The DC stuff sounds interesting but for now I’m reserving judgement until 6 months after Justice League #1 drops. Because that’s how long it’s going to take Jim Lee to draw issue #2. I’m actually being generous by saying 6 months. What the hell happend to All-Star Batman again? Can’t they just leave Jim Lee designing covers, video game characters and outfits and keep him away from interiors? He obviously doesn’t have time for it nowadays. He’s really a fast penciler believe it or not (unlike McFarlane who has always been a slow penciler) but he doesn’t have time.
That drawing doesn’t do much for me gotta say. Aquaman doesn’t belong on the Justice League. There’s no fish to talk to in outer space, on the street, etc., etc., etc. They need to let that one go and keep him as a reserve member for underwater missions only. Not liking Superman’s new outfit but more or less indifferent about it.
Ah well, not much to talk about until they release something.
The DC news sounds like it could turn out one of two ways. Either it will turn out to be an interesting experiment, or it will catastrophically damage their entire brand and hurt the comics industry.
How in the world are retailers gonna sell 52 #1 issues in a single month? That doesn’t sound like good business strategy. Maybe people will be curious and there’ll be a spike in sales for that first month. But how are they gonna keep it up after the novelty wears off? Why not stagger the releases over a period of several months? I don’t think there are even 52 creative teams they could muster that would make their titles, across the board, all worthwhile.
The whole rebooting thing doesn’t sound like a good idea, either. How times do they need to reboot their characters/universe? All these Crises, Countdowns, Brightest Days, One Year Laters, etc. Didn’t they just reboot Wonder Woman, like, last summer? Sweet Christmas. Enough is enough.
And what’s with Jim Lee’s costume designs? I acknowledge him as one of the most popular artists of our time, and his name will certainly sell a lot of issues, digitial and print. But character designs are definitely not his forte. Everyone’s got that same, weird looking collar. I don’t know what sort of look he’s trying to achieve with those designs. Jim Lee peaked as a designer when he created Grifter’s mask in the early '90s. Everything else he’s done since then has paled in comparison.
I really don’t understand this initiative. The day-and-date digital release sounds like a worthwhile experiment, but everything else just makes it sound like Diane Nelson, or whoever’s in charge over there, just wants to flex some muscles and “shake things up” a bit.
Depends on what you mean by rebooting tho, and I never said rebooting brings in new readers; I was talking along the sense that #1 issues and milestone issues tend to have high sales, for example, in March 2011, FF #1 sold over 100k copies- http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2011/2011-03.html
Also take note of how much Thor 621 sold.
In April, Fear Itself #1 sold 100k, while the new Thor series sold around 80k for it’s 1st issue (twice as much as 621, this is in due to the Thor movie coming out so it prob. helped it). However Action Comics 900, despite being a milestone issue sold around 60k- http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2011/2011-04.html
Zephy’s got a point about renumbering 50 or so books, but as far as digital distribution goes, they could offer a number of these series for sale at a discounted price (eg 10 #1s for 9 dollars or less).
Selling 100K is an anomaly in today’s market, though. Rebooting/revamping EVERYTHING with 52 new #1 issues actually sounds more like a jumping-off point than a way to attract more readers.
Have they said anything about the pricing of the digital comics? I wonder how the Direct Market retailers feel about it. If the digital comics are cheaper, what’s gonna happen?
I’m uber excited for Jason Todd’s new series! I’m really liking Rocafort’s work on Action Comics. I’m also glad to see a Catwoman series and that Tomasi and Gleason will still be working on BnR! Oh! Also happy to see Snyder working on Batman! Love that guy!
Not sure about this “reboot,” but am happy to see Dick Grayson reclaim his Nightwing costume. Things were getting too confusing with both him and Bruce in the cowl. No news on Tim Drake. Hopefully no news is good news though. Batman Inc. going on hiatus this soon doesn’t make any sense to me.
I really hope Tim Drake goes back to being Red Robin and I hope Marcus To is still drawing him. That guys is talented and he deserves a good book to draw.
Removing Supes Red Underwear, it was a design necessity to break off what otherwise would be a monotonous blue suit, the Belt dividing it is not enough
Action Comics being Renumbered (Atrocious)
Detective Comics being Renumbered (Blasphemy)
I Like…
They’re having the balls to try something different… DC needs to create Awareness to this generation and cultivate it so they don’t always look like the WCW of comics.
Yeah… I gotta agree with you there. I mean, their renumbering two of the longest running ongoing series in history! It`s nuts! Also: Superman has knee-pads? WTF is up with that?
Still, I’m pretty excited for the re-launch! I can’t wait for the new Blue Beetle series, among others.
I’m feeling rather apathetic about the whole ordeal since the only DC titles I really read are the Green Lantern books and they are apparently going forward unchanged. I will say that Jim Lee couldn’t design a good costume to save his life, and I think it’s a huge mistake to release all of those titles in such a brief period of time. I have to admit I’m interested in a few of them though, particularly Animal Man and Frankenstein, but several of them look utterly hopeless. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how long they’ll last.
Picked up the Deadman Flash point issue this week and got a FREE Deadman button! I don’t follow DC news as much as I do Marvel stuff so I was unaware of this promotion. Pleasantly surprised.
Looks like DC is going to use the relaunch to get rid of Superman’s marriage. Which really should come as no surprise but it’s still sad to hear. Still looking forward to Morrison’s Action Comics regardless.
Morrison hates Superman’s marriage and has been very vocal about that through the years. It’s a big reason why All-Star Superman exists in the first place. Him writing Action Comics plus the relaunch is the main reason I’m not that surprised.
He’s not alone within DC editorial for disliking the marriage besides. Short answer why is if Superman is married, he’s no longer an alien trying to fit in. Once he’s married, he fits in.
It’s too bad that single Superman tends to revert Lois to either an idiot or someone in denial who can’t figure out he’s Clark Kent.
Look at the bright side. At least it’s a universal reboot and Superman is not making a deal with Raven’s dad to save Ma Kent from a bullet wound…
Damn didn’t know that. I was fine with Supes marriage TBH.
…and the whole fitting in thing kinda doesn’t make sense to me. Have you ever read Invincible? The superman there IS married and it doesn’ affect his character…then again [spoiler=]considering his TRUE agenda at the time he was supposed to fit in @_@[/spoiler]
I guess I don’t get this ‘fit in’ thing much…
…and yeah agreed about the Trigon thing, lol.
EDIT: BTW if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your thoughts on the Supes marriage break-up?
