Blockbuster's tale is lesson for Comic Book Industry

Blockbuster and it's once high flying video rental chain is finally going to call it quits.

Ok, so they are not exactly about to board up every location but once they enter into bankruptcy in September, no one really expects them to come back out of it with a better plan and sail on to greater glory a la the Auto industry. No government bail out here fellas. The days of the consumer renting movies from a neighborhood chain are officially over. When you can summon up movies anytime you desire on your TV, game system and phone, it's the beginning of the end of mass retail media consumption.

Blockbuster played this game far too long and actually did try to bail out a few years back before it was too late when the now defunct Circuit City Electronics retailer looked into buying the company. After a lengthy review of Blockbusters finances and future prospects, CC ran away from the dying idea of video rentals. Not too long after, CC finally died themselves because of their own poor management.

The quickly shifting landscape of retail media is a problem every major retail chain is facing right now. Even the juggernauts like Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy know that their once traffic driving area of books, magazines, music, video and games are shedding sales year by year. Internally, each company has been working with the major studios and distributors on what the future looks like for each of them. These media areas of the stores are shrinking and so is revenue. We know of one of the big chains that has devoted a specific team to map out when and how these areas of the stores will further shrink and what kind of products should then take over that valued space.

Media is going straight to the consumer and it's getting cheaper. Not news to anyone but still good news for the consumer and bad news for just about everyone else.

This is where we tie it all into what is happening to the comic book industry. A very small group where aging and stubborn fans and retailers refuse to accept what is happening before their very eyes. An industry where both publishers and distributors are fearful of bringing the subject up to any retailer's attention.

I don't call this problem out to gloat, I want comic retail and publishing to survive and I want the industry to finally engage in meaningful conversation about the change.

Anytime any site or blogger wants to discuss digital comics you can count on plenty of short sighted retailers and fanboys to decry any discussion of change and claim the pulp will never go away. Right, just because no one buys a music CD anymore in favor of digital files doesn't mean they would stop buying the 'Adventures of Captain Cape' publication any longer when they could read it on their phone on the bus to work.

The heads have got to come out of the sand in this industry. If your comic shop's primary revenue is generated by weekly comics, they are not long for this world unless they study retail trends and history, make plans for change and accept what is happening to every retailer around them that sells any form of media.

The traditional single comic store retailer and distributor are especially at risk. First, the consumer goes, then the retailer with no plan goes then the distributor finally falls 'cause no one is paying their bills. The big publishers will go on, wounded of course but propped up by the mega-conglomerate that supports them because they can at least still sell Spider-Man & Batman underwear. Everyone else in publishing will have to choose between digital distribution or an ever increasingly expensive publication option with less retail support. Real change is coming and Disney/Marvel, Warner Bros/DC and select others do know this and are making plans. You won't catch Jim Lee and Joey Q discussing such plans in public but they are. God forbid they mention any of this to the overly sensitive retailer and upset the apple cart.

So to the loudest comic retailers like Brian, Chuck and the rest, I submit that you consider the Blockbuster saga a warning from the Ghost of Christmas Future: If you are a retailer sitting out there and not making plans for your inevitable future with less and less weekly goods to sell to a shrinking consumer base, then you may as well get in line with Blockbuster next month.

You can judge a comic book by it's cover

Any vet in the world of publishing be it mainstream or comic books will always confirm the cover is key to capturing the attention of any potential reader and therefore potential sale in any retail establishment.

Here is proof positive the editors at DC don't follow that train of thought.

These are the upcoming covers for Superman. DC Comics number one icon. A four color, larger than life superhero that can perform any remarkable act any artist can imagine. Out of a sea of titles on any retail shelf...who the hell would look twice at these?

And yes, the storyline is a dull and interor art is as subpar as this would lead one to believe. Save your pennies. Better yet, support your local comic shop and buy a back issue from 75 years of Superman publishing.

You'll be much more satisfied in the end.

SDCC 2010 – The Good, the Bad and Man, the Very Ugly

The San Diego Comic-con is the only five day event I can think of that will both wear you out and energize you at the same time. There is something going on somewhere nearly every hour of every day of the show. The frenzy and excitement was palpable and spilled over out onto the streets surrounding the convention center and its cluster of hotels more than it ever had before. You can’t help but be charged up by the madness surrounding you.

We came, we saw and we spent lots of cash. The 2010 Comic-con was one of the best and most exhausting. We loved it. But it also has now marked a definitive change to the way the convention is run and what kind of fan attends. This is no longer your father's comic convention. It's a pop culture extravaganza!

So to sum up the hits and misses, here are my picks.

