Wednesday Comics - Jeez I want to read these so bad!

[detourne_me]

So CBR just put up an interview with Didio about Wednesday Comics, as well as a lot of preview art (including 2 Kamandi pages!!!)
Wow,Wow,Wow!  I'm super impressed at the format and the talent coming out of this.  I'm just sad I won't be able to get the issues as they come out.  I'll have to wait for a giant sized trade. (hardcover of course!)

Some standouts::
Kamandi by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook
Batman by Azzarello and Rissou
METAMORPHO BY ALLRED AND GAIMAN!
Adam Strange by Paul Pope
Hawkman by Kyle Baker

Of course there are a lot more too.  I think they have John Severin doing a Sgt. Rock and Easy Company story.
Man it all looks so great.  I'm hoping there might even be a Spirit strip in there somewhere.

So, are you guys excited by this stuff?  I'm figuring it would be right up Benton's alley, even though theres no Aquadude

[Jakew]

METAMORPHO BY ALLRED AND GAIMAN will be a thing of beauty.

Paul Pope on Adam Strange should be intriguing ... Adam Strange done right is usually amazing.

Not a fan of Broken City, so not that excited by Azzarello and Rissou on Batman.

[BentonGrey]

So CBR just put up an interview with Didio about Wednesday Comics, as well as a lot of preview art (including 2 Kamandi pages!!!)
Wow,Wow,Wow!  I'm super impressed at the format and the talent coming out of this.  I'm just sad I won't be able to get the issues as they come out.  I'll have to wait for a giant sized trade. (hardcover of course!)

Some standouts::
Kamandi by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook
Batman by Azzarello and Rissou
METAMORPHO BY ALLRED AND GAIMAN!
Adam Strange by Paul Pope
Hawkman by Kyle Baker

Of course there are a lot more too.  I think they have John Severin doing a Sgt. Rock and Easy Company story.
Man it all looks so great.  I'm hoping there might even be a Spirit strip in there somewhere.

So, are you guys excited by this stuff?  I'm figuring it would be right up Benton's alley, even though theres no Aquadude

Not so my friend!  While I am certainly very excited about these books, more so than I have been for a DC book in the last two years, there IS in fact an Aquaman appearance.  He is showing up in the Hawkman book.  

http://aquamanshrine.blogspot.com/search?q=Wednesday+Comics

I'm psyched to see that, of course, but I'm much more excited about the prospect of books free of bad continuity.  I'd be happier if this were the beginning of a new continuity, but I'll take what I can get.  I'm thinking I'll break my DC and Marvel modern book embargo for these books.  In fact, if I can get them for good prices, I'll buy every one of them to let my dollars tell DC just how I feel about this concept.

[lugaru]

I really want me some wendsday comics too, mostly for the tallent involved. It might make me go into a comic shop for the first time in months.

[BentonGrey]

So, when are these coming out again?  I'm going to have to remember to have my LCS order them for me.  In the meantime, I may be tempted to pick up the paper these are in.  Ha, I'm SO much more excited about these than any of the "events" the big two are doing.

[Glitch Girl]

FYI: today's release day.

Superman strip online at USAToday - short but purdy.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2009-07-07-superman1_N.htm

PS: Sorry I haven't been around much lately. RL busyness.

[BentonGrey]

Not much there to judge by, but color me interested. 

[AfghanAnt]

I really like the art.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, it certainly is pretty, as GG said.

[Glitch Girl]

For the record...

Sometime quite a while back I drifted away from buying comics.  It was a combination of time, finance, and my regular shop closing.  Curiosity about this coupled with online previews inspired me to venture out to find a new shop just to take a look.

First off... yes, size matters.  When you get it initially it's folded one quarter of it's full size, and it's only after you open it up do you get a sense of scale.  The creative teams make pretty good use of the space, some experimenting more than others to varying degrees of success.  Each story is only a page, which basically means just about all of them are hooks for a larger story, yet also must introduce the characters for the casual reader to know who they are. It's also supposed to be separate from DC current continuity which gives the writers a bit more freedom to play and the audience less homework to do.  Here's what I thought of each page...

Batman: this is what hits you after the initial unfold.  We get a brief exchange with Gordon and Bats to set the stage, and end on an ominous note.  Writing and art are both solid and set the mode quite well.

