“Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine’s Day Special” gets mediocre reviews
It’s somewhat vindicating that DC Comic’s “Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine’s Day Special” has been mostly panned by reviewers across the internet. I wasn’t expecting much when they announced the book months ago, and it seems I was right.
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Comic Book Resources: 2.5 stars out of 5 (Notable Comments) “Anthologies are always a mixed bag, and unfortunately, Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine’s Day Special” #1 doesn’t have any standout romances that make the entire collection worth picking up, unless the reader just wants the cards… Considering the character lineup and the cover price, that’s a disappointment.”
Talking Comic Books: (Notable Comments) “…the anthology in total may fall into an odd middle ground where it is too slow for the action crowd, and too surface level for the romance fans… At $7.99, I say pass. I would probably even say pass at $3.99.”
Batman News: 3/10 (Notable Comments) “This is a book that’s supposed to be a collection of romantic vignettes yet there’s no heart in most of these tales. No real emotion… The book has a great cover, two decent stories, and some funny tear-out valentine cards… Do those things make this comic worth $7.99? Hell no! No. No. No. No way. No.”
Multiversity Comics: 4.8 out of 10 (Notable Comments) “…a Valentine’s day anthology featuring some of DC’s most famous couples? That should be a ton of fun!… So why are so many of these stories so sad?… Overall, this is a really disappointing issue, and it costs nearly eight dollars, which is highway robbery.”
IGN Comics: 6.5 out of 10 (Notable Comments) “Don’t let the title fool you. DC’s Young Romance: New 52 Valentine’s Day Special contains precious little actual romance. Four of the six stories included in the issue feature a rejection of some kind, and of the remaining two, one ends on a decidedly tragic note. While it’s true that the dating game must be difficult when one spends their nights gallivanting about town fighting crime in skintight spandex, it’s a curious ratio of failure to success for a compilation that bills itself as a Valentine’s Day special.”
Adventures in Poor Taste: 2 of 10 (Notable Comments) “Seriously DC Comics, you can do better than this. There are many incredible examples of comics doing a good job with romance. Look at one of the most popular comics in the last 10 years, Blankets, and you can see global sales that are through the roof. What this comic does is insult romance comics… The fact that this is $8.00 tells me it’s a money grab and nothing more.”
Comic Vine: 3 of 5 (Notable Comments) “I think the best way to review this issue was to break it down and focus on the stories individually. Overall, for $7.99 you’re getting six stories featuring some of your favorite DC characters… There are definitely some positive things about this issue. First, it is accessible to new readers. You don’t really need to have a whole lot of background information on the characters and concepts we see in this issue. It’s great because you get a variety of different stories featuring many of our favorite characters all in one place. So what’s bad about this issue? Well, unfortunately, not every story is going to be very good. In fact, a few of them are really very bad. The issue is also pretty expensive; after taxes it costs you over $8.00. That’s a lot of money for an issue that contains stories you may not necessarily like at all. So while a couple of these might be fun to read, it doesn’t exactly feel like it’s worth it.”
The Weekly Crisis: Verdict - Avoid It (Notable Comments) “DC’s anthology books have often been a source of new creators and new ideas, but you won’t find much of either here. To be honest, you won’t find much value for money either, as the book’s price feels grossly inflated considering the relatively small amount of pages within. You’re actually paying more per page here than you would for a regular DC book (16.7 cents a page versus 15 cents a page). Don’t even get me started on how this compares to DC’s other anthology books.”