The winner of SDCC 2010:

Scott Pilgrim Vs Comic-con

Everybody wins. Based on the amount of money and time Universal, it’s marketing team and the film’s director and cast spent at comic-con hyping this film (based on the awesome graphic novel series), it better open big on August 13th. I have never seen any film marketed as hard as this one was anywhere at any time. The hardcore push included three surprise, free screenings, a standing room only panel event, cast hosting the Eisner Awards, director and cast making t-shirts and posing for photos with fans outside all afternoon for four straight days. Most film directors and their cast promoting any new film project at comic-con simply breeze in and out for a one hour panel and are likely back on a plane to LA before you make to the other end of the hall. You have to give it up for this group sticking it out and schlepping its pride and joy for the entire duration of the event!

Marvel Films

Despite one of the worst panel time slots of the weekend, late Saturday night, Marvel ended up crushing one out of the park with the presentation of the entire cast of ‘The Avengers’. A film not even written yet and due in summer of 2012. The mainstream media was all over this one. The news was the most published story of the convention. People I know who don't give a crap about comics or comic movies had heard of this event before I returned home.

Green Lantern’s Light

If it was not for Ryan Reynolds savvy quick thinking in recognizing a good marketing opportunity when he sees one by reciting Green Lantern’s geeky oath to a young lad in the audience, Warner Bros would have looked like empty handed fools compared to the Marvel Films blowout that followed. The WB didn’t have anything of significance to show or tell for their big 2011 Comic Book movie. Thanks to Reynolds saving that snooze of a panel, they now have their marketing launch.

Indie Comic Publishers

Thanks to the likes of Scott Pilgrim, Oni Press got the kind of fan attention at the show typically only relegated for the big two super-hero publishers with lines wrapping around their booth daily. Same can be said for the Walking Dead series from Image Comics but AMC had a much cooler WD booth (set up to showcase the upcoming TV series this fall) than Image could ever hope to afford. Viz Comics had Priest. Dark Horse Comics big draw are it's creators (Mignola, Ammano) and not always the material (Upteenth and meaningless Star Wars comic). This kind of attention is only as strong as the movie or Television tie-in was looking for these publishers. The lines are not going to continue year in and year out only for the quality of their funny books.

Which brings up to…

Losers of SDCC 2010:

Comic Books in general

There are those who will be in denial about this but 2010 will be the year everyone will mark for Comic-con as the game changer. The publishers are slowly dying while Hollywood entertainment only grows stronger at Comic-con. The publishers cannot compete for fans attention inside the convention center and the same can be said for the battle over their wallets the rest of the year. The buzz of the show consistently surrounded film or TV news. Both inside the center, out on the streets and during the parties. Even SDCC's grand Eisner Awards for the best of the best in comic publishing are attended less and less by both fans and creators who are actually nominated. Yes, popular film and TV panels are based on actual comic books but the modern fan is just not that interested in the pulp compared to the big screen. Or video game. Or television series. Or iphone app.

And in that vein…A Tie! DC & Marvel Comics

DC Comics absolutely wasted a golden opportunity with SDCC to launch bold new projects and list new, fresh talent months after their big corporate shake up that put Jim Lee and Geoff Johns in charge. Instead they simply continued to list projects currently in motion or that everyone has known about all year. And just when we thought the worst DC and Dan Didio had to offer was over comes the ego known as “JMS” and his not-very-original ideas for both Superman (Walking Cross country! Identifying with "the man"!)& Wonder Woman (New crappy costume! Tries to find out "who she really is"!). Apparently he didn’t read DC comics in the ‘70s. Or the '80s. Or the '90s. “Oh and hey, Bruce Wayne is (still) coming back! Uh, is the audience still here?” No they are over in Hall ‘H’ digging on 'Tron Legacy'. Coming soon to a theater near you!

Oh and how did you like the breaking news for DC's staff during the event? Your offices are moving from NYC to LA. And soon! I might feel sorry for them if they just didn't suck so bad.


The Marvel Comics booth on the floor of the convention sums up what’s going on at Marvel and it really has nothing to do with comics anymore. The space was filled with movie props, actors, licensing news and laptops manned by booth babes so fans could be lured in and coaxed into subscribing to Marvel Digital’s online service. The biggest COMIC announcements they had were both projects meant to fix failures. First up was the (sort of) confession that they wanted to correct and make the fans forget about the past couple of years of crappy Spider-Man stories post the “One More Day” event. Aren’t you suckers glad you bought those weekly Spider-Man books for the past year? The other ‘biggie’ announcement from Joey Q was that Disney has tasked Marvel’s creators to re-launch the catalog of Crossgen Comics. Riiiight. Because Super-hero comics are dying, fantasy concept comics that didn’t sell the first time around MUST be the answer! And for a second year in a row after promising…Marvel still didn’t have the rights secured yet for the long waited Alan Moore Miracle Man reprints. And hey Marvel...you guys DO know you still own the X-Men, right? When is the last time that series was interesting? Oh right, it was the second X-Men film!

