How will big shakeups shake out for readers, retailers?

In the battle of the big-event comics -- Marvel's Civil War vs. DC's 52 -- Chris Mautner of the Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot-News isn't sure whose side he's on:

With more than one obvious nod to current events, Civil War could easily fall into a state of unbearable over-earnestness, like an ABC Afterschool Special with capes.

Thankfully, Marvel manages to sidestep most of those problems, at least in the first issue. ...

To be sure, there are plenty of nits to pick. (I, for one, felt the disaster might have been a bit underplayed. Hundreds die, now let's move on to the real story.) That said, Civil War turns out to be well done. Hopefully future issues will maintain that quality.

... While it provided an interesting commentary on the current state of superhero comics, Infinite Crisis was something of a convoluted mess, understandable (or appreciable) only to the most devout DC fan.

52, despite the lengthy list of creators, seems a bit more focused. That might be due to the fact that it mainly deals with a handful of minor characters like Booster Gold and The Question, showing events from their ground-level perspective.

Meanwhile, Nashville's City Paper checks in with local retailers about the results of Free Comic Book Day, and asks about the sales performance of Infinite Crisis and Civil War -- and the risks of 52.

“I find fans will find the money [for 52], but they’ll cut the weaker books,” store owner Rick Parman told the weekly. “If 52 is worth it, [books like] Cable & Deadpool and Birds of Prey will have to watch out, their readership may drop. [Customers will] really look hard at what they’re reading and what they’re enjoying.”

However, competitor Shawn Hamilton said he's seeing the opposite effect, with customers buying other DC books because of Infinite Crisis and 52: “We’re basically just ordering more books. Now, you never know how long it’s going to last; [eventually] you’ll start to see the numbers return to normal, closer to where they were. But at least for the first couple of months, it’s doubled sales on a lot of books.”