TheOptimist

@aztek_the_lost said:

@jloneblackheart: the question is, do you have a Jeff Lemire bias or is your opinion worth anything :P

What do you think of the other books he writes for The New 52?

I admit to a Lemire bias myself (Animal Man is one of my favorite books and I adore Sweet Tooth), but nevertheless I have to echo jloneblackheart that Justice League Dark #9 was the best issue so far... it has been one of my favorite comic books published this whole month, actually.

DC COMICS

MAR120272	AMERICAN VAMPIRE #27 (MR)	$2.99 MAR120216	ANIMAL MAN ANNUAL #1	$4.99 MAR120188	BATMAN ANNUAL #1 (NIGHT OF THE OWLS)	$4.99 MAR120236	BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #4	$3.99 MAR120157	RAVAGERS #1	$2.99
MARVEL COMICS
MAR120618	WOLVERINE #307	$3.99 MAR120541	WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #11 AVX	$3.99

@nickzambuto said:

Joker cut off his own face?

Detective Comics #1. His face: Also seen on the cover of Suicide Squad. (And he had assistance.)

@batmanary said:

@AweSam said:

I hope they avoid Joker as long as they can. He's awesome and all, but Batman needs new villains. Joker storyline are all overused and old.

QFT. Focus on other villains, and then when Snyder's run ends, bring in Joker to create a finale before a new writer takes up the reins.

Further QFT. I think the absence of Joker right now (as well as the subtle tension afforded by that absence) is one of the things that is making the Bat universe shine... Joker will of course make a reappearance, but the longer they hold off from using him, the more potency that appearance will have. In a twisted sense, the absence will make the heart grow fonder (or the potential of the character more volatile). I think they're playing a long story game with the character too, and that'll pay off well.

@Mercy_ said:

Morrison is pretty clearly writing in the old continuity. Don't try and piece what happens in Batman INC. into the DCnU, you're just gonna get a migraine.

I tried so hard. I wanted it to fit like a nice neat puzzle... I wish I had had your advice pre-reading of issue #1... my migraine still won't go away.

@Twentyfive: I think the real question is less about whether the character can sustain a title and more about when the character can sustain a title.

Unfortunately, the character has hit a touch of lull for the moment and I fear that if they attempted to launch him in a regular series it would fall as flat as Static did...

The character needs to return to attention in another form, as he did during the (relatively) recent popularity swing afforded by his membership in the Meltzer JLA... even then, mini-series sales were not fantastic, but it came just a touch out of sync from the fan wave... again, its all about timing.

I would certainly entertain buying one, but it would take a really great hook for them to be able to sell it cold turkey without that wave of fandom behind it...

And that isn't due to the character being black or not a Bat... fact is, the reason why we have so many Bat books is because they pulsed it right that people were riding a Bat-high... people wanted it. They'll eventually fade out and then back in again (historically this happens pretty frequently)... what they've got to be able to do is watch the pulse of what is exciting fans in the off moments... and they can't do that by just spray firing at everything... Red Tornado is similarly a character that could not support a title... that character earned a ton of fan support at the same time as Jefferson during the JLA run, but because they delayed for some time before putting out a Tornado mini, it ended up tanking far lower than the potential afforded at the peak moment.

Timing, and a decent hook.

@evilvegeta74 said:

It's a trick to bring more sales to the JL title. Shazam fans have to buy that title just to keep up with the character. This is totally unfair when Batman has at least 7 titles and 4 associated, while everone else is suffering because their favorite titles are being cancelled.

I actually have to disagree there... I don't think that there is a sizable community of Shazam fans that are buying the book that would not be otherwise... I of course have no evidence for this, and your presence provides at least one counterpoint to that... but the sales figures pre-Shazam feature and post are not really indicative that the addition has been a substantial draw... I actually see it as the opposite, attempting to give Shazam a larger audience through the exposure of the backup feature that will then make the inevitability of the character receiving his own title a little bit more feasible by drawing some of those readers along for the ride...

@x_29 said:

Angry feminist female character who can be a bit of an annoying man-hating ----.

I was with you until the last word... I mostly don't like those characters when there isn't some form of rational, open minded but still just as strong female to counter balance the other to illustrate that feminism isn't all about hating men...

My goodness no... there have been plenty of awful X-men stories... Schism just seems to have that reputation because of how recent it is... if anything, it is most in jeopardy of simply being forgotten in time, rather than remembered as being particularly awful... even in the most glorious of glory days, there is always some form of bad X-Men story being written...

(And I like the Chuck Austen run! Albeit from a semi-giggly standpoint...)

Justice League Dark has been great and with the most recent issue bumped up another notch, in my opinion...

I Vampire really is quite awesome and its nice to see so many other people that feel the same way... hopefully people will continue to give it a chance, the Rise of the Vampires arc gave it a much needed stabilizing shot...

Resurrection Man really caught me off guard... I started out kinda 'meh' on it, and then out of nowhere it ramped up to score one of my favorite spots of a month and has since really held my interest.

Blue Beetle was the same for me... I really wasn't feeling like it was living up to its potential and then it smacked me with a really solid issue.

@noj said:

@RoboShark: How has Frankenstein been? To be honest thats one of the titles that I totally forgot existed after the first couple of months of the New 52

Frankenstein is being transferred to a new writer, Matt Kindt, starting with next month's issue, so we'll see where it goes from there... it certainly has occupied a semi-wackier side of the universe, albeit one that I greatly enjoyed... one of the most recent issues featuring the "Spawn of Frankenstein" got me surprisingly emotional (I know, right?) and I think the character is pretty darn sick.

Hamill is the voice that I hear whenever I think of the Joker. Even with Ledger's absolutely brilliant portrayal, which I'd tentatively call "better" the Hamill version is the one that'll stick with me forever.

And that laugh... God that laugh... so good.