I Have Come Not To Bury 2012 But To Praise It (Reflections on the year)

 

Just felt like a good image to kick this off with because EVERYONE loves the word FREE!!!! 

It's been awhile, largely do to the holidays, partly do to my own laziness to be frank, but then again since I do this as something fun and not as a job, or for pay, I suppose there's not really an official schedule, it's just me trying to get a blog out there every so often when I have something to talk about instead of just a long run-on sentence that I will end now.

I figured this time of year was a good one to get back on the horse and what better way to kick it off than to follow the trend of looking back on the previous year and making up my own little list! Haven't done that in awhile (2010 to be exact) so I thought it might be fun to look back on the things I enjoyed about 2012...just the things I enjoyed because, well, I feel like I generally hit on enough of my perceived negatives in comics AND so does most of that darn internet as well.  So let's look at the things I loved, starting with my two  

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2012:

First up, by a longshot, is Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo's Batman book. With gorgeous, sometimes terrifying, art from Capullo that perfectly syncs up with the tale being spun by Snyder, this book helped quell any fears I had about the New 52.  Yes there are still some major questions of decompression and continuity, particularly where Damian Wayne is concerned, but from the "Court of Owls" arc that started in August 2011 & continued into 2012 to the "Night of Owls" story in the main book (as well in the Bat-Family titles) and the current "Death of the Family" arc spotlighting The Joker, I am hard-pressed to name a moment when this book has faltered.  Even Batman #12 (the "filler" issue) that really introduced Harper Row and was done by Snyder & Becky Cloonan (the only issue thus far NOT drawn by Capullo) was quite a quality piece of business.
Snyder has quite successfully melded elements of the spandex genre with horror, mystery, and suspense as well as playing up the familial aspects of the Bat...family, particularly with the new wrinkle in Nightwing's origin and in the driving impetus behind the "DOTF" storyline.
As for Capullo, well the man I first discovered waybackwhen on X-Force and then Spawn has exceeded my expecatations beyond measure.  Admittedly I was tentative as to how he would pull this one off but visually he has hit all the right marks.  His Batman is one of power generally speaking but then he throws out a cover like this:

Or panels like this:

That image, from Batman #5, was indeed printed upside down in the comic which, while initially jarring, was an amazing and incredibly brave choice to make.  It's one of my favorite issues of the book so far, not only because of the art choices, but because it is an issue that absolutely tears Bruce apart and kind of harkens back to his father's lines from the movies, "Why do we fall down? To pick ourselves back up."

This is the best book of 2012 for me but it is followed in close second by:

Rick Remender & company's Uncanny X-Force book (which was also my favorite new book in 2010) was also up there as one of my faves but in this case it was largely due to the story that unfolded rather than the art/story combo pack of Batman.  Also, another reason it takes a 2nd place to Batman is because while I enjoyed every moment of Batman, I was not a very big fan overall of the "Otherworld" story arc that ate up issues #20-24.  It had it's character moments for me, particularly anything involving Fantomex & Psylocke, but I don't care much for Captain Britain and his pocket of the Marvel U so it didn't work for me as a whole.
Still in terms of the overall story Remender presented, and particularly the "Final Execution" final, this is definitely one of the highlights of my comic book year.
The emotional resonance of the Dark Angel arc that wrapped in 2011 carried the book through to its conclusion and ultimately changed all of the characters in this story.  Remender's portrayal of Deadpool has quite possibly been my favorite ever, the story of Genesis and his temptation was gripping, the fate of Fantomex (he's a Grant Morrison creation, of course I love him), the proper resolution of the Daken/Wolverine story, it all felt, well, epic.

As an aside to another of his projects, I am also digging how Remender has taken the seeds he planted in the "Deathlok Nation" arc of 2011 and carried them over to his current "Secret Avengers" run that is wrapping up shortly.

Now given that Uncanny X-Force was only 37 issues (40 if you throw in the Fear Itself mini) including its two Point One books, I certainly hope gets an Omnibus treatment down the line.  If nothing else, I do hope that Marvel puts the "Dark Angel" and "Final Execution" arcs into one collected edition for each instead of the current two volumes into which they are broken both divided.

