A version of this first appeared in The Chicago Reader
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Eight months ago DC launched the New 52, restarting all of its titles from #1 and transforming the pop culture universe as we know it. From Salon to Rolling Stone to the Atlantic to the Chicago Reader itself, the excitement among columnists, bloggers, and alternative news sources has been almost uncontainable. It’s like Game of Thrones…except 52 times!
Or, you know, possibly not. The truth of the matter is, back in September some mainstream outlets were mildly interested and/or just couldn’t resist the opportunity to put “Pow! Boom!” in a headline. Shortly thereafter, a few people kind of sort of notice that a bunch of the DC titles were sexist crap even by the admittedly low standards of stupid pop culture detritus. And after that, basically, nothing. Comics blogs still follow this stuff, but in the real world, nobody cares.
And if you want to know why nobody cares…well all you have to do is pick up some of those new titles. You would think that the purpose of a massive relaunch would be to create an easy-in for new readers — why reset to #1 if you’re not going to start at the beginning? But when I picked up a handful of titles this week, I found myself right back in the same Comic Nerds Only space I remembered so well from the days when I used to occasionally read this crap. In Animal Man, our hero is discovering that Everything He Ever Knew About Himself Was Wrong, just like Swamp Thing did back in the famous Alan Moore run from the 1980s — and, indeed, writer Jeff Lemire is actually literally cobbling together his new (New!) Animal Man from random plot elements Moore used thirty years ago. In Wonder Woman, our heroine is discovering that Everything She Ever Knew About Herself Was Wrong, and that she’s actually the daughter of Zeuss which allows lots of Gods to wander in and out saying profound things like they were in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic from, oh, 30 years ago (the early Sandman issues, specifically, when Gaiman was still trying to write horror like Alan Moore.) In Batman, our hero is discovering that Everything He Ever Knew About Himself Was Wrong (are you detecting a pattern?) though, to give him his due, writer Scott Snyder’s drooling, insane, drugged out and victimized Batman is pretty entertaining, especially if you’re as sick of the character as I am. And then there’s Red Hood and the Outlaws, which has accomplished the impressive feat of taking only seven issues to create an intricate backstory which feels tedious enough to have been going on for decades.
The point here isn’t that these comics are formulaic pulp crap. They are formulaic pulp crap, but goodness knows I’m willing enough to consume formulaic pulp crap if it’ll meet me half way. I really liked the superhero found footage exercise Chronicle, for example. I even had a place in my heart for the recent The Thing remake. I’m not proud.
And yet, even by those low standards, the DC relaunch is just surprisingly unpleasurable. And while I would like to blame the creative teams, I don’t think it’s entirely their fault. Red Hood is truly embarrassing shit, but the writers and artists on Animal Man, Wonder Woman, and Batman are all competent enough pulp creators as these things go. It isn’t their fault that they have to use 50 to 70 year old characters to tell utterly irrelevant stories to an audience of ever-more-insular fanboys (and yes, it is almost entirely boys.) Serialized television pulp, a genre which was once almost as scorned as comics, has rejuventated itself by scampering shamelessly after controversy and high concept. 24, with its countdown and its terrorism and its torture is maybe the most egregious example, but Mad Men qualifies with its period feel gimmick, and so does Breaking Bad with its “Meth! The drug of the moment!” schtick.
That’s the way pulp’s supposed to work; it’s supposed to be crass and time-bound and desperate for the next new shiny thing. Not superhero comics, though; they don’t even bother trying — presumably because their audience doesn’t want them to. My friendly local comics retailer, James Nurss at First Aid Comics in Hyde Park, told me that in his store DC has had a significant boost in sales since the reboot. Marc-Oliver Frisch, a journalist who covers comics sales figures for news site The Beat, confirmed that this was the case industry-wide. Both, however, suggested that the boost in sales is not from new readers. Instead, the bump is from what Frisch referred to in an email as “lapsed” readers (his quotes) — people who, Nurss suggested, moved to Marvel titles, or people who’d stopped buying DC some years back. It’s buyers from within the subculture, in other words, not anyone from outside it. Or, as Frisch concluded, “I think it’s fair to say that, thanks to the ‘New 52,’ DC is making more money selling more comic books to more of the same direct-market customers; no more, no less.”
