I feel like I post about comic frustration too much and should focus on positivity but where else can I go? I have become so disenchanted with the DCU lately. Between king’s Batman, Bendis’ Superman, and the go nowhere Justice League I have pretty much checked out of the DCU. There are always ups and downs in entertainment and you ride them out but I’ve never felt so many downs at once and for so long. It seems like the twice monthly books now take three times as long to resolve plots.
First, the last issue of Batman was a perfect example of how I feel about King’s run. I very much dislike some of his choices but hate his style most of all. Pages of lame dialogue and by the time you get to the final page the story hasn’t advanced at all from when you opened the cover. This is the most prolonged, pretentious, and self indulgent thing I have ever read.
JL has been going for 30+ issues and pretty much nothing has happened that wasn’t outlined in the the press release when Snyder started. Maybe new is that Luthor changed and J’Onn is gone but who believes that will last, a new made up cosmic character was awakened like a year ago, classic characters were used with no lasting impression and the world is STILL “marching toward doom”. I’m thankful for Jarro but I would trade him in for a plot resolution without thinking twice.
In my opinion, Bendis is better off ignored and maybe he will go away. It’s a shame that I find him in unreadable because the art seems great.
Obviously there’s Doomsday Clock taking years but now that I treat it like Elseworlds I am fine with it and look forward to binge reading when it’s over.
I think one of the only stories DC has resolved in a timely manner lately was HiC and I wish that one had never happened. And I guess WW found Themiscyra for like the 10th time since I started paying attention.
This isn’t crazy nerd rage it’s just that something that used to be so fulfilling has become so disappointing.
And the fact that “Bat” “Cat” exists in alternate timelines makes me hope the heroes lose the next Crisis.
I haven’t read King’s run (or any Bat-title since before Rebirth), but I think I know how you feel. I just noticed a recommended page on Facebook, an article regarding the soon-to-be-revealed details about the Three Jokers, and how it’s gonna be so big!
But I don’t care about the Three Jokers. I don’t care because the people in charge of DC keep talking a big game but delivering something either okay at best, or just sheer stupidity. They want us to get excited about this and that, but their recent history of failure in the dumbest ways possible prevents that. Oh, they may’ve managed a course correction here and there, but I for one remain unimpressed and uninterested.
There are those that manage what appears to be genuine eagerness. I don’t know how, other than either being ridiculously forgiving or being in the portion of the audience where the bigger screw-ups seldom affect characters they care about, but that’s speculation on my part.
Swite,
I see where you are coming from. Kong’s Batman has been dragging for months and for every good issue there are like 6 less then good ones. But Batman white night and Batman killing grave are both more mature and limited series so there will be a timely conclusion. I am really enjoying justice league. I was reading it as soon as it came out. But then I switched and started reading a few issues at a time and was much more satisfyied!
For the most part Synder’s Justice League is a fun and fulfilling read. But @SWhite you are so right about King and Bendis. At least with Batman we have Tomasi’s Detective Comics to turn to, but right now there’s no alternative to the Bendis debacle that is Superman. He seems to be establishing his own corner of the DCU with all the young heroes. Fine. Keep Bendis there and away from Supers and give the Man of Steel back to Tomasi and Jurgens.
I’ve heard that King’s limited Superman (Up in the sky, I think?) and Bendis’s limited Batman run (Batman Universe) are both pretty good. They just wrapped up so it won’t be long before they’re either available here or on sale in TPB.
Totally get how you feel after reading Batman 84. I was going to snap my phone in half after I got to the end and realized that an issue that had “THE BATTLE FOR GOTHAM’S SOUL” was nothing but crappy backstory for Thomas Wayne. Let’s just be happy that Tynion’s picking up the Batman title in January, and he’s taking the character in a much better direction.
I do like JL and Snyder wrote some of my favorite Batman stories but I’m just ready for some kind of payoff to this story. And I’m kind of frustrated because it seems like it will just keep going with Year of the Villain and the inevitable sequel. Let’s get some resolutions and let the heroes relax for a minute. Everything is an event within the ongoings now. When you’re constantly in a state of crisis it’s not a crisis anymore it’s just the norm. I miss downtime stories.