Failure to (re)launch.

DC Comics have started off their big "New 52" scheme of restarting all of their main titles from issue 1 with altered origins etc.
If you're remotely into comics you probably know this and most likely have a moderate to strong opinion.

I don't.

I have a passive sigh, but not much of an opinion. So far my strongest reactions in the positive and negative are either "Oh, that's quite interesting." to "That's kind of pointless." and I've decided that I probably won't be following these titles.
Even Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing didn't get much from me and that had two huge strengths for me - Scott Snyder and fucking Swamp Thing! Still, it's a letdown.
My strongest feelings come from Jim Lee choosing artists whose styles have barely evolved in the expanse of their careers and with the exception of Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire, writers who gave trouble grasping what their characters are really about.

Grant Morrison is a truly great writer. The Invisibles, The Filth, We3 and some of his non-canon DC work are great. But, put him on Action Comics and something goes wrong. You have all the ingredients to make something brilliant - It's an idea that has the potential to be true to Superman's origin as a published character and also be something entirely new and exciting. While most of this is true, the ingredients somehow haven't really blended properly in Action Comics #1, leaving us with a comic that is only decent where in theory it should be brilliant. I'm holding out for more, but my hopes aren't exactly high.

Now I move on to Detective Comics. I was almost certain I would hate this comic, primarily because I'm neither a fan of Tony Daniel as an artist or as a writer. Also, after the stunning, near-perfect work of Scott Snyder, Jock and Francesco Francavilla on the recent series, it would be almost impossible to write anything that could stand its ground against that. But surprisingly, it's not awful, it's not even bad. Tony's artwork is pretty solid and the direction of the story offers some genuine intrigue that I was frankly not expecting. Impressive when compared with my lowered standards for the title, but still, objectively, not really a big deal. At times I felt like its strongest moments were where it was riding on the coattails of Snyder and co, but many writers who follow a groundbreaking run will often do so just to dovetail smoothly and ease the transition for stubborn readers. Ed Brubaker did it for Daredevil and quickly established his version of the character as something even better. So there's still hope.

The main Justice League title has been my favourite so far, mainly because I feel like I actually give a shit about the Justice League again, if only a little. If I have any criticisms about this book they're probably just that the art feels a little dated and it's moving a bit too quickly. DC have the chance to draw out the new origin of the team and maybe even just use each issue for the first few months to establish a character or two and they're unique relationships and drop hints at a big threat rather than having pretty much half of the team meet and say fucking "Darkseid" in the first half of the book. Take it easy, guys! No need to rush this, people will keep reading anyway. Give us some credit, not all DC fans are fickle, slathering morons, lost in the tangles of an oft molested continuity and with the attention spans of a bucket of newts. That's just... the majority of them...
I think the perfect template for a modern retelling of the Justice League origin story has already been told. Unfortunately, it was told outside of DC comics by one of their own writers. I'm referring to the underrated and totally genius "Supreme Power" from J. Michael Straczynski, published by Marvel's MAX line of mature comics.
Still, if you want the perfect Justice League origin story, read that and just pretend they are the DC characters instead of Marvel's thinly veiled approximations.

Basically, we're just about to head into week 3 of the "New 52" and as it stands, there's nothing to really get excited or angry about. It's all just a little big beige.

Except for the artwork. It's not the 90's anymore, so please stop drawing like that, and please stop giving Liefeld work.

Thank you,

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Joe.