tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post8036226710070880968..comments2024-03-21T19:12:11.065-07:00Comments on Every Day Is Like Wednesday: Afterbirth: DC's "Rebirth" initiative, week twoCalebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-6797393829113058182016-06-13T13:38:05.906-07:002016-06-13T13:38:05.906-07:00I'm planning on just diving into the first iss...I'm planning on just diving into the first issues of each comic I feel like reading myself and skipping the Rebirth issues. So far, nothing you've written yet suggests that this is a bad idea...<br /><br />I really enjoyed that first issue of Detective comics. I like the idea of the young adults of the Batman family being on a team together. It's a fun bit of nonsense, unlike a lot of the other nonsense we regularly see in the Batman books. Not sure exactly why Clayface is there, but I'm on board. And I don't think I've seen Eddy Barrows's work before, but I mostly liked his work here (outside of a few panels where faces are drawn a bit strangely - he's actually got a decent storytelling flow in his panel-to-panel work, and these days that makes up for odd design choices for me).<br /><br />Action comics was ... weird. Very 1990s - and not just because of Jurgens's involvement. It feels very much like a callback to the Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen storyline - a thought confirmed when I got to the ads in the back and saw the big two page "Reign of the Supers" ad in the back. Superman's dead and who will replace him? The genius in power armor? The strange visitor from a previous continuity? The ex-girlfriend who has somehow gotten super powers? A new teenager who calls himself Super-man? His cousin Supergirl? There are enough twists in there to make it an homage or an inspiration instead of a direct retelling or rip-off, but still really weird. And definitely very 1990s.<br /><br />I'm really sad that we're going to spend a bunch of time on retelling Wonder Woman's origin. Again. The decision to turn her into a distaff version of Hercules was a really bad one, so I can see why they'd want to walk it back. But no matter what Rucka does if the upcoming movie is any good that will become her definitive origin - cause that's how these things seem to work.Jerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10060430253113856206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-8203362969736971402016-06-13T12:25:29.354-07:002016-06-13T12:25:29.354-07:00The first Hawkman comic I ever read was Hawkman v3...The first Hawkman comic I ever read was Hawkman v3 #6. It was the culmination of all of the Hawkman plotlines that John Ostrander had slowly been stringing together over his 30+ issue run on "Hawkworld" and "Hawkman." It included body swapping, obscure characters like Bloodwynd and Eradicator, flashbacks to Hawkman's complex family history, and an unfamiliar villain who has never appeared before or since that storyline.<br /><br />I was ten years old at the time.<br /><br />I loved it. <br /><br />I reread that comic many, many times. All the continuity really enhanced the experience, it made it feel like there was a vast universe of Hawkman stories out there (because there was). I didn't know who Bloodwynd or Count Viper were, I didn't know why everyone's bodies were switched at first. But it really didn't matter. Years later I bought all of Ostrander's run on ebay and enjoyed it a lot.<br /><br />Maybe Ostrander is just a particularly gifted writer. But I've always been skeptical about claims that continuity makes it difficult for new readers, because I was a new reader once, and it didn't make it difficult for me. On the contrary, it enhanced the experience because it gave me way more to think and wonder about than a plain old done-in-one continuity-lite Hawkman comic ever would.<br /><br />I'm sure if I was ten right now I'd feel the same about Wonder Woman or Flash Rebirth.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14117393669183091751noreply@blogger.com