[Master Higgins]

Don't mind the small technical problems with Toby's mic for the first part of the podcast, it's all fixed by around the 20-minute mark. You'd think 73 episodes in we'd know what we're doing, but yeah. So, enjoy!

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[Roadie Brock]

Technical difficulties? You didn't do a mic check before we started.

[comicsanddakine]

Decent lists despite not putting your balls out there more on the conventional Top 5 of the New 52...here is mines bitches!!!
5. Justice League- Best thing about this book is keeping the Brave and the Bold trio of Bats, Hal and Barry front and center with the remaining shine left for WW, Supes, Aquaman and Cyborg.
4. Animal Man- Foreman rips a new one with his mad talent and Lemire zaps us with his wizardry of making an otherwise quikry, corny character-- shiny and new, like a virgin.
3. Catwoman- I cried when the New 52 took away my three, fave Bat-books in Secret Six, Batgirl and Sirens of Gotham. Thankfully we still had Winick and March to keep things Gotham.
2. Green Lantern- SINESTRO FOR PRESIDENT!
1. Wonderwoman- Chaing & Azz stole the show as top power couple of DC, as Lee and Johns clapped on.

Honorable mentions- Swamp Thing, Batwoman, Nightwing, and Fury of the Firestorms

The shitlist- Sure, there are crappier books BUT how could you fuck up these books that I was sooooooo hyped for??!!!
52. Hawk and Dove
51. Mr. Terrific
50. Deathstroke
49. JLI
48. Red Lanterns

[kenzo]

49. JLI
48. Red Lanterns

lulwut

[comicsanddakine]

49. JLI
48. Red Lanterns

lulwut

This was just to pull you on to the thread.

[LiQuid]

Not like you guys had much to lose, but -rep to all of you guys for having Justice League in your top 5's. I think there's some Comic Conspiracy hive mind going on here big time. The book is alarmingly mediocre. It's serviceable and has some great art at times but almost every Justice League member's solo book is better than JL itself.

[comicsanddakine]

Not like you guys had much to lose, but -rep to all of you guys for having Justice League in your top 5's. I think there's some Comic Conspiracy hive mind going on here big time. The book is alarmingly mediocre. It's serviceable and has some great art at times but almost every Justice League member's solo book is better than JL itself.

True on not having that much cred, but still--experiencing a JL book as if they just met now is a cool thing to take in--sure, it doesnt really take much risks but definitely decent for a gateway title into the better solo books (as you said).

[Toby]

Liquid, I actually agree. I was very reluctant to mention that book. I feel w/ that creative team, that book should have been far better. I'm just so far behind on my reading that I didn't' have anything to pick. I think I mentioned that book just because of the creative team alone.

[kenzo]

Not like you guys had much to lose, but -rep to all of you guys for having Justice League in your top 5's. I think there's some Comic Conspiracy hive mind going on here big time. The book is alarmingly mediocre. It's serviceable and has some great art at times but almost every Justice League member's solo book is better than JL itself.

This. I walk into the N52 expecting JL to be this amazing, life-altering experience thanks to the hype you guys threw out about it. And holy crap, is this book bad. Not even mediocre, but bad. Like, I don't even know the purpose of this book. It feels like it's there because we *have* to have a JL book, but nothing actually happens in it. You guys poo-poo'd JLI, but at least they went on some fuckin' adventures and stopped some fuckin' villains. JL spent the last what, 6 issues chasing ghosts (which were easily defeated with some silly vibrations) and hanging out with orphans. Terrible. Maybe this was a good book for you old guys, but for someone relatively new to comics like me - which the N52 was supposed to pull in - Justice League is a colossal failure. I'm going to pretend Earth 2 is the real Justice League because at least that feels like a honest-to-god team-up where guys are assembling for the first time and interesting shit happens in every issue.

[kenzo]

I have to agree with Toby, Red Hood doesn't really feel like a Batman book whatsoever. And that's fine because they're going on awesome space-adventures and hunting down primeval terrors. It's BETTER than a Batbook. But if you are going to lump it in with the other Bat-books, it has to be #1. Batman has basically spent the last year fighting zombies (gross/passe), Batwing is a badass but his story is super formulaic, Detective Comics and TDK has been riding coat-tails, Batgirl *still* has issues, Nightwing is fighting petty crime, Birds of Prey is good but not great (we should be past the "they are their own worst enemy" stage and forming into a better group by now), and who knows what is happening in Batman Inc (plus it's kinda ugs). The only thing that remotely holds a candle to Red Hood is Batman & Robin, but NOBODY EVEN TALKED ABOUT IT ONCE BECAUSE THEY'RE LOSERS. (Edit: OK - not really losers, but it's still disappointing that nobody remotely addressed this spectacular book, even in passing).

[Lopsidedown]

After the first arc, the only thing I've been interested in from the JL book is the Shazam story.
So yeah.. last week was a huge disappointment.

