Showing posts with label Batman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Batman. Show all posts
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Issue Review: Batgirl 25
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
New Comic-book Night - 6/26/13
It's the final week of June, and a fairly decent week for getting new comics as well as some older ones. This morning I had to turn back the keys to my apartment, and the c-shop is much closer to that than to my new home, so I stopped by there after bidding the apartment complex farewell, and before heading in to work. Hey, it's summer, and I don't have any classes to teach...
I'm also not saving up for a house or trying to keep my bank balances flat due to lender credit checks any more, so that means I was able to un-clench the wallet a little bit, and pick up one of the last few Supergirl trades I've been wanting. Actually, the next trade in order for the Supergirl series (volume 5, or series 4) that I'm currently working on should be "Who is Superwoman?" but the comic shop didn't have that one, so I picked up the next one in the sequence, "Friends and Fugitives." That one collects issues 43, and 45-47, but not 44, which was part of a different story arc (Superman: Codename Patriot). I don't want that whole other arc, just the Supergirl story, so I picked up issue 44 as well.
In terms of new comics, there were three this week. One currently residing on my pull list (Justice League), one that's been teetering on the edge of being on or off the pull list (Justice League of America), and a brand new issue 1 release (Batman/Superman). And so, all told, I bought 4 comics and a trade today. Below, I will summarize the three new comics -- Supergirl 44 and the trade must wait until I get the "Who is Superwoman" trade so I can read the stories in order.
Justice League 21 - The Justice League series has had a persistent Shazam! backup story featuring the retelling of the origin of Captain Marvel (I refuse to call the character "Shazam") for about a year now, but this month, Billy Batson takes center stage. His arch-enemy, Black Adam (the first to wield the Shazam! power) has tracked him down, and now threatens Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman, along with the other foster siblings Billy has joined since being taken in from the orphanage. Adam tells Billy/Captain Marvel that he can "transfer" the Shazam! power, and Billy gets the idea (aided by a magical genie that keeps appearing in reflective surfaces and giving him advice) to transfer that power to his foster siblings. And suddenly we have the good old "Captain Marvel family" of yesteryear roaming the pages of the comics. I greatly enjoyed this sequence, because I've always liked Captain Marvel, Jr. (Freddy) and especially Mary Marvel, who is one of my all-time favorite female superheroes (right behind Supergirl and Wonder Woman). Mary defends the city against the physical embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins while Billy/Captain Marvel battles Black Adam. The action in this issue is strong, but there's also plenty of heart, and there are some wonderful nods to nostalgia, including a nod to the old "Mr. Tawny" character. Johns did a great job on this issue, and proves that the Marvel Family absolutely deserve their own series, rather than to be relegated to guest stars of Justice League. I hope Cap gets a permanent position on the team soon, and I'd love to see Mary and Freddy rotate in as subs on occasion. The art by Gary Frank is, of course, phenomenal, but then it always is. This is a great issue... I'd say "JL is back" but I know it probably isn't, since next month we start another of DC's gawd-awful "events" (Trinity War) -- sigh. But for this issue, 10/10.
Justice League of America 5 - Last issue's manipulative ending, which showed a clearly impossible event (Catwoman having her brains shot out) really pissed me off about this series, and the overall story was not as strong as the first three. I had been considering dropping it if things did not get better this issue, but they definitely did. We finally see the JLA fight as a team here, and work together to defeat the Secret Society of Super-villains. The victory is more like a stand-off, with the SSV vanishing, but two of their number captured. We get to see Star Girl really unload on a few of the villains here, which I greatly enjoyed -- I love her youthful energy and heroism. Star Girl is proof that people who insist that all teenagers must be portrayed as recalcitrant bags of angst is just plain wrong. The art's a bit better in this issue as well. As a result, I give it an overall score of 8/10, and it remains on the "maybe" category -- maybe it will make it onto my pull list. Once again due to Trinity War, I am going to have to wait... it may be October or November before I make up my mind, since I will be sitting out the entire DC line in September (right after Trinity War ends) over my objections to "Villain Month."
Batman/Superman 1 - Since the days of the original World's Finest Comics, the tandem of Batman plus Superman has always been exciting for readers. These two characters, who have such different styles and powers, can, when written well, truly complement each other. Therefore, I picked up issue 1 of the newest version of World's Finest Comics, Batman/Superman, with great interest. I'm sad to say, I was highly disappointed. This story is typical of DC issue 1 offerings in the New 52 -- the writer and artist seem to have as their main goal, making the reader think "What the heck?" over and over again. Honestly, I have know idea what the hell is going on in this issue. Many panels depict scenes that are simply incomprehensible. The story doesn't make any sense, and it's clearly not supposed to yet. Here again we have the annoying motif that I am expected to wait half a year or more, and shell out $4 per month while I wait, to find out what is going on (and whether I like what's going on enough to keep reading). Sorry, DC, but that is not going to happen. I will give Batman/Superman another month or two, but if it doesn't become penetrable, and I mean post haste, I'm gone. Which is a shame, since I like these characters enough that I really should collect a series about them -- but so far nothing offered for either Bats or Supes makes me want to spend my money. My score on this one is 5/10, and that's being generous.
I also had a chat with the owner of my comic shop about my decision to sit out the whole of Villain Month, and he said that I am not alone. Many of his customers are adopting a "wait and see" attitude toward it. For me, I'm not even doing that. I will not be picking up any print copies of DC titles in September. Instead, I will use September as "sample independent titles month," and if I like a few of them more than I like what DC has been putting out, I will be dropping some of the maybes, like Batman/Superman, The Movement, and possibly JLA.
I'm also not saving up for a house or trying to keep my bank balances flat due to lender credit checks any more, so that means I was able to un-clench the wallet a little bit, and pick up one of the last few Supergirl trades I've been wanting. Actually, the next trade in order for the Supergirl series (volume 5, or series 4) that I'm currently working on should be "Who is Superwoman?" but the comic shop didn't have that one, so I picked up the next one in the sequence, "Friends and Fugitives." That one collects issues 43, and 45-47, but not 44, which was part of a different story arc (Superman: Codename Patriot). I don't want that whole other arc, just the Supergirl story, so I picked up issue 44 as well.
In terms of new comics, there were three this week. One currently residing on my pull list (Justice League), one that's been teetering on the edge of being on or off the pull list (Justice League of America), and a brand new issue 1 release (Batman/Superman). And so, all told, I bought 4 comics and a trade today. Below, I will summarize the three new comics -- Supergirl 44 and the trade must wait until I get the "Who is Superwoman" trade so I can read the stories in order.
