Okay, Batman, that’s enough. Come along now, and stop making bad jokes that Green Lantern himself won’t make.

Thanks for making this, Marco!

(From Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee)

This is it: the DC Universe as we knew it since 1985 (or at least 2007, if you’re really pendantic) has come to an end. In its place is a brave new world known as the DCnU – where DC starts over with a blank slate, and where everything can be told anew in a different light. 2011 marks a new era for DC, and this is where it begins: Justice League #1. Comicgasm editors Ade and RJ tell you what they think of the very first comic of the brand-new DC Universe.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Ade: So after yesterday’s Flashpoint #5 review where we saw how the DC universe ended and it’s all BARRY ALLEN’S FAULT, THAT ASSHOLE, let’s take a look at Justice League #1. DC marketed this issue as a good jumping-on point for people who find that years of continuity too confusing for casual fans, and the comic book meant to be less confusing for newbies starts… in the middle of a chase scene. This does not bode well for the comic that introduces the new universe to new and old fans alike.

RJ: They started with a classic Green Lantern and Batman can’t work with each other bit. It had a promising start; Hal showing off constructs left and right, being too cocky for his own good while setting up Batman as an urban legend. Johns can at least write Jordan well. But let’s not have him go anywhere near any of the Bat-family anytime soon.

Ade: I swear, when I was reading Batman’s lines, I seriously thought that this was the same Batman in All-Star Batman and Robin. It doesn’t help that Jim Lee’s doing the art, too.

RJ: Let it be known that while we do not dislike All-Star Batman and Robin, we do think that it’s a stupid book.

Ade: … dude, I HATE All-Star Batman and Robin.

RJ: But it’s hilariously stupid! Plus it gave us the “Goddamn Batman” scene. (continue reading…)

This is it: the DC Universe as we knew it since 1985 (or at least 2007, if you’re really pendantic) has come to an end. In its place is a brave new world known as the DCnU – where DC starts over with a blank slate, and where everything can be told anew in a different light. But before we go to the shiny brand-new universe, let us first see how it ends. Here’s Comicgasm’s review of Flashpoint #5.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Ade: Well, that wasn’t half-bad, actually. And I’m saying that as someone who’s hated Flashpoint with a passion since issue 1.

RJ: It certainly exceeded my expectations. It’s no Batman & Robin #16, but it was a good end to an otherwise terrible event.

Ade: Terrible isn’t even the word to describe the clusterfuck that is Flashpoint, man. Everything was just done so haphazardly. The idea that an Age of Apocalypse-style event leads to a universe-wide reboot was just horrible. Which leads to my first problem with Flashpoint: you’re ending a goddamn universe, do the sendoff in THAT universe you’re saying goodbye to, assholes. (continue reading…)

Hey Comicgasm readers, I’ve got a bit of a confession to make: I kinda lost interest in comics, except for a few titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Justice League: Generation Lost, and the Bat-verse after Blackest Night. Now, BN was by no means a bad crossover, but it failed to live up to the hype it built for itself. And DC seems to have fallen into a weird cycle of rebooting the universe on a frequent basis since Infinite Crisis. Sure, they’re not reboots per se, but we get to see huge retcons, up to the point where huge parts of a character’s history were changed on regularly (see: Superman, Flash, Batman). You’d think after Final Crisis (which was awesome and I will fight you if you say otherwise) they’re going to stop it already.

Guess what? They’ve done it again.

According to USA Today, the entire DC line will be relaunched after Flashpoint, and everything – I mean EVERYTHING – will be renumbered to #1. I actually don’t have a problem with that, because resetting comics to #1 has become standard industry practice at this point. I’m kind of weirded out at the fact that it looks like DC is going to hit the reset button and completely clean the slate. (continue reading…)

So Fred Van Lente is going to write a new Avengers series to add to the current batch of Avenger titles that are going out monthly. Seriously, Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers (which is awesome), Avengers Prime (which would be awesome if Tony Stark stopped acting like a man-child) and Mighty Avengers – it’s like the X-Men, you guys.

It was speculated that Fred Van Lente’s going to write a “Space Avengers” book, led by Nova – and we all know how awesome that would sound. But then Marvel actually took an interesting, albeit head-scratching decision, to make Dead Avengers.

Basically, the three-issue Chaos War tie-in sees The Vision, Captain Mar-Vell, Yellowjacket, Swordsman, Deathcry and Dr. Druid back to life as they fight one of the Chaos king’s allies, who is an Avengers villain.

Okay, the timing of this book couldn’t be more terrible because at DC, Geoff Johns and company is rolling out the uneven Brightest Day, which has a similar concept – heroes coming back to life. Which is a shame, though, because I’m pretty sure Marvel can outdo DC in this.

All in all, Dead Avengers looks like it’s going to be a fun book – I mean dead non-zombie heroes come the fuck on – but I’m wondering why they had to put out this series now.

[via]