[LiQuid]

I like that the books under The Dark umbrella are almost universally enjoyed, I just wish more dudes on this podcast had the sack to give them their due. Good on Brock and Higgins for recognizing Animal Man and Swamp Thing, but Demon Knights deserves way more than what's basically an honorable mention slot from one dude. I hope you guys are actively trying to upsell that book in the store cause it needs help. If it gets shitcanned I'm going to totally cry. There are not enough books like that even on the market without getting into awful D&D license bullshit.

[Jaebird]

Incoming long-ass post!

Of the fifteen books I started reading when the rejiggering started, I only dropped five of them. Which, I guess, would easily make for my least favorite list.

Top Five Favorite Titles:
5) Batman -- I suppose one would expect this to be numero uno, but that would have felt too easy to say. While I am enjoying what Scott Snyder is doing, it's not without faults.

4) Supergirl -- I didn't think I would enjoy this book for it's slow pace, but I am. And while it is a rehashing of her origins, I do like how it's being handled, rather than jump ahead so that she's integrated into Earth's society.

3) Earth 2 -- Despite being only four issues in, this book gives me what I want from a superhero title, and a little more. And I absolutely LOVE Nicola Scott's artwork in this.

2) Worlds' Finest -- This was almost in Earth 2's place, but I find that Worlds' Finest fills in a spot left open by the Superman/Batman title. I do enjoy how Helena and Kara play off one another, and the flashback sequences by Kevin Maguire are great.

1) Aquaman -- To say "I never thought I'd put Aquaman as my #1 book" would feel very rote. But this title intrigued me since the first issue. Even though the writing felt a little routine for Johns, there was always something else to hook me into getting the next issue. And the art; Jesus H. Christ, Ivan Reis's pencils are gorgeous! And to keep it going on with no fill-in artist? Daymn.


My Five Least Favorite Books:
5) Batgirl -- As much as I enjoyed Gail Simone's Birds of Prey, this Barbara Gordon was just too depressing and uninteresting for me to continue reading. And that's not to say that a character has to be a paraplegic for me to want to read about him/her. But I just got so tired of her self-loathing about being in a wheelchair. And the villains were just as uninteresting as the book went on. I dropped this by #6 and haven't looked back.

4) Justice League International -- Yet another book that I lost interest in and dropped by #6. Sure, it started off kind of fun, but then it just meandered around into mediocrity. I think I'll stick with the older stuff.

3) Detective Comics -- This started off surprisingly good, in my opinion. But, just like the last two books, I grew bored of it.

2) Superman -- Holy lack of direction, Batman! I genuinely wanted to like this book, but it seemed like no one could figure out what to do with him. (Shocking.) And considering reliant this title was on whatever Grant Morrison was doing in Action Comics, I'm not surprised.

1) Birds of Prey -- Dear lord, this book was a mess. I still don't know what kind of story Duane Swierczynski wanted to tell with these characters, whom I wanted so much to keep reading about.

[Roadie Brock]

I like that the books under The Dark umbrella are almost universally enjoyed, I just wish more dudes on this podcast had the sack to give them their due. Good on Brock and Higgins for recognizing Animal Man and Swamp Thing, but Demon Knights deserves way more than what's basically an honorable mention slot from one dude. I hope you guys are actively trying to upsell that book in the store cause it needs help. If it gets shitcanned I'm going to totally cry. There are not enough books like that even on the market without getting into awful D&D license bullshit.

I always try to upsell Demon Knights when the opportunity presents itself. Demon Knights has been great, but the average Joe off the street might not be the best person to upsell to. Now if Average Joe gets hooked with some other 52 titles and wants more then I can upsell the shit out of Demon Knights.

[Quillon]

I've been far, far more excited by the new books Image has been putting out over the past year than by DC's New 52. Honestly, I'd say that Prophet, Glory, Thief of Thieves, Danger Club, Hoax Hunters, Planetoid and Fatale have all been better than any of the books in the New 52. Peter Panzerfaust, Saga, Hell Yeah! and The Manhattan Projects are good, too.

The only New 52 titles that I've been pleasantly surprised by have been Frankenstein, Batgirl and World's Finest. All the others have either been pretty much what I expected, or worse than that. I think I'd say Batgirl is the single best New 52 title.

I've already dropped Justice League, Animal Man, Justice League Dark, Stormwatch and Suicide Squad. Swamp Thing, Superman and Batwoman are probably the next on my cut list.

(I took the New 52 as an opportunity to drop the unreadable Legion book, and also to cut back to just the main Green Lantern title. Good jumping-on points for new readers are good jumping-off points for old readers! Crossovers are also good jumping-off points, so upcoming events may make me bail on Frankenstein and Green Lantern, too.)

Fundamentally I just don't feel that most of the New 52 really offered anything new. Mostly it's more generic superhero stuff, shuffling the proverbial deck chairs. Granted I've been reading comics since 1975 so it takes a lot to do something I haven't seen before. But most of these books are pretty character-free, which means to me they're mostly just people punching each other. And the plots aren't particularly clever.

Oh, and I've decided that I truly hate Superman's new costume. Hate hate hate.