Justice League 21 - The Justice League series has had a persistent Shazam! backup story featuring the retelling of the origin of Captain Marvel (I refuse to call the character "Shazam") for about a year now, but this month, Billy Batson takes center stage. His arch-enemy, Black Adam (the first to wield the Shazam! power) has tracked him down, and now threatens Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman, along with the other foster siblings Billy has joined since being taken in from the orphanage. Adam tells Billy/Captain Marvel that he can "transfer" the Shazam! power, and Billy gets the idea (aided by a magical genie that keeps appearing in reflective surfaces and giving him advice) to transfer that power to his foster siblings. And suddenly we have the good old "Captain Marvel family" of yesteryear roaming the pages of the comics. I greatly enjoyed this sequence, because I've always liked Captain Marvel, Jr. (Freddy) and especially Mary Marvel, who is one of my all-time favorite female superheroes (right behind Supergirl and Wonder Woman). Mary defends the city against the physical embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins while Billy/Captain Marvel battles Black Adam. The action in this issue is strong, but there's also plenty of heart, and there are some wonderful nods to nostalgia, including a nod to the old "Mr. Tawny" character. Johns did a great job on this issue, and proves that the Marvel Family absolutely deserve their own series, rather than to be relegated to guest stars of Justice League. I hope Cap gets a permanent position on the team soon, and I'd love to see Mary and Freddy rotate in as subs on occasion. The art by Gary Frank is, of course, phenomenal, but then it always is. This is a great issue... I'd say "JL is back" but I know it probably isn't, since next month we start another of DC's gawd-awful "events" (Trinity War) -- sigh. But for this issue, 10/10.
Justice League of America 5 - Last issue's manipulative ending, which showed a clearly impossible event (Catwoman having her brains shot out) really pissed me off about this series, and the overall story was not as strong as the first three. I had been considering dropping it if things did not get better this issue, but they definitely did. We finally see the JLA fight as a team here, and work together to defeat the Secret Society of Super-villains. The victory is more like a stand-off, with the SSV vanishing, but two of their number captured. We get to see Star Girl really unload on a few of the villains here, which I greatly enjoyed -- I love her youthful energy and heroism. Star Girl is proof that people who insist that all teenagers must be portrayed as recalcitrant bags of angst is just plain wrong. The art's a bit better in this issue as well. As a result, I give it an overall score of 8/10, and it remains on the "maybe" category -- maybe it will make it onto my pull list. Once again due to Trinity War, I am going to have to wait... it may be October or November before I make up my mind, since I will be sitting out the entire DC line in September (right after Trinity War ends) over my objections to "Villain Month."
Batman/Superman 1 - Since the days of the original World's Finest Comics, the tandem of Batman plus Superman has always been exciting for readers. These two characters, who have such different styles and powers, can, when written well, truly complement each other. Therefore, I picked up issue 1 of the newest version of World's Finest Comics, Batman/Superman, with great interest. I'm sad to say, I was highly disappointed. This story is typical of DC issue 1 offerings in the New 52 -- the writer and artist seem to have as their main goal, making the reader think "What the heck?" over and over again. Honestly, I have know idea what the hell is going on in this issue. Many panels depict scenes that are simply incomprehensible. The story doesn't make any sense, and it's clearly not supposed to yet. Here again we have the annoying motif that I am expected to wait half a year or more, and shell out $4 per month while I wait, to find out what is going on (and whether I like what's going on enough to keep reading). Sorry, DC, but that is not going to happen. I will give Batman/Superman another month or two, but if it doesn't become penetrable, and I mean post haste, I'm gone. Which is a shame, since I like these characters enough that I really should collect a series about them -- but so far nothing offered for either Bats or Supes makes me want to spend my money. My score on this one is 5/10, and that's being generous.
I also had a chat with the owner of my comic shop about my decision to sit out the whole of Villain Month, and he said that I am not alone. Many of his customers are adopting a "wait and see" attitude toward it. For me, I'm not even doing that. I will not be picking up any print copies of DC titles in September. Instead, I will use September as "sample independent titles month," and if I like a few of them more than I like what DC has been putting out, I will be dropping some of the maybes, like Batman/Superman, The Movement, and possibly JLA.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
The flawed logic of the multi-title mega-crossover
One reason I quit reading comics in 1999 (and something I still despise today having gotten back to the hobby) is DC's and Marvel's tired, old, failed marketing strategy that I call the "Multi-Title Mega-Crossover", or MTMC for short. So what exactly is are MTMCs and why do I hate them so?
A Multi-Title Mega-Crossover (MTMC) is a story-arc in which the various parts of the story are told in more than one series (hence "Multi-title") and have many parts. A recent example is the "Death of the Family" crossover spanning all the "Batman Family" books. This story-line hop-scotched across the Bat-titles, starting (sort of) in Batgirl 13, then moving to Catwoman 13, Batman and Robin 13, Suicide Squad 14, Batman 14, Batgirl 14, Detective Comics 15, Batgirl 15, Batman 15, Batman and Robin 15... and so on until issue 17 of these titles. It's so convoluted, the Superheroes List website has a whole article explaining the order in which to read these books. In all, there were 26 issues to read, spanning 10 different titles over 5 months. The only word I can find for such a story-line is "mess." (Hmm... I seem to use that word frequently in reference to decisions made by the front office of DC Comics.)
Reason #1: Fragmentary story-telling. No matter how good the writers or how good the overall plot of the crossover, the fact that a story crosses into several books with completely different creative teams gives the story a kind of 'multiple personality disorder.' Imagine you read a novel where every chapter was written by a different author. That is exactly what the MTMC is like. This leads to fragmentary stories that do not flow properly from issue to issue. Thus, every single MTMC that I've ever read has been vastly inferior to good story arcs produced within a single series.
Reason #2: I don't like being played. I don't like having my hand forced. I sample titles regularly on my own. I do not need Marvel or DC telling me what comics to try each month. The MTMC is blatant money-grubbing of the worst sort.
Reason #3: It utterly screws up the series that participate. Most (good) series have a long, interesting thread of continuity running through them. The MTMC usually has nothing to do with that thread. That means the MTMC is going to interrupt, often for 3-4 months, a long-running story that has captured my interest. Thus the MTMC forces each participant series to 'break stride' and then resume the longer storyline months later.
Reason #4: Inferior quality of stories. The MTMC issues of a series are never as good as the book's main storyline. Even the most talented writers struggle to make the MTMC fit into the general continuity of the book, and in many cases this simply cannot be done.