Toy Vendors acting as retailers

Despite the predictable hype and long lines during the early days of the show, Both Hasbro and Mattel toys found themselves with excess toy exclusives by the weekend. While each company certainly did have popular items that completely sold out, by Saturday morning you could literally walk right up the store counter in each booth and order plenty of the rest of the junk. These companies over reached in an economy where every disposable dollar is precious to any collector. We were happy to see that there are indeed limits to the crap. One nameless insider confirmed you can bet on a scaled back selection at the con next year.

The ugly:

The easy story to post here is the one about the two nerds fighting over a seat in Hall ‘H’ Saturday night before the Marvel panel. One nerd stabbed at the other with his only weapon on hand…a pen. No doubt the assailant was imagining it was his lightsaber. But no, the REAL ugly was witnessing a horde of middle-aged, very overweight women descending upon HBO’s ‘True Blood’ cast on the floor of the show as they mistakenly thought they’d hit the booth and sign for fans. That idea didn’t last long as the crazed and delusional women crushed the booth and cut off floor traffic in all directions. Security shut that party down quickly. No doubt to each actor’s great relief.

But hey, you can always learn something at Comic-con. Like the fact that the ‘Twilight’ films are for crazed teen-age girls and ‘True Blood’ is for very crazed and lonely 30 or 40-something women. Yeah I'm a nerd and like me my toys and movies and stuff but at least I don't sit around daydreaming that these things will bite my neck and and make orgasmic faces while doing so. Top that for ugly at the show.

See you next year SDCC, when you will bring us new films like The Avengers, Dark Knight 3 and yes even more Twilight. And maybe some decent comics.

Feb 18th, 2010...DC Comics REAL Brightest Day

Forget the upcoming DC Comics event titled Brightest Day, this is it right here. Or we could also call it the end of "The Great Darkness Saga".

As reported all over the 'net today, DC has finally had the corporate shake up we're all been praying for and the end result is far more promising than we could have ever imagined.

There is a lot of good news here and the best of it is the part we've been calling for (in this blog) since last summer...the removal of DC's Editor in chief, Dan Didio. While Dan remains with the company, he's been properly removed from creative side of the biz and been given a nice comfy chair (and salary no doubt) to now over see the broader publisher side of things. Make sure books get printed, distributed domestically and overseas, increase book seller market share, attend Time Warner board meetings, Etc. In charge of still important but ultimately boring stuff.

While Didio certainly deserves to simply get kicked to the curb for nearly running DC comics into the ground over the past couple of years (no exaggeration, check the numbers), we're happy he's just now out of the editorial picture. Good riddance DiDumDum!

The better news is that creators like Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, DC's top tier creators that consistently make DC Comics money, are now going to be calling the shots. Just like when Marvel Comics tapped Joe Quesada, who was just a hard working writer/artist and fan, all those years ago to take over its creative reins.

Both Jim and Geoff are known as uber talented, well connected and well liked creators who not only understand comics and it's fandom but the nuts and bolts of the biz. Additionally, both are forward thinking guys that have had enough experience with Hollywood to understand there needs to be a new kind synergy between publishing, the internet, video games, social media, merchandising and of course film and television. We are truly looking at the dawn of a new era for DC and this new Time Warner arm of entertainment.

Of course it will take some time for any new creative plans Lee and Johns have on their 'to do' lists to emerge. We expect the earliest you'd see any real significant change in character, story or creator direction in the DC titles would be late in this year, maybe 4th quarter. The new leaders will need several months to plan and sign on new creative teams. That would leave the San Diego Comicon as the perfect venue where DC can make a really big splash with all the new publishing plans and announcements. Looking forward to it.

One plan of Didio's that was recently discussed will now for sure be crushed. Dan wanted to strip mine the Watchmen franchise and start a new series of spin offs with Alan Moore's most profitable characters. Won't happen now or anytime under Jim Lee's watch. Lee and his Widstorm publishing arm were the only factors that kept Moore working for DC/Warner Bros. Lee is never going to willingly stab Alan in the back and bastardize what's left of the one creation that has already caused such a decades long rift between creator and publisher. Of course, it's a pipe dream after all this time (and yes, Alan is just a tad out of his mind at this point) but if any one individual has a chance of coaxing Moore back to DC it would be Jim Lee.

Bet you Mark Waid is kicking himself today…if he had stuck around a couple of years longer, no doubt he’d be one of the creators given the keys to the kingdom by management.


Don't forget to fix DC Direct as well guys!

So rejoice fanboys! This truly is the brightest day in 21st Century Comic history.

2010 is DC's year to fire everybody

Once again both IVC2.com and The Beat provide the comic book industry a great monthly service in posting and analyzing publishing numbers from both Marvel and DC Comics. By any measure, 2009 was a dreadful year for DC.

