So far I'm enjoying DC's New 52, but I also have some disliking to it. The New 52 gives me a chance to plop into the DC Universe and start from fresh, I am able to read the comics all the way from the start even though I have no prior knowledge to some of the comics, that's what I initially thought at first.
Some of the comics that were released you need some backstory, like Static Shock's or Swamp Thing's. I know that you can pretty much guess what happens prior to the New 52 with them, but I was really expecting for DC to retell the story of every new relaunched comic that's going on, I wasn't expecting them just to move onto a new volume and just renumber the series. It really is a let down because i know nothing about Alec Holland and him being the Swamp thing, nor did I initially know that Hal is no longer a Green Lantern because the Guardians thought of him to be too powerful along with Sinestro regaining his status as a Green Lantern. I also did not know that Green Lantern is supposedly set five years after the new Justice League comic that just came out, which I thought was amazing. Finding that out led me to find out that I'm going to have to read Flashpoint to understand some of the things. I'm not too sure about this though, so please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just going by what I'm reading when I Google some of the things in question.
Luckily, not all comics needs major backstory, as far as I know, which is not much since I've only read just a handful of the New 52. Everyone pretty much knows the origin of Batman already, which is why it is okay for Detective Comics and Batman and Robin to start the way it did; luckily I already knew about Damien though, because if I didn't, I would be so confused.
Detective Comics is starting off amazing, you already have some suspense in action in just the first issue. The whole feel to it was amazing, and I absolutely loved the role Joker has in it already; he's crazy and you have no idea what he's going to do, especially with Dollmaker skinning his face off with his own permission. Detective Comics has started with a bang and seems like it's going to continue to dish out the good stuff.
Batman and Robin is catching my interest a lot, even though Damien is making me hate him. You have such a great relationship with Bruce and Damien, not the regular father and son relationship though. You have two people who have been trained for most of their lives to do what they're doing, but yet they are so different. Even though Damien has been training for most of his young life, he's so inexperienced to thinking things through and being patient, whereas Bruce has mastered these techniques and is patient enough to try and teach his son the same. I think Peter Tomasi is doing well capturing Bruce's and Damie's opposite personalities and making them fit well with each other.
Action Comics is pretty much an origin story a bit, so far it's not showing Clark Kent's alien origin, instead it's showing the beginning of Clark's life as he takes on the role of Superman. Superman also has a pretty well known backstory, so I don't expect them to go too much into his alien origin back on Krypton.
Green Arrow was something I couldn't get into, I really want to, but I just can't. It's something about it that won't let me get past the first page. Like I said, I want to get into this series, maybe I'll give it another chance. Oliver Queen's new look also reminds me a bit of Hawkeye's look in the Ultimate Universe.
Despite needing to know some background information to Green Lantern and Red Lanterns, both are pretty good. Sinestro is back to being in the Green Lanterns and is about to go against the Yellow Lanterns who have betrayed him and enslaved his race that he tried to save. Hal not being a Lantern is different for me, I've always seen him as a Green Lantern and it's pretty depressing seeing him trying to cope with being a normal person.
When I first saw Atrocitus, he was a rage induced maniac, now he's a confused little less raged induced caring maniac, which I like. Red Lanterns is shaping up to form something that has potential. I can see some people not liking how Atrocitus is changing, how it seems like he's going to be a hero, but every story needs a dynamic character or it's going to get old real fast, which is what will definitely will be needed if this is going to be an on-going series as opposed to a mini-series.
Justice League International is great, it gives readers a chance to get to know the characters that aren't well known to too many people, like Ice, Fire, Vixen, or August General In Iron. The only big leagues in there are Batman and Guy Gardner and possibly Booster Gold, I don't know too much about Booster really besides really basic stuff. I don't think JLI will be the best, but I think it has real potential and can hold it's own weight.
OMAC was a weird comic, I'm not too sure what I think about it honestly. I liked it, I read it all through and I liked it but I'm not too sure if I'm going to stick with it and read it all the way through. I liked Brother Eye's OMACs back in Infinite Crisis, which is what I was expecting, but instead it was more of a Buddy Blank kind of a thing. OMAC is for sure a weird little series, I'll see what the next few issues are like before seeing if I'll stick with it or not.
One of my favorite series from the New 52 is the new Suicide Squad. Harley Quinn's new look is extremely different, but it's not bad, it kind of works for her. It's also about time she updated her wardrobe, but I wish her design resembled her Arkham Asylum counterpart though, it seemed more clownish than her new design. I've heard some mixed feelings about Suicide Sqaud but my reaction to it so far is all positive; the cast seems like an interesting bunch of characters, even though I don't know anything about them besides Harley Quinn, I think I'm going to like Deadshot though. It also reminds me a bit of Thunderbolts, which I do enjoy with every other writer. If you do like how Thunderbolts is going about, then you would most likely enjoy the baddies in this group, who already have a mission to wipe out sixty thousand people.
Deathstroke is a character I've wanted to get into, and luckily the New 52 offered Deathstroke. The problem with this series, like some of the others, you're going to need backstory, but not in the way that you need to know it for the story. You'll need the backstory just to know who Deathstroke and how he is, which everyone knows is a "badass", Deathstroke will always remind you how much of a badass he is by the way. He is a badass though, no question about it, especially the way he handled the mission that was given to him by Christoph, who I assume is the man who gives him his missions.
Static Shock and Swamp Thing are in the same boat with me, I want to get into them, but I just can't; it's not like Green Arrow fortunately. What kind of kills it for me is all the backstory I need to know just to read a couple of relaunches. I've seen the Static Shock cartoon, so I know some stuff, but that stuff does not seem to carry into the comic at all. I have no idea what Static did before going to New York besides that he use to live in Dakota and that he got arrested for something. If you don't know anything about Static Shock, and you want to get into the series then you're going to need to do some research, which is what I'm currently trying to do. Now Swamp Thing, I guess all you're going to need to know is that Alec Holland is no longer tied with the Swamp Thing. I stopped reading about a quarter way because I want some background information on Swamp Thing, once I do that, I'm going to try and get back into it.
All in all, the New 52 is something I am not expecting it to be. I thought DC was relaunching comics from the start, starting over from scratch, each comic series having a fresh start. Instead I have only a few comics you could easily jump into without too much background story. Anything Green Lantern related looks like it's having information prior to the New 52. Most of the new comics are good though, don't get me wrong, I am enjoying them; I just expecting for DC to completely start from scratch.
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