The other part of DC’s reboot was a move to start releasing digital comics on the same day as print. Nurss, whose store carries a good amount of alternative and children’s comics as well as mainstream titles, feels that the change to digital may transform the comics industry, making it possible for new kinds of comics — and new kinds of audiences — to get a foothold. Maybe so, but after slogging through this pile of uninspired and unambitious dreck, it’s difficult to get too excited about comics future.
And just in case you think it’s only a problem for DC — I also bought a couple of Marvel’s Avengers vs. X-Men comics in honor of the new Avengers film. Apparently the Phoenix force is endangering us all, just like it did 30 years ago when Chris Claremont and John Byrne wrote X-men stories that were at least marginally creative, even if they were using other people’s characters. These days, though, the best you can hope for is that one of the same old heroes will discover that everything he (or possibly she) knew about himself was wrong. At which point he (or less likely she) will slog bravely forward through the torpid drifts of continuity while the rest of the world get its schlocky pulp fun from television or YA novels and its superheroes, if it must have them, from the big screen.
I actually bought one of these comics….I got an issue of “Men of War”, because John Arcudi and Rich Corben, both talented individuals who do work that I like, had a short story in the back. As a kid I went to Gettysburg, which has especially morbidity because of all the pictures of dead soldiers everywhere, so the story about corpses reanimating there made some sense, Gore is great at drawing rotting flesh and it has a maybe overly shiny coloring job by Jose Villarrubia who has nonetheless been doing some of the better coloring Corben has gotten in his recent burst of mainstream effort. But those few pages had to justify the 4 bucks alone, because the majority of the book was beyond pathetic; it was an unintelligible version of Sgt. Rock done by people who should have remained nameless, which with its feel of war glamorization and feebly drawn, airbrushily colored “art” makes what Kubert did in the old “Make War No More” days look like a melding of Leonardo and Gandhi. I cannot imagine what the fuck the publishers and editors of this stuff are thinking, if indeed they are thinking….my condolences to Arcudi, Corben and Villarrubia; and “tsk, tsk” to the other poor slobs for being party to such a package.
With 52 titles, you’d think they’d have to come up with at least one that didn’t suck. I don’t know…has anyone read any of the new 52 comics that isn’t an embarrassment? Animal Man and Wonder Woman are supposed to be two of the best, and they’re sure not very good….
I share your feelings, overall, although I quite liked the first three issues of Animal Man. I haven’t caught up, but will probably try the trade. Having said that, I have to admit that I find Lemire’s indy work more interesting.
Did you check out Morrison’s Action? I wasn’t crazy about the art, but the story held me for the first three issues (I read or read at all the first three issues of all the new 52 in my Eisner Judge capacity), and I’ll probably pick up that trade, too. But once again, I haven’t been keeping up.
I really think the creative slump you have identified is at least partly a consequence of increasing dissatisfaction on the part of a number of writers and artists about the work-for-hire system. Both Marvel and DC appear to be making billions – literally billions – from movies and related merchandise. But at the same time they are slashing editorial staff, cutting page rates, and generally treating their talent as if they were disposable. (You know Marvel won’t even pay to send their people to a major event like Comic Con? If creators want to go, they have to pay for themselves!)
You can’t make so much money so conspicuously and then turn around and ask your top creators to live with the status quo, or in some cases take pay cuts! Look at Tom Spurgeon’s recent interview with Ed Brubaker. Ed says explicitly he thinks he’s done with the work-for-hire “phase” of his career. I can hardly blame him. (The next Cap movie is apparently going to be called “The Winter Soldier.” It would be nice if Ed were to get something more than a courtesy credit from Marvel for what will obviously be a script largely based on his vision of the character … but how likely is that, do you think?)
The positive side of all this (for readers) is that we are now seeing a rash of interesting sounding creator owned books. IMAGE, for example, are clearly reaping the benefits of Marvel and DC’s shortsightedness. At SDCC Image announced new books (and not superhero books, either) by the teams of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin, and Kelly Sue Deconnick and Emma Rios [!]. Without even having seen a page from any of these books, I am more excited at the prospect of reading them than I am at anything coming from either Marvel or DC right now.