As for some other faves of 2012, I would suggest you pick up: Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing, Jeff Lemire's Animal Man, Geoff Johns' Aquaman, Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead & Invincible, Mark Waid's Daredevil, and Jason Aaron's Wolverine & The X-Men.  For a late entry into the field, a book that only just started in the last two months of 2012, try Brian Michael Bendis' All New X-Men...that one has the potential to be my favorite of 2013.  In fact, let's give it the award for:

BEST NEW BOOK OF 2012

I had some serious doubts about how the premise of this book could have legs and the first issue didn't do much to assuage those fears.  In fact it pissed me off because the pages Marvel had solicited to tease the book were straight up the last five pages or so of the book!  That's not a tease, that's a spoiler with no ALERT!

So how does a book with only 5 issues under its belt go from pissing me off to being my "best new"?  Patience and voice, I had the patience to let the story unfold and Bendis' gave the characters a voice that I felt fit.  I mean his best Marvel work (Daredevil aside) has been writing teenagers & high school kids so using the original five X-Men is perfect for one.  For another, aside from a rough spot in issue 3, I think he has given a strong voice to adult Cyclops after AvX, and in some ways Consequences, did him so much damage.  I also appreciate the fact that Bendis flat out addressed the deus ex machina of the entire series by having EVERY character basically say "Professor X is just going to erase our memories as soon as we go back to the past".  It is an obvious out that anyone could have called before picking up a single issue of the book and it was a relief to see it addressed, see the characters accept it as fact, and still decide to go on their mission regardless of that outcome.  Thank you Bendis...

The wonderful art by Stuart Immonen doesn't hurt either!  I hope this book continues the level of quality that 3/5 issues have had and I also hope the Bendis/Chris Bachalo Uncanny X-Men book is at the same level, if not better.

Continuing the tangential nature of this whole list (since I don't really have a format or plan), mentioning Bachalo and Immonen takes my mind to:

MY FAVORITE ARTIST OF 2012: JH WILLIAMS III

That's just a tiny sampling but I think the pictures & layouts speak for themselves. I could look at the pages & covers every day without a bit of text...creative, unique, and beautiful.  I can't wait until this comes out:

As for runner-up selections: obviously Capullo as I raved about earlier, Chris Burnham on Batman Inc, Ivan Reis on Aquaman, and while I'm not really digging the story (not bad just not terribly interesting), what Francis Manapul is doing on Flash is absolutely amazing visually!  Check out this story at Bleeding Cool and this sample:

And the random train of thought went like this Flash...Justice League...Shazam.....

BEST BACK-UP FEATURE

The SHAZAM back-up in Justice League has been blow away awesome in all the ways that the core feature has not been.  Geoff Johns is penning a great coming-of-age tale in just a few pages every month, and that Zero issue above was a godsend because it focused exclusively on the tale of Billy Batson and company.  JL, to me, has felt soulless in the way a big Hollywood action blockbuster can...it has all the big names, all the big creative talent, but it is still just a set piece for big explosions. SHAZAM has been small and meaningful, a story about how I think a kid in Billy's situation would honestly react to suddenly becoming one of the most powerful beings on the planet.  Toss in Gary Frank's amazing artwork (add him to that list above as well) and this story is a surefire hit that I hope gets a collection to call its own when it wraps up (which I would presume would be around Trinity War time).  JL is showing some promise with the newly started Aquaman man arc and it isn't bad by any means, just lackluster, but fortunately the addition of SHAZAM make the book worth the price tag.

Well since that blurb didn't lead my brain directly into another category, I'm just throwing one out there:

BEST "IT'S NEW TO ME" BOOK

I wrote about this "recently" (if you consider November recent) so I'm just pulling a Copy & Paste from that blog:

First up was some back-to-back Robert Kirkman love starting with the "Invincible" Compendium.  Another of his Image books, this one was a book I'd been told repeatedly to read but, since I wasn't getting to it, a friend of mine got it for me as a birthday gift. Well I can say that I'm glad I waited to read it because it was great to read this story...well at least its first half...in one collection! 

