New 52 Recap #4

Here is my latest recap of DC Comics' New 52 line. I'm covering the issue #3's today. My previous recaps are here and here.

Here is the list of New 52 titles I stuck with through four issues, in order of their issue #4 ratings:

Swamp Thing #4 (8.5)
Batgirl #4 (8)
Action Comics #4 (7.5)
Birds of Prey #4 (7.5)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) #4 (7.5)
Batwoman #4 (7)
Wonder Woman #4 (7)
Superman #4 (6.5)
Animal Man #4 (6)
Batman #4 (6)
Detective Comics #4 (6)
Static Shock #4 (6)
Aquaman #4 (5.5)
Justice League #4 (5.5)
Justice League Dark #4 (5)
Batman And Robin #4 (4.5)
Batman: The Dark Knight #4 (4.5)

And here are the titles in order of their running average:

Batwoman (7.38)
Swamp Thing (7.38)
Wonder Woman (7.38)
Action Comics (7.25)
Batman (7.00)
Static Shock (7.00)
Aquaman (6.63)
Animal Man (6.50)
Birds of Prey (6.50)
Superman (6.25)
Batgirl (6.00)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) (6.00)
Justice League (6.00)
Detective Comics (5.88)
Batman: The Dark Knight (5.38)
Justice League Dark (5.00)
Batman And Robin (4.13)



Biggest Rating Increase From Issue 1: Batgirl (+3.0)
Biggest Rating Decrease From Issue 1: Justice League: Dark (-2.5), Aquaman (-2.5)

Here is the list of titles that I have purchased a Fifth issue of:

Action Comics
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batgirl
Batman
Batman and Robin
Batman: The Dark Knight
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
DC Universe Presents (Deadman)
Detective Comics
Justice League Dark
Static Shock
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

Titles Dropped After Issue #4:

Nightwing
Suicide Squad

Notes:

I'm still quite a bit behind the current releases of these books as far as my reading goes, so a lot of my decisions to keep or drop titles have been put off. I'm thinking of making a big cut around issue #6, and will probably be down to eight or fewer regular titles at that point.

Nightwing is not a definite drop. There was a lot I liked about the title, so I may pick it up as back issues, especially if a sale comes up (Boston Comic Con, maybe?).

Some more playing with statistics:

Average Rating Across Titles I Reviewed By Issue Number:

Issue #1: 6.250
Issue #2: 6.075
Issue #3: 5.921
Issue #4: 6.382

So issue #3's were the weakest and the #4's scored the best. Of course, the lack of Catwoman and Suicide Squad helped the #4's.

February 2012 Stats

February 2012

Number of Comics Reviewed: 28 (Would have been my first-ever month without a miss if not for leap year!).

Highest Rated Comics:

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise Part 1 (8.5)
Lost Nova: Rabbit And Fox (8.5)


Lowest Rated Comics:

Justice League Dark #3 (3.5)
Suicide Squad #3 (3)

Average Rating For January 2012: 6.286

New 52 Recap #3

Here is my latest recap of DC Comics' New 52 line. I'm covering the issue #3's today. My previous recaps are here and here.

Here is the list of New 52 titles I stuck with through three issues, in order of their issue #3 ratings:

Wonder Woman #3 (8)
Batwoman #3 (7.5)
Static Shock #3 (7.5)
Action Comics #3 (7)
Justice League #3 (7)
Swamp Thing #3 (7)
Batman: The Dark Knight #3 (7)
Aquaman #3 (6.5)
Batman #3 (6.5)
Nightwing #3 (6.5)
Animal Man #3 (6)
Batgirl #3 (5.5)
Birds of Prey #3 (5.5)
Superman#3 (5.5)
Batman And Robin #3 (4.5)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) #3 (4.5)
Detective Comics #3 (4)
Justice League Dark #3 (3.5)
Suicide Squad #3 (3)


And here are the titles in order of their running average:

Batwoman (7.50)
Wonder Woman (7.50)
Batman (7.33)
Static Shock (7.33)
Action Comics (7.17)
Aquaman (7)
Swamp Thing (7)
Animal Man (6.67)
Birds of Prey (6.17)
Justice League (6.17)
Nightwing (6.17)
Superman (6.17)
Detective Comics (5.83)
Batman: The Dark Knight (5.67)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) (5.50)
Batgirl (5.33)
Justice League Dark (5.00)
Batman And Robin (4.00)
Suicide Squad (3.00)


Biggest Rating Increase From Issue 1: Batman: The Dark Knight (+3.0)
Biggest Rating Decrease From Issue 1: Justice League: Dark (-4.0)

