So I read the nu52.

[ChastMastr]

It does, at least in terms of having some action in the plots, but characterization is still not a particularly strong point of the series.

There's something sad about the idea of characters who were most recently handled by Vertigo all being in a situation in which "characterization is still not a particularly strong point of the series." While a lot of Vertigo wasn't my cup of tea, characterization was still pretty central...

(To be fair, I have not read JLD myself, though the interview re Steve Trevor made him sound fairly unlikeable to me.)

Definitely loved the Madame Xanadu series.

[FanboyStranger]

There's something sad about the idea of characters who were most recently handled by Vertigo all being in a situation in which "characterization is still not a particularly strong point of the series." While a lot of Vertigo wasn't my cup of tea, characterization was still pretty central...

(To be fair, I have not read JLD myself, though the interview re Steve Trevor made him sound fairly unlikeable to me.)

Definitely loved the Madame Xanadu series.

Yeah, plus it's the curse of the ensemble book to begin with, especially when you're dealing with the conventions of a superhero book, which requires a certain level of action. I don't think there's been very much characterization since Milligan's second issue focusing on Deadman and Dove's relationship (which I loved), and what little we've had since then has mostly been focused on Constantine-Lite (and hasn't done the character much good). Zatanna, in particular, just seems tacked on-- I'm not a fan of the character, who I've always viewed as little more than walking plot device except in things like Books of Magic, but she's even less than that here.

I can't really speak to this Steve Trevor, either, as I'm not much of a Wonder Woman fan. (Although I love the new series.) I will say that he comes off decently in the battle of wits with JC, the ultimate schemer, but also seems little more than a Nick Fury analogue.

[ChastMastr]

I can't really speak to this Steve Trevor, either, as I'm not much of a Wonder Woman fan. (Although I love the new series.) I will say that he comes off decently in the battle of wits with JC, the ultimate schemer, but also seems little more than a Nick Fury analogue.

Well, over in Justice League he was depicted as a rather Machiavellian sort, not-too-subtly threatening some folks from the UN that the JL might take over if they didn't treat them properly, which in my view makes him almost a villain, regardless of his prior incarnations. He may be good in a battle of wits but it seems like his sense of morals is pretty messed up.

[Dr Ray Palmer]

My partner has been reading the BoP "Perfect Pitch" TPB for the first time and he keeps laughing out loud, and reading me great, smart, funny snippets of dialogue, and I look over his shoulder from time and to time and am reminded there was a sense of FUN.

Where is the fun in the nu52? The only book that seems to have any sense of fun and joy to it is Worlds' Finest. LSH is not as grim as most of the other stuff, but I'm not sure it reaches the level of "fun."

A book doesn't have to be a comedy or silly "bwa ha ha" to be fun. You can have conflict and tension and drama and even sadness and have a book still have a sense of fun.

Are there fun DC books out there I am missing? It makes me sad that Gail isn't writing anything fun these days, because nobody writes fun better than she does.

[FanboyStranger]

Are there fun DC books out there I am missing? It makes me sad that Gail isn't writing anything fun these days, because nobody writes fun better than she does.

I guess it sorta depends on how you define "fun". There was a bit of death early on in Dial H, for example, but as it's progressed, I've found it a lot of fun because it presents a philosphical challenge to the nature of reality (and nothing) in an interesting and novel way, presents atypical candidates for superhero powers (an obese, clinically depressed man who finds the courage within himself to be a hero and the elderly, ex-hippie woman that helps him along the path) and shows their development in a believable and uplifiting manner, and gives us enough sheer weirdness that it borders on the absurd and comic. That's the 52 book I'm having the most fun with these days.