Today, DC released details on eight new #1's - here are some early thoughts, a nice mix of positive and negatives (from someone who's sour on the whole project):
Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang: I'll buy most anything drawn by Cliff Chiang,and while I've not been keen on everything I've read by Azzarello, I trust him to deliver quality stories and a unique perspective on our favorite Amazon. It just remains to be seen exactly what will done with her.
Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis: I was incredibly excited about this before the whole reboot was announced, and I see no reason to change that; given the cover's references to the corpses-of-the-sea from Brightest Day, I trust any revamp past that will be minimal.
The Flash #1 by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato: Manapul quickly became my favorite Flash artist with his fresh work on the last run, but I'm not sold on the chinguard--please ditch it.
The Fury of Firestorm #1 by Ethan van Sciver, Gail Simone, and Yildiray Cinar: Creative team is very interesting--Simone rocks, of course, and teaming up with van Sciver will be interesting--and Cinar's work on Legion has been amazing. I like the suggestion that Jason and Ronnie will each have an individual Firestorm "look" for some reason, so I can't say I'm happy with the overblown "composite" look.
The Savage Hawkman #1 by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan: Daniel's work writing Batman has been OK but not great, and Tan is very up and down for me--this one is a true unknown. Definitely don't like the tweaks in the costume (a complaint which will run through this post, unfortunately), too much metal (and again with the chinguard).
Green Arrow #1 by JT Krul and Dan Jurgens: Not a big fan of Krul's current GA run (or the debacle which led to it) but maybe this will be a fresh start. Jurgens is always nice to see, though sometimes he can lack a certain dynamic (for example, his run on Nightwing with Marv Wolfman). Again, too many superfluous highlights and tweaks on the costume.
Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti: "A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime"? Really? Too bad it can't simply flow from their recently wrapped series, which was a lot of fun. Glad to see Lopresti on it, the best of the several artists from that book, but surprised to see Jurgens writing it rather than Winick--but at least he knows Booster (and we've yet to see if Booster gets a new series or not). Couple small complaints: 1) Batman don't get drafted by no one. 2) More superfluous tweaks to Booster's outfit (see my last post on "change for the sake of change"). 3) Who is the woman in the lower left? Gypsy? (I only guess that because her JLA-Detroit temmate Vixen is present, which I like.)
Mister Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson: Long overdue--the current Mr. Terrific has deserved a series of his own for years (as has the current Dr. Mid-Nite). But Wallace doesn't fill me with confidence based on Titans, and though I never loved the old costume, I like this new one even less. (Wacky as it was, I loved Terry Sloane's costume--sue me.)
Captain Atom #1 by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II: I love that Nate is getting his own series, but Krul still is a wild card with me and Williams is up and down (liked him on Robin but not on JSA All-Stars--but that may have been due to having to cram the huge cast into the book, resulting in very busy-looking pages). Hate the wispy hair-thing going on--works for Firestorm, not for you, Cap. The silver shell with the red and blue was an incredible look, and I will truly miss it.
DC Universe Presents #1 featuring Deadman by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang: No qualms about this. 1) I love anthology books. 2) Jenkins is fantastic (though I'd like to see him on Captain Atom instead). 3) Chang is great and underrated. 4) Deadman is awesome.
Soon we should see details on Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern titles, as well as Teen Titans and Legion... keep your fingers crossed!
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