The New 52: Catwoman, Deadman

Although at this point in time the new DC 52 are sort of the moderately scuffed DC 52, I still want to take a moment to weigh in with some comments. Particularly, Catwoman was held up as a reprehensible example of what would be wrong with the new comics. Well, I've read a lot of first issues and some second issues, and here's what we got generally.

1. These are not comics for new readers. If you don't know the DC universe, you will be so very, very lost. The idea that these comics are being rebooted to attract new readers is patently false. There is no set-up or characterization that marks these characters for you. You fall into the action, and you're supposed to figure out what's going on and why. Without that background, it is nigh unto impossible.

2. These are not comics for women or girls. I haven't seen a single one of the new 52 that portray women in an intelligent or developed way. You might hold up Batgirl as an example. We'll see. Because of number one above and number three below, the jury's still out. Most of the characters, not just women, are cardboard cut outs. Some of the characterizations are just horribly, horribly yucky. And I use that terminology as an academic.

3. These comics do not tell stories. The majority of these comics just sort of throw you in some punchy action, and hope you don't notice that the writing is just not there.

4. These comics clearly pander to adolescent male fantasy. Some of you might say what's new.

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Of course, these are generalizations, and are not true for each and every new 52 comic. I thought I'd give you a break down of a really good one, and a really bad one.

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Mirrored from Writer Tamago.