Yes, Blackest Night performed very well but this arm of Time/Warner needs much more than just a short term storyline to work for them. Dan Didio and his team of editors and creators have torpedoed all the core books in its arsenal. All the bread and butter Hero books have been just slaughtered. Consider:

1 Year comparison declines for core team and icon books...
JLA -7.5%
Wonder Woman -19.1%
Detective Comics -19.5%
Batman -25%
Titans -33.9%
Superman -41.3%
Action Comics -44.3%

Superman titles down nearly half (!!!) of where they were a year ago and DC is betting the farm on a major Superman title Summer event. An event that is supposed to at least match Blackest Night sales numbers. When you have lost half of your audience already, how can you expect everyone to return to follow a saga that is basically the ending of the crappy, overblown saga that has been crippling your sales all this time? The answer of course, is that it won't.

On top of this graphic novel sales are in decline and not likely to improve soon. The economy certainly has played a part in the general audience malasie and a year of awful stories in 2009 sure won't help trade sales in 2010 but another pending issue could make things even worse. Indications are Borders Books retail chain will either fold or soon dramatically change purchasing practices that won't make any publisher happy. The Comic Book industry has a major interest in Borders staying healthy and rely on them for serious trade stock support.

We are watching a four alarm fire going off in DC's New York offices and there Dan and his crew lounge, blissfully unresponsive. How many other American companies can sit around and watch any of their commodities take these kind of double digit drops month after month for a solid year with no relief in sight and not eject everyone in charge? Well, yeah, that happened in the auto industry I guess for decades but look where that got 'em.

Warner Bros West Coast execs are bound to act in 2010. The question is, can the industry hold out until that happens and will anyone care by that point?

Best/Worse of the Comic World in 2009

Bitterfanboy's call

Best Comic Books for your buck in 2009:

The Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham. The first story arc of this team blew me away. It’s what a comic series of a beloved, longstanding franchise should be…stories that are familiar and surprising at the same time. Not only does this team capture the magic of the FF in the days of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but also the feel and look of the FF in ‘70s when creators like Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman and George Perez told great adventure stories at a breakneck pace.

Ultimate Avengers Relaunch by Mark Millar and Carlos Pacheco. Carlos is and has been once of todays best pencilers. He’s the second coming of Alan Davis and deserves to be showcased on today’s top titles. Here he finally lands that big screen-like project with Mark Millar at the helm. Millar has always been a writer who can reinterpret yesterday’s heroes for today’s audiences but recently has had trouble telling a focused, strong tale. With this new Ult Avengers book Millar once again locks it in and gives us blockbuster film in a comic that would be better than any Avengers film could be realized on the silver screen. An action packed tale with a jaw dropping twist of the Red Skull being the son of the Ult Universe Captain America leaves the reader wanting nothing but more with each issue.

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns and various artists. Years and years ago, DC killed Hal Jordan for no other reason than the fact that lazy editors and writers ran out of good ideas for the hero. Then along comes Johns who proves that what Neal Adams used to always say is true: “There are no bad characters, only bad writers”. Johns not only restored Hal, the Green Lantern Corp and his title to glory for years now but Hal's ongoing story is also is the focal point of almost every large scale event in the DCU since his return. Green Lantern is THE most consistantly good book in the DCU and has been for some time now.

Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth by Victor Gischler and Bong Dazo. I have no idea who these creators are. It doesn’t matter. This title is a big, dumb, silly romp that is a blast to read. Amazingly, unlike Marvel’s problem with Spider-Man, all the of the many Deadpool spin offs so far are fun to read. Not all are must haves but this title in particular strikes the right tone with this character and also co-stars the Deadpool Zombie head from the Marvel Zombies dimension. Stupid? Yes. Fun? Hell yes!

Power Girl by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner. Like with Deadpool, this title is my guilty pleasure monthly. Its fun, it’s witty, it can be sexy and it’s another great example of a talented team of creators taking a lower tier character and making him or her popular by simply telling good stories. Connor’s simple, animation-like style grows on you. I still hate PG’s costume redesign though. Why the giant shoulder pad? That kind of useless item on the outfit is straight out of the Rob Liefeld school of costume design. Palmiotti is DC's New York, in-house golden boy currently who can be relied upon to turn in smart and fun scripts. Don't be surprised to see DC offer him an editor chair soon like Marvel wisely did with his old partner Joey Q years ago.

Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. The main storyline in 2009 was titled the “ Invincible War” and it was another blockbuster packaged in as a comic book. Ryan Ottley proved he could draw big, in-your-face action sequences like the best of ‘em along with quiet, dramatic moments that hang with you after the book has been read. Kirkman understands why anyone of any age wants to read a comic book and feeds great storytelling to you by the spoonful on one page then with a cannon to your face on the next. The character of Invincible is the best of old school Spider-man and Superboy stories wrapped up in a 21st century package.

Worst books that I spent money on in 2009 and now want a refund:

Hulk by Jeph Leob and various artists. Holee crap are we getting screwed on this title. The great “Who is the Red Hulk?” mystery…I’ve read 17 issues of this book and the plot has not moved forward in all this time. Yes, there has been action and guest stars and numerous splash pages but that’s about it. Nothing happens in this book! Ever! Leob doesn’t have a great plan here except to have whatever Marvel U characters he has an urge to write for jump thru the title, yell something, punch someone and then be on their merry way. A complete waste of any reader’s time and cash.

