DC Comics - Ongoing Discussion - SPOILERS

[kirk55555]

Eh, DC will get the benefit of doubt from me when Bob Harras and Dan Didio don't have positions of power anymore. Until then, they're still the same company that has done horrible things to writers and is run by people who have a history of bad or just plain out of their mind decisions. Didio's famous hate about the 52 weekly series tells you all you need to know about him, and Harras has been doing stupid stuff since he was in charge of Marvel. So, yeah, when management changes, i'll give DC Comics more leeway. Until then, its junk until proven good, and it is rarely proven good (and when it is good, its always B or C list books the management probably doesn't care about, anyway).

 

[JD]

I'm not going to punish the writers or artists for the bad actions of the company's management. I would like to think people wouldn't hold the stupid shit the management of Wal-Mart or even just the managers of the store I work at against me.

 

[kirk55555]

I'm not really holding it against them. I just assume that any DC comic is going to suck, so that when I try one out and it sucks I'm not disappointed, but when its (rarely) good its a nice surprise. Its a lesson DC has beat into my head for almost 4 years, and one that will be relevant unless they have a big shake up in management.

 

[JD]

That just says more about you than them. There still seem to be quite a few people who are enjoying DC books, so it sounds to me more like they just aren't writing to your tastes rather than them just being outright bad.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Just a general vibe I got, based on your posts (admittedly not all in this thread). I figured you were defending the DC people in charge because I'd insulted them, since that or just me taking shots at DC are the only reasons I could think of for your replies to my posts when I was replying to your posts.

I've never defended the actions of the folks in charge of DC. Don't think I've even mentioned them.

 

[kirk55555]

That just says more about you than them. There still seem to be quite a few people who are enjoying DC books, so it sounds to me more like they just aren't writing to your tastes rather than them just being outright bad.

Well, there sales are apparently not great and Marvel dominates in market share (ie the percentage of the comic market a company controls/the percentage of the total comic book sales by company), with February having Marvel at 40% and DC at 26%, which is only slightly different then the 2015 overall of Marvel at 38% and DC at 25%.

It actually pretty interesting, and Diamond Comic Distributors has all the info, in a pretty easy to find way. 2013 had DC at its closest to Marvel, with them only 3% behind Marvel, but now its down to 14% below and month to month doesn't seem to be going up. DC hasn't actually beaten Marvel in any of the years there are stats for (it goes back to 2002). Marvel also seems to have DC beat in top selling books (of the top 30 top selling books in 2015, DC only had 2, and they were both issues of Frank Miller's Dark Knight III comic). No matter what way you look at it, Marvel Comics is kicking DC's butt. Sure, DC hadn't beaten them in awhile even before the reboot, but post reboot they haven't been doing much better then pre-reboot (at least not for long) and last year had their second lowest year market share wise since 2002, with them only doing worse in 2008.

Whether I like them or not, and regardless of the fact that they are obviously doing enough to survive, DC is definitely not doing Marvel numbers, and its not like Disney magically boosted Marvel Comic's performance. More people want to buy what Marvel is selling compared to what DC is selling.

 

[Mr Light]

Batman #50 was a well done and satisfying ending to "Superheavy". No big shocks or twists, just solid story telling.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

They've announced creative teams for "Rebirth" at WonderCon.

CBR| WONDERCON: DC Comics Reveals "Rebirth" Creative Teams; More New Details

The Bat-books leave me cold. JRJR on a Batman book sounds interesting, since whenever he draws Batman, he seems to be able to draw anatomy and facial expressions again, but I'm not interested enough to also buy into it with him only being part of an illustrating roaster on one book.

Dan Jurgens taking over Action Comics is nice. I liked his very brief run early in the New52, and I love the "Lois & Clark" book, so looking forward to that.
"New Superman" doesn't sound that interesting to me.
I'm a little concerned about that line: '"Lex Luthor does become 'a' Superman soon," Johns confirmed.' Not sure what to make of that.
"Supergirl" is a wait-and-see case. I don't think I'm familiar with Steve Orlando's work.
"Superwoman" is probably worth checking out, considering it's done by Phil Jimenez.
The main "Superman" title is also a wait-and-see. I've heard good things about Tomasi's GL work.

"Trinity", I'll definitely check out.

After five years, "Wonder Woman" is likely to become a must-read again. Greg Rucka to the rescue!

Bryan Hitch takes over as writer of "Justice League", but art by Tony Daniel and another one I'm unfamiliar with. Disappointed that the release schedule appears to be more important than Hitch's artwork, but okay. Daniel is certainly capable of flashy action.

The GL and "Flash" books are probably not gonna be bought by me, for budgetary reasons (twice-monthly, people). Maybe I'll check out the TPBs if I hear good things, or maybe I'll replace other disappointing books with them.

Dan Abnett on "Aquaman" is certainly tempting, but my damned budget. Same for his "Titans".

I'll probably check out "Green Arrow", though I'm not familiar with the new creative team. There was talk have Ollie finally sporting the goatee again, and meeting Black Canary. Hoping this will get closer to the pre-Flashpoint Ollie. I'd love to see Ollie's bleeding heart liberal attitude coming back, too.

