A Reflection on MLK Day 2012

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” –  Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.

The TV commercials roll on proclaiming 50 % off specials to “honor” this day in which the US remembers the life, dream, and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. As ridiculous as that is, it was always inevitable. Every holiday in America eventually (usually sooner rather than later) becomes a marketing tool and the real reason behind the day itself is gradually obscured. But it’s not just the day that is being misrepresented and forgotten; it’s the man himself and the things he stood for, strove for, and died for that are being lost through selective remembrance and rose-colored history lessons. Yesterday in a copy of one of my local newspapers there was a cartoon at the top of the opinion page with a silly caricature of President Obama which lampooned his desire to decrease military spending. Directly below that cartoon was an “Our View” Op-Ed piece memorializing MLK Jr. which praised his dream of “getting out and making the world a better place”–the staff of the paper urged all readers to go and do likewise.

Yes Dr. King worked to make the world a better place. But how did he go about doing so? What were the struggles he faced and who were the enemies he identified in that struggle? Most people today dishonor King’s memory and struggle by boxing him in, by making him one-dimensional and thus more “palatable.” Racial Justice was certainly the first and foremost goal in King’s struggle for equality; the Civil Rights Movement in America found in King a mascot and eventually a martyr for the cause. Those that praise King today in a generic manner usually only mention the Civil Rights Struggle and even then they usually fail to point out how much of King’s dream of racial equality is still unfulfilled; just listen to the dialogue that many use to criticize this holiday or even to condemn the current President; or count how many subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) comments you are apt to overhear in a day disparaging African Americans, Hispanics, or immigrants of any kind–granted the frequency of such comments likely depends on where you live and who you regularly come into contact with but it’s doubtful that anywhere in America, from small country towns to big urban cities, can you be out and about for an entire day without overhearing at least one racially charged comment–and this is 2012.

But it wasn’t just racial justice that King stood for; his struggle for equality led him to the realization that non-violence (and active, non-violent protest) was the best tool for combating racism. His embrace of Gandhian non-violence (and a trip to India) led him to embrace the struggle for world peace in its entirety. His examination of structural racism and inequality led him to realize that poverty, specifically institutional poverty, was the underlying shared source of suffering for people across every color line. Ultimately, King discovered that Racial Justice, Economic Justice, and Global Nonviolence & World Peace were three inextricably linked concepts. You cannot truly have one of these things fulfilled without having the other two fulfilled; racial justice will never be complete and equality will remain unreached as long as there is systemic poverty, classism, and a chasm between rich and poor. World peace cannot be tangible and possible without the problem of poverty being solved or without the full realization of racial equality.

Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, that is something people remember; most fail to mention (and have usually forgotten) that he was there to protest the mistreatment of Memphis city garbage collectors, to speak out in favor of a union for garbage collectors and city employees, to demand better treatment and pay for those workers, black and white. Most people forget that King was becoming a very polarizing figure near the end of his life (even amongst many fellow civil-rights advocates) with his out-spoken condemnation of the Vietnam War. Dr. King realized one cannot insist on non-violent tactics at home in the struggle for equality while supporting violent tactics abroad. Near the end of his life, Dr. King was organizing another march on Washington. Yet this time he was asking poor people of all colors and creeds to march not only to D.C. for the day but to bring tents and sleeping bags–he planned to “occupy” Washington in a massive sign of civil protest demanding something be done about poverty in America. Dr. King realized that the current form of hyper-capitalism beloved by America (which is still popular today) was out of control, that it worked itself out as Social Darwinism creating an uncrossable chasm between rich and poor, one which feeds huge profits to a small percentage at the top of the system by hurting and negating a bulk of people at the bottom of the system. King began to embrace a form of Democratic Socialism as the only form of government that could deliver on the promises America made in its Constitution and Bill of Rights. Only by embracing a form of Democratic Socialism in which the necessities of life–including basic food, clothing, housing, and healthcare–are removed from the competitive arena of for-profit capitalism and instead provided to the neediest citizens of this country through taxpayer funding can the goals of racial and economic justice and peace be truly apprehended. As King was fond of saying, “it is a cruel jest to insist to a bootless man that he must pull himself up by his own bootstraps.”