Kamandi: Kamandi seems ot be getting a revival as of late between recent appearances in Brave & Bold (animated) and in mainstream.  Gibbons (w) and Sook go ultra retro with lush art and narrative text a la classic Tarzan or Prince Valiant (which many have compared this too).  The strip gives you everything you need to know about Kamandi and his world if you've never heard of the character before and I gotta say I LOVE the art.  

Superman: You may have seen this already if you visited the USA Today link above.  Art is very nice and while short, I do want to see how this plays out.  

Deadman:  We go noir with a hint of the DCU:A style.  We are introduced to Boston Brand with a quick bit of backstory in the top and immediate head off to a horrific murder scene and the investigation begins.  This page is mostly establishment, but it works.  Nice mood, good "voice" on Brand.  I like it.

Green Lantern: Set in the 60's (technically it's the New Frontier continuity, but you don't need to know that at this point).  This is mostly setup to the point where the title character doesn't appear until the last panel, the rest of the time people are talking about Hal and where is he right now.  Art is solid, but as far as setup goes, it's a little lacking in the "hook you for later" department.    

Metamorpho: It's goofy in a retro kind of way, where everything is slightly larger than live and a little more bombastic.  Allred's style works really well for the tone, which is almost "Johnny Quest" to me, especially with the treasure hunt lead in.  If I hadn't read the credit, I'd never had guessed it was Gaiman doing the writing, it doesn't "feel" like any of his stuff.

Teen Titans: This is the first real "miss" out of the book for me.  I haven't followed Teen Titans for a while, and I don't recognize half the team, which wouldn't be so bad if Berganza and Galloway would fill us in.  Instead, the page is narrated by "Triton" who's not the first (we get this from the narration) and he's gonna kill the Teen Titans.  The artwork here is a little hard to follow and the content feels a little skimpy, even for a one pager.

Strange Adventures: This one makes me think of an underground fantasy comic of the sixties for some reason and I'm not sure why, something about the art.  It's strange (apt I know) and a bit surreal, yet striking at points (the last few panels in particular)  We get a brief introduction to Adam Strange and then BOOM off to action.  

Supergirl: Technically it should be "Supergirl & the Superpets".  I suspect this one will be one of the consistently lighter entries in the lot and I admit, the ending made me giggle.  Some very fun artwork by Conner who has some great faces here.  Simple, but fun.

The Metal Men: Editor in Chief Didio decides to take a crack at writing, and he doesn't completely suck. (He doesn't hit it out of the park either,.but I have read worse)    Again, I think were' set square in the sixties or early seventies.  Doesn't quite work as well for a character introduction for those unfamiliar with the metal men, but it is still kind fun.

Wonder Woman: I'm torn about this one.  It's easily the most densely laid-out of anything in the collection which works and doesn't work.  It has a semi-disjointed dreamlike quality to it which while fitting does make it occasionally hard to follow.  The artwork is nice, but occasionally confusing.  Part of me likes the experiment, and part of me doesn't.  

Sgt Rock: We get our backstory as nazi's are beating the tar out of our title character.  What a way to start.  Gotta say the Kuberts are a perfect choice for creative team on Rock & Easy Company.    Feels a little lacking in content, but not by much.

The Flash/Iris West: Another team who had some real fun with the oversized page by creating not one, but TWO strips.  The top one, The Flash, is your standard super hero strip, while "Iris West"  is more along the lines of "soap opera" comics like Mary Worth or Rex Morgan, and the two actually relate to each other.  The Iris West  art style and coloring via half tone screen and dot separation really sell the style.  Both are pretty good too.

The Demon/Cat Woman: Yes you read that right.  This is going to be pure crime caper I suspect.  We don't get much on either character's backstory, which in this case works since we're seeing that play out as part of the strip and actually not knowing anything about them might add to surprise in later strips.  Nice art and I like how Selina is presented so far.

Hawkman: who knew a page narrated by birds could be cool, but that's what happens here.  Baker went to town on the art here, we have enough establishment of character to have a good idea what Hawkman is (sans years of messed up continuity) and a decent cliffhanger.

Overall, I'm glad I found it. I really REALLY hope this grand experiment pays off for all involved, but I guess we'll see how it goes over the next 11 weeks.  If you were on the fence about picking this up, please do.  