I suspect we’ll see more of this kind of movement, unless Marvel and DC start to offer their top talent less restrictive contracts, and spread the movie around a bit more …
that last should read “spread the movie MONEY around”
Hey Ben! I’ve kind of run out of patience with Morrison, I’m afraid… Probably I should try something like We maybe? I just don’t really want to read his more mainstream stuff anymore….
I think it’s great that folks are moving on to do their own original projects. I think comics desperately needs genre product not tied to the same superheroes if it’s going to thrive….
WE3 is my personal favorite Morrison book. Love those old Doom Patrol books, too.
Of course all these folks have done great creator owned work before. But I think we will see an increase in these kinds of projects … and yes, from a reader’s POV, it’s all to the good. I just wish the powers that be at the Big Two were able to recognize the creative chilling effect of work-for-hire … in the long run, it just makes sense to offer established, proven talent a better deal. If I can see this, why can’t they?
It’s possible, just possible, that they are idiots.
Noah, your short sentence describing this post on the HU home page has some plurality problems. It says “DC Comics sucks”, but shouldn’t that be “DC Comics suck”? If it was a specific comic, you could have said “DC Comic sucks” but since you are talking about 52 sucky comics you have to stick with one suck for the lot. Oh, but I liked We3 too.
Hmm…I don’t think so. “DC Comics” is the name of the company, and is therefore singular, and requires a singular verb.
Hey James, did you see that “Seven Miles A Second” got a praising mention at “The Comics Journal” site? http://www.tcj.com/freshskullsforgary/#comment-54129 …
Noah. Kidding.
Mike, um, I guess that was praise….for my book which will soon no longer be known as a DC Comic.
“At SDCC Image announced new books (and not superhero books, either) by the teams of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin, and Kelly Sue Deconnick and Emma Rios [!]. Without even having seen a page from any of these books, I am more excited at the prospect of reading them than I am at anything coming from either Marvel or DC right now. ”
I’m finding a lot of these high profile Marvel turned Image (or Image turned Marvel) folks don’t have sensibilities that interest me. They tend to be pretty decadent (maybe that’s not the best term to describe the “adult” violence and sex, I’m not sure how else to describe it?), or be very much like Hollywood action movie:
Let’s see, Rucka’s new thing is:
“The Godfather meets Children Of Men. Hard sci fi in dystopian future, the main character gets hurt a lot, gets up and keeps coming at you.””
Sounds like graphic violence from the guy currently doing Punisher.
Faction’s new thing is described as :
“Violence depravity and children’s television. A children’s TV presenter is found dead, with a box of photographs, with every women the man has slept with, which unfurls the mystery of his life… and death.”
I don’t know how that will play… maybe it won’t be like an action movie but it sounds like it will be decadent.
I’m finding I like the sensibilities of the Monkey Brain comics creator owned line (a new “digital first” publishing venture) a lot more, those comics don’t have a decadent vibe, have more of a “fun adventure story” tone, and has, incidentally, a lot of female protagonists. I guess a lot of the Monkey Brain comics folks might also have done Marvel and DC work, but they seem generally less prominent to me, they don’t “architect crossovers” and frankly I never heard of most of them until recently.
Looking at two Monkey Brain Comics premises, for example:
Bandette: (as described on their web site, actually this is by a Marvel guy as well, though I think he generally does their all ages stuff)
“The adventures of Bandette, a young costumed “artful dodger”, leader of a group of urchins dedicated to serving justice, except when thieving proves to be a bit more fun. The story of Bandette treads a thin line between Tintin and Nancy Drew, with a few costumes thrown in. ”
Wander #1:
“After storming out of her crappy coffee shop job, perpetual NYU grad student Olive Hopkins decides to throw a massive pity party for herself using the last of her meager savings. She discovers the next morning that not only does she have a massive hangover: she’s somehow been transported into The Ninth Kingdom, a fantasy realm straight out of that section of the Barnes and Noble she always avoided. How’d she get here? How’s she going to get home? Most of all: where can she get a good slice and a pack of Camel Lights? She’s dying here.”