Spider-Woman by Brian Bendis and Alex Malev. For years Bendis kept teasing Marvel fans about a Spider-Woman title that was going to be so great the creators and editors had to take years to develop it for the great unwashed. Hell, even Apple was on board to help create and promote a new motion comic book that could really help usher in a new wave in online entertainment. It finally debuts in late summer ANNNNND it’s the most boring and ugly book Marvel currently publishes. Bendis is one creator that has lost his touch in 2009 and is now taking even longer to tell comic stories than he used to but this…this will absolutely put one to sleep at night. And while I typically have liked Malev’s work in the past, this has to be the ugliest interpretation of Jessica Drew since Carmine Infantino used to draw her in the ‘70s. This book won’t last 12 issues unless maybe the team changes. Ugh.

Batman & Robin by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely then other artists. So this title starts off great then Quitely quickly jumps ship and since that loss a parade of artists begin to line up to soldier the book on. Sorry DC, once an artist like Quitely leaves a crazy Morrison storyline, the party is over. It’s like switching the lead cast members of a film one third of the way in. What the hell ever happened to these publishers stocking up on completed issues with problem artists before a title is launched?

All Superman and Batman titles by any current creative DC team. Let’s take both Clark and Bruce out of all their main monthly titles for a year or so and to boost sales! DC takes the two icons that hold the house up and remove them at the same time. This will go down as one of the dumbest ideas in comic publishing history. As the 2009 month to month sales figures show, this was a colossal blunder by editorial. We are at the end of a year of the mess and still have not found the bottom in monthly order numbers for any of the family of titles. It’s also a big problem DC refuses to face and doesn’t plan to course correct for at least another 6 or 8 months. Both storylines are so awful and dragged out that I can’t care enough to recap specifics here. I’ll go read older, better Supes & Bats stories again until the whole mess blows over. Fuck you Didido.

The Jury is still out on:

New/Dark Avengers by Brian Bendis and various artists. Great storyline at first but overly padded in 2009. Throughout all the crossovers, one-shots and mini-series tied into the Dark Avengers saga, all we have really come to learn in the past year is…'gasp!'...Harry Osborn is evil and crazy. Really hope this goes somewhere interesting very soon. Btw, dump penciler Mike Deodato and all his assistants off of Dark Avengers. The guy is awful at laying out a story and I’m sick of him tracing Tommy Lee Jones photos for Norman Osborn’s face. On New Avengers, really happy to see artist Stewart Immonen kick it up to the next level. His recent work on the book has been great. Surprisingly so since I can recall how dull his work on Superman in ‘90s was. Currently, he’s a keeper.

Flash Rebirth: Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. Look, I am one of the few still reading comics who have followed the history of both the Barry Allen Flash and Wally West Flash for decades and I can’t tell what the hell is going on. I have a soft spot for Barry as the Flash and want this series to be great. So far this does not feel like it’s going to pay off as well has Hal Jordan’s Rebirth did. The other disappointment so far is Van Sciver’s poor artwork. He’s become progressively worse as the issues pass by. His figures are ugly and he’s forcing himself to make too many poor panel/page layout decisions. Forcing small panels with too many tiny figures or action within them. It hurts the storytelling. And my eyes. All the Flashes legs are about as long as most people’s bodies.

Blackest Night by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. DC editorial finally figures out a way to get Zombie heroes and villains into the DCU. The build up to this saga was strong, the first issue was cool, surprising and drawn oh so well…but since then, again, a lot of padding has filled the recent issues. The storyline hasn’t moved forward in the past two issues. It feels like in the end, this will be at least a good storyline but the bad habit of padding is getting to be too much to take. Not telling clean stories with momentum is a serious problem both publishers have exhibited throughout all of 2009.

So DC, Marvel, here's a New Year's resolution for you: start moving these big storylines along in 2010. At $4 a book now, stop fucking with what readership you still have hanging on and tell more focused and less drawn out stories. Keep it moving!

DiDio firing watch update - DC Comics restructuring

Oh Dan, with the new restructuring of DC Comics moving under the Warner film division's wing we can only conclude that your remaining days as EIC of DC Comics just got a lot shorter.

Our prediction: DiDio will be asked to leave the editor chair and take up a new position within the new DC entertainment structure once the ducks are in place. More than likely heading up the inevitable digital comics initiative the new boss Diane Nelson wants to get moving on quickly.

A blind person can see DC Comics editorial needs a reboot and this restructuring will be the perfect opportunity shake things up and still save face for a lot of the current regime's failures responsible for the mess it's in.

