SmartRemarks

Last week brought the release of DCU Decisions #2. While I was ambivalent about the first issue, I have to say I’m seriously underwhelmed by the second. Perhaps it’s just that the dramatic real-world political and economic events of recent weeks make this story seem painfully superficial by contrast… but honestly, even judged just as a comic, I think it’s heading rapidly downhill.

Neither the political themes nor the mystery story go anywhere interesting (or really much of anywhere at all), and the writing is tonally uneven and shows a poor grasp of the characters. Even the art is lackluster; Howard Porter’s work here doesn’t compare well to his own past work, much less to Leonardi’s in the previous issue. (I understand Porter is recovering from a thumb injury, though, so we can cut him a little slack.)

The story deserves no such generosity.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Batman, DC Comics, DCU Decisions, Election 2008, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, super-heroes

The news broke this week that DC Comics is cancelling Legion of Super-Heroes. (Whoops: putting it on “indefinite hiatus.”)

Says DC’s Executive Editor Dan DiDio, “50 seemed like a really nice number to bring this series to a conclusion.” This oh-so-carefully considered reasoning evidently superseded the fact that writer Jim Shooter was in the middle of an extended storyline projected to conclude four months later in #54. Or the fact that 2008 is the 50th anniversary of the Legion, which was the very first super-team of the Silver Age when it debuted in 1958. Or the fact that Legion (while not an A-list title in recent years) has bumped in sales since Shooter (a fan-favorite on the Legion since his original run in the 1960s) came aboard, and has been selling a steady 25-30,000 copies a month, far more than other titles like Birds of Prey, Blue Beetle, or Jonah Hex. (Nothing against those titles; all are critical favorites, and I’m not suggesting they should be cancelled. OTOH, the critically disregarded Simon Dark only sells about 12,000 copies, yet doesn’t appear to be on the chopping block).
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Dan DiDio, DC Comics, Geoff Johns, Legion, super-heroes