Another reason for the MTMC is that most families or groups of books have a "lead" book -- the headliner book for the family -- which is the most popular. Then there will be a bunch of "follower" books with a narrower readership. Again using our example, the "lead" book would be Batman, and the "follower" books would be the ones about the "second tier" Bat-characters (like Catwoman, Nightwing, and Batgirl). Lead books usually have more readers for historical reasons. For instance, Batman is one of the oldest heroes in all of comics, whereas Catwoman is one of his supporting characters. The MTMC's purpose, then, is to try to force people who read the "lead" book, but usually ignore the second tier characters, to sample the the follower books. DC of course hopes that some of these will stick with the follower series for the long term, but even if not, the follower books get a sales boost for a few months.
Finally, the companies hype MTMCs to Kingdom Come, with the apparent belief that crossovers win comic-book series entirely new fans (who hadn't been reading those books before). According to DC's logic, MTMCs will expand readership simply because "crossovers are cool."
The question we will ask and answer in this article is: does the MTMC really accomplish anything in terms of sales? Do MTMCs encourage readers of each book to cross "party lines" and read the other books? Do MTMCs cause readers of the "lead" book to pick up the follower books? And perhaps most importantly, are crossovers really "cool"? That is, do MTMCs boost readership in general for the series involved in the crossover by getting new people to read those books?
Although Superman technically appears in Action Comics, we will not count that as part of the family because it was not involved in the crossover. Thus, for our purposes, the members of this "Family" are Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy. Beginning with a "prelude" issue in Superman 13, the story arc spans 13 regular issues of the three series (plus at least one Annual), occurring in each issue 14, 15, 16, and 17 of the three series. This is a Multi-title Mega-Crossover in the most typical sense -- insanely long (13 parts, hence "mega" crossover), and hop-scotching across multiple titles (three, in this case).
The question we shall ask, now that this MTMC is nearly done, is did it "work?" Did it boost sales? Did it cause readers of the "leader" book (Superman in this case) to partake of the follower books, or vice versa? Did it attract new readers to the Super-family? To find out, let's take a look at the sales of the Superman family of books since the New 52 began (data come from Comichron).
Let's review these numbers a bit more closely.
Immediately apparent, is the fact that the Superman Family is in a tail-spin. Admittedly, the issue #1 circulation is an outlier, but even if one disregards the issue 1-2 decline in readership, Superman has lost roughly 47% of its readership since issue 3. Both Supergirl and Superboy have fared similarly, each experiencing about a 33% decline in circulation since issue 3.
This pattern had been going on for about a year before the H'el crossover, so we can imagine rather safely that the crossover is a ploy to boost sales.
This leads us to the question: Did the "H'el on Earth" crossover, which spanned issues 14-17 of all three titles, increase sales? There are several ways to look at the numbers, and I will break them all down, but the short answer is: no.
Crossover effect on total readership. First, let's ask whether the H'el on Earth multi-title mega-crossover increased total sales volumes (i.e., acquired new readers) across the family of books during the issues in which the crossover took place relative to the prior issues. We don't have the results of issue 17 yet (and won't for a while, since Superman 17 is being put out in March, and those sales results will not be posted until April). But we can compare the first 3-month period (issues 14-16) to the previous 3-month period. Now, we will not use #13, because for Superman this was a H'el prelude, but not for the other books in the Family. We also shouldn't count #0, which is an obvious outlier (DC's #0 books sold higher across the board, so it would be unfair to compare the sales of the H'el story to the #0s). Thus, we compare the last 3 "normal" months of sales in issues 10-12, with the total sales in issues 14-16. The answer is not good for the crossover mentality: The H'el crossover books sold a sum total of about 329,000, compared with the issue 10-12 books selling a total of 352,000. That's a decline of 7% during the crossover. Thus, there is no indication that the multi-book crossover did anything to boost sales across the family and acquire new readers. On the contrary, sales overall appear to be depressed, which means that the family of books lost readers, not gained them.
Crossover effect on lead-book readers. The "lead" book in the family is, of course, Superman -- he is the original, and also, his book sells more than the others. As the lead book, Superman in most months nearly equals the total sales of Supergirl and Superboy combined. Recently (in the last 8 months or so) Superman has had about 60,000 readers, and the other books about 30,000. The simplest assumption here is that 30,000 people each month read just Superman, and the another 30,000 read all three books. That means 30,000 readers could potentially be attracted to the follower books. Were they?
Here again, the answer is no. Both Supergirl and Superboy sold a few more copies of issue #14, but since then, their sales have gone back to pre-H'el levels (or even dropped a little lower). At best, out of 30,000 possible new readers from the lead book, the follower books picked up a few hundred. Thus, after 9 out of the 12 crossover issues have been published, we can safely assert that no Superman readers have bothered to pick up Supergirl or Superboy "just to get the rest of the crossover." Therefore, not only did the crossover hurt total sales for the family, but it also failed to attract readers of the lead book to the "follower" books.
Enticing cross-family readership. Above, I made the simplifying assumption that all 30,000 readers of Superboy and Supergirl also read Superman. But if we relax that assumption, then the crossover could possibly have attracted people who read just one of the follower books, to start picking up the lead book. This is a tougher row to hoe, because those books have half as many readers as Superman. But it's still possible that Superman's readership could have gone up. Did it?
Once again the answer no -- a resounding, deafening, unambiguous "NO!" this time. If readers of the other books had picked up Superman, his readership would have gone up. But it didn't go up -- in fact, the average readership for Superman dropped from 60,000 during issues 7-12 to just over 51,000 for 13-16. Thus, instead of Superman gaining readers, about 10,000 previously existing readers kissed that series goodbye during the crossover. In other words, Superman actually lost about 16% of its readers over the course of the story arc!
Overall Impact of the Crossover. No matter how you crunch the numbers, the 12-part, 3-series-spanning "family wide" H'el on Earth crossover, which was clearly produced as a pure MTMC marketing ploy, was an utter failure. It failed to gain new readers for the books in the family. It failed to entice readers from the lead book to try reading the follower books. It didn't convince anyone reading the follower books to partake of the lead book. And it caused nearly a sixth of the lead book's readers to walk away. The H'el on Earth story arc was, therefore, an unmitigated disaster for DC.
This analysis shows that the Multi-Title Mega-Crossover is a bad idea all the way around. MTMCs screw up the continuity of the existing books that participate. MTMCs produce inferior, fragmentary stories. MTMCs piss off any readers who do not want to, but feel forced to, read affiliated books. And in exchange for all those ill effects, they do very little to boost sales of the participating series (and indeed, as the H'el numbers indicate, they run the very real risk of pissing readers off so much that the series experiences a net decline in readership).
