Six Options, Which Will Take My Money?

It's that time, when I have to send in my order for May's new comic releases. For the record, not even a crossover with Resurrection Man will get me buying Suicide Squad again. I'll take my chances with being confused. May also happens to be the starting point for the second wave of DC ongoing series. Which in theory, offers a chance to add something to my shrinking pull list*.

Ravagers and Batman Incorporated got cut from consideration right off. I've never been that big of a Gen13 fan (there was a year there where I bought the title), and the book seems like it'll be connected to a lot of the other titles starring younger characters, which I've ignored. As for Batman Inc., it's a book starring Bruce Wayne and his snotty kid. While I might pick up an issue heavily featuring Cass Cain or Stephanie Brown, it's not something I care to read on a monthly basis.

I was intrigued at first by G.I. Combat and Earth-2, but ultimately decided against them. With the latter, it was as easy as seeing a variant cover of the Trinity fighting Parademons. If I wanted to read that, I'd buy Justice League. I don't. With the former, I like the creative team on the back-up story, and I like the Unknown Soldier concept, even if I'm not necessarily wild about setting it in the present day. But the main story however. . . I don't have anything against J.T. Krul as a writer. I haven't read anything he's written, so how could I? That cuts both ways, though, meaning I don't have any reason to trust he'll write something I want to read. And what I've seen of Olivetti's art at Marvel was extremely unappealing. Maybe there'll be a complete style shift at DC, it could happen. Ian Churchill was drawing more like McGuinnes there for awhile on the Hulk books, but that Ravagers cover suggests he's sliding back towards what I think of as his more typical style. So maybe Olivetti shifted styles to match what Marvel's higher-ups wanted, and will change to something else now. I haven't any proof of that, though, and I'm not excited about paying $4 for strictly a backup story**.

Which leaves World's Finest and Dial H. I was leaning towards the first title, because I like Power Girl (and while I don't love the new costume, it's not a sticking point by any means) and hey, George Perez art! I really like George Perez art. Then I remembered the last time I decided to buy something because he'd be drawing it (Flashpoint: Secret Seven) I got burned. Besides, with the way DC keeps shuffling the creative teams on their books, buying based on the writer or artist seems like a sucker's bet. How long will they stay with book? Seven issues? 3? Will they be replaced before it even starts (ala listing Marco Rudy as the artist for Suicide Squad in the original solicitations)? I guess if you wanted, you could use that as an argument to buy G.I. Combat. Maybe Krul and Olivetti won't stick, but if they do, and I didn't like them, then I'm up the creek.

Plus, I don't care about Helena Wayne. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm some huge Helena Bertinelli fan, but she was an OK character by me. Going back to Helena Wayne feels like more of the same rolling back that leaves us stuck with Barry Allen as the Flash again. I know, his book looks gorgeous, but it could look just as good and star any Flash. Jay, Wally, Bart. Helena Wayne's not my dad's Huntress (he'd stopped reading comics a few years before she was introduced) like Barry's his Flash, or Hal's his GL, but it still has that feel. I know that Helena Wayne and Power Girl were great friends, and it makes perfect sense to have them as the two heroes who are friends trying to get home. Not disputing that, though I think good times could be had with two heroes stuck in that situation who don't get necessarily along.

Anyway, after all that, we're left with Dial H. I haven't read anything by Mieville, or if I have, it didn't stick with me. Still, I like the concept of the dial, and I quite liked Will Pfeifer's H.E.R.O. series, though how relevant that is here, I couldn't guess. What the hell, it's worth a shot.

* Marvel's apparent decision to cut down on how many different titles they ship in favor of more issues of the big stuff isn't doing me any favors. They can release as much Avengers movie tie-in stuff, of Avengers vs. X-Men junk as they want, I'm not buying any of it. Though I did consider that Hulk Smash weekly mini-series. Then they went and used Red Hulk for the last part, and I can't stand Red Hulk, so never mind.

** Yet I'll pay that for the new Batman Beyond Unlimited, even though I don't care about the future Justice League. But I really want to see Norm Breyfogle art.