CSBG Archive
Always make a good first impression …
One more thing about the first month of the New 52!
Offered completely without editorial comment, here are the first appearances of the protagonists of the 52 comic books that DC released in September. I put them in alphabetical order by the identity as whom they appear unless they appear on a page together, in which case I used the group to which they belong (in other words, if Bruce Wayne appears before Batman, I’ll put him under “W,” and if Superman appears before Clark Kent, he’ll be under “S”). I also repeat the characters who appear in more than one comic. We can argue about who the “protagonists” are, if you so choose. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, and I apologize if the double-page spreads don’t line up perfectly. Such are the vagaries of the scanner!
Here’s the list of first appearances: Aquaman, Amadeus Arkham, Buddy Baker (I decided to go with the first time we see him rather than the magazine interview on the first page, even though that’s a good way to introduce the character), Batgirl, Batman (from Batman), Batman (from Batman: The Dark Knight), Batman (from Detective), Batman (from Justice League), Batwing, Batwoman, Andrew Bennett, Atrocitus, Black Canary, Blackhawks, Booster Gold, Boston Brand, Captain Atom, Cole Cash, Catwoman, John Constantine, Creature Commandos, Deadshot, Deathstroke, El Diablo, Tim Drake, Etrigan/Jason Blood, Dr. “Caitlin Fairchild”, Fire, Flash, Frankenstein, Mrs. Frankenstein, Guy Gardner (from Green Lantern Corps), Guy Gardner and Ice (from Justice League International), Godiva, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Carter Hall, Roy Harper, Hawk and Dove, Jonah Hex, Alec Holland, Al Jabr/Exoristos, Hal Jordan, Kid Flash, King Shark, Priscilla Kitaen, various Legionnaires (sorry, they are all introduced together, so I couldn’t break them up very well), Andrew Lincoln, Mister Terrific, June Moone, the mysterious archer chick from Demon Knights, Nightwing, O.M.A.C., Harley Quinn, Ron Raymond, Kyle Rayner, Red Hood, Jaime Reyes, Corporal Rock, Rocket Red and August General in Iron, Jason Rusch, Cassie Sandsmark, Vandal Savage, Mary Seward, Rac Shade, Mitch Shelley, Starfire, Starling, Static, John Stewart, various members of Stormwatch, Superboy, Supergirl, Superman (from Action Comics), Superman (from Justice League), Superman (from Superman), Vixen, Amanda Waller, Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Wonder Woman, Madame Xanadu (from Demon Knights), Madame Xanadu (from Justice League Dark), Sir Ystin, and Zatanna. Enjoy!
I have no real reason for doing this except I have a lot of time to waste. As this is DC’s attempt to hook new readers, I wonder how much impact first impressions go. Beats me. It’s more that I have way too much time on my hands and I can’t deal with watching playoff baseball because it makes me want to eat my liver. Every year I swear I won’t drive myself crazy during the playoffs of baseball and/or football. And every year, I do. GAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
17 Comments
Travis Pelkie
October 5, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Sweet baby jesus that’s wild! When I have some more time, I’ll take a longer look through this, and make some more comments.
How come the more I read about the DCnU, the less interested I am? I happened to miss everything past JL 1, but I’m not seeing much that I really “missed”. (I am getting Action 1, so long as it’s still at the comic shop held for me, so hopefully that one’s pretty good.)
RyanH
October 5, 2011 at 5:41 pm
“How come the more I read about the DCnU, the less interested I am?”
Because it’s a reboot that isn’t. There’s no central theme or overriding artistic direction to the thing. All the previous reboots you could point to a defining characteristic that separated them from their predecessors. Here? Nothing. If you cared before the reboot there is a decent chance you still care now. If you didn’t care before the reboot nothing has changed.
bongoes
October 5, 2011 at 6:42 pm
No Sinestro? He’s as much of a protagonist as Hal Jordan is right now.
Greg Burgas
October 5, 2011 at 6:50 pm
bongoes: I considered Sinestro, but I wasn’t sure how much he’s been a protagonist and how long he’s going to be in the book. I kind of flipped a coin (figuratively) to decide whether to include him or not.
Third Man
October 5, 2011 at 7:11 pm
I think Manapul’s Flash intro is definitely the most effective one here. I also think the Supergirl splash page is quite well done.
Glitchy
October 5, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Well, if nothing else, OMAC does know how to make an entrance.
NDCF
October 5, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Great food-for-thought article.
From interviews Johns has given, the primary Green Lantern title is about Hal and Sinestro together. As much of a jerk/idiot as he’s made Hal via GL 1 and Justice League 1, I kind of hope Sinestro stays around to add some character depth.
Timothy
October 6, 2011 at 12:23 am
Not really related but the thought popped into my head while reading this page so I’ll share it. Rob Liefeld doing animation would be INCREDIBLE. I’m imagining some sort of crazy anime style animation (to cut down on the amount of animation). It’d be this weird accidentally arty hyper energetic animation.
*ahem* Anyway, the worst are the ones that use too much spotting blacks (Batgirl is one). It hides the character in a frustrating way. Not including fully shadowed ones though. You should either not be able to see or be able to see in all their glory the hero, not some mish mash.
Ignoring the splash pages, Flash is the best and I don’t think any others come close. The splash page ones work well simply because it’s a great way to show the character, however, some don’t succeed even then, Atrocitus and Batwoman are obscured which hides the character. Not automatically a bad thing though.
Travis Pelkie
October 6, 2011 at 2:34 am
Where’s El Diablo appearing? That’s about the only one I don’t remember hearing something about.
Minor quibble — I’d have preferred to have each page captioned as to what character is featured. Don’t you know you’re supposed to cater your posts to me? Jeez….
Charlie Ward
October 6, 2011 at 3:17 am
The definite worst one is Batgirl. From the awkward pose to the embarassingly stupid dialogue.
Michael P
October 6, 2011 at 5:14 am
El Diablo is the backup feature in All-Star Western, I believe.
I have to say, that is probably the perfect intro image for Resurrection Man.
Rusty Priske
October 6, 2011 at 5:55 am
My judgment of the DC relaunch is the same as my judgment of Spider-man around that BND stuff.
Whether I agree with what they are doing or why they are doing it, the comics are better after than they were before. That makes it worth it.
(WIth the exception of the very MISSED Secret Six…)
Rusty Priske
October 6, 2011 at 5:57 am
That ‘El Diablo’ isn’t from All-Star Western (which didn’t have a back-up in issue #1, but I understand WILL have one in issue #2)
The scene shown is from Suicide Squad.
sandwich eater
October 6, 2011 at 7:53 am
so much content… can’t process it all
Martin O'Hearn
October 6, 2011 at 8:06 am
So “DC Comics Proudly” is the new “Stan Lee.”
sgt pepper
October 6, 2011 at 6:27 pm
OK, I wasn’t sure from the last one, but this post proves beyond doubt that Burgas hates DC.
Why do you hate comics Greg?
1/2 star.
Timothy
October 6, 2011 at 11:45 pm
But… but… there’s no commentary either way. You could just as easilly say that Greg is being a DC fanboy. His post has no commentary on anything at all.