Conspiracy of Frustration

I know I've ranted before over my frustration over the changes that happened about 4 years ago at DC Comics.  And that I can't seem to let it go (No Singing!).  Apparently I'm not the only one.

Friday I came across this article at Bleeding Cool.  I think it sums it up very well.

Now, my friend John and I rarely saw eye to eye on comics.  But something he said about the original Crisis on Infinite Earths seems more fitting even now than when he first mentioned it.  He said that after the Crisis DC should have started over at that point with all of the books.  Now that may be what they tried to do with the New 52, but that is where I think they inadvertently hurt most of the long time readers.

In throwing away the old numbering it seemed they threw away the history of the company.  When they did Zero Hour a few years later they did a #0 issue, and I think it was the best intentioned of the plans.  It gave the "new" backstory of each character.DC did something similar tot he New 52, but waited about a year into the new run to do it.  If they had used that method again, I think it would have helped more.  Instead of throwing everyone into this mysterious universe where Superman and Shazam are very different, Batman and Green Lantern have hardly changed, and there's all these new heroes and villains, some created for the new universe and some brought over from Wildstorm, why not do a beginning introductory issue?

So anyway, this probably won't be my last rant, but it's good to know I'm not alone in my reasons.

Everything Ends

So recently, I have come to a conclusion: I really dislike DC Comics New 52.

I don't care for the changes in the costumes.  The lines and such that have been added to most of the heroes are reminiscent of the plethora of belts that were given to heroes and villains in the 80s and 90s.

I don't like the stories.  They aren't grabbing me like they used to.

And it really bothers me that DC got rid of so much of their history.  I know that some of these complaints may echo the feelings of others after the Crisis in 1985.  Then, they rebooted most of the heroes, got rid of a few, and moved on.  But I had been reading the old comics of and on before that, and I enjoyed the new stuff which eventually shifted back tot he old stuff again.  Kind of.

So, I've stopped collecting.

If there is another big change, I may look into it, but I'll read the reviews before I decide.

I am continuing with some of the hardback stuff.  I just got Batman: Earth One, and really enjoyed it, and I've preordered the second volume of Superman: Earth One.  Some might say that I'm contradicting myself because of the added lines in the costumes in these books, but the lines are seams and such that show up with the higher detail of the art.

Jennifer is curious to see what I'll do with the extra time now that I used to put into reading comics.  It's a good question.  Maybe, I'll get back into painting miniatures; I haven't really done much of that since the move.