All of these issues King strove for are still a factor today. Now, in a presidential campaign year, it is the perfect time to have a serious discussion on wealth and privilege in America. Will this happen? Likely not. The masses are speaking out vehemently and they are denouncing the things King stood for. The masses want smaller government by any means necessary, they mock the consideration of decreased military spending, they see no connection between violence, racism, and poverty. King, like any religious or social hero or icon, was a complex figure; as he is one of my ten most admired people I have read many biographies and reflections on him and I know that he was far from perfect and that many of his flaws were tragically and banally human–some of the most out-spoken on those human flaws have been African-American theologians and social critics (like Michael Eric Dyson) who have tried to bring all of those issues into the light to paint a fully human and complex figure of King the man. So it’s not neccesary that one admire and agree with everything King did, said, or thought to appreciate his committment and accomplishments in the Civil Rights Struggle. Yet anyone today who praises the memory of King and overlooks his committment to Peace and Economic Justice does his memory a great disservice because for King, those things were inescapably connected to Racial Justice. I’ m ending this piece with a few quotes from King that are just as relevant today as they were when he made them.

 

* “It is estimated that we spend $322,000 for each enemy we kill, while we spend in the so-called war on poverty in America only about $53.00 for each person classified as “poor”. And much of that 53 dollars goes for salaries of people who are not poor. ….

We are isolated in our false values in a world demanding social and economic justice. We must undergo a vigorous re-ordering of our national priorities.”

 

*“A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has every thing to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” …. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. ….”

*”What I’m saying to you this morning is communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social. And the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism, but in a higher synthesis. It is found in a higher synthesis that combines the truths of both. Now when I say questioning the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.”

10 Best Films of 2011

This is my last “Best of 2011″ post and I feel I’m running a bit late by just getting the film one finished, but at least it’s up before next week’s “Globes” really gets Award Season underway. 2011 movie-season was a bit odd for me in that it usually seems like December and early January is a flurry of movie-going as my wife and I try to catch all the potential Oscar-contenders that studios hold back for that last minute release so as to keep their product fresh in voters minds.  The last few Decembers have produced a lot of great movies that ranked high on my lists (Black Swan, True Grit, etc). This year it seemed like the last minute movie slate was rather sparse– I did hold off until December’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” finally started showing up close to home this weekend. I managed to see almost everything I assumed would be a potential best-of film, with a few notable exceptions as my cop-out of a 10th pick details.

10) Reserved Spot

Okay, so it certainly is somewhat of a cop-out to leave a space open but I simply haven’t been able to see a few key potentially great films that would likely make this list. I was a bit more selective on which movies I went to the theater for this year, there is no discount theater within driving distance of where I now live, and we all know how horrendously slow Netflix can be on adding new release films to their instant streaming. The one I most assume would make the cut and likely rank higher than 10th is “Moneyball,” which finally comes to DVD/Blu Ray/etc. later this month. Seeing that it has a great cast and creative team, and because I love (a) baseball and (b) baseball movies, and how even those who tend to hate both (a) and (b) are raving that this film which supposedly makes a numbers-based behind-the-scenes sports movie play like an intelligent fast-paced action flick with great character moments is a front-runner for Best Picture, I cannot imagine it wouldn’t make my list if I had seen it already. Other than that, I haven’t seen the new American version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and David Fincher as director and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on the score are enough to ensure my enjoyment of that one. I also didn’t catch “The Artist” or “Melancholia” yet. Another one piquing my interest is Meryl Streeps turn as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” which is just being released state-side next week (personally I think if it isn’t released anywhere in the US before December 31st it shouldn’t be considered a 2011 contender which is why I included “Crazy Heart” a year later than everyone else a few years ago–it was almost February  before I found anyplace showing it!). One much praised film that completely didn’t do it for me this year was “The Tree of Life.”

