Saturday, December 31, 2005

Best and Worst of 2005 #1: Crisis Rocks the DCU While Liefeld Scars Readers


Infinite Crisis 5
Originally uploaded by Heidi Meeley.
Here it is, the best and worst of the year in my humble opinion. Both events are DC-related, and deservedly so.

BEST #1: Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis.
DC has redefined itself this past year and become the big kahuna on the block. No longer content to play it safe, old reliable became new and improved. Identity Crisis changed the course of history by revealing a dangerous secret. Our heroes weren't the squeaky clean warriors of justice we had thought they were. They had a dirty secret that threatens to tear apart the DCU.

The reaction of the big three, and the subsequent loss of nerve therein has been staggering to watch as well. Where Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman had been the cohesive unit of trust before, there is now doubt. Wonder Woman killed to protect Superman and he can't handle it. The rub? Wonder Woman might not have had to if Batman had not put spy sattelites in place. The three are at personal war, and it is creating a chasm so deep that we don't know for sure how they will ever climb out.

My vote for the best of 2005 easily goes to DC and the revitalizing of an industry. I am excited about comic books again and eagerly await the weekly trip to the comic book shop, especially if Infinite Crisis is coming out. Thank you DC for making it fun again.

WORST: Rob Liefeld Draws Teen Titans, Scars Me For Life.
I haven't been shy about my feelings on this issue before, so I won't be now. The work done on Teen Titans 27 and 28 almost made me quit reading comics out of shame.

The usually wonderful Gail Simone tripped along with Liefeld in this endeavor. The script was not up to her usual standards, and the villains were horrendous.

The worst part of the book was the art. It was horrible from start to finish. Every panel had some exagerated image that was so out of proportion it hurt my eyes. Cyborg had the same stoned expression on his face every panel. Wonder Girl looked like Wonder Ho. It was that bad.

I haven't completely forgiven DC for this travesty yet, but Infinite Crisis is helping me to heal. Just promise me you won't do this to me again, okay?

2 comments:

Melchior del DariƩn said...

Happy New Year, and nice list!

I agree with you, here. Prior to 2005 I was reading my comics as TPB collections; I hadn't regularly visited a comic shop in years. DC single-handedly has brought me back to my comic collecting roots.

Unknown said...

I liked this list a lot. Would you let us repost it, by any chance, over at Sequart.com? Thought I'd ask. In any case, nice work!