To sum it up as much as possible without ruining too much, this one is the story of a kid named Mark Grayson whose father is a superhero and then said kid discovers that he too has superpowers!  It's a story of father-son relationships, of the dynamic in a family with two heroes, a family in which the heroes aren't having to hide it from their family...just the rest of the world of course.

Yet it it also a coming of age story, a tale of betrayal and disappointment, of friends and lovers...essentially it is a tale of life as told through the POV of a superhero kid. High school, college, girlfriends, teams, villains, friends, and aliens are all a part of this tale and by the way, it is quite graphically violent.  That is a trait of this series that I find very intriguing not because I'm a blood mark, but because of the color scheme of this series...it's bright and vibrant, alive I guess you could say, a stark contrast to that other Kirkman work of note: "The Walking Dead".

"Invincible" is available right here in a handy-dandy Compendium that collects not only the first 47 issues of the series but also the Zero issue, an issue of The Pact series, and also excerpts from the 2004 Image Comics Summer Special.  I can't recommend this book highly enough and I cannot wait until there is a Volume 2 Compendium released, which I would imagine will come out shortly after the 100th issue is released.

Other nominees for that little prize include: Neil Gaiman's Sandman (which I only just started at the end of the year so figured it didn't quite qualify here), as well as his Eternals book, shockingly Brian K. Vaughn's Mystique in its rather unique take on the villain as well as his Runaways books, Mark Waid's Captain America run, and Warren Ellis' Thor which, although I wasn't digging the art of Mike Deodato and it isn't Ellis' best work, I thought it was an interesting take on a character I generally don't care about outside of the movie franchise...

What a segue...

BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE OF 2012 (tie)

Yeah...I couldn't decide...I love them both equally and for different reasons.  Click on the poster for each if you want to read my original thoughts on each movie from when they came out.  As for my opinions since being able to watch them back from the comforts of home, not much has changed.  In fact, I think it's safe to say my love for what each of them brings to the table has only gotten deeper.

Avengers is fun and every bit that Hollywood action movie blockbuster BUT with substance and a humor that to feels deeper than, say, a Battleship probably did (to be fair I didn't see the movie so it COULD be the Citizen Kane of action flicks for all I know).  It made me WANT to see sequels and prequels and threequels and spin-offs and got me excited for what is to come in the future of the Marvel Films side of the Marvel U.

DKRises (I feel obligated to write out Rises when I do that because, prior to the movie, to comic book fans DKR meant Dark Knight Returns) was the exact opposite in so many ways.  It had its fun but it, as expected, was more serious in tone and smaller in scale in terms of its threat.  Where Avengers was about the forging of a legacy and explosions, DKRises was about the legacy itself, about identity and worth, and of course, about big explosions ;-)  It was a fitting end, especially the unveiling of the statue, and although I do not expect Joseph Gordon Levitt to be Batman in the Justice League movie, I would be ecstatic to see him continue on in that role.

For those who may have read Grant Morrison's JLA, the Green Lantern of the piece was Kyle Rayner and, while surrounded by Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman to name a few, he was in the position of living up to the legacy of Hal Jordan, the "Greatest Green Lantern". I would find it intriguing if, in the movie, it was Batman in that role of being the one having to live up to the expectations of his predecessor while surrounded by Supes, WW, and GL...especially if those characters were clueless as to the true identity of Batman.  I'm just picturing a JGL Batman coming up short and finally, in a moment of trust and confidence, revealing the truth to his compatriots which in turn leads them to unveiling their truths to each other.  Imagine a Batman who is the one looking for acceptance instead of being the one on the fringes...

Anyway....how about:

MY FAVORITE COMIC BOOK TOY OF 2012

I don't do toy reviews...I solely base this on how cool I think he looks in my display stand!

COOLEST COMIC CON GIVE AWAY OF 2012

 Pick one up on Ebay like I did and scare the crap out of people!