Here is the list of titles that I have purchased a Fourth issue of:

Action Comics
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batgirl
Batman
Batman and Robin
Batman: The Dark Knight
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
DC Universe Presents (Deadman)
Detective Comics
Justice League Dark
Static Shock
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

Titles Dropped After Issue #3:

Nightwing
Suicide Squad

Notes:

I'm still quite a bit behind the current releases of these books as far as my reading goes, so a lot of my decisions to keep or drop a title are done on a "benefit of the doubt" basis. Starting after issue #6, I plan on paring my pull list down to what will likely be a stable level for a while. I bought 15 #4's. There's one title in there (Batman And Robin), which is very likely to be dropped unless it improved drastically. I also may consider revisiting Nightwing, which actually improved a bit from the first issue. I dropped it after #3, but I don't rule out picking up #4 as a back issue if I get a chance. Suicide Squad, on the other hand is staying dropped. It was remarkably consistent, earning a 3/10 in three consecutive reviews from me.

Here are some other titles that are "on the bubble" for when I make the cuts after the #6's:

Aquaman: Great start, but has gotten progressively less interesting with each issue.

Animal Man and Swamp Thing: I'm grouping these two former Vertigo titles together because I'm having the same problem with both of them. The do a nice job of recapturing the flavor of their Vertigo runs, but the feeling I'm getting is nostalgia and not much more than that. Both titles are good, but I keep waiting to see something that feels really original in them.

Batgirl: There have been signs of improvement, but probably not enough to keep me reading.

Batman And Robin: As mentioned above, pretty consistently bad. Likely drop.

Batman: The Dark Knight, Birds of Prey, Justice League: Weak starts, but steady improvement. Could be keepers if they continue to get better.

Detective Comics: Opposite direction. Started good and has gone downhill.

DC Universe Presents: Probably will be dropped after the Deadman run concludes, unless the next feature is really interesting to me (I know it's been announced, but I don't remember what it is; it wasn't something that sounded exciting from the description).

Justice League Dark: I keep hoping for this to be good. So far it has been okay in its best moments and absolutely awful in its worst.

Nightwing: As mentioned above, considering giving it another shot.

Static Shock: Well, this one is canceled after #8, and I've heard that I've heard a fair amount of negative comments on it. I still loved the first three issues, and I think I'm going to plan on reading it to the end of it's run, but I reserve the right to drop it if it turns horrible.

Superman: Leaning toward keeping it.

That puts Action Comics, Batman, Batwoman, and Wonder Woman in the almost-definitely-keep category.

I've already started reviewing the #4's and I'm slowly making progress on catching up to the more current issues.

January 2012 Stats

I'm trying something a bit different with the monthly stats, since I dropped the ball on them pretty early on in 2012. I'm going to keep this short and focus on stats for this month only, rather than try to do much in the way of cumulative stats.

Let's give it a try!

January 2012

Number of Comics Reviewed: 17

Highest Rated Comics:

Life With Archie #16 (9)
Wonder Woman #3 (8)

Lowest Rated Comics:

Suicide Squad #2 (3)
Batman & Robin #2 (3.5)
Detective Comics #3 (4)

Average Rating For January 2012: 6.382

See you next month, hopefully with more reviews!

2011 Recap

I decided to take a week's vacation from reviewing after the end of the year. Before I get rolling again with the reviews, it's time to look back.

First areminder of my goals and how I did on them:

1) Write a review every day.

Not quite. Still, given everything else I'm involved in, I did pretty well. I had 321 entries in 2011, but 45 were not reviews (30 were part of the 30-Day Comic Challenge meme, and the remaining 15 were recap/stats posts, convention announcements, etc. So that makes 276 reviews, which is 89 short of a comic a day, and that give me something to shoot for in 2012 (and I missed yesterday, so I'm already behind!).

2) Reduce my pile of unread comics.

I did, indeed, accomplish this, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. I can mostly blame DC Comics for that. I've had a lot of fun jumping on board the New 52, and I feel it adds to the relevance of this blog. I go through phases as far as reading current mainstream comics goes, so I'm not sure how many of these titles I'll be sticking with for the long term, but for the moment I'm definitely going to be continuing to follow at least some of the new DC comics. I'll be trying harder to balance that with reading from my backstock as I move into 2012.

Statistics Time! Let's start with the best and worst from each month of 2012!

January

Best: Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present (9.5) (!)

