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Comics, Pop Culture

Presenting DC Comics “The New 52″: The Fourth Wave

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Logo - The New 52

After having reviewed what seems to be a teeming amount of the releases from DC Comics under their “The New 52” initiative, I admit that I have come to really enjoy presenting some views to our readers and fellow fans of the hobby. Newcomers might not realize that DC Comics started their relaunch back in September 2011, and so far its been broken up into a number of waves. Some titles from back when this began are already long gone and in some sense even a couple of replacements have been cancelled but the new titles always leave us with 52 different titles a month. That being said, we are now at The Fourth Wave of titles and what is interesting to me is how it has been about ten months since we last saw a wave be introduced. The unaffected family of titles falls to the Superman and Green Lantern ones (each currently have four titles per month) but there will be some more coming later in the year for these. I will discuss those at that time.

DC Comics - The New 52

Starting in February of this still brand new year 2013, DC Comics will hit us hard with their Fourth Wave of The New 52 titles and while I will get to the new titles in a few sentences, let’s first take a look at the titles that will be going away. On the cancellation block are “Blue Beetle”, “Frankenstein, Agent Of S.H.A.D.E.”, “Grifter”, GI Combat” and “Legion Lost”. Of the batch of them I think I am really only going to miss the “Franksenstein” title since it was a fun read and quirky at times. Maybe we will find him being called upon in the “Justice League Dark” title since he seems to fit the criteria of being one of DC Universe’s “weirdies”. The reasons I will not really miss the rest are simple. I have not enjoyed the integration of the Wildstorm characters into the traditional DC Universe so that means “Grifter” didn’t win me over. It did have some moments but I always felt these characters were out of place. This was so much different an integration from when DC took all the Charlton Comics characters under their wing after the “Crisis On Infinite Earths”. The war titles I have never been sold on and they are a far cry from the original greatness of Kanigher and Kubert and titles like “The Haunted Tank”, “Sgt. Rock” etc. I preferred the original Blue Beetle title (well, the one with Ted Kord at least) and I felt that The Legion Of Super Heroes was best left in the future with the occasional trip to the past. That’s all I have to say about that.

Joining “The New 52” for this Fourth Wave are “Justice League of America”, “Justice League of America’s Vibe”, “Katana”, “Threshold” and “Constantine”. So what do I think for this go round? I’m very open to an additional Justice League title but am not sure what to expect of this particular team. “JLI” was interesting in it’s own right so let’s see what happens. “Vibe” was never a compelling character to me when he was in the way back in the day “JLA” of the 90’s so his getting a title struck me rather strange. “Katana” I always enjoyed from her original appearance as an Outsider and she did fine with the Birds Of Prey so perhaps this one will stick. “Threshold” brings some characters from other titles into a more cosmic playing field and I think we needed that outside of what Green Lantern or Superman often give us. “Constantine” will be the one with the most attention as it finds the Brit now fully entrenched in the conventional DC Universe as opposed to Vertigo where his “Hellblazer” title just finished at issue #300. Constantine is also a member of the Justice League Dark but this new title will likely allow him to interact with other heroes and villains of the DCU. I’m most intrigued about his happenings. So what do you readers think? The comments are open for opinions and of course we shall be striving to review many of these titles going forward.

Official Website: www.dccomics.com

Readers can peruse all of our existing blogs about “The New 52? by using this tag – http://piercingmetal.com/tag/the-new-52/

Comics, Pop Culture

DC Comics “The New 52”: We Can Be Zeros

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Just for one month…….

New readers might not be aware of this right off the bat but my longer term ones do and that is that I’ve been trying to do more and more comic book related narratives here on the Official Blog for PiercingMetal.com; So far I’ve presented dozens of pieces on the DC Comics initiative for “The New 52” and that leads me to their next big move which is offering up their readers “0” issues. Speaking personally, I guess I would have started off the line with that, but I guess it was a nicer idea to put 52 brand new number ones in the hands of fans when they started this last September. Now with the first anniversary of this grand undertaking just coming up they are marking the occasion by doing something special once again. Every title published during September will be issue “0”. Make room in your collection for them. My plan is to wrangle up as many copies of these issues as possible and deliver narratives in the same kind of segments that I did with the other titles (in essence, a posting for Batman titles, Superman, Green Lantern, The Justice League and so on). It works better for keeping the focus on the mythos for those heroes and makes more logical sense. Until then please stay tuned and enjoy these covers for the first batch of “0” issues.

Comic - Action Comics 0 - 2012
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Comics, Pop Culture

Presenting DC Comics “The New 52”: The Third Wave

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I’ve been reviewing as many of the titles as possible here on the PiercingMetal Musings blog for the big September 2011 initiative by DC Comics that they called “The New 52” and now that the first and second wave have passed it is time for, yep you guessed it, the Third Wave. It sure seems kind of soon but oh well, I am not in charge of how they do things over at DC Comics. So what does this one entail? Well according to what I have read the latest titles to get the chopping block are “Justice League International”, “Captain Atom”, “Resurrection Man”, and “Voodoo”. I was always kind of 50/50 on these books in the first place and am not surprised to see some of them go. I did enjoy “JLI” and “Resurrection Man” but even the redo of this last character was better the first time around. “Captain Atom” kind of lost me, and “Voodoo” never really did it for me. Sorry to those creative teams who put them out there, I mean no offense to your work. I guess I am getting fussy about what I sit down and read these days.

