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DC launching digital service with Titans and Young Justice

Whoever thought we'd have a TV landscape with simultaneous series for Supergirl, Batwoman, and Batgirl, but not Superman or Batman?
 
DC will be turning the Batgirl movie project into a television series for their streaming service

I'd take that with a grain of salt.

There's a lot of "we hear", "seems", "could be", "it's speculated"... in that article, and no official announcement.
 
Anyone else actually trying the service? I'm on the 7 day free trial, but I won't be going past that for a few months, because of its big problem: its selection is tiny. The service it self works well on a technical level, which is great, but if you're like me and have a lot of the more common DC stuff on DVD (like the DCAU cartoons, the Superman/Batman movies, the DC animated dvd movies, etc) there really isn't much right now. The live action shows are definitely bare, with stuff like Birds of Prey, Lois & Clark, etc. The comics are ok, but the issues they have can be weird (they have some issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths, for example, but I think its issues 2-4 :cardie:), and apparently next month you'll be able to buy issues from the whole DC library, as opposed to this being DC's version of marvel unlimited, so that's a bit bullshit. They'll rotate out free comics, but basically treat the comic section as a preview for a DC only, and presumably more limited, version of Comixology.

If they can get more stuff in the TV/Movie section, I think this will be a nice little streaming service. But, right now i wouldn't recommend it past a free trial, unless you really want to watch stuff like the DCAU cartoons and don't have them on DVD.
 
I'd take that with a grain of salt.

There's a lot of "we hear", "seems", "could be", "it's speculated"... in that article, and no official announcement.
Yeah, I'm not going to totally buy it until I see a story from a more reputable source, like Deadline, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, ect.
 
Anyone else actually trying the service? I'm on the 7 day free trial, but I won't be going past that for a few months, because of its big problem: its selection is tiny.

I haven't tried the free trial, but this has been my concern all along. Perhaps with all the series in the pipeline DC plans for this to be their version of Marvel's big screen movies--and that would be a good strategy. Abandoning or placing less focus on a cinematic universe competing with the MCU for a more Netflix style approach.

That said, you can only have so much DC comics on a streaming service. Even if it had the entire catalogue of movies and television series based on DC and Vertigo characters plus WB movies starring actors who played in DC series, it still would be a small selection compared to Netflix, Hulu, or even CBS. I really wish that DC would provide a service similar to Marvel or Comixology's Unlimited.
 
I'm not expecting a Netflix size collection, but its still really puny. The problem is that DC doesn't own the full rights to probably 50% of the adaptations of DC heroes. We're probably never going to see Adam West's Batman on the service, for example, because FOX (and soon Disney, I guess) owns half the rights, which is why it took so long to even get a home video release of the series. All the current DC shows (Arrowverse, Gotham, Lucifer, Krypton) will also either never be on the service, or only get there a decade from now or something (assuming DC's service lasts that long) because of deals with other streaming networks. Its like how DC Universe has every old Superman show except Smallville, because Hulu (I think) has a deal for Smallville.

So they only have a small selection, and outside of originals don't seem to have much of a backlog left to put on it. Maybe they'll get some of the 60s/70s cartoons (Batman and superman both had solo cartoons during the Superfriends era, for example), and maybe stuff like Catwoman might find its way onto the service, but it feels like they've gotten most of the big stuff they can show on the service already. Heck, I wish they had more of the less popular, harder to find stuff. Supergirl (the film) and Steel both suck, but I'd watch them on the service (well, I own the Supergirl film on DVD, but you know what I mean). Or stuff like The Zeta Project, Beware the Batman, The Batman, the old Aquaman and Plastic Man cartoons, the Aquaman live action pilot (which did get a release as a special feature, so they have the rights), etc. There is a bunch off B to D list adaptations that could help fill out the service to make up for not being able to have The Flash, Arrow, Gotham, etc, but honestly I'm sure there is some obscure rights issue with even forgotten D-list stuff.

So, while I hope the Movie/TV section of DC Universe gets a boost, based on how shit Titans looks I'm probably not going to be subscribing based on their original shows. I really hope they get some more of DC older stuff on the service, that's what will personally bring me back after the free trial.
 
Perhaps with all the series in the pipeline DC plans for this to be their version of Marvel's big screen movies

I don't think that's the case at all, they have multiple series planned because they ideally want a new episode on every week so that people wouldn't unsub from the service(see Discovery/CBS AA).

There's plenty of big screen DC movies in the pipeline, there's 4 that are already in various stages of production and will be out in the next 14 months...
 
The comics are ok, but the issues they have can be weird (they have some issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths, for example, but I think its issues 2-4 :cardie:), and apparently next month you'll be able to buy issues from the whole DC library, as opposed to this being DC's version of marvel unlimited, so that's a bit bullshit. They'll rotate out free comics, but basically treat the comic section as a preview for a DC only, and presumably more limited, version of Comixology.


Oh, HELL no. I'm not paying 70 bucks a year for the opportunity to buy fucking digital comics. That is some bullshit. And exactly what I feared, rotating the comics. Nope, nope, nope.

Why? Why rotate the comics? Marvel Unlimited rotates the home page of the app to feature things from the movies or the TV, but, thy don't rotate OUT the comics themselves.

Why even have the comics when clearly it's the TV shows and the back catalog of shows and movies is what this is really about.
 