9) J. Edgar

Apparently most critics and audience-members alike weren’t overly jazzed about this film seeing as how it has made no “best of” lists or award-predictions that I have seen so far. It did get mixed reviews upon its release and most of the press I have read about it only complains about the make-up. I didn’t notice any glaring make-up mistakes or weird “Benjamin Button” aging mishaps over the course of the film, but I wasn’t particularly looking for them either. I do think what could have been an epic, classic film was instead a thoroughly entertaining and interesting one–closer to “really good” than “excellent.” But I love Clint Eastwood as a director and I’ve yet to really see a bad performance from DiCaprio, and I’ve been waiting for a biopic about Hoover for sometime–it’s amazing that a complex and fascinating figure as prominent to 20th century history as J. Edgar Hoover is just now getting a notable movie about him made. Eastwood follows the course of his life and touches on all of his quirks and psychological hang-ups. We see him as the golden  boy G-Man, the uber-doting son, the closeted friend but never lover of his long time partner, and especially the can’t-let-go-of-power possessed FBI director. Leo delivers a really solid performance portraying a man who had a large hand in shaping US history and politics for a longer period of time than any President.

8) Insidious

As usual, there were a lot of bad horror films this year and just a few good ones. “Insidious” was by far the best one I saw all year long. There’s a strong story here, that stretches some but never gets too convuluted. There are suitable performances that don’t get in the way of the story, and there are more than a few truly frightening scenes. Aside from the “Paranormal Activity” movies and last year’s “The Last Exorcism” there haven’t been many smart, scary, well-made mainstream horror films in awhile and this one certainly fits the bill and was much appreciated.

7) The Help

“The Help” was a rare thing to occur in the middle of popcorn movie season in the summer heat. It was a movie with an emphasis on story and performance, one with real issues driving it, and one that pretty much came off as a full on crowd-pleaser. I love Emma Stone and have wanted to see her in a serious role so it was nice to see her succeed so nicely here. It wasn’t a very “deep” film and one could possibly criticize a film with racism as its focus and the south in the 1960s as it’s setting for coming off so relatively light-hearted–but there are plenty of sources one can look at which deal with the situations in intense, unsettling ways and not every piece must use shock and sadness to convey its message.  “The Help” is a fully human picture that deals with the humanity of its characters and their close similarities which absurdly went so over-looked (as continues to happen today). “The Help” displayed the hypocrisy and banality of classism and racism in a way that hopefully caused some movie-goers to recognize that the same sort of things still occur in the present. In the process it never lost track of its story–one that was humorous, fun, and subtly thought-provoking. It’s a movie as much about trying to put oneself in another’s shoes even when that is often truly impossible and recognizing that even with the faults such a process can cause the effort it is still valid and necessary. Sure things wrap up rather Hallmarkish and nicely and although sexism is addressed a bit with the female protagonist’s own story, issues of white privilege that could have been more fully explored (and which are so currently valid) with such a protagonist were largely overlooked. Even so, “The Help” did the best it could do with such weighty issues in the vehicle of a summer mainstream movie and it did so very enjoyably.

6) The Lincoln Lawyer

This was just a really fun action drama based on a fun series of books that pulled off the rare feat by being a movie as good as its source material. Not to mention that it featured the best Matthew McCaugney performance yet–he completely captures the character of Mickey Haller so much so that I can’t help but envision Haller as McCaugney when I read the books now. Everyone else in the cast did a terrific job as well, especially Marisa Tomei. Read my full review of it here, not much has changed in my opinion of it since I saw it back in March.

5) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Finally, I got to see this. I have waited to see it since I saw the trailer for it when I went to see “Drive” back in September. It’s a dense film–if you fail to concentrate at any moment you’re apt to miss something. It’s relatively slow-paced yet something is always going on. It’s a quietly unfolding espionage thriller that operates like a complex piece of orchestral music in that it’s constant flashbacks occur not in showy stop-flash music video style but in a subtle ebb-and-flow where images recur and themes repeat. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and company all dip into their roles and deliver good as always performances. Characters get defined fully yet deftly much more like  a novel than a film. The mystery gets to unravel bit by bit without seeming to be  doing so at all until the last 15 minutes. The action is almost all in the form of a tense under-tow. A very British spy thriller suited to its source material but also taking advantage of the film medium.

4) Midnight in Paris

“Midnight in Paris” is a really up-beat and lightly romantic picture for Woody Allen. I almost always like what Allen directs but you never really know for sure which Allen picture you’re going to get until you get on with it. What you can always expect is someone standing in as a Woody-esque protagonist now that he rarely appears in his own films anymore. This time around it’s Owen Wilson, who does a great job with the part. Wilson is Gil, a successful screenwriter wanting to make the jump to writing “serious” literature. Working on his first novel, a novel about a man who runs a “Nostalgia Shop” selling old pop culture souvenirs, Gil is on vacation in Paris with his fiancee. Gil is a nostalgic himself, obsessed with the Paris of visiting Americans Hemingway, Fitzgerald as well as Salvador Dali and TS Elliot. “Midnight in Paris” becomes just a fun comedy, with a slight sci-fi twist (Gil gets in a cab at Midnight each night and winds up in the past). Hemingway is portrayed hilariously, Kathy Bates is great as Gertrude Stein. The main focus of the film really becomes nostalgia and the warped misperceptions it creates and how it can deter from living life in the now. A worthy, if repeated, theme that is also the subject of a blog I’ve been working on off-and-on for awhile so I’ll really say no more here other than “Midnight in Paris” is a really superb and fun film, shot beautifully in a way that takes full advantage of it’s location and setting.

3) The Ides of March

“The Ides of March” is a dark political piece in that when all is said and done, the ambiguities and pitfalls of the political game are all full-circle as we witness the journey of a political newcomer from idealist to cynical “realist.” Clooney is a great actor with a keen mind for making great films, films that aren’t suited for everyone about which he seems to care-less; and that’s good, because it allows the rest of us to enjoy a very intelligent cinematic adventure. This is an actor’s playground–Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei and Clooney himself all get framed in the camera showcasing the craft of acting, all doing it the best that can be done. The script is tight and smart, with excellent dialogue and pacing–its really just a great movie.

2) The Descendants

George Clooney again; he consistently proves himself to be the best Hollywood actor of his generation with an equally smart choice of films to involve himself with. For the past ten years he has made and promoted movies that needed to be made that many others would have avoided–smart, literate films that don’t pander to their audiences. “The Descendants” is a great family drama, a movie with warmth and humor that deals with life and death, infidelity and the often strained relationships of parents and children. It’s also about commerce and heritage and making touch choices, about trying to do the right thing at a hard time in an everyday sense. In a way though, this is the anti-”American Beauty” in that it finds real reconnection, change, making peace with the past, forgiveness, and family itself not only desirable but fully attainable. From acting to score, writing to directing, “The Descendants” is the deserved front-runner for Awards season.

1) Drive

“Drive” was my favorite film of the year when I walked out of the theater in September and it still is today. Flipping through “Rolling Stone” magazines 2011 in Review issue I noticed they chose it as number 1 as well. It’s unlikely any “serious” panels will and I don’t see an Oscar nomination in its future, and that’s a shame because this was the best made film of the year. Other films portray great stories that could also work well in other mediums but no other film this year took advantage of the film-medium itself in the way “Drive” did–it does so in as exciting of  a way as “Pulp Fiction” did at its release. “Drive” is simply too ambiguous, too dark, too bloody, too “messy” and unresolved to be an Oscar picture. But it’s a classic picture nonetheless. Read my full review here.

