My Overall Thought On The New 52

The New 52 has come and gone and I have only read 28 out of the 52 and I have had a different experience with each one; some were really good and a few were really bad.

At first, I believed that The New 52 would retell stories, origin stories at the most, but that's what we didn't get at all; if you're rebooting series to bring in new stories, you should at least retell the origins of the characters, DC can still probably do that in the next few issues, and hopefully they will. Honestly, DC doesn't really need to explain Batman or Superman. That's just one big irk I have with the reboot, it doesn't go back all they way to the beginning, DC still uses stuff that happened in previous comics. I don't mind using Google to look up the back stories, but I don't want to do that with too many comics.

If I had to pick my top 10 from the twenty eight I have read, it would go like this:

1. Aquaman
2. Red Hood and the Outlaws
3. Batman and Robin
4. Batman
5. Nightwing
6. Deathstroke
7. Suicide Squad
8. Batman: The Dark Knight
9. Blue Beetle
10. Justice League

Surprisingly, Aquaman is my favorite by far (read my review on it if you want to know why). I'm going to continue reading most of the ones I have picked up, some I most likely won't continue with, but I will pick up some new ones I haven't read; I've heard All-Star Westerns and Blackhawks were good, so I'll have to give those a read. For those wondering, these are the one's I have read:

• Action Comics
• Aquaman
• Batman
• Batman: The Dark Knight
• Batman and Robin
• Blue Beetle
• Catwoman
• Deathstroke
• Detective Comics
• Green Arrow
• Green Lantern
• Green Lantern: New Guardians
• Green Lantern Corps
• Justice League
• Justice League Dark
• Justice League International
• Legion Lost
• Nightwing
• O.M.A.C.
• Red Hood and the Outlaws
• Red Lanterns
• Static Shock
• Suicide Squad
• Superman
• Swamp Thing
• Teen Titans
• The Flash
• Wonder Woman

There are some I haven't read yet, such as Green Lantern: New Guardians, Justice League Dark, Legion Lost and Teen Titans. Like I said though, I do plan on continuing with all of these except for Green Arrow, O.M.A.C., Swamp Thing and possibly Static Shock (I'm going to wait a few more issues to see what I'm going to do with Static Shock). Green Arrow, I couldn't get into, O.M.A.C. is too weird for me and holds nothing interesting, Swamp Thing and Static Shock are in the same boat, I want to like them but I'm having such a hard time with them.

In the end, I really did enjoy The New 52 and I believed it to be successful. I was a Marvel fan boy at first and now I'm enjoying the DC Universe way more than I initially thought I would, hell, Aquaman is my favorite comic for DC right now, who would've though that would happen. If you really want to jump into the DC Universe, then now is the chance, it's not 100% the best way, but it is the best way for now. Kudos to DC for drawing me in to their comics, I'm going to have a blast with these new comics I'm reading.

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Aquaman #1 Review

Aquaman has been the butt end of every superhero joke; jokes going from he can't do anything out of the water to he can only talk to fish. Geoff Johns did an excellent job capturing the fact that people do make fun of Aquaman, but he also makes the reader feel bad about it and shows that Aquaman can actually do more.

Aquaman is off to a good start so far, Johns has made Aquaman a great character so far with his ability to make readers feel bad about making fun of Aquaman when he's being interviewed by the blogger. We already are given a group of enemies that look like they will cause some major problems for Aquaman.

I really do believe that the best part of this issue was that Johns acknowledges that Aquaman is heavily made fun of and that people don't see him much as a strong hero, it brings so many details to Aquaman's personlity, it gives him the chance to show people that he's much more capable of "talking to fish"; he doesn't really talk to fish really, he actually reaches "into their midbrains and telepathically push them to help [Aquaman] out ," (you learn something new everyday).

You really do not need to know too much backstory about Aquaman to read this comic at all, which is good since that's what the New 52 is all about, bringing in new readers who don't know much about the DC Universe. Johns gives you his background while Aquaman chit chats with a blogger. Aquaman's real name is Aurthur, his dad is a human while his mother was the Queen of Atlantis which makes him the King of Atlantis and that his name was a Lighthouse Keeper. The only thing that isn't really explained too much is how he became king, which anyone can easily use Google for that.

I really like Aquaman as a character, he wants to live his life, free of Atlantis and be with his girl, Mera. He helps people, he throws his life on the line and he doesn't get much respect from the people he saves, which happens to a lot of heroes you can say; it all makes me feel really bad for him.

The new bad guys being introduced look like they will give Aquaman a run for his money, especially since these humanoid piranha creatures are coming in swarms and has already taken a fisherman as the first victim. Nothing is known about these baddies except that they emerged from the bottom of the ocean ignorant of the above world, And now that they are on land, they have found a new food source - humans.

At first I thought Aquaman was going to be mediocre, but it's not, I really enjoyed it. I would definitely put this as one of my top favorite New 52 comics. Overall the comic was great, it captured my attention, it built a great character for Aquaman and it's already got some mysterious bad guys heading his way. I'm excited for this series, I'm going to be following it, that's for sure. Next up on my reading list is The Flash, I've heard the artwork is really nice in it; I'll try to review it later today. 

And also, Aquaman isn't afraid to eat fish and chips.

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DC Renumbering All Titles

DC Comics has announced that they will be renumbering over 50 of their comic titles back to No. 1; their reason for doing such a leap is to bring in new readers. The renumbered comics will be more up to date with current events and more modern costumes.

"In September, more than 50 more first issues will debut, introducing readers to stories that are grounded in each character's specific legend but also reflect today's real-world themes and events. Lee spearheaded the redesign of more than 50 costumes to make characters more identifiable and accessible to comic fans new and old."

"We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line," says Dan DiDio, who co-publishes DC with Lee. "This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience."

The first comic to be renumbered will be Justice League this Summer on August 31st, written by Geoff Johns, the JL will include heroes such as: Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman. 

This might or might not be a smart move for DC; it gives them a chance to bring in new readers, or it might dissuade current readers and make them feel like they are wasting their time re-reading their favorite heroes. Either way, I am supporting this, just because it finally gives me a chance to jump into the DC Universe. For the past few months I have been trying to start reading more DC comics, starting with Infinite Crisis and trying to catch up. skipping Final Crisis just because I found it so boring. I am currently on the prelude to Darkest Night, and I will try to catch up all the way to Flashpoint. We'll see how all of this turns out soon enough.

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