I really don't know what the people in DC's front office are smoking, but based on these numbers, if I were they, I would hand down a company-wide edict right now banning the MTMC forevermore. MTMCs are at best a huge risk with very little chance of a solid payoff. You might wonder why companies still produce them so much. I confess, I really don't know. The numbers speak for themselves. Maybe some day, one of the people running DC will explain why they keep employing this high-risk gamble in an effort to boost sales, instead of just doing what they did years ago, and producing solid quality month in, month out, in each individual series.
A Multi-Title Mega-Crossover (MTMC) is a story-arc in which the various parts of the story are told in more than one series (hence "Multi-title") and have many parts. A recent example is the "Death of the Family" crossover spanning all the "Batman Family" books. This story-line hop-scotched across the Bat-titles, starting (sort of) in Batgirl 13, then moving to Catwoman 13, Batman and Robin 13, Suicide Squad 14, Batman 14, Batgirl 14, Detective Comics 15, Batgirl 15, Batman 15, Batman and Robin 15... and so on until issue 17 of these titles. It's so convoluted, the Superheroes List website has a whole article explaining the order in which to read these books. In all, there were 26 issues to read, spanning 10 different titles over 5 months. The only word I can find for such a story-line is "mess." (Hmm... I seem to use that word frequently in reference to decisions made by the front office of DC Comics.)
Why I despise MTMCs
I have always hated the multi-title mega-crossover, for a variety of reasons. I will list them here briefly.Reason #1: Fragmentary story-telling. No matter how good the writers or how good the overall plot of the crossover, the fact that a story crosses into several books with completely different creative teams gives the story a kind of 'multiple personality disorder.' Imagine you read a novel where every chapter was written by a different author. That is exactly what the MTMC is like. This leads to fragmentary stories that do not flow properly from issue to issue. Thus, every single MTMC that I've ever read has been vastly inferior to good story arcs produced within a single series.
Reason #2: I don't like being played. I don't like having my hand forced. I sample titles regularly on my own. I do not need Marvel or DC telling me what comics to try each month. The MTMC is blatant money-grubbing of the worst sort.
Reason #3: It utterly screws up the series that participate. Most (good) series have a long, interesting thread of continuity running through them. The MTMC usually has nothing to do with that thread. That means the MTMC is going to interrupt, often for 3-4 months, a long-running story that has captured my interest. Thus the MTMC forces each participant series to 'break stride' and then resume the longer storyline months later.
Reason #4: Inferior quality of stories. The MTMC issues of a series are never as good as the book's main storyline. Even the most talented writers struggle to make the MTMC fit into the general continuity of the book, and in many cases this simply cannot be done.
Why companies publish MTMCs
I've always despised MTMCs, and I have had many fellow comic-book lovers say the same, so why do companies even do them? There's only one reason to have a 10-title, 26-issue crossover story in all the Bat-titles: it's a marketing ploy. DC clearly intends to entice readers who are only buying one title, say Catwoman, to buy all the others so they can follow the story. If the reader doesn't do that, then he ends up reading only, say, parts 3 and 11 of a 26-part story, and winds up confused. The company is trying to force the reader's hand, much like Microsoft tries to force their PC users to browse with Internet Explorer rather than Chrome or Firefox. This is an apt analogy: just as Microsoft doesn't try to win IE users by making it better than Chrome, instead relying on the brute force of their operating system, DC doesn't try to make the stories in Suicide Squad or Batman and Robin any better -- they try to make Catwoman readers buy the other books because that's the only way to finish reading the story.Another reason for the MTMC is that most families or groups of books have a "lead" book -- the headliner book for the family -- which is the most popular. Then there will be a bunch of "follower" books with a narrower readership. Again using our example, the "lead" book would be Batman, and the "follower" books would be the ones about the "second tier" Bat-characters (like Catwoman, Nightwing, and Batgirl). Lead books usually have more readers for historical reasons. For instance, Batman is one of the oldest heroes in all of comics, whereas Catwoman is one of his supporting characters. The MTMC's purpose, then, is to try to force people who read the "lead" book, but usually ignore the second tier characters, to sample the the follower books. DC of course hopes that some of these will stick with the follower series for the long term, but even if not, the follower books get a sales boost for a few months.
Finally, the companies hype MTMCs to Kingdom Come, with the apparent belief that crossovers win comic-book series entirely new fans (who hadn't been reading those books before). According to DC's logic, MTMCs will expand readership simply because "crossovers are cool."
The question we will ask and answer in this article is: does the MTMC really accomplish anything in terms of sales? Do MTMCs encourage readers of each book to cross "party lines" and read the other books? Do MTMCs cause readers of the "lead" book to pick up the follower books? And perhaps most importantly, are crossovers really "cool"? That is, do MTMCs boost readership in general for the series involved in the crossover by getting new people to read those books?
Do MTMCs boost sales? A case study
As a "case study," I will use a currently ongoing MTMC from DC's Superman family of comics. Please keep in mind that, because this crossover is not done, the data are preliminary. However, I would be very surprised if, once the final numbers are in this April or May, the conclusions will be any different, based on the pattern so far.Although Superman technically appears in Action Comics, we will not count that as part of the family because it was not involved in the crossover. Thus, for our purposes, the members of this "Family" are Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy. Beginning with a "prelude" issue in Superman 13, the story arc spans 13 regular issues of the three series (plus at least one Annual), occurring in each issue 14, 15, 16, and 17 of the three series. This is a Multi-title Mega-Crossover in the most typical sense -- insanely long (13 parts, hence "mega" crossover), and hop-scotching across multiple titles (three, in this case).
The question we shall ask, now that this MTMC is nearly done, is did it "work?" Did it boost sales? Did it cause readers of the "leader" book (Superman in this case) to partake of the follower books, or vice versa? Did it attract new readers to the Super-family? To find out, let's take a look at the sales of the Superman family of books since the New 52 began (data come from Comichron).
| Issue No |
Total Sales |
Total Sales |
Total Sales |
% change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superman |
Supergirl |
Superboy |
Super-Family |
|
| 1 |
118,376 |
54,052 |
50,000 | --- |
| 2 |
94,000 |
55,249 |
51,682 | -10% |
| 3 |
77,747 |
45,706 |
42,698 | -17% |
| 4 |
68,879 |
39,762 |
36,002 | -13% |
| 5 |
73,719 |
37,301 |
33,975 | +0% |
| 5 |
69,633 |
34,847 |
31,068 | -7% |
| 7 |
66,588 |
33,337 |
29,789 | -4% |
| 8 |
64,486 |
32,438 |
28,830 | -3% |
| 9 |
62,232 |
35,129 |
34,838 | +5% |
| 10 |
59,081 |
33,309 |
31,358 | -6% |
| 11 |
56,066 |
31,879 |
29,677 | -5% |
| 12 |
53,326 |
30,420 |
27,518 | -5% |
| 0 |
60,493 |
34,457 |
31,840 | +14% |
| 13 |
52,155 |
29,450 |
25,726 | -15% |
| 14 |
52,572 |
31,270 |
28,017 | +4% |
| 15 |
51,252 |
30,814 |
27,619 | -2% |
| 16 |
50,621 |
30,350 |
27,110 | -1% |
Let's review these numbers a bit more closely.