Honorable Mentions: Super 8; Thor; Captain America; X-Men: First Class; Contagion

The 10 Best Comics + Graphic Novels 2011

10) Daredevil (Marvel) – Mark Waid

“Daredevil” has been a dark, gritty title for years. The character has been so emotionally and physically broken by crime aficionado writers like Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, not to mention Frank Miller, in c0mpelling tales that the only place to go was up. Waid (with some great pencilers like Marcos Martin) rebounded DD protagonist Matt Murdock in an upbeat, fun, witty way. This is old Marvel fun, DD as a Hells Kitchen coworker to Manhattan’s Spider-Man. We’ve had big superhero fun in the first half dozen issues. We’ve had artwork and narrative styles that employ and focus on DD’s specific powers and issues. We’ve had the best comic Marvel published all year in what was mostly a way-off year for them.

9) Vampirella  (Dynamite Comics) – Eric Trautmann

Dynamite Comics acquired “Vampirella,” the Harris property best known for pin-up styled cheescake art. What they did was revamp the character for modern times, clothing her (for the most part) and situating her as a real character. The covers maintained the pin up art  but the interiors gave us a horror comic vampire story with a strong female lead, a classic back-story including Dracula, an interesting side-kick, and some really solid pencil-work. Month in and out, “Vampirella” was a fun comic to read–and isn’t that why we read comics in the first place?

8) Detective Comics – Scott Snyder + Jock + Francesco Francavilla

Before DC relaunched with “The New 52,” writer Scott Snyder bid farewell to the old-numbering of “Detective Comics” with the best run that title has seen in years, a run ranking with the best Batman stories of all time. Jock and Francavilla alternating issues on the artwork didn’t hurt in that they crafted interiors as captivating as any covers to ever hit the shelves. What wasn’t to love in this run? A great Joker scene, a great old Gordon family mystery that situated a creepy new villain and history, great action scenes, character interactions, mystery, and everything else you could hope for from a Batman comic.

7) Scalped – Jason Aaron + R.M. Guera

“Scalped” will wrap up this year. We all know it won’t end pretty; it’s a totally original crime-drenched American noir, but it’s noir none the less and we didn’t set in for happy endings. We’ve known it would end in tragedy and the hook has been how it will get there and the deep character studies crafted along the way. In all-out classic style, 2011 delivered a surprising Red Crow bid for redemption, a quest soon to play out; it also revealed the identity of the murderer of Gina Badhorse. 2012 will let us see who, if any, survives this mess. Great storytelling, haunting artwork, fully developed characters, and though a title not big on the “feel-good” factory, one that is drenched in pathos and cracked yet beautiful humanism.

6) Chew – John Layman + Rob Guillory

We’re in the midst of listing several titles which I have included for the last few years and “Chew”– like “Criminal,” “Scalped” and “Locke and Key”–  is what you get when you pair a great writer with a great artiss who have a great chemistry together as they get to helm a project they have devised and dreamed and which they now have the backing to deliver as a great story, freely with no real baggage. This recipe almost always results in a work that stands out as its own on the racks and “Chew” is unlike anything else you will ever read. It’s an original style of art, a ridiculous premise that is also all too plausible in spite of the ridiculous aspect, and it’s a funny, layered, piece full of back ground jokes that repay rereads. “Chew” is at its core a humor comic, a thing which is few and far between now; but it’s layered up with action, drama, a bit of shock, and subtle social commentary. It’s really just a fun read, perhaps the “funnest” on the list. 2011 amped up some new details, adding a heavy dose of sci-fi to the mix. I’m with this all the way to its conclusion.

5) Criminal: The Last of the Innocent – Ed Brubaker + Sean Phillips

Brubaker served up Criminal fans with perhaps the strongest 4 issue run of the series thus far this year with “Criminal: The Last of the Innocent.” And that is saying something since “Criminal” is a close to flawless work in its every issue. “The Last of the Innocent” was somewhat of a detour from the methods employed in all of the other “Criminal” arcs thus far; it is a crime story, and there are pieces of information, characters, settings, and locations that tie this loosely to all the other arcs, but this is as much an homage to comics, different comic storytelling techniques, devices, eras, and genres as it is a crime story of its own. Yet all of that homage making fully tied in with the story in a way that heightens the techniques of this story itself, that works as a cross-current to send this one to the top of “Criminal” rankings. You’re kept on the edge of your seat with each issue and the suspense is taut; the ending itself is the blackest noir.