 Man how did I forget this one:

BEST WRITER OF @)!@

Scott Snyder may be terrible at responding at Twitter to compliments or criticisms, at least to me, but given that I am a superhero guy first and foremost, and with that a Batman guy (my ten year old self would be shocked, he tried to will claws to pop out of his hands), I must pick Scott Snyder.  I think you can just go back up to the fave book blurb and see the why where Batman is concerned but it is also because of the stellar work he has done on Swamp Thing and American Vampire.

I'm sure people who know me and read this are shocked I didn't just default pick Grant Morrison for Batman Inc & Happy but I think I have to automatically disqualify him BECAUSE he is my favorite overall.  It's just too easy to go there...

As for other potentials, I'd have to add in Jeff Lemire for his work on Animal Man, Geoff Johns BUT only for his Aquaman book, Jason Aaron for Wolvie & The X-Men, Kirkman for Walking Dead, Remender for UXF...


BEST MINI-SERIES OF 2012

Clone Jesus Christ, attach a former IRA member as his bodyguard, turn it into a reality TV show, and see what happens!  That is the most bare bones premise of Sean Murphy's amazingly nuts mini-series that just recently wrapped up.  I still need to read the final issue but I can, without a doubt, say this was my fave mini of the year.  Its black & white art is a sight to behold, the story is fun and chaotic, potentially controversial to some, heartfelt, and sad all while painting a pretty believable portrayal of how Chris (the clone) would likely respond to the circumstances in which he finds himself AND the fashion in which the world reacts to his presence.  The individual issues are likely still available at your LCS but the collection doesn't come out until April.  If you're interested in pre-ordering it just click here and take a look at how great this one page looks (also throw Murphy's name up there too in that fave artists category now that I think about it):

Runner-up for this one, but a very very close one at that, is definitely James Robinson's "The Shade" 12 issue maxi-series that continued following a character from his epic run on "Starman" that I wrote about in 2011. It was a great continuation of the journey of that character, picking up basically right where he was left at the close of Starman and finally giving us the origin Robinson had only only teased at for years.  The fact that the book boasted a collection of artists like Darwyn Cooke, Frazer Irving, Gene Ha, Jill Thompson, Cully Hamner and Javier Pulido only served to enhance how awesome of a tale this was and one I cannot wait to read back in its entirety...as soon as I'm done with the dozen other reads I have waiting for me.

BEST ANNOUNCEMENT OF 2012

The return of Sandman!

MY MOST ANTICIPATED OF 2013

In addition to that one right above, I also want to add in the debut of Bendis' Uncanny X-Men, the Riddler in Batman, Trinity War, Ultron War (FINALLY!), Dog Logan in Wolvie & The X-Men (seriously), and the return of Jean Paul Valley!!! Yeah there is no way in hell that last one is happening in 2013, 2033, or any other year...

I am also hoping for something from Morrison's Multiversity, Frank Quitely & Mark Millar's Jupiter's Legacy, and pretty excited to make my way through the rest of Sandman (starting Vol. 4 this weekend), and read the Spider-Man Marvel Masterworks Vol. 1, Iron Wars II, and volume of Matt Fraction's Thor I picked up yesterday for only $20 combined!  Gotta love the discount book store!!!  Oh yes, and I just received Scalped Vol. 1 & Fatale Vol. 1 from Amazon as well!  So I already have a great deal of things to read through in the first full week of the year!

OTHER OPINIONS

I asked some friends & people on FB/Twitter for their favorites of the year and this is what I got back:

Duke from Capes & Cowls - Batman & Uncanny X-Force
Pat - Saga
Ryan - Anything from Frank Tieri (sarcastic trolling)
Eric Downes on FB - AvX (only thing he read)
Greg Rice - Uncanny X-Force & Batman
Michael Maberry - Hawkeye (should have included that as my best new series runner up...or tie, make that tie)
Craig - "sorry im still stuck in my nothings better than millers batman bubble oh and the boys but im still way behind"

And my favorite answer from Midge who doesn't read..."the superman one, in the black bag. Bet it's great, but it's in the bag so I don't know #worthmillions"

So I think that about wraps up my look back on 2012 and I won't make any promises this time about what I want to write about next or when it will get done (just discovered I said I was going to write about Rogue War like a year ago....not sure if I ever actually did that!), but it won't be another 6 week gap like this one. I bid you farewell until next time with two plugs for some friends of mine.  The first is for a Deadpool web series starring my buddy Damian in the lead role:

And the second is for my friend Rob's short film "No Clowning Around":

Go show some support for each and, as always, support your Local Comic Shop and if you live in the Philly/Bensalem/Bristol/Croydon area then make sure it's Capes & Cowls you're supporting!