Best - Aquaman - Cover - Ever

For a DC Comics character whos' been on the receiving end of the shaft in the past couple of decades, this cover to Blackest Night issue 2 proves he's cooler dead than when he was swimming the oceans alive. Man! Dramatic, powerful, eye-catching. Can't tell who the artist of the cover is but he deserves a lot more work at DC.

Wednesday Comics: Noble Experiment or Another 52?

Obviously DC Comics is a business; they release product that they hope will make money. Why they fail to market it is beyond me, and why they think some of the trash they release will generate a dime is a mystery as well, but I digress....

So despite the arty/retro facade of DC’s tabloid sized weekly, this is clearly expected to be a money-maker, and at 3.99 for what is the equivalent of your local Sunday paper’s comics section, it most certainly must be.

I’ve just finished working my way through the first five issues, and, while some of it was quite a pleasure, much of it was a chore. Although many of the features share the same faults, it’s probably best to address each individually.

BATMAN: This is the only strip in the entire book that works every week. Azzarello, who I sometimes find an awkward superhero writer (see his Superman story with Jim Lee), gets the right mix of atmosphere, character and plot advancement in each page, and Risso’s black-heavy art works great on this (slightly upgraded) newsprint pulp. Nearly everyone else on this book should be looking at this work and reflecting on their own output.

KAMANDI: While it’s great to have the character back in an anthology that will support it, Gibbons’ script is a mess – with the result that issues 2-5 have seemed like a re-telling of the same events. The creators seem to be after a Prince Valiant vibe, and by following the stylistic trappings of Valiant they have managed to slow the action to a crawl. This brings up a larger issue that infects much of the work in Wednesday Comics, which is the creator’s attempts to overlay someone else’s style over their own, in order to make the format work or to pay homage to classic strips. There’s a certain economy of writing and a sense of momentum that needs to be used in single page installments and it’s missing here. I daresay that Gibbons would not include these five pages in sequence in a standard format book, so let’s hope he addresses this as the story continues. Sook’s art is great, and well-suited for Kamandi.

SUPERMAN: This is just boring. Bermejo’s art is nice, and Arcudi’s writing is servicable, but the story is dull as dishwater and we’ve seen it a million times before. A waste.

DEADMAN: Nicely done, but again, the outside artistic influence – in this case, Darwyn Cooke – is overwhelming the strip. The writing is acceptable, but the storyline is conservative, resulting in warmed-over Deadman 101.

GREEN LANTERN: Although not as immediately obvious in the art, Darwyn Cooke’s considerable shadow looms over this strip as well, particularly his New Frontier take on Hal Jordan/GL. It’s so obvious as to be embarrassing and adds nothing to the content of the strip or the New Frontier mythology.

HAWKMAN: Kyle Baker is doing great work here – although he, too, is utilizing conventions of old comic strips. The story is solid and he seems to understand better than most involved how to move a single page story forward week after week. There are some nice subtle touches here, too, but the art is suffering in the reproduction in that Baker’s fine line work seems to be filling in as the ink soaks into the more absorbent newsprint. Oddly, this doesn’t seem to be the case elsewhere in the book, so maybe it’s a deliberate effect generated by Baker in homage to the newspaper comic strips. If this is the case, he should drop it – it’s not doing his art any favors.

METAMORPHO: I think we all expect more from Gaiman and Allred. Both are sleepwalking through this and it shows. There is nothing on the printed page that shows me either of these idiosyncratic creators had a hand in this except the masthead (unless you count the annoying sub-strip at the bottom of the page, which seems like the best example of the worst of Allred’s indulgences). This is also the slowest moving strip in the book, which is really saying something.

TEEN TITANS: Pedestrian story & script saved by Sean Galloway’s art. To be fair, the art suffers in this format – everything prints too pastel, which is like adding a layer of dullness over the whole thing. After Superman, the least interesting thing in the book.

STRANGE ADVENTURES: DC made a point of showing this strip when they were hyping the book. Good thinking as it’s one of the top strips, and a perfect pairing of creator and character. Pope is really getting the tone and pacing right, and his art, as always, rules.

SUPERGIRL: As a whole, this will be a delightful trifle and perhaps the perfect intro to superhero comics for a pre-teen girl. In this context, however, it feels like nothing. Each installment is cute and well-crafted, but at a page a week, it fails to get any traction. The Aquaman stuff in week 5 is priceless, though.

METAL MEN: I hate to give DiDio credit for anything good at DC (luckily for me, he makes that easy) but this is a fun strip to read, with great art from Garcia-Lopez and a goofy, well-paced story that serves the characters well. It’s a perfect example of the kind of strip that should thrive in this format – beloved second string characters in a thoughtfully executed revival - in other words, a property that wouldn’t garner the necessary sales to thrive in a stand-alone book.

WONDER WOMAN: Although a nice idea that’s executed by a clearly talented artist, this is the epic fail of Wednesday Comics. Just because you have a large page, there’s no reason to overcrowd it with tiny, overwritten panels. The strict use of a pastel color palette only serves to mush it all together in a hard to follow and headache-inducing mess.

