The State of the DCnU – Part One

With the release of Justice League #1 on August 28, DC officially launched its sparkling new universe for the masses to behold and begrudge.  Can you believe it’s been over a month already?  Me neither.  Why, it feels like just yesterday I was reading plagues of blog comments, all lambasting the relaunch as a strategy of desperation, most predicting doom and futility were inevitable and only a matter of time.  Actually, I think I did just read some of those yesterday.

But even the naysayers can’t deny what a huge move this has all been for the publisher.  And with all 52 new titles now released, it’s time to make a brief progress report on how all these efforts have panned out, creatively.

An in-depth analysis would take too long and probably wind up incomplete anyway, so let’s just stick to the highlights.  DC prudently took a “If it ain’t broke…” position in regards to titles that were already working, meaning almost anything with a bat or lantern on it.  In fact, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps pretty much picked up where they left off in the old universe, and they even retained their original creative teams.  This makes them dependable staples in the DC roster, but also a little unexciting in comparison to their revamped peers.

Even a classic like Batman benefitted tremendously from fresh writing and art, a fact which leads to my next point: novelty.  No one doubts that a substantial part of DC’s current success lies simply with the newness of it all.  Even those who scoff at the whole shindig can’t resist flipping through a #1 issue, just to see if it’s as terrible as they predicted.  And likely as not, they end up, if not captivated, then fascinated by the dynamically different takes on familiar properties.

Some characters seem completely revitalized under the “New 52” banner, gaining widespread attention in the process.  Suddenly, they’ve found themselves a large, new audience not only willing, but eager to read them: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash.  And we’re talking about longtime, iconic heroes.  When you read the titles, you’ll see they haven’t been radically reconceptualized.  So what’s made them so popular now?

It appears that DC has made a much stronger effort to allow creators to work on projects that genuinely interest them.  Take Wonder Woman as an example.  Brian Azzarello told CBR how, repulsed by some of the ideas Dan Didio pitched for the character, he passionately (well, assertively) suggested his own vision for where Wonder Woman should go.  Lo and behold, Azzarello got the gig, got paired up with former collaborator Cliff Chiang, and now Wonder Woman’s highly considered to be one of the series to beat for the year.

Aside from those kinds of dramatic successes, I’m most impressed with the solidity of DC’s lineup of B-titles.  If you take for granted that both Marvel and DC have their handful of pop hits, often dividing the monthly top ten evenly between them, then one likely reason for Marvel’s constant dominance is the consistently strong sales of its middleweights.  I read and reviewed a lot of DC’s lesser-known series pre-relaunch, and few of them really struck me as worthwhile.  Now, I’m somewhat overwhelmed by the number of titles that, despite falling short of greatness, nevertheless boasts a respectably high quality of writing and art.

Part of that is also due to their sheer variety.  While most of them come in various shades of action-adventure, you also have dedicated genre series from All-Star Western, I, Vampire, Demon Knights, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., pretty much the entire “Dark” line of books, which have really become a centerpiece statement for the potential of the new DCU.  When you consider that Animal Man and Swamp Thing are now standouts among the publisher’s offerings, being simultaneously popular, successful, and acclaimed—that really is quite an achievement.

Not everything’s coming up aces though.  You still have your dogs (e.g. Red Hood and the Outlaws) and even the most sales-heavy titles may not necessarily have a proportionate creative value (e.g. Justice League).  And of course, we’re still only in the infancy stages of the relaunch.  Its ultimate success will depend on the outcomes of the next few months.  More on the prospects for that later.

– Minhquan Nguyen