The new 52 is upon us – DC relaunch starts today

Justice League #1 from Geoff Johns & Jim Lee

We talked about it on the podcast and the day has reached us. DC’s ambitious relaunch of ALL OF THEIR TITLES starts today with the re-imagined Geoff Johns/Jim Lee Justice League. So if you head into your comic shop today the only DC titles available for pickup are Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1. If you’re tired of events I assure you this is a little bit more than that. This is a complete reboot. Things like Killing Joke may have still happened, but they may have had different consequences (Batgirl is a must read ps).

So should you read it? Is this just a hokey ploy to get your money? Yes and yes…and no. You shouldn’t read it because it’s a reboot. You should read it because they have put some fantastic teams together to do these books. You should read it because if your complaint up to this point has been, “I never know where to start” you can now start with no pre-conceived notions on any of the stories. This is new ground being taken with familiar characters. I am picking up Justice league, Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Batgirl, Green Lantern, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and Suicide Squad. Whether I’ll keep them all after #1 who knows, but I am giving these all a chance.

Maybe you use this as a chance to swing by ye ol comic shop and check out some other titles. May I recommend Uncanny X-Force (Remender is making my 13 year old dreams come true with a story that vaults through the Age of Apocalypse), X-23 with the art of our actual site friend Phil Noto, or an artist owned title like my favorite Skullkickers. Some other titles to take a look at are Punisher (on #2 I believe) and Venom from Marvel as well as American Vampire and Locke and Key still running strong. Regardless of whether you pick them up digitally or you actually head into the shop, I think today’s relaunch is a good reason to pay your comic vendor a visit.