52 Number Ones... With A Bullet

Between the initial article in USA Today, the letter from Bob Wayne, and the follow-up information also on Comic Book Resources, the internet is abuzz with the news of DC Comic's impending massive reboot of, apparently, 52 titles.  From Superman to Wonder Woman to Teen Titans, it appears nearly every corner of the DCU is going to be affected by this Flashpoint-induced change. 

With only a few details leaking out, it looks like Grant Morrison will helm a Superman book, Birds of Prey will go on without Gail Simone, Geoff Johns will still own the Green Lanter-verse while simultaneously helming a JLA book with Jim Lee on art, while Hawkman & Aquaman will get their own titles once again.  And that's not even all of the details out at this moment...Teen Titans, JSA, & Wonder Woman were all also on the list for new #1's. 

Never before has something on this scale been attempted by either of The Big Two.  Once upon a time, following the 13-issue "Heroes Reborn" maxi-series, Marvel, under the "Heroes Return" banner, started Captain America, Thor, The Fanatastic Four, Iron Man, and The Avengers back at issue #1 with resounding success sales-wise (at least for the first issue).  They did the same with Marvel Knights titles like Punisher & Daredevil, with Amazing Spider-Man, and are also slated to do it once again with Captain America, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, & Punisher in the next couple months.  A brand new Moon Knight started with #1 once again just recently which marks perhaps the 6th volume of a series bearing his name.  The new Punisher series might just be the 7th or 8th volume of a book bearing that name...quite ridiculous considering it has essentially been one on-going series since 1987.

Now in the case of ASM, Daredevil, and the Heroes Return comics, all of them eventually resumed their original numbering (usually as they approached a milestone issue) after several months, if not years, of using BOTH numbers on the front cover.  Talk about confusing when you're reading issue 30 of Daredevil and it also has a 410 in the corner box. 

I recall lots of outcry at the time to resume the original numbering, which is what led to Marvel first double numbering and eventually just going back to the original numbers.  I can easily see the exact same thing happening after a few years of a new DD comic, especially considering DD morphed into Black Panther: Man Without Fear in Matt Murdock's absence.  Why not give Panther the new #1 (it would have been his 5th volume) and move DD back into his proper book?  Why restart Moon Knight or Punisher or Ghost Rider? 

The argument would probably be that it's a new status quo to go along with the new number one but really that can be done within the context of an exisiting numbering sequence.  It's a sales thing, plain and simple...nothing to do with status quo or reboots or whatever label gets attached to it.  It is proven to make money, and ultimately, comic book fandom be damned, Marvel & DC & every other company is looking to make money.  Especially in a market that has drastically fallen when comparing sales figures from just a few years ago to today.

I can't fault the companies for finding ways to make money, especially if they can find ways to make it work within the context of whatever story arc is going on.  What better way to push reset on the entire DC Universe than as a results of a story that is dealing with time travel &  its effects?  So my issue isn't so much with the renumbering, although it would be heartbreaking to see Detective Comics & Action Comics get reset, it is with the following quote from DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio...

"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."

...and these from DC's Senior Vice President-Sales Bob Wayne explaining that the new No. 1 issues "will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character's legend -- but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph...Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes," he wrote. "Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once."

So now I'm scared....and the image at the top of this little rant plays directly into those fears.  I know I'm being presumptious and guessing at what the future will entail (as I'm sure most of the internet is doing as well), but those are two of DC's top guys essentially saying that things like age will change, and that new origins may emerge! Buzz words like modern & diverse, catch phrases like "real world situations", these all make my brain scream of the marketing for Marvel's Ultimate line all those years ago.