Sidenote: I admit, not every DC experiment works but at least they're trying. C'mon Marvel... are your new holofoil- excuse me, "foilogram" covers the most innovative thing you can come up with?  Argh.

[Glitch Girl]

[bump]

1/3 of the way done, some quick overall impressions...

My Top Pics

• Kamandi - Wow... just frickin WOW.  The creative team just NAILS this one.  The narative style and lush artwork makes this one a real highlight of the collection.  
  
• The Flash/Iris West - The most unique use of the large page, spliting the story into two different genre and styled strips.  Trippy time travel makes you want to go back and compare what has happened before, but in a good way.
  
• Strange Tales - I admit, I didn't see the big deal with this one the first issue.  It was good but didn't totally grab me until issue 2 and by 3 I was hooked.  Pulpy sci-fi goodness.
  
• Supergirl - This is a pure fun strip.  Supergirl has to stop the superpets from acting like... well, pets.  Streaky stalking the "mouse" in the latest so reminded me of my own cat it was hillarious. EDIT: Totally missed the "Airplane" ref the first time through.  Now that I know it's there, awesome!
  
• Batman - this one is turning out to be a noir, hardboiled mystery with dangerous dames, inheritances, and murder.  The pacing works very well.
  
• Deadman - I like how they're using the page, some great feeling of scale in here.  Also enjoying the story of Brand suddenly dealing with forces he's not ready for.
  

Still Good

• Green Lantern - Some great art, but the story's pacing is a bit uneven so far and a bit sluggish in points.  Still, it's a pretty good read.
  
• Hawkman - I'm not as in love with this strip as some are (and I don't know why), but I can't deny it's got some solid art and some cool story. (sidenote to Benton: Aquaman gets a mention this week, probably leading up to his appearance)
  
• Metal Men - Another strip that fall under the "fun" category.  Nothing really groundbreaking but still  enjoyable.  
  
• The Demon/Cat Woman - Pacing's a little iffy, but I'm still liking it.  The Demon speaking not in rhyme but in iambic pentameter was a bit of a trip.  
  
• Sgt Rock - Slow, but not bad. Wish they'd use the space more instead of just an oversized standard comic sheet.
  

The Letdowns

• Metamorpho - VERY uneven.  Issues 2 & 3 were just one big panel each with a letter page gag at the bottom.  Luckily in the latest, things pick up drastically.  Still, I expected much more from the team of Rude & Gaimen
  
• Superman - Gorgeous art, but this introspecitve story really drags and just does not work in this format.  
  
• Wonder Woman - I can't hate this strip like some.  It's a grand experiment that just isn't working. It tries to evoke Little Nemo and really cram a lot into the space, and you can tell the artist is pouring their heart into it, but though it is getting a little better, it's just very very muddled.
  
• Teen Titans - On the other hand, this one is I can hate.  It feels slapped together, and if you're not up on current Titans history (like me) a good chunk of these characters are going to go over your head.  None of the characters really sound right and I sorely wish Triton would shut up.  Probably the only real waste of paper in this collection.  

Overall, very pleased with this experiment.  I have no idea how it's selling, so I may be alone in this.  Still it's the first title I've bought in a long time so was hoping to discuss.

[JKCarrier]

I pretty much agree with Glitchie. The artwork is great throughout, and I love seeing so many diverse styles represented. The stories are more hit-or-miss...some writers are adapting to the format better than others. Overall I think it's working out pretty well, and I hope they do more stuff like this in the future.

[BentonGrey]

I finally picked these up!  I've got the first two issues so far, and I have the rest either waiting in my box or preordered.  All I can say is that these are these are incredible!  They are, on the whole, a lot of fun and definitely worth reading.  There are a couple of weaker points, but most of these stories have me totally hooked.  This is just a fantastic idea, and these (mostly) bad continuity free books are exactly the kind of thing that I'm looking for.  I'll post thoughts on the individual stories later on.

[Zippo]

My question is, where is the art like this in our normal (monthly/bi-weekly) comics? Pretty much every single one blows me away. I read over each comic in a minute or less, and spend a good 5 mins just looking at the artwork.

[Glitch Girl]

Ladies and gentlemen...

as of #9, Flash broke the comic.

It was cool.