The other day DC Comics let on what the Third Wave of titles would be and those are “Talon”, “Sword of Sorcery”, “Phantom Stranger”, and “Team 7”. Let’s look at where they will land as far as the existing family of titles go. Nothing is being added to the Justice League, Young Justice, Green Lantern or Superman titles with this bunch but “Talon” falls to the “Batman” related titles and now gives that family of releases thirteen titles. Holy printing press Batman that is a lot of titles to keep up on. One title joins “The Edge” roster and two more become part of “The Dark”.

PiercingMetal Thoughts: What do I think for this go round? I’m curious about how “The Phantom Stranger” will do in a full on title because the overall mysterious nature of the character leaves him to be most exciting when used in a sparing fashion. “Sword Of Sorcery” brings back Amethyst Princess Of Gemworld to the DC Universe and offers a backing feature with Beowulf. As far as Team 7 goes, I am not sure. I was only ever a casual fan of the title when it was originally in the Wildstorm world so let’s see what happens. What do you readers think?

Official Website: www.dccomics.com

Readers can peruse all of our existing blogs about “The New 52” by using this tag – http://www.piercingmetal.com/?tag=the-new-52

Comics, Pop Culture

Presenting DC Comics “The New 52”: The Second Wave

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It’s been a few months since DC Comics began their “The New 52” initiative for their fans and while some of it has been solid, there have also been some lackluster moments in the run of titles. The announcement came that the following titles would be ending after their eighth issues (“Blackhawks”, “Hawk and Dove”, “Men of War”, “Mister Terrific”, “O.M.A.C.”, and “Static Shock”). I will be honest here and say that I will not miss most of the ones that are being cancelled with the exception being “Hawk and Dove” based on my always liking the characters along with “O.M.A.C.” as it was different and just a little bit of “Mister Terrific” since it was becoming more interesting. I had never been a fan of the Blackhawk angle and war comics just don’t appeal to me unless it was something more classic like we got with “Sgt. Rock” or the strangeness of “Weird War Tales”.

The Second Wave titles are “Earth 2”, “World’s Finest”, “Batman Incorporated”, “The Ravagers”, “G.I. Combat” and “Dial H”. The way the titles are being segmented is with two going to the Justice League family of titles while one apiece goes to Batman, Young Justice, The Edge and The Dark. No additions or subtractions will affect the Superman and Green Lantern titles with this go round. Only time will tell if this will change, but right now these families of titles only have four books apiece so they might leave well enough alone if the sales remain strong.

Am I excited about any of these? Well yes and no. I am intrigued by “Earth 2” and “World’s Finest” since they present a different heroic timeline and reality while the latter title takes the time honored place of Superman and Batman and gives the limelight to Power Girl and The Huntress. That should be interesting. Not so much keen on the Batman Incorporated title but will enjoy seeing “Dial H” back in action. As far as the new war title, let’s see what it offers. My review plans for these books will find them being included in the ongoing family of titles postings. It makes the most logical sense to do it like that.

Official Website: www.dccomics.com

Readers can peruse all of our existing blogs about “The New 52” by using this tag – http://www.piercingmetal.com/?tag=the-new-52

Comics, Pop Culture

DC Comics “The New 52” Second Issues: “Green Lantern” Titles

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As previously blogged about in the PiercingMetal Musings; DC Comics recently re-launched a number of titles and started them off from issue #1 under the branding of “The New 52”. The initiative’s prime objective being to up the number of titles available each month and to offer new readers an easier chance to jump on board with their characters. The New 52 titles have been grouped into eight specifications such as Superman or Batman themed titles. Last month we blogged about as many of the individual first issues as we could get our hands on and segmented each of the posts based on what family they fell into. Here is our continuation of the overview with the second issues of the Green Lantern family of titles.

“Green Lantern” #2

Green Lantern #2: I mentioned in my synopsis of Green Lantern #1 that we were dealing with a non-ringed Hal Jordan (who had apparently been disgraced in the eyes of both the Corps and The Guardians and hence was denied his incredible Power Ring) and strangely enough it appeared as though the villainous Sinestro was now on patrol in this sector of space and once again had the ring. Whether this is the Guardians larger plan or there is a defect in the great battery who knows, we only seem to know that Sinestro is once again a Green Lantern whether he likes it or not. The once and perhaps still super villain comes to Jordan with a proposal and that is he will fashion a ring for him to wear but there is clearly more than one catch. The Sinestro created ring cannot harm the Korugarian and Jordan can only keep it if he agrees to be bound to Sinestro’s will. The two fight but Jordan’s new ring is no match for its creators and after some battling against each other, the unmatchable powers of the ring is needed to save innocent people from a recently destroyed bridge. The pair butt heads during the rescue and in the end Sinestro shows just how powerful he remains and how the ring is much “bigger” than Jordans flying around and making shapes out of its energies. A sinister presence is found to be behind the bridges destruction and this creature is after Sinestro and labeling him a traitor to his own Sinestro Corps. I will not ruin how this battle ends but apparently the beings that Sinestro left behind to guard his world are now its masters and need to be dealt with. Hence the meeting and alliance with Jordan. This just got a whole lot more interesting to say the least. The creative team remains Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy and Keith Champagne. Nice tight artwork and a fast paced storyline. Great job on issue #2.
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