52
Booster Gold... somehow I liked him better when he first came to my attention in the Justice League. Of course after Infinate Crisis Countdown I have found myself frequently missing the days of the old JL. You know, the one with Batman constantly throwing around Guy Gardner, the one where Ted and Booster wise cracked a mile a minute - back when Batman occasionaly made jokes and Max Lord was just an over glorified used car salesman. The days of Fire and Ice and Maxima. I miss those comics. Now I get Booster Gold: Mr. Advertisment. *gags*I know he's the guy we all love to make fun of but at least it wasn't so painful before.
Then there's Ralph. I know he's depressed, but c'mon, suicide? Not the Ralph I used to know. I was hoping that 52 (as much as I knew it was going to be depressing) would be showing us that world that the big three were so certain was being left in good
hands. Instead it is looking more and more like a Marvelized DC. This depresses me. I look to Marvel if I want grittier and more "realitic" (as the liberals put it) comics. DC is supposed to be the inspirational worldview - but apparently no one's told Dan Didio that.Oh well, at least the art is good and they've got plenty of issues to improve the story with. Until then I have the reassurance that Kurt Busiek is writing Action Comics.
Tomorrow I have to go fight many many werewolves so I'm not sure what time I'll get home to post. I hope everyone has a good weekend. I'll try to have more information about Project: Save Nightwing soon.
posted by Gwen at 12:20 AM
7 Comments:
Fighting Werewolves?
My Dad was a used car salesman.
As for 52, I have hope that we are seeing the beginning that would be a depressing and tough place after all that happened in Infinite Crisis and that the trials being suffered will result in more inspriational heroes.
I worried about the big three and they seem to have been fixed, so I think will the rest of the world. I will send you a new GA and let you read the newest issue to show how well DC is handling everyone.
I agree with Cshiana 100%. Black Adam, a murderer. Montoya, bed-hopping alcoholic with anger issues. Question, uber violent conspiracy theory nut. Dibny, suicidal stretchy guy. Booster, sellout from the future trying to use insider info to become a hero. Are these supposed to be people we look up to and care about? Why?? Can any of these losers become heroes? You know, I gave my nephew, age 11 at the time, my old Giffen/Demattis JL comics. He loved them!! He especially liked Booster and Blue Beetle. How could you not? Now he's 14 and I can't give him 52 to read. He wouldn't like it, that's for sure. We need heroes, not people who are so screwed up they can barely take care of themselves. My 22 year old nephew is a druggie. The other week he stole all the quarters out his 14 year old brother's change bank for weed. He called his brother at one in the morning, stoned, and said that he was trying to get the dog out of his bro's bedroom and the dog knocked the bank over and broke it. What a crock! Now, while I can be proud of this boy if he ever turns his life around, I will never trust him with my credit card number or leave him alone in my house unsupervised. Too much stuff turns up missing when he's around. Heck, his parents have to lock the door to their bedroom when they go to work for fear he'll get in there and steal jewelry. So is my nephew, very similar to these new "heroes", the stuff that legends are made of? Look at all the screwed up people passing for superheroes lately. Authority. Villains United. Mindwipers from ID Crisis. Ultimates. And now 52. Greg Rucka has said that each era gets the superheroes it deserves. So is this all we deserve? The scrappings from the bottom of the barrel who maybe can turn their lives around so they aren't total screw-ups? Don't we deserve better than alcoholics, drug abusers, wife beaters, philanderers, murderers, mindwipers, and guys trying to commit suicide as our heroes??
Now I agree that Black Adam and others of his ilk can never be true heroes, I do believe that Ralph can come thorugh this horrible time and still be an inspirational hero.
It is okay for a hero to overcome tradegy and flaws to be a hero, but you can't be a mass murderer and be a hero. Wolverine used to be heroic, he may have done some bad things, but for the right reasons. Now he is just the Punisher with enhancements. I can enjoy revenge fantasy stories and hard core action books, but a hero has to be a hero.
Almost now good inspriational all age hero books on the market anymore. Invincible, Blue Beetle so far and maybe one or two others, but very little (Superman right now is great).
The comic people will tell you there is no market for that book, but if you don;t produce that material you are killing off your next generation market before it begins.
Self fulling prophetcy.
I'm killing werewolves at D&D.
There is always hope for redemption - there has to be or you make the DCU more Marvelized then ever. It's just redemption only works at certain levels. To redeem Hal they had to make it clear that his actions previously were something ele's fault. Why? Because even though Hal saved the world in Final Night that ONLY redeemed him BECAUSE he supposedly died. No one is going to be able to accept Hal as a hero again unless his mass murder spree wasn't his fault.
Jim, I agree that Ralph can be redeemed. The greatest heros usually arise through tragedy. BGold can probably overcome his flaws as well - but criminals are NOT heros. They can find redemption to an extent, but it either needs to be through a life of penance work or they can do what Hal originally did and make it up in death - and try again next lifetime.
I am still hoping DC pulls through. They still have a chance, it's just that I worry.
You will worry more once you read 52 #2. I really enjoyed this book as an adult, but I think DC missed a huge opportunity. While rebuilding their universe, they could have also rebuilt their fanbase. They could have made 52 an all ages introduction to the new DCU. A weekly book for only $2.50 could have done quite well. But this book isn't suitable for anyone under 14 and even that's pushing it. I've been told that I just have to accept the fact that kids don't read comics anymore, kids don't want comics anymore, comics arent' for kids anymore and there's no way to get kids back into the hobby. Everyone tells me this, but I think it's pretty sad that there will never be another little girl who grew up in a comic book store.
You're wrong - the people who own the store out here in Brandon have a little girl who was born when her parents already had the store. There's probably not as much for her to read out there, but she does know her superheroes :)
I think kids can still get into comics - I had a friend borrow Mouse Guard to read to the little kids he teaches. Hopefully the industry will get better. Probably not with 52 though :(
I will write another post tomorrow - killing all those werewolves tired me out :)
Glad to hear I'm wrong. Still, it's very disheartening to see a group of about 8 12 year olds come into the shop, all with gift certificates from a BD party, and not one of them bought a single comic. And the dollar bin was right there too!!
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