Immediately apparent, is the fact that the Superman Family is in a tail-spin. Admittedly, the issue #1 circulation is an outlier, but even if one disregards the issue 1-2 decline in readership, Superman has lost roughly 47% of its readership since issue 3. Both Supergirl and Superboy have fared similarly, each experiencing about a 33% decline in circulation since issue 3.
This pattern had been going on for about a year before the H'el crossover, so we can imagine rather safely that the crossover is a ploy to boost sales.
This leads us to the question: Did the "H'el on Earth" crossover, which spanned issues 14-17 of all three titles, increase sales? There are several ways to look at the numbers, and I will break them all down, but the short answer is: no.
Crossover effect on total readership. First, let's ask whether the H'el on Earth multi-title mega-crossover increased total sales volumes (i.e., acquired new readers) across the family of books during the issues in which the crossover took place relative to the prior issues. We don't have the results of issue 17 yet (and won't for a while, since Superman 17 is being put out in March, and those sales results will not be posted until April). But we can compare the first 3-month period (issues 14-16) to the previous 3-month period. Now, we will not use #13, because for Superman this was a H'el prelude, but not for the other books in the Family. We also shouldn't count #0, which is an obvious outlier (DC's #0 books sold higher across the board, so it would be unfair to compare the sales of the H'el story to the #0s). Thus, we compare the last 3 "normal" months of sales in issues 10-12, with the total sales in issues 14-16. The answer is not good for the crossover mentality: The H'el crossover books sold a sum total of about 329,000, compared with the issue 10-12 books selling a total of 352,000. That's a decline of 7% during the crossover. Thus, there is no indication that the multi-book crossover did anything to boost sales across the family and acquire new readers. On the contrary, sales overall appear to be depressed, which means that the family of books lost readers, not gained them.
Crossover effect on lead-book readers. The "lead" book in the family is, of course, Superman -- he is the original, and also, his book sells more than the others. As the lead book, Superman in most months nearly equals the total sales of Supergirl and Superboy combined. Recently (in the last 8 months or so) Superman has had about 60,000 readers, and the other books about 30,000. The simplest assumption here is that 30,000 people each month read just Superman, and the another 30,000 read all three books. That means 30,000 readers could potentially be attracted to the follower books. Were they?
Here again, the answer is no. Both Supergirl and Superboy sold a few more copies of issue #14, but since then, their sales have gone back to pre-H'el levels (or even dropped a little lower). At best, out of 30,000 possible new readers from the lead book, the follower books picked up a few hundred. Thus, after 9 out of the 12 crossover issues have been published, we can safely assert that no Superman readers have bothered to pick up Supergirl or Superboy "just to get the rest of the crossover." Therefore, not only did the crossover hurt total sales for the family, but it also failed to attract readers of the lead book to the "follower" books.
Enticing cross-family readership. Above, I made the simplifying assumption that all 30,000 readers of Superboy and Supergirl also read Superman. But if we relax that assumption, then the crossover could possibly have attracted people who read just one of the follower books, to start picking up the lead book. This is a tougher row to hoe, because those books have half as many readers as Superman. But it's still possible that Superman's readership could have gone up. Did it?
Once again the answer no -- a resounding, deafening, unambiguous "NO!" this time. If readers of the other books had picked up Superman, his readership would have gone up. But it didn't go up -- in fact, the average readership for Superman dropped from 60,000 during issues 7-12 to just over 51,000 for 13-16. Thus, instead of Superman gaining readers, about 10,000 previously existing readers kissed that series goodbye during the crossover. In other words, Superman actually lost about 16% of its readers over the course of the story arc!
Overall Impact of the Crossover. No matter how you crunch the numbers, the 12-part, 3-series-spanning "family wide" H'el on Earth crossover, which was clearly produced as a pure MTMC marketing ploy, was an utter failure. It failed to gain new readers for the books in the family. It failed to entice readers from the lead book to try reading the follower books. It didn't convince anyone reading the follower books to partake of the lead book. And it caused nearly a sixth of the lead book's readers to walk away. The H'el on Earth story arc was, therefore, an unmitigated disaster for DC.
Conclusion
We can see from the above that, if the companies think the Multi-title Mega-Crossover is going to boost sales, they're sorely mistaken. The lack of any significant boost to sales for MTMCs is not unique to Superman. The numbers are similar for the JL/Aquaman crossover "Throne of Atlantis." There was one issue of Aquaman where sales went up dramatically (by almost 20,000 readers), but the readership crashed back down to the pre-crossover levels on the very next issue (while the crossover was still going on). Justice League's sales remained flat the entire time. Thus, at best the MTMC sold some extra issues for one series on one month. It's hard to argue that this was a tearing success, or that the MTMC is even worth it if that's the best for which DC can hope.This analysis shows that the Multi-Title Mega-Crossover is a bad idea all the way around. MTMCs screw up the continuity of the existing books that participate. MTMCs produce inferior, fragmentary stories. MTMCs piss off any readers who do not want to, but feel forced to, read affiliated books. And in exchange for all those ill effects, they do very little to boost sales of the participating series (and indeed, as the H'el numbers indicate, they run the very real risk of pissing readers off so much that the series experiences a net decline in readership).
I really don't know what the people in DC's front office are smoking, but based on these numbers, if I were they, I would hand down a company-wide edict right now banning the MTMC forevermore. MTMCs are at best a huge risk with very little chance of a solid payoff. You might wonder why companies still produce them so much. I confess, I really don't know. The numbers speak for themselves. Maybe some day, one of the people running DC will explain why they keep employing this high-risk gamble in an effort to boost sales, instead of just doing what they did years ago, and producing solid quality month in, month out, in each individual series.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
New 52 Justice League - Year 1
For decades, one of the flagship titles of +DC Comics has been the Justice League. The Justice League's book has taken on various forms and titles over the years, but whatever the exact name of the series (Justice League of America, JLA, Justice League International), it has always been a top-seller for DC, and has usually (though not always) featured the heaviest hitters in the DC Universe. Classically, the Justice League membership includes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman. Each of these characters has historically been a major DC star in his or her own right, so putting them together has always engendered the highest of expectations. When the book delivers, it is unparalleled in the comic world -- even the Avengers cannot compare. But when the book doesn't deliver, it has produced some of the most bitter disappointments in the history of comics.
