection trade paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Guest review by Doug Glassman]

It’s Thunderbolts time again, and for the moment, we’re going to skip ahead past the “Shadowland” crossover and go right to Violent Rejection. Because Luke Cage’s partner Iron Fist was a key player in that crossover, Cage and his Thunderbolts got dragged into it.

The main result is that Crossbones is gone from the team. In his place at first is Hyperion, one of Marvel’s Superman analogues. He’s part of the Squadron Supreme, an alternate-dimension Justice League of America which has gone through quite a few incarnations. Unfortunately, this Hyperion is not one of the more sane ones, despite what he claims. An absolutely massive battle unfolds in the second part of this story, which includes a great reference to the song “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” by Jim Croce. Naturally, Man-Thing is on hand to help out, and as Hyperion finds out, it’s a bad idea to be afraid around him. One of the funniest moments in this year’s comic books occurs in this issue. I’m not going to spoil it, but let’s just say it involves the Ghost, his cloud of flies and the ladies of the team.

Review: DC Comics Presents: Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City comic book (DC Comics)

I finally read Peter Milligan's "Dark Knight, Dark City" from story Batman #452-454 in the form of the recent DC Comics Presents: Batman volume, and to add to the chorus of voices praising this story, I definitely recommend it.

It is not, as it turns out, required reading for Grant Morrison's recent Batman work; as a matter of fact, Morrison's stories rewrite the conclusion of "Dark City," at least, rather severely. To read "Dark City," however, is to appreciate better how rooted Morrison's stories are in already-established Batman mythos; also, it bears mentioning, "Dark City" is a really, really creepy story, of a kind that readers of Scott Snyder's Batman: The Black Mirror are also sure to enjoy.

[Contains spoilers]

For what I expect, in retrospect, from comics from the early 1990s, the three-part "Dark Knight, Dark City" is surprisingly violent. Equally surprising is that Milligan's villain in the piece is the Riddler; even Batman remarks at one point that he thought he and the Riddler's antagonism was built on respect and one-upsmanship, and not on the Riddler trying to kill Batman. Or, at least, the Riddler puts Batman in increasingly dangerous and grotesque situations, not the least of which is when Batman is forced to give a tracheotomy to a newborn baby. The concept is gross enough on its own, and Milligan keeps building the levels of macabre to the story's conclusion.

Review: Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told trade paperback (DC Comics)

[Guest reviewer Zach King blogs about movies as The Cinema King]

Check Metropolis off your list because we're moving on to Gotham City this go-around for a look at Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Vol. 1.

I feel a little more qualified on this review because I've been reading Batman stories since I was three -- reading every Batman story ever written is on my bucket list [who knew? Interesting! -- ed.] -- and I like to think I have a pretty good idea about what constitutes a great Batman story. Bearing in mind the apparent requirements for inclusion in a "Greatest Stories" volume (concision, iconic status, definitive statement on the character), and recalling that this isn't necessarily a "favorites" book (if I were publishing a "Favorite Batman Stories Ever Told," it'd be closer to a multi-volume omnibus set), I found this volume more satisfying than its Superman predecessor, partly because of the strength of the character and partly because the volume is governed by a strong unifying theme which prevents the stories from straying too far.