Once more DC is releasing 13 new number one issues this week. How can anyone possibly be expected to determine which of these new books they should really buy? There’s just so many of them! To make your life easier, I’ll offer my ill-informed, not-quite-expert opinion on what “New 52” titles are worth picking up today.

On this fourth week of the “New 52″ DC Universe, it seems like there are really only two high profile books shipping in my opinion, Geoff John’s Aquaman and Scott Lobdell’s Teen Titans. I guess a case could be made for both Superman and The Flash, but since those books are written by individuals better known as artists than writers, they haven’t really reached my radar. Batman the Dark Knight would probably have been a book I considered high profile had the first volume of the series been better.

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After a four month delay since David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #1 shipped, issue #2 is now in stores. We were both impressed with the debut of the series that sees Finch as both writer and artist, but after getting our hands on the follow-up it seems the bloom may be off the rose.

PTB: Seeing this book on the shelf took me by surprise. I normally look at the schedule each week, but I really thought I had no reason to look for this title any time soon.

KevinMLD: At this point I’m not even sure why DC is publishing this book. Finch’s exclusive deal has been completely wasted on covers. It was announced two summers ago and DC’s published three issues of comics that he actually pencilled plus an additional eight pages of a fourth. There’s no way this is a good deal for DC.

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Batman: The Dark Knight #1 variant cover art by David Finch

After a lot of hype and a lot delays, DC Comics’ newest Bat-title, Batman: The Dark Knight, arrived at comic book stores yesterday. Helmed by artist, David Finch, this title is the latest in a string of Batman books written by creators better known for drawing comics than writing them. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of the debut of Image Comics almost twenty years ago. As you’ll see, it isn’t a bad thing in this case, but it’s a rather bold direction for the publisher to take with their flagship character.

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This article has been planned since shortly after MLD ran the State of the X-Men piece back in November. The delay in the post has been directly tied to the delay in DC Comics publishing their second new high profile Batman title, David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight, which was originally due to ship November 24. Well Batman: The Dark Knight #1 is supposedly shipping this week (though I’ll believe it when I see it), so this seems like as good a time as any to assess the state of the Batmen Family.

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I can’t remember the last time this happened, but I have nothing on my pull list for this week. Plenty of books from all publishers will be on the shelves, but there’s honestly nothing that I normally read. Knowing that a week with no books shipping is likely scheduled for the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s Day again this year, it makes for a pretty bleak December of comic books for me.

In an attempt to compensate, Kevin and I thought we’d look at the shipping list for the today and next Wednesday (a lot of these books got pushed back to December 15th) and see what I could have bought if I had unlimited resources of time and cash. Even though we don’t necessarily read all of these books, there may be some spoilers to come.

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