Therefore, when I started collecting comic-books again back in December, it was with a mixture of both excitement and a little concern that I started reading the New 52 Justice League. Would it live up to its vaunted history? Or would it be another New 52 disappointment, as so many other titles have already been (Superman, Action Comics, Hawk and Dove)? My trepidation was increased when my good friend, +Stuart Johnson, indicated that the title was mediocre.
As with the other New 52 titles, I began buying the series digitally, starting with issue #1 and working forward. I have now completed the first year (issues 1-12 plus the #0 "origin" issue). I read a couple of issues each in December and January while I worked on getting myself current with series that were more important to me - Supergirl, Batgirl, and Superman. After catching up to #16 with all those New 52 titles, I then started to work on Justice League. What follows will be my review of the series in its first year (issues #1-12 and #0).
From the very start, I was pleased to see that Justice League was living up to its name. Headed by Geoff Johns (writer) and Jim Lee (artist), the book has fairly blown me away right from the beginning. The stories have been interesting and fun to read. The plots have made sense (for a change, compared to the impenetrable Gordian knots of Action Comics and Superman). The characterization has been strong. And although there have been plenty of world-threatening, nail-biting situations, Johns has managed to inject a wonderful note of levity into the series.
Justice League's first year, as with most of the New 52 titles, is divided into two 6-issue story arcs. I will discuss each one separately below, and then discuss issue #0, and close with my final thoughts.
Right from the beginning, writer Johns infuses the story, which is of the utmost seriousness (an invasion of Earth by Apokolips, as it turns out), with a wonderful sense of humor. Perhaps one of the funniest exchanges I have ever read in comics occurs in issue #1, where Green Lantern asks Batman what his super powers are. "Flight?" asks Lantern, to which Batman answers, "No." "Super strength?" "No." Then Lantern looks at him and says, "Waiiit a second... your just a guy dressed up like a bat, aren't you?" I laughed so hard I almost dropped my Nexus 7 tablet.
As the story unfolds, in different cities all around the world, pinging boxes are being set up ("mother boxes" for those who know about New Gods lore), and they keep teleporting (via "boom tubes", again if you know New Gods lore) creatures into our world to attack us (the creatures are Parademons, another item from New Gods lore). Over time, gradually these attacks draw the heroes together... Batman and Green Lantern are drawn to Superman. Then the Flash joins them. And finally Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
Along the way, we are treated to the origin of Cyborg, who is fatally wounded by one of the mother boxes, and whose father has to graft him to machinery to save his life. I had never seen the origin of Cyborg told before, so I really enjoyed this part of the story. I'm glad they put Cyborg (who used to be a Teen Titan) onto the Justice League. I've always thought he deserved more attention (I'd love to see him get his own book one day), and Johns and Lee do a great job with his first moments as a hero.
After the Justice League finally assembles, the last issues of this story arc depict an all-out battle between them and the forces of Apocalypse. Darkseid himself arrives on earth, and the League has to battle the most powerful villain in the DC Universe. Up until this point, the series was outstanding. But I have to admit, the way Johns handled Darkseid was underwhelming.
Why didn't I like how Darkseid was handled? Well, the primary reason was that he was too quiet. Old school Darkseid never shut up -- he was always soliloquizing about his power and making bombastic statements. Who can forget his words to Supergirl in Legion of Super-Heroes #294 circa 1982? "You have much to learn child. For instance this? This is pain. You should be honored, child. I have not done this with my hands for a millennium. How DeSaad would have loved this. A shame he is no more. But even he had his limits. As have all. Save I!" Or how about when the Legion finally defeated him, and the Invisible Kid asked how they would hold him. Darkseid's response was, "Remember children, the darkness cannot surrender. It is ever on the other side of the dawn. And the instant you gaze at it in fear... your time shall come."
And that, I suppose, was my one real disappointment. Darkseid was powerful, but silent. He said nothing. He made no threats. He did not give his classic Darkseid speeches. After reading a series full of fantastic dialogue and witty repartee among the rest of the characters, Darkseid's relative muteness was quite a let-down. He also did not seem anywhere near powerful enough, in most of the scenes. If, before reading this story, I didn't know who Darkseid was, I probably would not have been very impressed with him.
On the other hand, Darkseid's blandness aside (and it is a major flaw), the rest of the story arc was great. I enjoyed the general story, and I thought it was fitting that Darkseid was the cause of the Justice League's formation. He's an appropriate first, and arch, enemy for them. By the time the story arc wraps in issue 6, the Justice League has formed, and they are being cheered on by a grateful public, who finally realizes that these super-beings are heroes, and are protecting the world from harm.
The "lead" story in each issue is about the revenge being planned and then taken on the Justice League by a man named Graves, who is dying of a disease that also killed the rest of his family. Graves blames the League for this, because his family fell ill right after the League's battles with Darkseid (issues 1-6). Even though the JL saved his family's life at the time, little by little each one grew ill and died, until only a very sick Graves was left. Graves, dying, travels to a remote mountain, where he finds what he thinks are gods, but turn out to be spirit-parasites. He gains some power from them temporarily, and uses that power against the League. Ultimately, there is a huge battle and the League defeats him.
At the same time, there is a thread running through the story about the growing concern and mistrust of the JL by the federal government. Congress wants someone on the "inside" of the League, which the heroes resist. The government doesn't trust the heroes with all this power. So they continue to put pressure on Steve Trevor, the team's liaison, to admit new heroes into the team. This thread leads to Green Arrow trying to get onto the team in issue #8, and culminates later this month with the creation of a new "Justice League of America."
In the secondary story, orphan Billy Batson is adopted by a foster family whose other children include Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman (for those who don't know, these three are traditionally given the SHAZAM! powers and become Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel, Jr.). As Billy struggles to fit in, a mad scientist named Dr. Sivana searches for the final resting place of Black Adam (Captain Marvel's classic enemy). By the end of issue #12, Sivana has found Black Adam, and awakened him, and Billy Batson has ended up in a mysterious underground temple. The story will then lead us into #0.
Overall, this was a good issue. Gary Frank's art, as usual, is fantastic. He has always been very talented at showing subtle changes to facial expressions, and he continues to shine in that area. His Captain Marvel looks great, and I like the updated costume (though I'm not sure where I stand on the new hood, which makes his cape look more like a cloak).