Yet

4) Severed – Scott Snyder + Scott Tuft + Atilla Futaki

What a truly unique, wholly original, and exceedingly welcome addition to the 2011 comic racks. Scott Snyder has been on a roll with creative new ways of doing Batman and now Swamp Thing for DC comics, and this creator pet project of his continued announcing his talented breakthrough as a major player in modern mainstream comics. Paired with writer Scott Tuft and some truly beautiful, striking, subtle artwork by Atilla Futaki, Snyder delivers a Gothic piece of Americana as a horror story. “Severed” follows the journey of a young barely-teenaged boy as he hits the road in 1920s era America in search of his absentee horn-playing father. He runs into a fellow boxcar traveling teen, a girl passing as a boy, befriends her and then meets up with a truly frightening road scourge, a villain who uses identity theft techniques to prey on children as a cannibal who sports homemade metal teeth. “Severed” still had a couple of issues to go before wrapping up its first mini-series when the year drew to a close, so readers are as of yet unsure of the fate of protagonist Jack. But unless this brilliant creative team seriously drops the ball in delivering the home plate issue, this is one of the most solid original concept mini-series in quite some time. What’s amazing is that this is a truly new horror story told in a way that is genuinely frightening but also non-gratuitous. This is not a bloody, gruesome affair–at least on the page; Snyder and company deftly employ Hitchockian techniques to scare the reader psychologically, leaving the most terrifying scenes off the page to play in our minds. The artwork is beautiful, it looks like water-colored montages of a time in American history far enough away from the current day to look totally new. I for one cannot wait to see where this story ends up.

3) Locke and Key – Joe Hill + Gabriel Rodriguez

Joe Hill continues to make his very first foray into the comics field the instant success and classic that it is. Locke and Key has had a set endpoint since day one and Hill moves ever closer to the culmination of his intricate and astounding genre-hopping work. Rodriguez continues to deliver a set of warm, fun pencils that look like art found nowhere else. Each mini-series of “Locke and Key” works as a complete tale but it’s the overall story which is taking on full-speed as the end draws close that is really knocking this title out of the park this year. Yet Hill always finds ways to deliver one-shot and single pieces that stand out as creative individual moments amidst the overall narrative, as he did in the sentimental (but not trite) short story that led off the “Guide to the Known Keys” this year (pictured above). In it, a young boy who is terminally ill is led to the moon in a hot air-balloon by his father and one of the Keyhouse keys is used to unlock the moon, revealing a place where the boy can live fully and whole, surrounded by family and friends as he looks down on the unfolding history of the world. Or moments in the primary series artistically showcase deft homages to other works, like when the young character Brodie is depicted as Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes in a memorable issue last year. Readers like me cannot wait to see how this ends and we have the utmost confidence that Hill can wrap thing up as satisfyingly as the story has been as a whole thus far–he’s given us every reason to trust his skills as a writer.