Worst: The Avengers #1 (4)

February

Best: American Born Chinese (8.5)

Worst: Captain Universe/X-23 #1 (3)

March

Best: A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed (8.5)

Worst: 2099 Limited (4)

April

Best (Tie): Bisclavret (8.5), XKCD Volume 0 (8.5)

Worst (Tie): Detective Comics Annual #11 (5.5), Mercy Sparx: Under New Management #1 Free Comic Book Day Edition (5.5)

May

Best: With the Light Volume 2 (9)

Worst: War of the Supermen #0 (4.5)

June

Best (Tie): MAMP Vol. 2 #6 (8), MAMP Vol. 6 #5 (8), Locke & Key: Free Comic Book Day Edition (8)

Worst: Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 (3)

July

Best: Transfusion (8)

Worst: Fear Itself Sketchbook (4)

August

Best: Whiteout: Free Comic Book Day Edition (8.5)

Worst: Wildstorm: Free Convention Exclusive 2009 (3)

September

Best (Tie): Healed #3 (8.5), Girl Genius Volume 2: Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City (8.5)

Worst: Green Arrow Industries #1 (2.5)

October

Best (Tie): Batwoman #1 (8), Salt Water Taffy 1: The Legend of Old Salty (8), Aquaman #1 (8), Hot Tea Cold Water #3 (8)

Worst (Tie): Suicide Squad #1 (3), All Star Western #1 (3)

November

Best: Healed #1 (7.5)

Worst: Justice League Dark #2 (4)

December

Best: Meridian City Preview Edition (8.5)

Worst: Catwoman #2 (2.5)

Best of the Year: Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present (9.5)

Worst of the Year (Tie): Catwoman #2 (2.5), Green Arrow Industries #1 (2.5)

Most Reviewed Company: DC Comics (73)

Most Reviewed Title: Plastic Farm (19)

Highest Average Title With At Least 3 Reviews: Sky Pirates of Valendor (7.50)

Lowest Average Title With At Least 3 Reviews: Detective Comics (6.33)

Most Fun I Had Reviewing Comics This Year: Reviewing a smurf comic in smurf dialect, and my rhyming review of the first issue of Demon Knights!

Biggest Disappointments of the Year: After strong debuts, the second issues of Justice League: Dark and Catwoman were just horrible.

Favorite Discoveries: Some awesome comics that I probably would not have read if not for this column! Go read these!

The Way It Crumbles
Lai Wan
Kitty Hawk: The Sting of Defeat
Moses And Bean
Plastic Farm
Bisclavret
Locke & Key
MAMP
Whiteout
Satisfactory Comics
Static Shock
Salt Water Taffy
Batwoman
Healed
Meridian City

I hope you have all had a great 2011, and that you will make a resolution in the new year to read and support comics!

New 52 Recap #2

This is the second in my series of stats posts on the DC Comics New 52. The previous installment is here.

Here is the list of New 52 titles I stuck with through two issues, in order of their issue #2 ratings:

Action Comics #2 (7.5)
Batman #2 (7.5)
Animal Man #2 (7)
Batwoman #2 (7)
Birds of Prey #2 (7)
Detective Comics #2 (7)
Justice League #2 (7)
Static Shock #2 (7)
Wonder Woman #2 (7)
Aquaman #2 (6.5)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) #2 (6.5)
Superman#2 (6.5)
Swamp Thing #2 (6.5)
Batgirl #6 (6)
Batman: The Dark Knight #2 (6)
Justice League Dark #2 (4)
Catwoman #2 (2.5)

And here are the titles in order of their running average:

Batman (7.75)
Batwoman (7.5)
Action Comics (7.25)
Aquaman (7.25)
Static Shock (7.25)
Wonder Woman (7.25)
Animal Man (7)
Swamp Thing (7)
Detective Comics (6.75)
Birds of Prey (6.5)
Superman (6.5)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) (6)
Justice League (5.75)
Justice League Dark (5.75)
Batman: The Dark Knight (5)
Catwoman (4.75)

Biggest Rating Increase From Issue 1: Justice League (+2.5)
Biggest Rating Decrease From Issue 1: Catwoman (-4.5)

Here is the list of titles that I have purchased a third issue of:

Action Comics
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batgirl
Batman
Batman and Robin*
Batman: The Dark Knight
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
DC Universe Presents (Deadman)
Detective Comics
Justice League Dark
Nightwing*
Static Shock
Suicide Squad*
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

*Apparently I bought a couple of titles that I had not actually purchased the second issues of. Must have been a couple of slow weeks at the comic shop. Not sure if I'm going to go back and pick up the second issue of those three books or not.