The creative teams of "Super Sons" and "Justice League of America" have not been announced, but at least we got confirmation that the former will be about Damien Wayne and Jon Kent, the son of pre-Flashpoint Lois and Clark. I'll likely check that out, JLA depends on the concept/team members and the creative team.

It goes without saying that I'm ready to drop any and every one of those mentioned above if I'm not satisfied. I've been burned by DC too often the past few years to be that forgiving.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm glad they're soft rebooting the New 52 verse, but these line ups don't sound terribly interesting to me. It's basically the same creative people from the New 52 Reboot.

It almost sounds as if they're replacing New-52-Superman with Pre-Flashpoint-Superman, is that true??? That'd be awesome. That's my Superman.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I'm glad they're soft rebooting the New 52 verse, but these line ups don't sound terribly interesting to me. It's basically the same creative people from the New 52 Reboot.

To be fair, it really comes down to the editors. It's the editors being dicks (looking at you, Berganza) who drove the creative process in the beginning, so it will be interesting where these writers go with the new "Rebirth" directives.

But, yeah, a lot just leaves me cold.

It almost sounds as if they're replacing New-52-Superman with Pre-Flashpoint-Superman, is that true??? That'd be awesome. That's my Superman.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Art:

That last one is for the 80-page oneshot in May.

Return of the yellow \S/ on the cape. WW with golden tiara (if we could just get rid of that fucking sword). Supergirl looks like it takes a lot of inspiration from the TV show, and that WW Year One (?) looks very much like the movie version. Bearded Ollie on the oneshot cover, looks like the goatee will really return. "Super Sons" looks fun.

All in all, at least visually, I very much approve.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Holy shit!

Last time I was looking at sales figures, the small press was selling at %5... That was 15 years ago nearly. How the fuck have DC and Marvel fucked up and only control %62 of the Market?

Of course I don't know the size of the "market" then or now, so if overall sales had doubled, the new numbers would be understandable, however if the market had halved, it's clear to see which rats had fled the ship.

 

[Mr Light]

Oh, thank god. Supergirl has a skirt again. I could not stand her New 52 leotard.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Skirts are sexist.

 

[Mr Light]

Better a skirt than panties and bare thighs, my friend

 

[dahj]

Skirts are sexist.

 

[Saga]

Oh, thank god. Supergirl has a skirt again. I could not stand her New 52 leotard.

i hated the whole knee boots thing that wrap around the upper thigh but leave the knee exposed.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Oh, thank god. Supergirl has a skirt again. I could not stand her New 52 leotard.

And that red triangle in her crotch?! I still can't believe someone thought that was a good idea. That's almost as suggestive as that owl/bat silhouette on Vampirella's crotch. Thinking about it, it was even more suggestive.

 

[Mudd]

The new Wonder Woman looks great.

Supergirl's back to being boring blonde cute, I see. Nice outfit for cheerleading. Meh.

Past time for another female Green Lantern, so good.

Batman - the SOB can wear anything and look good, can't he?

Superman - still no red Speedo. Who was it around here predicted when the New 52 was launched that the shorts would "be back in less than a year?"

 

[kirk55555]

Some very interesting announcements. Hopefully it will lead to better quality comics from DC. I'm excited for a lot of the changes. I'll probably try most of the books at some point. I'm glad the Bat family is being shaken up creatively, hopefully it won't just be Scott Snyder in everything but name.

Scott Snyder writing All-Star Batman is a brilliant piece of unintentional comedy. I know there is basically a 0% chance that Snyder's book will be remotely related to Miller's abomination, but if any other batman writer was to write a book that reminds me of horrible Frank Miller stuff, Snyder fits perfectly.

The Superman books are interesting. Action comics will hopefully be good with Jurgens, he's usually decent. I'm not familiar with the Supergirl or "New Superman" writers, but I'll try them out. Trinity and Superwoman also seem interesting.

I'm SUPER excited for Greg Ruka on Wonder Woman. The Finch's were pretty bad on the character, and I was never too impressed with Azarello. Maybe the Amazon's will also get "reborn" as no longer being rapists and murderers.

The Flash premise sounds interesting, although the writer isn't anyone I've heard of before. Justice League might be ok with Hitch. The Green Lantern books have a lot to prove after how badly the GL books degraded after Johns left them, but hopefully we'll see improvement. Dan Abnett is very hit or miss, but I'm still interested in his Aquaman, and I hope his Titans is more like the old stuff then the lame New 52 Teen Titans books.

Harley Quinn has the same mediocre writers, and I doubt they'll change anything up. Suicide Squad might be interesting even though I don't know the writer (although its been one of the bottom tier New 52 books, so it will be a surprise to see it get much better).

I'm very interested in Blue Beetle by Keith Giffens. Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes? Yes, please. Green Arrow getting his goatee back seems a bit desperate, but if it means a bit more old school GA, I'm all for it. I'll continue ignoring Scott Lobdell and his Red Hood & The Outlaws book (thankfully he's not using Roy or Starfire in this one). Don't really care about Deathstroke, Hellblazer, or Batman beyond, but I'll see what people say about them. Teen Titan's premise seems annoying (I really don't like Damien Wayne at this point, so him fighting for control of the TT sounds really irritaiting), but it might not suck.

Overall, there is some good news, some ok news, and some bad news. It will be interesting to see what happens.