Today’s DC Comics Launch Announcements Worry Me

I don't want CR to step up and say "yes sir!" every time that DC makes a product announcement with their new linewide re-launch and same-day digital release strategy, but it's probably worth noting they started naming the titles and creative teams today, via kind of a strange information-dump strategy on their main PR web site as opposed to the more traditional team-up with a comics news source or multiples of same.

Again, I'm not the closest watcher of the mainstream comics world, but I have to say it: this seems to me like a really ordinary set of announcements given the stakes. It reads like established DC talent moved here and there rather than anything particularly bold or innovative set loose -- another set of Fall TV programs with shows starring Paula Marshall, Tom Cavanagh and Kelsey Grammer, if you will. To put it to you another way, I don't see a single announcement that couldn't have easily been part of a previous DC initiative. It also seems somewhat indicative of a thin roster, with names already beginning to repeat themselves.

There are positives. I like their Mr. Terrific character okay, although he's not exactly Spider-Man in the high-concept department. It's great to see the artist Cliff Chiang get a prime assignment, for sure. In fact, most of these creators are well-regarded (a few aren't, though, which also strikes me as weird, like there's no break with the past on any level). I'm also sure they're all nice folks, and that they are all going to be working their asses off. And execution is everything, of course. I hope they succeed. For now, I remain skeptical that DC has the talent pool and editorial skill to pull something off in the creative realm to match the opportunity presented by a line-wide relaunch and the genesis of an entirely new sales platform. I remain doubly skeptical that what we're hearing about is the kind of effort that can be maintained two, three, four years down the road. The whole thing worries me, frankly.

We'll know more as more titles are announced: a group of ten with eight really weird concepts and intriguing teams might change the look of the line entire -- we're rumored to get non-cape genre titles, for example. So we'll see. We'll also see how many new creator names pop up to join the older ones, or if the older names begin to repeat themselves with multiple gigs.

Here's a more positive analysis a few CR readers have passed along, from someone who has some of the same worries I've expressed. And here's what Hitler had to say.
 
posted 10:55 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives