DC Comics New 52 – Buy, Borrow or Burn

DC Comics’ universe shaking reboot has come and gone. You’ve no doubt read all of the reviews by our Comic Book Team Scott, Jason and Brian right here. Now it is time to find out which #2’s  you should keep on, add to or delete from your pull-lists at your local comic book shop.

We are going to make this simple, books will be split into three categories: Buy, Borrow and Burn. The Buy category should be obvious these are the books we will be buying ourselves. Borrow, are books that are worth keeping up with, but you can just as easily check out your friend’s copy and save yourself the $2.99. I think Burn is quite obvious as well, but these are the books to keep you warm during the long winter months in a roaring fire.

Since we all didn’t agree on every book, judging was very diplomatic. To get into a category there had to be a majority vote, when there was not a majority vote the difference was split to Borrow. To help matters even more for your wallet, we have picked our top 6 Buys, Borrows and Burns and some supporting arguments. Disagree with the verdict of a book? Leave a comment and your reasoning why it is or is NOT worth the $2.99 cover price (or $3.99 in the case of Justice League, Action Comics and All-Star Western).

Scott’s Picks:

Top 2 Buys:

‘Action Comics‘ – This is one of the freshest takes on Superman that I’ve seen in a long while. It feels modern and classic at once and will appeal to people who aren’t normally fans of the big blue Boy Scout.

‘All-Star Western‘ – I knew that this would be one of the sleepers of the New 52 but I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. This is a great book whether or not you’re a fan of westerns.

Top 2 Borrows:

‘Resurrection Man‘ – A great mix of supernatural and horror that will entice both superhero fans and fans of Vertigo-style titles. The first issue wasn’t perfect but it should be interesting to see where it goes.

‘Superman‘ – It’s a modern take on Superman but the first issue didn’t have the humor and excitement necessary to carry the title for long. A new creative team (which is on the way with issue #7) could make this a must-buy.

Top 2 Burns:

‘Voodoo‘ – This book is a generic cheesecake book with only a skeleton of a story to hold it together. It should serve as nothing more than packing paper for shipping better comics.

‘Batman: The Dark Knight‘ – This book managed to make Batman boring and that’s quite the feat since Bruce Wayne is one of the more interesting characters in the DCU. It is even more depressing than Voodoo because at least that book had a bad character at its center.

Jason’s Picks

Top 2 Buys:

‘Batwoman‘ – If you’ve read any of my reviews, my top picks should be no shocker; it is really kind of obvious!  This book just makes me giddy with how good it is! The GENIUS J.H. Williams has a lifelong fan in this reviewer. If I could only read one comic book EVER again, it would be this one by a mile.

‘Aquaman‘ – There are so many books I thoroughly enjoyed, but I have to give the number two buy slot to my boy, Aquaman! His newfound success is sweet karmic justice to us loyal Aqua-fans.

Top 2 Borrows:

‘O.M.A.C.‘ – I was pleasantly surprised by the lowbrow carefree tone of this book. It is just a big blue guy beating stuff up. Inanimate objects, crazy robots, it doesn’t matter; yet it’s refreshing after so many of the brutally violent books in this reboot.

‘Suicide Squad‘ – I’m going to shock some people, but I didn’t hate ‘Suicide Squad’ the way so many others did. Yes, I hate Harley Quinn’s skanky outfit, but other than that, I actually found the first issue intriguing, so I’ll at least check out the second and see where things go from there.

Top 2 Burns:

‘Red Hood and the Outlaws‘ – I would rather have had someone take ‘Red Hood and the Outlaws,’ roll it up and whacked me in the face repeatedly with it, than have subjected my poor eyes to that garbage.  It was the most offensive thing I read in the whole New 52.

‘Hawk & Dove‘ – This book is the just plain lazy, a seven year old could have come up with a more compelling book.

Brian’s Picks:

Top 2 Buys:

‘Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.‘ – This book flat out rocked. Who doesn’t want to see one of the world’s foremost mythical monsters possibly battling it out with the likes of Superman? Not to mention the great artwork in this book, it’s super creepy and “off” like a good horror book should be.

‘Green Lantern Corps‘ – Finally there is one Green Lantern book getting on with protecting and serving the Galaxy. Since the GL Universe really didn’t reboot, I’ll be interested to see what if any fall out there is from John Stewart killing Mogo, the living planet Green Lantern, at the end of War of the Green Lanterns this past summer.

Top 2 Borrows:

‘Superboy‘ – If only to see what happens with the Boy of Steel, as he is created by the mysterious N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and how he will eventually end up joining the Teen Titans.

‘Static Shock‘ – You should probably hurry I’m not sure what the shelf life is on the new Static book, but it is fun to read and you get to learn a little bit about the science of electricity while you’re at it.

Top 2 Burns:

‘Green Arrow‘ – Like how many people have complained about Aquaman being a simple character that is hard to write, the same can be said for the Emerald Archer. J.T. Krul just came off a pretty good run on Green Arrow that was unfortunately disrupted by Brightest Day. Seeing Oliver Queen as the superhero, Steve Jobs with a quiver of arrows was boring and not at all interesting.

‘Legion of Super-Heroes‘ – If you you’re not going to do a reboot right, don’t do one at all. Legion of Super-Heroes is the same old legion with all the same problems that plagued the last two volumes of DC Comics’ super-team of the future.

Buy:

Borrow:

Burn:

The Damage:

Between the three comic book geeks here at ScienceFiction.com the break down of Buy, Borrow & Burn works out to:

17 Buys, 21 Borrows and 14 Burns