Comic Book Round Up! "DC Legacies"

Well, I've already fallen terribly behind in the blogging thing. I was going to attempt numerous blogs a week. Obviously that hasn't happened. Fail! Anyways, here's a quick review I meant to write last week but didn't get to it.

DC comics is currently running a 12 issue mini-series called "Legacies". Basically it's a retelling of DC continuity from the first appearance of superheroes until (I'm guessing)the modern day. Now I'm woefully behind on DC continuity. The last series I read was "Batman: Cataclysm" back in 1999. Since then the DC universe has had about 3 crisis's, a couple of Bright Days, Blackest Nights, who knows what else. I'm guessing this series is an attempt to give 70 years of continuity another revision so that it all makes sense. The odd thing is, no one really notices continuity too much if they pick up a Batman book and start reading it. I've never really felt the need to read a 1960's "Green Lantern" in order to understand what was happening in "Zero Hour". It is a fictional world after all, and not a real history. Anyways, DC and it's continuity has been a real can of bees for the company since the first Crisis (of infinite Earths) back in 1985, so who knows how this will all play out in 5 years time.

That said, this book is good. It does a masterful job of updating DC history while telling a story that is genuinely interesting. I always have had a bit of a soft spot for these types of things, and this one succeeds wonderfully since on top of the great storytelling, the guest artists working on this are all pretty top notch as well (Joe Kubert kicked off the golden age!) It's great seeing the golden age heroes dealt with (the first two issues basically deal with the JSA, issue Three isn't out yet)in this manner, where you get a bit of nostalgia for the old books without it being corny. The creators also don't presume you know everything about these people, so you're never lost wondering who the hell Hour-Man is either so it's great for noobs or people like me who have fallen out of grace with DC continuity. Really great stuff.

So yeah, it's a recommend so far unless it all falls apart in the coming months. It might be worth waiting for the inevitable trade paperback, but if you're a weekly comics rack type of geek, pick it up and check it out. Now I have to find out if this real is going to be the bible to current continuity or not!