Pleasant surprises so far:

• Both Superman books (Action particularly, but Superman has been good Silver Age style fun).
• Wonder Woman. I was really prepared to hate this book, and it's been excellent through two issues.
• Static Shock! There's this concept called fun. Sometimes it feels like Static Shock is the only book in the New 52 that constantly remembers that.
• Batwoman. Complex plots right from the get-go.
• Justice League. Shaky start, but the non-stop action and awesome visuals in the second issue won me over. Now if they would just get Hal Jordan to shut up, this could be the flagship title that it's intended to be.
• Birds of Prey. Showing hints of becoming something with more depth than just women doing kung fu.
• Batman. Batman titles come in with high expectations. This book is meeting those.
  

Some less pleasant trends:

• Misogyny. Brutal killing of a good female supporting character. An implied attempted rape (two, actually) by a hero. Plus the usual skimpy costumes and generic Barbie-doll body types all over the place. This stuff is easy to fix. It involves actively realizing that there are females in the audience (well, there are a few left after DC and Marvel lost most of them to manga years ago; but still it would be nice to at least try!).
• Same old same old. Look, I am enjoying Swamp Thing and Animal Man. I've given them good ratings and I plan to continue reading them. But both titles feel like they are simply retreading ground covered in their Vertigo runs. It IS possible to have too much of a good thing, especially when what might have been shocking in 1992 just feels run-of-the-mill today. I'm not saying the two former Vertigo titles are guilty of this yet, but I am a bit concerned.
• Aquaman started off great, but I remain dubious about the Trench as a major villain. Too generic, too derivative, and not interesting enough. The dialogue writing remains good, so I would love to be proved wrong on this, but I am concerned about where the book is heading.
  
• Bad names. Mirror? Nobody? N.O.W.H.E.R.E.? White Rabbit? The Reach? The Trench? (Hey, can we have a The Reach vs. The Trench vs. The Brood vs. The Hand Marvel/DC crossover? Because I'm telling you, THAT would sell comics!).

I already reviewed one of the #3's, and starting tomorrow I'll be making my way through the rest of them. Look for another stats post after that!

New 52 Recap

I've always been a sucker for big events in the comic universes, even if many of these crossover storylines fail to live up to their billing.

So when I heard about the DC Comics reboot, I was immediately interested, even though I was a bit cynical for the need for a reboot after they had just DONE a whole succession of reboots (Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, etc).

Since the release of Justice League #1, I've been buying, reading, and reviewing debut issues from the New 52. I started with my review of the free preview book, where I gave my thoughts on the pitches for the upcoming releases. You can read that post here.

From there, it was on to the actual books. Here are some quick stats:

Number of First Issues Reviewed: 30 out of 52
Highest Rating: 8
Lowest Rating: 3
Surprise Favorites: Static Shock, Action Comics, Aquaman
Non-Surprising Favorites: Animal Man, Justice League Dark
Biggest Disappointments: Batgirl, Suicide Squad
Least Surprising Disappointment: Deathstroke
Average Rating: 5.73
Number Of Titles That I Have Purchased A Second Issue Of: 17

And here is a complete list of the titles I've reviewed from best to worst rated. All ratings are out of 10.

Aquaman #1 (8)
Batman #1 (8)
Batwoman #1 (8)
Justice League: Dark #1 (7.5)
Static Shock #1 (7.5)
Swamp Thing #1 (7.5)
Wonder Woman #1 (7.5)
Action Comics #1 (7)
Animal Man #1 (7)
Catwoman #1 (7)
Detective Comics #1 (6.5)
Green Arrow #1 (6.5)
Superman #1 (6.5)
Birds of Prey #1 (6)
Blue Beetle #1 (6)
DC Universe Presents (Deadman) #1 (5.5)
Nightwing #1 (5.5)
Demon Knights #1 (5)
Men of War #1 (5)
Superboy #1 (5)
Supergirl #1 (5)
Batgirl #1 (4.5)
Batwing #1 (4.5)
Justice League #1 (4.5)
Batman And Robin #1 (4)
Batman: The Dark Knight #1 (4)
Green Lantern #1 (4)
All Star Western #1 (3)
Deathstroke #1 (3)
Suicide Squad #1 (3)

Here's my complete list of second issues purchased:

Action Comics
Animal Man
Aquaman
Batgirl
Batman
Batman: The Dark Knight
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
Catwoman
DC Universe Presents (Deadman)
Detective Comics
Justice League
Justice League Dark
Static Shock
Superman
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman

I'll be starting on that stack shortly.

April 2011 Statistics

Here are some stats for April 2011.

