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Friday, September 20, 2013

Comic Hype: DC Comics Villains Month My Feet Hurt

DC Comics Villains Month gets a lot of slack for its 3D cover debacle and DC itself is under fire for so many talented writers leaving due to fighting with unnamed editors. The problem for me is the terrible writing and problems with when things take place time wise. Some of the issues really have no connection to the overall story at all. There's been two or three titles that I've enjoyed. Off the top of my head, Lobo #1 for a new, heart throb Lobo claiming to be the real Lobo and Gorilla Grodd # 1 for how silly it was. The main story unfolding in Forever Evil of an evil version of the Justice League called the Crime Syndicate taking over the world after a build up in the pages of the Justice League got me excited. A supposed fight with the Justice League's arch villains, the Injustice League, should look amazing. We aren't there yet.

Getting to that point is like stepping on glass just like John McClane in Die Hard 1, each new tie-in issue, each new worthless story arch is another deep cut into my feet trying to get to the big fight. It's a bloody mess.

Not only do some of the issues of villains month take place before it even started or have bizarre origin stories proving how "bad" villains are some take place in space with no connection to Forever Evil at all. You have Mongul and Braniac stories when neither has met Superman or Green Lantern. That's right, since it's the New 52 and DC comics reset everything these characters have now never met? So weird, why even mention them to new readers, new readers haven't even had a chance to discover them fluidly in the pages of the books their reading.

The most recent new problem is new tie-in series like Arkham War or Rogue's War. More glass to walk over stories, cutting me deeply. Stories no one wanted and have little build up or reason to exist. DC could have done a great job just showcasing the Forever Evil arc in the pages of the Justice League and showing what it means in a world without heroes, showcasing stories about the people that surround that hero, thoughtful tales about the villains and what they would do in a few of the books.

No, we get a day in the life, or kill everything around me or here's my origin. Most of the stories don't seem to involve anything to push the story forward. A few stories that were well-thought out and really tie-in to the story could have been made, but weren't and not every character needs a spotlight. If the writer behind the title thinks so they'll write that story, forcing them to do a feature or having someone else write a feature on a villain for a one-shot has been the worst crammed out results I've ever read. I'll be picking glass shards from my feet until Forever Evil is collected into a trade paperback, until then forget reading DC for the next few months.