DCnU 1st Year Anniversary Special #2 : The Best and Worst

DC's New-52's Best and Worst

DC's New-52 reboot completes one year this September. The much hyped retooling after the epic event that was Flashpoint, happened last year and created a storm of controversy, criticism and heavy praise, all at the same time. The effort brought some characters into the spotlight, while some fan favourite characters and their storyline were seriously altered.

To celebrate this long and intense first year, here is my compilation of some best and worst things the New-52 has brought to the fans at large.

The Best:

1. Bestselling Aquaman
   Aquaman has always been through a tough time, faced a lot of criticism and never got the respect he deserved. He always struggled with having his own solo title until this relaunch. The Fan-favourite creative team of Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis started working on Aquaman and as a result he became a bestseller, breaking records and getting into the top 10 - which was unbelievable not that long back.
   
   
2. No late comics
   In the past few years, late publications became a trouble for DC comics especially and both Marvel and DC faced situations where their releases didn’t come out at all. But with new 52 DC has been on a roll, posting every issue on time. So far, the late problem seems to be gone for good with the reboot.
   

   

   
   
3. New Writers…and artists turned writers
   DC's reboot gave a chance to many artists to, for the first time, take the helm of the writing experience and it came out with surprising results. J.H Williams III did wonders with his work on Batwoman with Hadden Blackman and so did the creative team of Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul on the new Flash series. DC's reboot definitely helped bring out the creativity from these talented artists.
   
   
4. Diversification of characters
   

   New-52 has worked on some interesting, yet controversial elements with a diverse range of characters. For example, we got a darker take on Swamp Thing and Animal man in the “The Rot” story arc and this is just a taste of the varied line-up of stories DC has been putting out.

There are many non-white characters taking the lead all over : Blackhawks, Men of War, Static Shock, Mister Terrific and OMAC are but a few examples of comics not being lead by White dudes against White villains - also Cyborg is finally a member of the Justice League. Major controversy happened after the decision to change Alan Scott (a.k.a. the 1^st Green Lantern) and make him gay, a choice which many accused of being a publicity trick but has been also praised for trying to add diversity and not simply focus on such orientation. The recent addition of a new Green Lantern – Baz – of Arab origin is a cool idea as well.

5. Earth 2 returns
   

   After 52, there were almost no sightings of Earth 2. The JSA merged into Infinity inc. and became the JSI. But with the reboot, Power Girl and Huntress are now trapped on New Earth and also James Robinson and Nicola Scott get to work on Justice Society as their world's greatest super-heroes in the ongoing Earth-2 series.
   
   
6. Court of Owls and Bat Family books
   Batman for its first 12 issues has been epic thanks to the “Court of Owls” saga which gave him an adversary like few he had ever faced before in the form of the Court and their Talons. The books that tied into this Bat-family event are among the bestselling titles in the new 52. What more can one say about it? Nothing, just to wait for the Joker’s return in the upcoming “Death of the Family” arc.
   
   
   
   
7. Immediate digitization
   

   The digital versions of all releases are now available online on the same day comics are published and released in the market. Earlier it was hard to get online versions along with the shipping problems, but now DC seems to have sorted out the problem and has set a new bar for fellow publishers.

Worst things:

1. Total focus on central and key characters
   

   When you take a graphic novel or a back issue from the old continuity and compare it to the rebooted ones, one of the major difference you’ll find is that the New-52 gives more focus to certain key characters. The old universe had many C and even D-grade heroes and villains who continuously got their moments to shine, this is something that new 52 completely lacks. The Question as well as his protege, The Answer (Renee Montoya), are gone and it seems he’ll be back during the hesitantly awaited “Trinity War” in a completely rebooted cosmic avatar. Where are Creeper, Bizarro, Catman and many others? There were stories where A and B-listers teamed up with lesser known characters, but here stories are completely centred around main characters and the result is the diverse universe has seemingly become smaller and more compact.
   
2. Everything and everyone has a new story
   In twelve months we saw some sixty-two titles debuting along with some National Comics one-shots and few miniseries. There are characters that don’t have their own series and origin yet and we have characters that are completely new (like Ravagers and the Talons), all having their own book. DC's New-52 needs to focus on bringing more obscure and fan favourite characters into the spotlight along with some interesting, fresh stories and supporting characters.
   
   
3. Too many creative differences
   Rob Liefeld departed from DC in the very public, very “outraged” style that he is known for, but this was not the only editorial/ creative difference that happened over the past year. Many others departed from their works citing “editorial and creative differences”. Some veterans were removed from the characters and stories they were working on without any real reason and at least a few creators have expressed frustration at the level of editorial control and interference and also at being side-lined at times. These outrages and differences are no good for anyone, especially for the readers.
   
   
4. Annoying new costume designs
   Hal Jordan got shoulder pads for no reason, Superman lost his spandex suit and got some weird suit of armour and Batman got a suit much closer to its movie counterpart. Superman and Batman costume were iconic for a reason, the costumes were part of their identities. Both got a new touch-up for their costumes and while Batman’s suit doesn't create too much annoyance, Clark’s suit got a lot of negative remarks from fans. Who needs a suit of armour when you've got indestructible skin? Moreover, these costume changes were not really a necessity, but then it would be good if a makeover happens in the coming year.
   

   

   
   
5. Too soon for a crossover
   With a rebooted universe we got a Batman who never knew Superman, a Superboy who had nothing to do with Clark Kent and other superheroes who have no ties with the good old JSA and the JL as the first super-hero team. When everything is blank, you can fill in the sheet in any way possible. The past few months had a lot of crossover issues making new readers confused about what to read. Batman and Superman are already showing up in each other’s issues and Deathstroke and Lobo had some Leifeld’esque battle. Let’s see where it all leads too with the coming Trinity War crossover event.
   
   
6. What time is it?
   

   The new DC rebooted universe has only five years of back-history. Nightwing never became Batman, JSA members never fought in World War II and Superman never killed Darksied. It makes stories and character history easy for new readers who cannot go through this much complication and vast history….or can they? But all that's lost along the way is never going to come back. Action Comics is set at some point in the past before Superman is accepted as hero, before he even has a costume. Justice League features a Batman who’s still considered a hoax even by the Green Lantern. Batman & Robin takes place after Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake have all left the mantle of Robin behind, and Damian Wayne is fighting crime beside his father. Certainly far past the 5-year “present day” implied by Justice League. Batgirl is set at some point after Barbara Gordon was shot and paralysed by the Joker, which happened after she had stopped being Batgirl. But maybe she was never paralyzed at all? Was she “out of action” long enough for Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown to even exist? Who knows. There are many such issues, even Red Lanterns which took place after Blackest Night was confusing in guessing where it fit.

7. Too much focus on Bat family
   

   Currently there are five series which have Batman as a key character and then there are a few more related to the Bat-family. Batman had the best comic book series over the last twelve months and created history with Court of the Owls, but at the same time many big/fan favoured characters including Superman and Green Arrow were ignored, getting mediocre writing and artwork.