SGT ROCK: Joe Kubert on Sgt. Rock? I’m happy to see it in any circumstance, and the WC format really allows Kubert’s art room to pop. The story could pick up the pace a bit, but even so, this is a delight to behold.

THE FLASH: The rare case where playing off old newspaper strip conventions is utilized to try something new. The Flash page is split into two strips, with the main Flash strip is joined by an Iris West or Gorilla Grodd strip that informs the Flash content. It’s hit and miss overall, but kudos to the creators turning conventions of the newspaper strip around.

DEMON/CATWOMAN: Walt Simonson has a nice premise going here and Stelfreeze is doing fine work, but after a promising start it’s feeling stagnant.

This underlines the problem with the book and indeed, any criticism of it. The series is scheduled to run for a finite number of issues and as far as I know, all the strips will be in every issue, so the creators are bound by constrictions – different than a standard comic book, which some creators seem to find freeing, but not given the full freedom that a daily or weekly newspaper strip artist has in allowing a story to find its natural length.

If the book survives to be an ongoing, it stands to reason that creators could find that kind of freedom with features rotating out when stories are completed. Anchor features (like Batman or Superman) could rotate creators and this could take the place of the old “Tales of the Dark Knight” concept, where top creators have an unconventional format in which to tell that one Batman story they’ve been dying to tell.

If that can happen, Wednesday Comics might become something more than a mixed bag of features that are bound together by format.

The Dan DiDio Countdown

It’s been a long time coming but it’s now time to officially begin our Dan Didio firing watch.

You have to now believe the job of man in charge of all of DC editorial and the overall stewardship of the comic line is running outta time. The evidence has been on retail comic racks weekly for years now (since the failure that was ‘Countdown’ was conceived if you ask the Bitter Geeks) but for real proof all one has to do is review the latest DC sales numbers by title compiled over the past year. As compiled from available resources so very well right here:

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/07/09/dc-month-to-month-sales-may-2009/#more-8120

The only reason why Dan still has his job right now is because of Geoff Johns “Blackest Night Saga” and Grant Morrison’s “All-Star Batman”. As the numbers show, all the reinvestment in the Superman titles has failed with no end in sight to the current failed storyline and plans. He’s pissed away the JLA and Titans value and both books sales spiral downward in freefall every month. He’s stopped and restarted Flash titles three times in as many years. ‘Final Crisis’ was a both a critical and financial bomb…and yet he’s still publishing books with Final Crisis in the titles that clearly no one is interested in. Not to mention he’s allowed a key mini-series (Legion of Three Worlds) in the FC saga and 2009 DC publishing plans be so late, the last issue has yet to see the light of day. 'Final Crisis' ended (late) back in January. On top of it all, he’s removed the big three iconic (and bankable) heroes from 2009 key publishing plans. And on and on. It’s an absolute struggle for even a handful of DC titles to get close to the 100K publishing mark.

The numbers just don’t lie. Dan’s fucked up the DCU and worn out his welcome. With these kinds of losses in just about any other business, the guy at the top of heap would be out on his ass. Here we are in the middle of summer when comic sales should be at their peak for the year and outside of ‘Blackest Night’, the majority of the DCU is in freefall. There is zero chance there will be a turnaround in the fall…retailers annually cut orders for the shelves once school starts up again.

While we assume DD will survive Comic-Con and continue to spew his bullshit online and deny there are any issues, we also predict Dano will be out by early 2010 at the very latest.

Countdown starts….now.

Weekly Comics Swill Report

This week was light with only a handful of books from DC (to meet demand perhaps?) and a smattering from Marvel & the Indies. It was also the first week in the last four that Bowen Designs wasn't shipping two or more mini-busts and the only hardcover of note was DC's horrible Final Crisis, so my bill was moderate.

DC:

Batman #687
The normally reliable Judd Winick turns in a script that's reminiscent of everything else about the "Death of Batman" storyline; a wasted opportunity.

From the failure to make any noise marketing-wise, to it's falling guillotine on Grant Morrison's previously brilliant career (some of those issues were as bad as the Sopranos coma/dream episodes), to the"dredge up and insert some rightly forgotten history" directive that seems to be infecting all DC titles, to it's thin and predictable plot points, this issue lands with all the excitement of a lead ballon. Artist Ed Benes can do better and here seems to be reaching for the same sub-Jim Lee style that evaded Tony Daniel before him.

Like all DC in-continuity superhero books of late, this book has had its identity edited out of it. The issue plods towards a much-ado-about-nothing reveal of Nightwing as Batman at the end, in the most squandered "death of a major character" story in recent memory. Some of Marvel's 90's X-Men Annual crossovers were better executed events than this load of crap and that's saying something.