Oh, HELL no. I'm not paying 70 bucks a year for the opportunity to buy fucking digital comics. That is some bullshit. And exactly what I feared, rotating the comics. Nope, nope, nope.

Why? Why rotate the comics? Marvel Unlimited rotates the home page of the app to feature things from the movies or the TV, but, thy don't rotate OUT the comics themselves.

Why even have the comics when clearly it's the TV shows and the back catalog of shows and movies is what this is really about.

Yeah, DC should have just copied Marvel Unlimited. Its just greed that they didn't, pure and simple. Well, greed and stupidity. If people want to buy the comics digitally, they'll use comixology. Marvel Unlimited is apparently popular enough and makes Marvel enough money that they consistently update it, and waiting 6 months before an issue of a ongoing series gets posted seems like a "sweet spot" for me. But, even though it works, DC/WB think they can get away with trying to "tease" people with comics, when its probably just going to annoy people, from fans familiar with MU to people who don't usually get comics but got the service for the movies/tv and find they can't even really try out most of the comic runs on the app because they're generally very incomplete.

It feels like they would have made more money just copying Marvel, honestly, and even as someone who is used to DC/WB making stupid decisions, this one seems very odd, especially since they advertised reading thousands of comics as a part of the service, not reading some of the comics and then having to buy more separately.
 
Define “very close”? Lance has started Facebook groups for every single DC show on the air. When they are announced or even just a rumor. He recently closed a Deathstroke group I joined long ago because he conceded a spin-off staring Manu Bennett is not happening.

This is nothing personal against Lance. He seems like a nice guy. But he is presenting himself like more than just another fan with a normal every day job. I know because he has posted videos from that job. He has been very opportunistic is be the first to create these Facebook groups when these shows are first announced or rumored. Building up membership by promoting them on groups for shows like Arrow, Flash, etc which are already on the air.

The only connections he seems to have are FB friends he has with some people who work in comics or some of these shows. I know for a fact he has made concrete assurances of rumors that never turned out to be true. One that sticks in my memory is that John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick would appear on Legends either last season or the season before. With vague promises of “you will see, I am right”. With no details on his sources at all.
 
ComicBookMovie is not a reliable source of information, and I don't know who this Lance person is, so I wouldn't put any stock in those particular reports. We Got This Covered is more reliable even though they're still a "clickbait" site.
 
Why even have the comics when clearly it's the TV shows and the back catalog of shows and movies is what this is really about

People who are into superhero TV&Movie stuff vastly outnumber people who are into actual superhero comics, so I'd say it's pretty obvious one of the main ideas behind the DCU is to use the current massive popularity of the superhero genre in TV to try and get those people interested in comics by offering an easy and convenient way to jump quickly from the show to the book.
 
People who are into superhero TV&Movie stuff vastly outnumber people who are into actual superhero comics, so I'd say it's pretty obvious one of the main ideas behind the DCU is to use the current massive popularity of the superhero genre in TV to try and get those people interested in comics by offering an easy and convenient way to jump quickly from the show to the book.

Sure. I can see that has their reasoning. But why have it rotating? Why incomplete runs?

And it’s not like the movies and the tv shows have converted readers before. Do they think it was a lack of convenience that didn’t make people put down money for comics?

I guess, in someway, they feel it will cost them money to put up runs and leave the comics. Either cost money they aren’t getting from a customer or it will cost them money to do it.

But selling comics by making a bunch of tv shows isn’t the plan. That’s a terrible business plan. I suspect the comics are more of a “meh, I suppose we should”
 
But why have it rotating? Why incomplete runs?

I think the obvious idea there is if you like it, you might buy the rest of it.

You're looking at this from the perspective of wanting something like Marvel Unlimited, and I get that, but surely you realize that that is a very niche market, most people simply don't need to have an entire back catalog of tens of thousands of comics available to them at any given moment.

DCU is aiming for much broader appeal, from more casual readers of comics to non readers. For the price of less than 2 monthlies you get a new episode (or two) of a brand new show every week, older shows and movies to stream as you choose, and hundreds(if not thousands) of comics available and rotating so there's always something new.

I think that's a very fair offer for what one gets, and I don't think it's unreasonable to offer to sell more comics for those who want more, or to build their own personal permanent collection. You seem to think that this makes comics an afterthought here, but I'd argue that trying to get people into habit of buying comics again is indeed thinking of the survival of the industry that's slowly but surely flagging.

And sure, from the consumer side, it would be much better if everything was available, but that's just not very realistic to expect. Don't get me wrong, if what is on offer is not satisfactory to you, that's perfectly fine, and I'm absolutely not trying to convince you that you should get it, I just think you're way of base here in thinking that there's no market for it, or that their approach makes no business sense.
 
How is it unrealistic to expect DC to copy marvel Unlimited? Doing the rotating bullshit isn't going to get a non-comic reader to buy their shit, its just going to piss them off. Marvel isn;t losing sales because of Unlimited, DC is just being greedy shits. They're trying to make all of the money, and instead they'll probably be losing out on subscribers because of that shit. Even when they have an acceptable amount of content in the Movie/TV section, which won't be happening any time soon, they've royally fucked up with the comic section.

Seeing people defend DC's bullshit reminds me so much of some video game fans defending obviously shitty practices from companies like EA and Activision that its almost unbelievable. DC has done something shitty, and its not defend-able as anything but the company being shitty.
 
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