DC 2005: Yay or Nay?

[CURSD BLADE]

So, now that we are almost a month out of 2005, its as good a time as any to look back and make a judgment of the year as a whole.

With all the new releases, new creative teams, different aproaches, and a line-wide crossover, what did you think of the year for DC? Yay or nay?

[bert]

So, now that we are almost a month out of 2005, its as good a time as any to look back and make a judgment of the year as a whole.

With all the new releases, new creative teams, different aproaches, and a line-wide crossover, what did you think of the year for DC? Yay or nay?


despite some decisions DC made that completely revolted me (the main one being the mischaracterization of Leslie over in the Batbooks.. tho "the rape" wasn't all that pleasant -- especially considering it wasn't really needed) . . DC had a stellar year.

Loved Countdown, Loved most of Identity Crisis, Loved the team on Wonder Woman, and 2 of the 3 Superman books.

LOVE Manhunter, the Vertigo books continue to impress. . . .

I'm buying way more DC than ever before.

[Bruce Wayne Jr.]

Big yay on my end. I've always been interested in the DC icons, but Infinite Crisis got me reading issue-to-issue just about all of their flagship titles. (Whether I stick around post-IC remains to be seen, however)

Call me a sucker for being so absorbed by the big event right now, but I couldn't be happier.

Edit: Don't wanna sell 'em short by not mentioning Seven Soldiers! The whole thing is very refreshing and I've enjoyed it all so far.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

YAy here as well. DC handed Marvel thier ass and made em come back for 2nds lol. ;)

The entire line except for Green Arrow and Willingham's Batman had moments of greatness. Darn shame how fare GA has fallen and all in this. But theres always hope that next year that Winick gets the boot.

I'll never forget Willingham's huge reason why Dr. Leslie Thompkins killed Stephanie Brown.

" She did it because she broke the hipprocratic oath ! "


Thats like saying " Wanna know why the grass is wet outside ? Its raining ! " or " See that Terrorist killing someone....he's evil ! " Part of this absurd reasoning and his line about askin us about those apples made me not buy anymore of the Fables TPB's. Guy could write good Fables. Its just he couldn't here.

[Kyuubi]

All Star
Villains United
Infinite Crisis


Hells Yay!

[MPagar]

2005 was a solid year. It felt like DC had a firmer grasp on what they were doing and what they wanted to do. Although all the crossover, major events started getting bothersome, I can't say that it hasn't payed off to a large extent with Infinite Crisis.

[Dave_F]

I'm not a regular here - just a dabbler who happened to be passing by - but I thought I'd throw in my two cents as a dissenting vote.

For me, 2005 was the year where I felt more out of touch with DC than ever before. I saw strong craftsmanship across the board, but as exemplified by IDENTITY CRISIS, I came to hate the increasing darkness, the emphasis on heroes losing to villains or winning only the most Pyrrhic of victories, the adult-themes (rape, torture, etc.) interjected into comics starring DC's most all-ages characters, and the general rise of event-driven storylines. And because large-scale events were driving storylines, it seems that few books were spared their influence. This made the line unpalatable to me as a whole, as pretty much any mention of Dr. Light or Sue Dibny was a reminder of the storyline that's so tarnished the current DC.

I still read a few DC books, I suppose. I don't like that the grounded GOTHAM CENTRAL is ending on a cosmic, Spectre-related, crossover note, but by and large the quality has remained high and the darkness of that book is a far better fit than darkness in the JLA. I also liked Gail's work with Byrne on ACTION, and I just peeked in on (and enjoyed) the latest BIRDS OF PREY - might do some backtracking on that. SEVEN SOLDIERS started out enthralling, but didn't have the follow-through to keep me interested. ALL-STAR SUPERMAN looks good, and I expect to stick with that. Not much else beyond those, though, outside of the Vertigo line (and I don't think we're really talking about that here).

In short, I've got zero love for anything that has the word "Crisis" in it. Even Gail's VILLAINS UNITED, which had some great moments, ended up not being my thing because the ending was so tied into The Big Picture. I know the audience for superhero books is probably 95% adults right now, and where a lot of folks are content with that as long as the lines continue to cater to 'em, I can't get over a feeling that something is very wrong - that the answer to selling more superhero books isn't to cater to the adults, but to find some way to expand the audience such that more all-ages material can be successful. And if we can't do that, I'd actually rather see DC (and Marvel) go away rather than go any farther astray from their original approach to superheroes.

So there's my playa-hata vote. I'll probably continue to find the odd fringe DC titles to read because I've sort of got superheroes in my blood, and I'll at least check out the approach to heroes after CRISIS.

Mostly, though, I feel 2005 was the year DC betrayed the superhero.

[TheSaltedSuperman]

I enjoyed about 85% of what I read of DC last year and despite some editorial decisions (making me pick up sacrifice so I could read the rest of OMAC), I was pretty pleased with what I was reading.