The story was good, although there were a couple of elements I didn't love. For example, it has always been the case that the meaning of the word SHAZAM! is told during his origin story (which has been told and re-told many times since before +DC Comics even owned the character). The acronym means: The wisdom of Solomon; the strength of Hercules; the stamina of Atlas; the power of Zeus; the courage of Achilles; and the speed of Mercury. I don't understand how Geoff Johns could have spent an entire issue re-telling the origin of SHAZAM!/Captain Marvel and not explain what the word means (without that, it's just a nonsense word). Similarly, although they show the seven deadly sins, the sins are not named. Presumably these will come out in later issues (the back-up story already hints at that), but the seven deadly sins, like the meaning of the word SHAZAM!, are so tied up with this character's origin that I don't see how you can feel like you've re-told it properly without explaining those to the reader, at least (if not, yet, to the character).
That said, I found the actual story to be mostly satisfying. Billy Batson, once possessed of the SHAZAM! powers, is very entertaining. He acts like the unruly teenager he's been all along, but yet we still see the purity of heart there, as he rescues a strange woman from a mugger, and also worries that he might have hit the mugger "too hard" (he really does over-do it). But we also see his mischievous side, when the woman asks how she can thank him and he asks her for money, or when he suggests to Freddy Freeman (who is still presumably the future Captain Marvel, Jr., although we will have to wait and see on that one) that they can use Billy's seeming-adult status to buy beer.
One thing that was glaringly left out, however, was any instruction by the old wizad Shazam as to just exactly how Billy is supposed to revert back to normal. In the past, he has been able to change back and forth via the magic lightning. Will he be able to do so, or is he going to be "stuck" as Captain Marvel for a while? I hope he can change back, because I think the character will lose a lot without the Billy Batson side of things.
Overall, this was a good issue, although not as well done as Jerry Ordway's retelling of the origin 20+ years ago. I suppose they felt they had to "update" it, but I'm not sure the elements they left out did anything to serve that purpose. Rather, they probably left new readers confused.
Similarly, Jim Lee has done an outstanding job. I know he has been a fan favorite for many years, but he's honestly never been one of mine, in part because, at least back in the day, I always thought his faces looked the same for everyone. But at least so far in this series, he has done a good job making everyone's face distinctive and keeping them all with their classical looks while still making them looking younger and "updated." His backgrounds and "SFX" elements are first rate.
The series overall has been excellent. Out of all the titles that I've started reading in the New 52, one of the only ones that has delivered issue after issue, and has never disappointed, has been Justice League. It's got some of the best writing and art of any title I've tried. And so, I expect to be with Justice League for the long haul. Here, finally, like Batgirl, is a series that is truly enjoyable, and is one of the rare gems of The New 52.
Therefore, when I started collecting comic-books again back in December, it was with a mixture of both excitement and a little concern that I started reading the New 52 Justice League. Would it live up to its vaunted history? Or would it be another New 52 disappointment, as so many other titles have already been (Superman, Action Comics, Hawk and Dove)? My trepidation was increased when my good friend, +Stuart Johnson, indicated that the title was mediocre.
As with the other New 52 titles, I began buying the series digitally, starting with issue #1 and working forward. I have now completed the first year (issues 1-12 plus the #0 "origin" issue). I read a couple of issues each in December and January while I worked on getting myself current with series that were more important to me - Supergirl, Batgirl, and Superman. After catching up to #16 with all those New 52 titles, I then started to work on Justice League. What follows will be my review of the series in its first year (issues #1-12 and #0).
From the very start, I was pleased to see that Justice League was living up to its name. Headed by Geoff Johns (writer) and Jim Lee (artist), the book has fairly blown me away right from the beginning. The stories have been interesting and fun to read. The plots have made sense (for a change, compared to the impenetrable Gordian knots of Action Comics and Superman). The characterization has been strong. And although there have been plenty of world-threatening, nail-biting situations, Johns has managed to inject a wonderful note of levity into the series.
Justice League's first year, as with most of the New 52 titles, is divided into two 6-issue story arcs. I will discuss each one separately below, and then discuss issue #0, and close with my final thoughts.
Story Arc 1: Justice League (issues 1-6)
The first story arc of Justice League takes place 5 years in the "past." I found this to be slightly confusing at first, as the series of the League's members (e.g., Batman, Superman) all seemed to be taking place in the "present" (thus, though the #1 issues were all published at the same time, they were depicting different eras in the DC timeline). However, although this "five years ago" setting did confuse me in terms of how the events of the book related to events in other titles within the DC Universe, the story itself was easy to follow and quite enjoyable. The arc begins before the Justice League even exists. Each hero (other than Cyborg, who is just a normal kid in high school at the start) is on his own, and little by little, the heroes meet each other, starting with Batman and Green Lantern.Right from the beginning, writer Johns infuses the story, which is of the utmost seriousness (an invasion of Earth by Apokolips, as it turns out), with a wonderful sense of humor. Perhaps one of the funniest exchanges I have ever read in comics occurs in issue #1, where Green Lantern asks Batman what his super powers are. "Flight?" asks Lantern, to which Batman answers, "No." "Super strength?" "No." Then Lantern looks at him and says, "Waiiit a second... your just a guy dressed up like a bat, aren't you?" I laughed so hard I almost dropped my Nexus 7 tablet.
As the story unfolds, in different cities all around the world, pinging boxes are being set up ("mother boxes" for those who know about New Gods lore), and they keep teleporting (via "boom tubes", again if you know New Gods lore) creatures into our world to attack us (the creatures are Parademons, another item from New Gods lore). Over time, gradually these attacks draw the heroes together... Batman and Green Lantern are drawn to Superman. Then the Flash joins them. And finally Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
Along the way, we are treated to the origin of Cyborg, who is fatally wounded by one of the mother boxes, and whose father has to graft him to machinery to save his life. I had never seen the origin of Cyborg told before, so I really enjoyed this part of the story. I'm glad they put Cyborg (who used to be a Teen Titan) onto the Justice League. I've always thought he deserved more attention (I'd love to see him get his own book one day), and Johns and Lee do a great job with his first moments as a hero.
After the Justice League finally assembles, the last issues of this story arc depict an all-out battle between them and the forces of Apocalypse. Darkseid himself arrives on earth, and the League has to battle the most powerful villain in the DC Universe. Up until this point, the series was outstanding. But I have to admit, the way Johns handled Darkseid was underwhelming.