A curious question is why these Monkey Brain comics folks don’t work for Image. I guess its possible they just created a better deal for themselves at their new publishing venture, but I wonder if Image only generally green lights books that have more decadent sensibilities, and/or if those books are the ones that sell at the direct market.
This reads like the Platonic form of a HU article.
Heh. Actually, believe it or not, for a little bit there after I got started writing, people assumed that I mostly hated art comics, and there were a certain number of superhero fans who thought I was on their side. Some bitter disillusionment ensued….
That binary similarly illustrates the Platonic form of an HU comment.
Touché!
Have you commented before? Or have you just been lurking? I don’t remember seeing you about, and I think I’d remember since you’ve now made me laugh twice in two comments.
Lurker. You tweeted my blog once though.
Could you link your blog? Now I’m curious….
inebriatedspook.blogspot.com. Me and my pardner.
Yes! I remember that. And that post up on your blog now looks great too.
As someone who has been working in public affairs for 20 years, I find the concept of rebooting all at once every brand a company owns — without having any clue what the results will be — to be remarkably risky.
In one felled swoop, DC is telling its established customers “we don’t give a shit what you like about our existing products, or how long you have been a loyal customer, we need to make a quick buck this year by making some noise, changing everything and releasing 52 first issues.”
It is an incredibly short-sighted tactical business maneuver, and one that jettisons all long-term strategic considerations — ESPECIALLY since none of the reboots were test-marketed first to gage if the idea of reboots had any long-term economic legs.
Imagine Proctor and Gamble radically changing every single product they have all at once into something newer and edgier. Mr. Clean suddenly becomes Mr. Scum, Charmin becomes Buttwipes, Head & Shoulders becomes Flakebusters, etc.
If I was working at DC, and my boss burst through the door, jumped on the table and said, “We’ve decided to reboot our characters to generate short-term profits,” I would have lobbied hard for a limited re-boot of 10 worthless characters to test the waters, and if that was successful, do another reboot the following year of 10 more, etc. That way, one doesn’t risk total disaster if the re-branding idea tanks.
For the sake of the industry in general, I hope DC’s reboot isn’t an economic super nova that ends in an implosion of Brobdingnagian proportions.
By the way… I haven’t read one 52 title yet.
On one hand, in my free time I’ve been extremely busy drawing one-of-a-kind sketch cards for Topps — first for the Mars Attacks Heritage set (just released 11 July), and now for the Star Wars Galactic Files set (scheduled for release in September).
On the other hand, my inner comics geek hates marketing gimmicks like this, and I tend to avoid them at all costs.
Correction. On second thought, I HAVE read one 52 title — “Justice League” #1, published late last year. I got it for free from a buddy with Warner ties, read it, and forgot about it.
I guess I should have said I haven’t BOUGHT a new 52 title yet.
As I recall, the art was good, but there wasn’t much of a story, as the opening sequence of the arc was pretty much just and intro for three of the main heroes. I also recall that none of the characters were appealing because they all had that stereotypical attitude all allegedly hip, gritty heroes have these days — attitudes that, if I met any of them on the street as real people I’d probably walk away thinking, “Man, what a jerk!”
Here’s Richard’s review of Justice League #1.
One thing I liked about the new 52 Justice League early issues was the fact the characters were all clearly incompetent morons, which was a breath of fresh air from the Grant Morrison “Lo, the power of myth” version.
Hey Noah, have you read Ann Nocenti’s run on Green Arrow? Wondering what you think of it…
Hey Seafire. I haven’t read it; is it worthwhile?
hmmm haven’t decided yet… I like her writing style but she is confusing to me always. And I think she was just getting her bearings as was the artist and now I hear that they are putting Winick in charge of the book. Which really sucks especially since he made Catwoman godawful. Apparently they are switching books, now she’ll be doing Catwoman. But Nocenti is always worthwhile? Perhaps waiting for the trade?
I haven’t read anything by her. Is there anything she’s done that you’d particularly recommend?
oh… her Daredevil!! But that’s back in the day… #238-291… great stuff. She took Daredevil to Hell and created one of the best villains Typhoid Mary. She always had a liberal slant to her stuff. I think ppl might found her too preachy, I didn’t I liked the mix of politics and comics. And she did a great story for Daredevil #500 with art by David Aja.
I like Demon Knights…