So, yesterday, while scanning through Comic Book Resources as I seem to do on a daily, almost religious, basis, I found a post detail the future of Action Comics; Andy Diggle, the man who created the Losers, would be taking over from Grant Morrison as of issue 18. Then, late last night, before hitting bed I jumped on Twitter, finding changes relating to one of my other DC pull list titles; Demon Knights writer Paul Cornell, the man I consider God due to the fantastic Captain Britain and MI:13 run (it's really that good), would be stepping down from the title as of issue 15 (or 16, I'm not quite sure), to be replaced by Robert Venditti (who, in truth I have never heard of)
Now, I'm not big on the DC front, having stuck with only three titles from the new 52 (only two of which were from the initial line-up), so these two announcements have a big impact on my pull list and DC comics' prescence within that list. The reason for this is that, of late, I've been trying to decide what titles to cut in order to streamline my collection and save some pennies (because saving pennies is important) and so while my third DC title, Earth 2, gets a save due to it being so damn entertaining, both Action Comics and Demon Knights have been entered on the "at risk" list (which does also contain Marvel and indie books, but that's not what I'm on about here).
So, what do these annoucements mean? Well, prior to the revelation of Diggle coming in, Action Comics was scheduled to be cut in the new year. I keep hearing such good things about Grant Morrison's stuff but I've read every issue of Action since the relaunch and, except mybe issues 13 and 0, they have all been a struggle to find enjoyable. I could think of no valid reason to continue reading an unenjoyable book and spend money that could have gone elsewhere. However, the news of Andy Diggle taking over has changed my stance. Diggle, who (like I've said) wrote the Losers, formed a pretty enjoyable run on Daredevil in my eyes (although the whole possessed by a Demon thing did kinda sink it) and based on his previous work saying, as he said in an interview, that he's an "action writer" gives me hope that the book will be easier to follow. Also, the art by Tony Daniel is tempting enough on it's own to have the book reprieved.
Demon Knights, on the other hand, is a book I've been reading due to the fact Paul Cornell was writing it. That's maybe not the best reason to read but, like with Action I was reading because of the book title, here I was reading based on the talent attached. Unfortunately, Demon Knights has been hit and miss and while I've enjoyed the characters that have been created, the stories themselves have felt a little dragged out. With Paul Cornell leaving, I no longer have much reason to hang around on this title (as much as it pains me to say). However, I've never heard of Robert Venditti and if my increased purchasing of indie titles has taught me anything it's never discount creators you've never heard of.
When all is said and done, I'm tempted to give both these titles a fair crack of the whip and make me realise that their prescence on the "at risk" list was a mistake, but that "fair crack" is only one issue each. Can both these titles convince me they have the chops to stay in one issue. Well, my bank balance is hoping "no", but I'm remainig optimistic.
No comments:
Post a Comment