Wednesday Comments – Saying Good-Bye To (Some) Comics

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I read a lot of comics. Actually that’s not 100% accurate; I buy a lot of comic books. Every week I run though the new comics that I’m looking forward to the most and set the others aside to pile up. Eventually when that pile gets too large, I tackle it.

But to be fair that pile is getting larger and I’m looking forward to tackling it less and less. So I figured that maybe it should be time to drop some books. If I’m no longer enjoying the books they need to go, right?

It’s just not always that simple.

For instance there are three books that I’m not really loving at the moment, but I’m probably going to stick with them, for political reasons. Birds of Prey, Catwoman and Batwing are three books that are never on the top of my weekly “must read” list. Both Batwing and Catwoman have suffered since Judd Winnick left them and Birds of Prey just seems to be meandering on a monthly basis.

But I want to show DC that books featuring Black and female leads will sell. I’m a fan of diversity and while DC’s track record isn’t perfect, they deserve credit for trying. And not only do Catwoman and Birds of Prey feature female leads, but they’re both written by women, which is an added bonus.

There are other books that are on much thinner ice. These are book that I feel a loyalty to, no matter how misguided that may be. These books include Suicide Squad, Legion of Super-Heroes, Red Hood & the Outlaws, Teen Titans, Constantine and Batman: The Dark Knight. And for some that ice is thinner than others.

Case in point; Suicide Squad and Batman: The Dark Knight are as good as done in my book. Batman: The Dark Knight. I really thought Suicide Squad was going to fill the Secret Six void in my life, but it fell extremely short. And Batman: The Dark Knight I just pick up out of habit because it’s Batman, but it’s my least favorite Bat book, so it’s got to go.

I buy Legion of Super-Heroes because I’ve been a fan of the group for years and because of that I’ll probably stick around despite not really being a huge fan of what Levitz has been doing lately.

I loved Young Justice. Cassie, Bart, Kon and Tim had some incredibly fun adventures and I was happy to be along for the ride. That’s why I still buy Teen Titans; I hope that magic will return to the characters. It’s also the only place I can see Bart on a monthly basis, so realistically I’m not going anywhere.

I really want to enjoy Red Hood & the Outlaws (which is another book I was hoping would give me my Secret Six fix.) Sadly, it went from tolerable to disappointing. Since the book is getting a new creative team, I’m going to give them a chance to correct course, but I’m ready to bolt.

And I’m really torn about Constantine. I jumped onto Hellblazer just before the halfway mark of the series, I was invested enough to be really sad when it got cancelled. Part of me wanted to boycott Constantine on principle alone, while I was equally curious about what John’s adventures in the DCU would be like.

So far Constantine hasn’t been perfect (it’s not even a pale imitation of Hellblazer) but it also hasn’t been truly horrible either. For the time being I’ve accepted that it’s a different beast than it’s predecessor, so I’ll allow it to grow and find it’s footing. For the time being.

Of course there are other comics that I went out on a limb and tried something new. I thought I’d give Demon Knights a chance because I was curious about seeing some of the origins of the DCU. I enjoyed it when Paul Cornell was writing, now, not so much. I’m officially done.

I was equally curious about Threshold. As a longtime fan of L.E.G.I.O.N. and Green Lantern, I enjoy a good space opera. I’m also a fan of Keith Giffen. It’s just that Giffen seems to be trying a bit too hard with this title. It feels too forced. I really don’t know how much longer I’m going to be sticking around.

And last but not least, I’m dropping Action Comics until DC can get it’s act together.

So, yeah, my pull list is getting smaller. Feel free to offer up some suggestions of books you think I should be picking up. I’ll probably devote next week’s column to “new” stuff.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday; go out and buy some fresh new comics.