Joshrector
Name: Josh Rector
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Reviews
If this first issue of the Lee/Johns Justice League is meant to be the mission statement for the new DCU,…
Read full review and commentsSo we’ve reached the end of Blackest Night… and I’m disappointed to say that this issue gave me the same…
Read full review and commentsNow this is a unified direction I can get behind. Since the X-men made the move to San Francisco there…
Read full review and commentsAll reviews by Joshrector
But who knows. As amazing as I think The Unwritten is, I feel like it doesn't have the same buzz that Y or Ex Machina had by this point in their run. (even though it's just as good.) I mean I'm shocked more people don't go crazy over how good DMZ is, and that's starting it's closing run soon.
But it also kind of depends on how the DC/Vertigo trade department decides to do things. I love my Preacher, Y, and Ex Machina hardcovers. But at the same time I'm flabergasted that Transmet isn't getting the same treatment. (seriously, the book is even written in five twelve issue movements.. tailor made for five hardcovers.) I'd love 100 Bullets hardcovers... but I have a bad feeling that the idea of committing to 10 or so hardcover volumes is a little bit too much in this marketplace. (although seriously... I'd kill people to see these made.)
And there are a few early candidates out there, (a lot of which Jim mentioned in the article), but it's early yet. I mean I thought JMS Supreme Power was set to be a modern classic... and that clearly didn't happen. (althogh I still love my two Supreme Power Hardcovers.)
@paulmontgomery " Is it the best choice for satisfying new readers who just started with this story line? Probably not."
@kennyg "Continuity is a harsh mistress. Sometimes, a story is written so anyone can read it, with no real continuity restraints."
Both of these things are definitely true, but I think there's a larger problem inherent to DC's continuity obsession. It's that the stories are so consumed with DC history, that they fail to be about anything else on a thematic level.
While I may not have been around for Pre-Crisis DC, I've been a DC reader since Grant Morrison's JLA run in 1996 fifteen years ago. So I'm very aware of the history and storylines that Brightest Day is working off of. I've read all of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, I've read all of Green Lantern, Blackest Night and everything that has tied into Brightest Day... so it's not an issue of being lost in plot complications. I understand all the moving parts of Brightest Day's mystery story. But as it stands right now Brightest Day wasn't about anything. There were head fakes towards a few things. Life, love, rebirth etc... but I wouldn't say the story was about any of them.
Ultimately it seems like Brightest Day was an exercise in getting certain characters to certain places to enact a new status quo in the DCU publishing line. That's it. So why am I supposed to care? It doesn't matter if I know the history of Aquaman, or the Hawks or Swamp Thing going into this story... I need a reason to care. And that's where so many of DC's stories these days fail for me. They're written as if I already care about all of these characters. I know almost everything about Aquaman's history... but Brightest Day failed to give me a reason to care whether or not he lives, dies or gets what he wants. What are the stakes in a story like this? Sure the world might end, but that's an abstract concept. If I don't care about anyone in this world, why do I care if it ends? If these stories are just about mythology building without any relation to larger themes in real life... what do I actually get out of reading them?
I mean, Chinatown was a plot heavy mystery story. But it gave me reasons to care about J.J Gites and Evelyn. The plot is about a mystery but the story is about the breadth of corruption in our world.
This is all basic elements of narrative stuff. And if a story doesn't have these things it doesn't matter how thorough a recap page is. Knowledge of continuity does not make up for lack of heart.
It feels like once again DC has made the decision to find it's storyies by traveling further and further up their own history. And as someone who wasn't around during the silver age or even the pre-crisis DCU... everytime I see another example of this it feels like everyone at DC shouting at me "You're not part fo our special club! Go away!" Which is a shame because I'd love to read some good DCU stories... but everytime I try I feel like DC doesn't want me as a reader.