We took a look at the New 52 after it launched, and found that a few absolutely excruciating missteps aside, it was actually pretty good. But it’s now five months later, we’ve had some time to see where the books are going…and we know which ones are the best.
Well, all right, we have a subjective measure of which books are the best.
Here are the five books DC are putting out that if they’re not already on your pull list, they really should be.
Notable Mentions:
“OMAC”, because Kirby art tributes and Keith Giffen being snarky were two tastes we didn’t know could go so great together.
“Suicide Squad”, because it’s just as bleak and nasty as it should be.
“Swamp Thing”, which came back after a blah first issue and has found its feet.
#5) Batwoman
Worth the wait in just about every respect. J.H. Williams hands in some of the most gorgeous art in comics, and the writing is just as top-notch. By far the best Batbook of the reboot, and it remains a shame DC sat on this character for so long.
#4) Animal Man
What we love about this book is how Jeff Lemire manages to both capture a family realistically while simultaneously dropping something horrible, disgusting, and/or perverse on us every couple of pages or so. The body horror aspect of this works really well, since it deeply offends Buddy well beyond just the obvious.
#3) Demon Knights
We were skeptical that DC could deliver a straight-up swords and sorcery comic and make it anything other than “Heavy Metal” lite, but consider us converts: this story works and they’re willing to offer up some twists on the usual ideas. Even if we do miss Etrigan in the modern era.
#2) Aquaman
Geoff Johns is obviously upset over Aquaman becoming a pop cultural joke, and is doing his level best to fix it. Although Aquaman has had no shortage of interesting ideas and solid, even audacious plotlines over the years (remember when San Diego became the new Atlantis, and they opened that story with a drowned panda?), Johns actually succeeds in bringing Aquaman back to his Silver Age roots without making him lame.
#1) Wonder Woman
Wow. Holy crap.
Probably the most damning thing we can say about how DC has handled Wonder Woman is that only George Perez’s run is memorable for being good. The rest of the time it’s either blandness or “Amazons Attack!” level of awful. So we felt our eyes roll involuntarily when we heard this was a “horror comic”.
Well, first of all, it is. Secondly, it’s the best Wonder Woman since George Perez.
Brian Azzarello, no stranger to boring invincible heroes, takes the Greek mythology angle and runs with it. Only he’s playing the Greek gods not as underwear models spouting ye olde butcherede English but as the complete and total douchebags they actually are in myth. And it works. It works beautifully. This is the most compelling Wondy’s been since, well, ever, as Azzarello has changed her origin and given a lot of formerly stiff characters some actual painful flaws.
It’s great to see DC finally giving us some Wonder Woman worth reading.
How about you? What of the New 52 is your favorite?