Tag Archive for ‘DC Universe’ at AudioShocker

Do you have one of those friends or relatives that YOU KNOW is the last person you should be letting borrow money? You keep your distance for a few months and then you get a familiar phone call: “Hey what’s up, man?! You wanna hang out this weekend?”

With no recent disappointment burned into your memory, you figure it’s okay. So-and-so can’t possibly be trying to hit you up for money again, right? And it seems like everything is going well for most of the night. Then it gets to the end and it’s time to pay for the drinks: “Awww man I’m totally broke! Could you cover for me? It’ll get you next time.”

DAMN IT! They did it again! Well guess what? DC Comics just did that to me this Wednesday with Detective Comics #844. I reviewed Detective Comics #843 last month and the issue was awesome. When I didn’t get #844 sent to me for free with last weekend’s advanced comic books for my reviews, I decided to buy the issue.

How bad could it be? Last issue was a genius display of storytelling by Paul Dini. His Zatanna was incredible. She stole the show and I wanted more. Detective Comics #844 seemed like such a good bet that I didn’t even flip through the book in the store. I just tossed it into my short stack and took it up to the register.

And then I read it. SON OF A BITCH! Burned again by DC Comics! This happens almost every time I try out a new DCU book. It happened on Green Arrow by Judd Winick and Scott McDaniel. It happened on Wonder Woman when it relaunched.

Hell, it’s even happening now with Dwanye McDuffie on Justice League of America. His story arc started off great, and then it just got average. Then there were unexpected fill-ins. Then he was randomly gone for a month! Now he’s back, but I’m hesitant to believe that it’s going to get better…

You know it’s bad when DC Universe #0 only costs $0.50 and you still want your money back. I should have known better than to pick up Detective Comics #844, let alone a DC Comics set in the DCU. And you know what the worst part is? I’m going to do it again! In about a month, I’m going to forget how pissed I am right now and I’m going to pick up something and hate it. It’s a never-ending cycle of pain.

P.S. For the record, I am enjoying Green Arrow / Black Canary right now. If they @#$% that up I’m going to be really pissed.

DC Universe #0. All I can say is… wow.

It makes next to no sense. Is it possible to feel like I wasted $0.50? Because I think that I did.

All I got was a collection of six teasers for upcoming story events. I feel like I paid $0.50 to have DC Comics make me watch a disjointed and scattered commercial, all narrated by the Flash.

And what was the deal with the (SPOILERS!!!!) last page? A strip club with a soda can on the ground and some graffiti nearby? Is Grant Morrison trying to say that strip clubs are evil? Well guess what — they’re not. And neither is graffiti. Some graffiti is really sweet.

But you know what kind of sucks? Lightning. That’s right. It’s loud (well the thunder is loud, but the two of them go hand-in-hand), it’s destructive, and it’s annoying when you’re trying to sleep (trust me, it kept me up all night recently).

I’d like to introduce a new feature, similar to something you see here all the time but it’s a bit different: Reads You Don’t Need. And can you guess what the first issue is to ever receive this honor? You guessed it! DC Universe #0.

P.S. Okay, let me be fair. The issue was ambitious. But it should have had a consistent narrative as the focus instead of a series of snapshot sales pitches.

P.P.S. Astute readers will notice that we already had a ComicShocker this week. That installment, however, was actually catching up on the previous week. This ComicShocker is for this week. Right now. The one with DC Universe #POOP– Oops! I mean #0.