Total Comics Reviewed: 30
Newly Purchased Comics Reviewed: 29
Comics Reviewed From The Backlog: 1
Marvel Comics Reviewed: 0
DC Comics Reviewed: 2
Minicomics Reviewed: 7
Manga Reviewed: 1
Conventions Attended: 1

Highest Rated Comics:

Bisclavret (8.5/10)
XKCD Volume 0 (8.5/10)
Sky Pirates of Valendor Series 2 #2 (8/10)
Higher Ground (8/10)
Timeless (8.10)
The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #7 (8/10)
Plastic Farm #4 (8/10)
The Amazing Cynicalman #28 (8/10)

Lowest Rated Comics:

Mercy Sparx: Under New Management #1 Free Comic Book Day Edition (5.5/10)
Detective Comics Annual #11 (5.5/10)

Creators With Multiple Reviews This Month:

Rafer Roberts, Nan Roberts, Jake Warrenfeltz

Average Rating For April 2011: 7.23

All-Time Highest-Rated Comics:

Amelia Rules: When The Past Is A Present (9.5/10)
Batman: Gotham Knights #6 (8.5/10)
American Born Chinese (8.5/10)
A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed (8.5/10)
XKCD Volume 0 (8.5/10)

March 2011 Statistics

Here are some stats for March 2011.

Total Comics Reviewed: 31
Newly Purchased Comics Reviewed: 11
Comics Reviewed From The Backlog: 20
Marvel Comics Reviewed: 4
DC Comics Reviewed: 1
Minicomics Reviewed: 15
Manga Reviewed: 1
Conventions Attended: 1 (plus one that my wife attended and brought back comics to review from)

Highest Rated Comics:

A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed (8.5/10)
A Treatise Upon The Jam (8/10)
Small Town Type #3 (8/10)
The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us (8/10)
Moses & Bean #2 (8/10)
Unnecessary Accessory #1 (8/10)

Lowest Rated Comics:

2099 Limited (4/10)
Spider-Man Halloween Special 2004 (5/10)

Creators With Multiple Reviews This Month:

Matt Bryan, Jeanie Bryan, Rafer Roberts

Average Rating For February 2011: 6.74

All-Time Highest-Rated Comics:

Amelia Rules: When The Past Is A Present (9.5/10)
Batman: Gotham Knights #6 (8.5/10)
American Born Chinese (8.5/10)
A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed (8.5/10)

February 2011 Statistics

Here are some stats for February 2011.

Total Comics Reviewed: 29
Newly Purchased Comics Reviewed: 13
Comics Reviewed From The Backlog: 16
Marvel Comics Reviewed: 3
DC Comics Reviewed: 3
Minicomics Reviewed: 10
Manga Reviewed: 1
Conventions Attended: 2

Highest Rated Comics:

American Born Chinese (8.5/10)
Kitty Hawk: The Sting of Defeat (8/10)
Namor #2 (8/10)
Xoc #3 (8/10)
Lai Wan #2 (8/10)

Lowest Rated Comics:

Captain Universe/X-23 #1 (3/10)
The Smurfs Halloween (4/10)
Vampirella: Revelations #0 (4/10)

Creators With Multiple Reviews This Month: Pam Bliss (2), C.J. Henderson (2), Kieran Yanner (2), Thompson Knox (2), Lori G (2)

Average Rating For February 2011: 6.500/10

All-Time Highest-Rated Comics:

Amelia Rules: When The Past Is A Present (9.5/10)
Batman: Gotham Knights #6 (8.5/10)
American Born Chinese (8.5/10)

January 2011 Statistics

Here are some stats for January 2011.

Total Comics Reviewed: 35
Newly Purchased Comics Reviewed: 9
Comics Reviewed From The Backlog: 26
Marvel Comics Reviewed: 3
DC Comics Reviewed: 2
Minicomics Reviewed: 13
Manga Reviewed: 2

Highest Rated Comics:

Amelia Rules: When The Past Is A Present (9.5/10)
Batman: Gotham Knights #6 (8.5/10)
The Way It Crumbles (8/10)
Bone: Happy Halloween (8/10)
Coelacanth And Friends (Kekionga Miniworks #16) (8/10)
The Dream Detectives / Pashanata (8/10)
Deathless: The House Committee (8/10)
Out The Window (8/10)
Dark Tower Sketchbook (8/10)
The Clockwork Girl #0 (8/10)

Lowest Rated Comics:

The Avengers #1 (4/10)
Everything's Archie #106 (5/10)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #38 (5/10)

Creators With Multiple Reviews: Pam Bliss, Aya Rothwell (2 each)

Average Rating For January 2011: 6.914/10