September has come and gone, littering comic retailers with 52 new and refurbished titles from DC Comics. The frenzy to snatch those collectable first editions is ebbing as fresh reprints make their way to stores still waiting to accommodate readers old and new.
Hype has a way of dulling impact, and though many comic book fans had doubts about these new No. 1’s, it seemed most people were cautiously optimistic about what a fresh start could bring to the table.
Aged down and decked out in v-neck suits — or practically nothing at all — the menagerie of heroes renowned and unknown made its collective splash to a resounding “meh.”
It seems like sound and fury rule over substance in a vast majority of the titles, with several sporting violent or outright obscene shock pages for cliffhangers. Arms blasted off, rooms full of massacred bodies and uncomfortable sex scenes scream for attention like a Michael Bay trailer. . Explosions! Sexy women! Gratuitous violence!
None of those things are terrible, in theory. In execution, however, several titles seemed to fall short of – or even zoom right over – the mark, leaving one with a sense of blatant pandering to a straight, white male demographic.
This is nothing new in the comics industry. However, the extremes some titles have gone to have rankled many, creating a great deal of argument in online forums and other venues where comic fans gather.
Take Catwoman, who is known as a powerful, popular female character. She has been known to dance along the line of villain and hero and is a prominent figure in the Batman mythos. In “Catwoman #1,” our first meeting with the leading lady has her half-dressed, rushing out of her room to evade attack.
Correction: our first meeting with the leading lady’s breasts and buttocks. No face.
Please note none of the Batman titles begin or contain gratuitous shots of Bruce Wayne half-dressed or panels of his heavily
detailed crotch.
Speaking of Batman, several Bat-related titles made their debuts or reappearances – ten total.
“Batman & Robin #1,” though showcasing a Robin who splits fan opinion, has a solid action presence after its plodding, rather dull moments of Bat-brooding. For all the emphasis Bruce Wayne puts on his parents’ murders, one can’t really take him seriously when he says he’s putting it behind him.
Batwoman makes her return with flying colors, sporting a gorgeous and dreamy color palette, and motion that gives “Batwoman #1” its own kind of atmosphere. Setup for a partner-sidekick relationship appears to be in the works, with Batwoman taking a lesser superheroine under her tutelage.
And contrary to CBS Sunday Morning’s report, Batwoman has been out of the closet for years now. That facet is not new.
Confusion can arise when the new reader picks up “Justice League” side-by-side with “Justice League International.” The understanding that the former is a flashback to five years ago has gone mostly unspoken, making facets of “International” nonsensical.
Keeping the time discrepancy in mind, neither title is all that awe-inspiring. The snarky humor of the original “International” is only a weak echo in this new iteration, making it seem like just another easy-to-ignore team book.
“Justice League” seeks to revisit those early first impressions of the big-time heroes, with No. 1 spotlighting Batman and Green Lantern – not the same Green Lantern in “International,” but the Green Lantern who is no longer Green Lantern in “Green Lantern #1.”
It’s a formula those accustomed to the mild-mannered, polite Superman might find hard to swallow, but might also be what endears him to those who never quite liked the character.
There are obvious attempts to mold characters to fit a mainstream appeal. “Green Arrow #1” gives us a reworked, younger Ollie McQueen more geared in the direction his “Smallville” counterpart took on television. It’s hard to really like this new Ollie – and although it could be said he was always a love-or-hate kind of character, this archetypal young, rich white guy with his snappy one-liners is very difficult to root for.
It’s a strange, not-really-new world out there. Old fans, take heart: it’s not all bad.