I think 2006 will be much better just because it seems that they are expirimenting with so many characters and ideas, but 2005 was a good year.

[The Humanist Hero]

And if we can't do that, I'd actually rather see DC (and Marvel) go away rather than go any farther astray from their original approach to superheroes.
Yeah, let's destroy something that other people are enjoying (as evidenced by this thread), just because you don't like it. :evilangry

Care to give me a list of stuff you enjoy so that I can wish it goes away if it's not something I care about?

[The Humanist Hero]

Yay to DC for me! :D

(Of course, since I only read comics in trade form, it will be a while before I'm actually caught up on all the good stuff mentioned in this thread).

[jerrymcl89]

I enjoyed most of what DC did in 2005. True, Identity Crisis ended with a bit of a whimper. True, 'War Crimes' was really crappy. True, a fair amount of Crisis tie-ins were a waste of time. But in general, I was pretty happy with things. I thought all the Crisis minis were enjoyable (VU and DoV were really good, the other two were okay), and I think Infinite Crisis has so far been shaping up as about as good as one of these types of mega-crossovers can be.

I also think DC did a decent job of providing alternatives for people who aren't that into the Crisis, or the status quo of the major characters - the All Star books, Seven Soldiers, some pretty good non-continuity Batman stories, and a few good ongoing titles (BoP, Green Lantern, etc) that have mostly been allowed to do their own thing without worrying much about tie-ins.

[Dave_F]

Yeah, let's destroy something that other people are enjoying (as evidenced by this thread), just because you don't like it. :evilangry

Err, the intent is actually to return the genre to the all-age audience it was created for. I guess you could say I see it as a perversion of original-intent that, say, Superman is featured in rape stories. So in the same context I might say, "Gee, I wish they'd just pull the plug on CALVIN & HOBBES now that Bill Waterson's got the tiger saying 'fuck' constantly", I say I'd rather see DC dry up them continue on their current path.

If anything, I think that most adult fans are being selfish in dragging the superhero genre kicking and screaming towards grim realism, though I honestly suspect there's not a lot of cognitive thought that goes into their buying. They just buy what they like - perfectly understandable - but intentionally or not, they're demolishing one of the great all-ages concepts by patronizing adult-centric superhero stories.

It's a fairly unique situation - I can't think of any other genres in such a strange bind as to've been co-opted from one age group by another so completely.

[Yoda]

Err, the intent is actually to return the genre to the all-age audience it was created for. I guess you could say I see it as a perversion of original-intent that, say, Superman is featured in rape stories. So in the same context I might say, "Gee, I wish they'd just pull the plug on CALVIN & HOBBES now that Bill Waterson's got the tiger saying 'fuck' constantly", I say I'd rather see DC dry up them continue on their current path.

If anything, I think that most adult fans are being selfish in dragging the superhero genre kicking and screaming towards grim realism, though I honestly suspect there's not a lot of cognitive thought that goes into their buying. They just buy what they like - perfectly understandable - but intentionally or not, they're demolishing one of the great all-ages concepts by patronizing adult-centric superhero stories.

It's a fairly unique situation - I can't think of any other genres in such a strange bind as to've been co-opted from one age group by another so completely.

It's just as equally possible that the shift towards more complex and mature stories is the only thing that has allowed the superhero comic to survive.

That said I think that 2005 was banner year for DC. So a resounding Yay from me.

[Dave_F]

It's just as equally possible that the shift towards more complex and mature stories is the only thing that has allowed the superhero comic to survive.

That's not only possible, but probable.

Of course, I was opining that maybe survival wasn't what I was rooting for anymore. That's perhaps overly harsh, though. I do love superheroes, and the survival of Marvel/DC at least keeps them alive for younger kids via ancillary products: video games, toys, cartoons, and movies. It's a shame the core material - the comics themselves - so rarely resembles the ancillary stuff, but maybe things will change when rising technology (downloadable comics, digital books, etc.) broadens the potential comic audience beyond the adult-centric confines of the comic shops.

[Guts/Batman]

With all that has encompassed with Infinite Crisis has been a resounding Nay from me. With the exception of Villains United and some good single issues, IC has been disappointing since Sacrifice.

I loved it at first...but I can't say that now.

But as for the rest of the non-IC related stuff. Big yay here. Great stuff coming out of the creative teams not bound to Infinite Crisis.

But this wasn't news coming from me, was it?

[Azrael52]

I'm the first to say this, but I'm a story-whore. I love the big picture that DC had. I love all the little stuff that's put into each series that lets you know that these heros aren't in a vaccume. They are all in the same universe, and DC celebrates that.

Countdown, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, all their Minis and tie-ins, Rebirth, etc., etc., etc. Oh, they so rocked!

Things not to applaud:
War Crimes
Ruin Revealed (though, I liked the story, just not who it turned out to be).