Flash: Rebirth #3
This is another continuity crazy book that is virtually impenetrable to an outsider. Not a good way to re-launch a book that features the return of a beloved character, especially one whose best stories were relatively simple stuff. Every issue feels more and more like a boring lecture about the speed force delivered with all the enthusiasm of a 65 year old physics Professor on downers. I expect more from both artist and writer. Van Sciver in particular is pulling off the tricky stunt of making his art look both busy and lazy at the same time.

Preview of upcoming JSA JLA mini/maxi-series:
The one potentially bright spot in DC's core universe might just be this upcoming mini that was given a seven page preview in last week's books. It features nice painted art and a compelling premise; Hal Jordan's Green Lantern is tired of getting abused by the bad guys and calls on all the DC teams to do some ass-kicking of their own, essentially calling Superman and Wonder Woman pussies in the process. It's the wish-fullfillment of every disenfranchised DC reader.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a DC book that's about as plot heavy as a Transpoter film. After all the abuse these characters have taken under the current regime, a monthly book where they stay even marginally in character while beating on DC baddies is just the sort of stupid relief we all need.

Or they could go back in time and rescue the pink kryptonite from Dr Magnus' evil great great grandfather in the time of the Medieval Batman, setting off some sort of Kirby-Fourth-World-gadget-related cataclysm that "will rock the DC Universe to it's core!!" in a preferably impossible-to-follow weekly comic that everyone will stop reading after the sixth issue, but many will keep buying so they have a complete set "in case something that affects continuity of the ongoing books they read happens (DC will categorize this as earth-shattering), like 'Snapper Carr Stubs His Snapping Finger - Forever!' or 'Martian Manhunter dies.'" Which it won't.

Marvel:

Amazing Spider-man #597
I like Joe Kelly and am not one of the Post "One More Day" Revised Continuity Haters, so I'm a little bummed out that this chapter of an otherwise promising storyline seems to exist for no reason but to remind us that Norman Osbourne is a bad guy and not a particularly good father, either. Since that's the predominant story in nearly all Marvel books these days, it doesn't bear repeating here. You can do better guys.

Deadpool #11
This book continues to be a blast to read, Deadpool having settled into the most sympathetic writer since Joe Kelly or even Fabian. Way is clearly having a blast here and although the battle with a Hawkeyed-up Bullseye is all you get, it's so well done that you don't mind that the story barely moves forward.

Fantastic Four #567
Millar is one of the top British writers still working in superheroes that hasn’t completely lost his shit. This entertaining (if slight) second part of a four part Dr Doom storyline moves right along with a nifty Doom dream sequence that tells us oodles about the character without getting all psychedelic. Hitch's work looks amazing as usual and the story is unhampered by Dark Reign continuity.

Punisher Max #71
Under the great Johnson cover is another fine Punisher story that continues in the earthy vein that Garth Ennis so successfully utilizeded in revitalizing the lead. The humor isn't as evident, but the dialogue and motivations ring true to character. Nicely written and drawn.

Wolverine #74
Great artists, great writers, in two short part ones (!) of what appear to be two leftover inventory stories that seem to have been intended for Marvel's "experimental" black and white anthology from a few years back. Avoid this issue (and apparently next month's as well), this is a pointless issue featuring material that should have printed as back up stories. At least it was only $2.99.

Indies

Absolution #0, Resurrection #1
I've lumped these two together not because they are similar stylistically, but because both feature established mainstream comics writers breaking out their own creator-owned series. That said they are both fine books, but neither is anything more than promising at this point. Christos Gage's Absolution is another "superheroes in the real world" conceit that hopefully has more up it's sleeve than the well-worn ground it covers in this preview. You can't be too critical as it's a short "zero" issue, but unless some hereto unrevealed twist is lurking in the first issue this series will be nothing but a competently done retread of familiar concepts. Resurrection from Marc Guggenheim is slightly more intriguing, although the post apocalypse (this time it's an alien invasion and occupation which as suddenly ended) survivors theme is equally ragged. The art isn't doing a many-charactered story any favors as the designs aren't unique enough to give any of them personality beyond the limited capacity of the stylized drawings, but there are enough intriguing concepts and unanswered questions here to compel me to buy issue 2.

The Unknown #2
Fine work from Waid and Oosterveer as the story picks up speed, and mysteries start to unfold. I'm not typically a fan of contemporary magic / mystery in comics as it's rarely very well done, but this, like many other Boom! original series, is an exception to the rule and a mainstream looking book with a European flavor, covering unfamiliar ground with compelling panache. If you like this, seek out Waid's Potter's Field, which just came out in a trade.

Walking Dead #62, Hack/Slash #23
If you enjoyed previous issues of either of these books, you'll enjoy these. Probably the most consistent indies published on a regular schedule. Neither book is earth-shatteringly great, but both deliver good old meat & potatoes-style cheap thrills, and as such, are a welcome relief from the endless parade of unnecessarily overworked event books from the big two.