2) Habibi – Craig Thompson

Craig Thompson is a top-rate writer and artist who delivers a graphic novel by way of weighty tome every couple of years. His work is always literate, emotional, and personal. “Blankets” was solid but this year’s “Habibi” is the culmination of everything this great artist is capable of thus far. “Habibi” is an all out epic, a graphic novel to rival any “all time” graphic novel lists compiled. It’s a sweeping story of love, religion, romance, sex, culture, mythology, and language that carries its two protagonists through years that are grounded yet timeless. Thompson took the weight of his subject sincerely and his attention to detail is what truly shines in this work. His Arabic calligraphy is gorgeous as it should be in a work with the Middle East and it’s history, culture and religious landscape as its subject. Every page of this book is stuffed with details and decoration yet the focus never gets lost and it never drags the reader down. It is weighty, but not so dense the focus becomes strained. It works as a straight story and as metaphor-laden exploration. It surely will stand up to ever-revealing rereads but also works remarkably well as a take-your-time and soak-it-up first read. The characters leap to life, their joys and tragedies played out emphatically and grippingly on the page. This book is even great in its production, it’s a beautifully produced book worthy of any book-shelf with a physical presences to suit its story and subject matter.  Highly recommended to those not fond of the typical comic or even comics in general.

1) DC : The New 52  (DC)

So it may seem like a cheat to make my first pick something that encompasses 52 separate comic books, but the DC relaunch was such a good thing as a complete act and product that I can’t help but do so. DC relaunched their entire line with 52 number 1 issues this year, and as the year came to a close readers have gotten to read 3-4 issues of each title. What could have been a bad publicity stunt that failed to attract new readers and simultaneously drove away devoted fans has instead been something that makes it fun week to check in with DC each and every week. DC (for the most part) picked crack-fire teams to helm the books, and each issue of each title began with a completely new story that was approachable to any reader picking up that title for the first time. Yet as details about the new direction each character is taking emerges, it’s also clear that the work done in DC’s amazingly intricate old continuity hasn’t been completely scrapped. Characters and circumstances set up intricately and creatively by folks like Grant Morrison with the Bat-titles and their fresh mythology show up largely in place as the new norm with this fresh start; so what was good remains and much of what was bogged down has been streamlined across the company line. It’s also worth mentioning that DC has stayed true to their “drawing the line” price campaign as their books are still 1.00 cheaper than Marvel in almost every case.

Not every title in the New 52 is a complete winner and not everyone will work for every reader. I predict a few titles will fall by the wayside as 2012 rolls on. But what does work works amazingly well; Scott Snyder delivered the best “Detective Comics” run in years, ranking with the best work on a mainstream Batman story of all time. He continues that approach as he takes over the flagship “Batman” title with more fast-paced action, sharp dialogue, awesome character dynamics, and intriguing subplots and threads that will be a joy to follow. Brian Azarello and Cliff Chiang position “Wonder Woman” as one of the (perhaps THE) best title of the relaunch, and it’s far past due for the too-often misplaced sister character of the DC “Trinity” to have her own definitive modern run. Chiang’s pencils play up the high art and action of the story as Azarello intertwines horror and mythology, wit and emotion into a stellar and timeless story. “Aquaman” proves that one of the most maligned JLAers of all time is a great character and can be the centerpiece of a really great title as Geoff Johns and Ivan Reiss pour energy into that title the same way they did on their first flash of Green Lantern work years ago. Speaking of JLA (and Johns), “Justice League of America” combines superstar artist Jim Lee with the aforementioned Johns and in a flashback telling of how the new 52 universe’s JLA came together, the title is shaping up to be the best (and first good) run on a Justice League title in a long time (not counting the JLI).  Other titles–”The Flash,” “Wild Western Tales,” “Batgirl,” “Resurrection Man,”–are already delivering the goods with promising setups to carry them into the future. Most comic readers are thrilled with “Action Comics” as it showcases Grant Morrison in full on having fun mode as he crafts a flashback run cataloging the youthful early adventures of Superman in the new 52 universe, an agressive, somewhat naive but devoted populist Superman. Yet I find that the less popular “Superman” main title by George Perez delivers consistently fun, old-school DC superhero stories that take an appreciable long time to read. Former “B” characters stand out on superb books like “Swamp Thing” (penned by the iron-hot Scott Snyder) and “Animal Man” (a “mainstream” work by the inimitable alt.comic master Jeff Leimire). Great art, simple yet fun stories, and the burgeoning hint of an inter-connected and creative comics landscape all grant DC with the much-deserved honor of being the mainstream comics publisher of the year.