The main difference being that Ultimate was, from day one, a totally seperate Universe in which younger, hipper, less continuity laden, blah blah blah....versions of our Marvel faves got to play.  In theory they didn't come with all the baggage of the 616-Marvel proper version and thus could come off more like the movie versions without pissing off the core fanbase; you know the ones that buy the books through thick & thin.  Great in theory, and Bendis put out great material with Ultimate Spidey, especially compared to Ultimate X-Men, but it all degenerated into "I wonder what Ultimate (insert name here) looks like" stories.  Hell, the Ultimate Universe required a story like "Ultimatum" (as awful as it was) to try and bring the concept back to what it was intended to be.  So now I don't read a single Ultimate book....

Now, what does any of that have to do with DC's new initiative?  My fear is that the outcome of "Flashpoint" that leads into this #1-Fest is essentially an "Ultimatum", or to keep it company consistent, another "Crisis on Infinite Earths".  Has DC reached a point once again where they've decided that all the rich history that has made Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. cultural icons is in fact baggage?  Is their too much backstory for your average reader? 

Honestly, I'm probably not the best person to judge that because I've been reading Batman for 15 years and have 20 years worth of back isssues.  It's impossible for me to pick up a book and NOT know what the backstory is.  I know the nuances of every character, of their relationships with Batman, and I know why they are they way they are.  I can see how someone would pick up an issue of R.I.P and wonder why the Joker is slitting his tongue in two, why he doesn't seem like the Jack Nicholson, Mark Hammil, or Heath Ledger takes on the character. 




Instead of the layers of story wrapped up in this one scene, it appears (based on the image above), that we will be greeted in September with a gaggle of characters who are younger than their pre-Flashpoint iterations.  In particular the Superman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman in that Jim Lee piece look young to mine eye by comparison to their current depictions.  So it leaves me to wonder several things:

1) Is this a short term story line point where the characters have to correct the ramifications of Flashpoint & return the world to status quo? (All signs point to no)

2) Are we going to get retold origin tales a la Frank Miller's Batman: Year One or John Byrne's Superman: Man of Steel? (Could be interesting)

3) Will Action Comics & Detective Comics get the #1 treatment? (I hope not)

4) Can Grant Morrison write if he can't dredge up ancient continuity points? (I kid, I kid)

I know I need to take a wait & see approach with this whole situation, but I figured I may as well get my initial gut reaction down on e-paper while it was still fresh in my head.  As a long-term fan of Batman, I am a bit scared of the idea of restarting the world & how it will impact Bruce and family.   And as a fan of everything Geoff Johns has done with GL in recent years, I really hope that the majority of that sticks (I'm hopeful since Johns seems to be the architect of this endeavor).  I don't want to see, and this is my fanboy nature at its most paranoid, Tim Drake & Stephanie Brown disappear from continuity in favor of bringing back Dick as Robin & Barb as Batgirl. 

I don't want to see a Lois & Clark who aren't married (had enough of that with Brand New Day) or a cocky, arrogant Hal Jordan circa Emerald Dawn.  I appreciate that characters have grown, matured, and evolved over the course of my readership.  I mean it's not as if anyone of my generation started following Batman with 'Tec #27 or Superman with Action Comics #1, but we have managed just fine.

So, I will head into this new endeavor with those fears, but also with hopes.  Hopes for something great from the Johns/Lee collaboration on JLA, for a return to greatness for the JSA & Wonder Woman, and definitely high hopes for the Morrison Superman project (maybe he'll get to do something like Superman 2000 finally....oh wait Spider-Man ripped it off already, and All Star Supes was kind of that anyway).  I am intrigued to see what other news will come on this subject in the ensuing weeks...it's only June after all and this party doesn't start until September!

Please DC Comics, Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns, and whomever else is spearheading this....please prove me wrong.  And be prepared for the deluge of letters, e-mails, tweets, and what not pestering you with questions about what is still considered continuity if this things goes all Crisis-like.  And be prepared for Grant Morrison to ignore all of it as he dredges up some random incident from 53 years ago and turns it into a key ingredient in the life of Superman....

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