Why didn't I like how Darkseid was handled? Well, the primary reason was that he was too quiet. Old school Darkseid never shut up -- he was always soliloquizing about his power and making bombastic statements. Who can forget his words to Supergirl in Legion of Super-Heroes #294 circa 1982? "You have much to learn child. For instance this? This is pain. You should be honored, child. I have not done this with my hands for a millennium. How DeSaad would have loved this. A shame he is no more. But even he had his limits. As have all. Save I!" Or how about when the Legion finally defeated him, and the Invisible Kid asked how they would hold him. Darkseid's response was, "Remember children, the darkness cannot surrender. It is ever on the other side of the dawn. And the instant you gaze at it in fear... your time shall come."
And that, I suppose, was my one real disappointment. Darkseid was powerful, but silent. He said nothing. He made no threats. He did not give his classic Darkseid speeches. After reading a series full of fantastic dialogue and witty repartee among the rest of the characters, Darkseid's relative muteness was quite a let-down. He also did not seem anywhere near powerful enough, in most of the scenes. If, before reading this story, I didn't know who Darkseid was, I probably would not have been very impressed with him.
On the other hand, Darkseid's blandness aside (and it is a major flaw), the rest of the story arc was great. I enjoyed the general story, and I thought it was fitting that Darkseid was the cause of the Justice League's formation. He's an appropriate first, and arch, enemy for them. By the time the story arc wraps in issue 6, the Justice League has formed, and they are being cheered on by a grateful public, who finally realizes that these super-beings are heroes, and are protecting the world from harm.
Story Arc 2: The Villain's Journey (issues 7-12)
The second story arc takes place in the present -- i.e, 5 years after the first one. Beginning in this issue and continuing through issue #12, Johns presents two stories. The main story is about 20 pages long, covering the activities of the League, and features the art of Gene Ha and Jim Lee. The second story is about half as long, and features the art of Gary Frank (a huge favorite of mine since his days drawing the Matrix version of Supergirl).The "lead" story in each issue is about the revenge being planned and then taken on the Justice League by a man named Graves, who is dying of a disease that also killed the rest of his family. Graves blames the League for this, because his family fell ill right after the League's battles with Darkseid (issues 1-6). Even though the JL saved his family's life at the time, little by little each one grew ill and died, until only a very sick Graves was left. Graves, dying, travels to a remote mountain, where he finds what he thinks are gods, but turn out to be spirit-parasites. He gains some power from them temporarily, and uses that power against the League. Ultimately, there is a huge battle and the League defeats him.
At the same time, there is a thread running through the story about the growing concern and mistrust of the JL by the federal government. Congress wants someone on the "inside" of the League, which the heroes resist. The government doesn't trust the heroes with all this power. So they continue to put pressure on Steve Trevor, the team's liaison, to admit new heroes into the team. This thread leads to Green Arrow trying to get onto the team in issue #8, and culminates later this month with the creation of a new "Justice League of America."
In the secondary story, orphan Billy Batson is adopted by a foster family whose other children include Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman (for those who don't know, these three are traditionally given the SHAZAM! powers and become Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel, Jr.). As Billy struggles to fit in, a mad scientist named Dr. Sivana searches for the final resting place of Black Adam (Captain Marvel's classic enemy). By the end of issue #12, Sivana has found Black Adam, and awakened him, and Billy Batson has ended up in a mysterious underground temple. The story will then lead us into #0.
Issue #0 - SHAZAM!
As with the other titles in the +DC Comics New 52, Justice League, for its 1-year anniversary, put out a "zeroth" issue. The #0 issues of each title reveal an origin or backstory of the characters in the current series. In this case, Justice League #0 tells the origin of Captain Marvel, who gains his powers from the ancient wizard Shazam, by saying the wizard's name. Billy Batson, the teenager we have been following for about 6 months now (see above), finally meets the wizard, and is told to speak the magic word - SHAZAM! When he does, a bolt of lightning and a crack of thunder transform him from a teenage boy into a grown man (Captain Marvel) with power to rival Superman. The interesting wrinkle to Captain Marvel has always been, though, that although he has the body of a man, his mind is still that of a teenage boy. In that sense, he has more in common with the Teen Titans than with the Justice League.
Overall, this was a good issue. Gary Frank's art, as usual, is fantastic. He has always been very talented at showing subtle changes to facial expressions, and he continues to shine in that area. His Captain Marvel looks great, and I like the updated costume (though I'm not sure where I stand on the new hood, which makes his cape look more like a cloak).
The story was good, although there were a couple of elements I didn't love. For example, it has always been the case that the meaning of the word SHAZAM! is told during his origin story (which has been told and re-told many times since before +DC Comics even owned the character). The acronym means: The wisdom of Solomon; the strength of Hercules; the stamina of Atlas; the power of Zeus; the courage of Achilles; and the speed of Mercury. I don't understand how Geoff Johns could have spent an entire issue re-telling the origin of SHAZAM!/Captain Marvel and not explain what the word means (without that, it's just a nonsense word). Similarly, although they show the seven deadly sins, the sins are not named. Presumably these will come out in later issues (the back-up story already hints at that), but the seven deadly sins, like the meaning of the word SHAZAM!, are so tied up with this character's origin that I don't see how you can feel like you've re-told it properly without explaining those to the reader, at least (if not, yet, to the character).
That said, I found the actual story to be mostly satisfying. Billy Batson, once possessed of the SHAZAM! powers, is very entertaining. He acts like the unruly teenager he's been all along, but yet we still see the purity of heart there, as he rescues a strange woman from a mugger, and also worries that he might have hit the mugger "too hard" (he really does over-do it). But we also see his mischievous side, when the woman asks how she can thank him and he asks her for money, or when he suggests to Freddy Freeman (who is still presumably the future Captain Marvel, Jr., although we will have to wait and see on that one) that they can use Billy's seeming-adult status to buy beer.
One thing that was glaringly left out, however, was any instruction by the old wizad Shazam as to just exactly how Billy is supposed to revert back to normal. In the past, he has been able to change back and forth via the magic lightning. Will he be able to do so, or is he going to be "stuck" as Captain Marvel for a while? I hope he can change back, because I think the character will lose a lot without the Billy Batson side of things.
Overall, this was a good issue, although not as well done as Jerry Ordway's retelling of the origin 20+ years ago. I suppose they felt they had to "update" it, but I'm not sure the elements they left out did anything to serve that purpose. Rather, they probably left new readers confused.
Reflections on the first year
Overall, I have been very pleased with Justice League. Geoff Johns has done a spectacular job with perhaps the most difficult book to write in the DC Universe. It can't be easy to keep up with what is going on in 6 other books, and to write in-character dialogue for seven of the most important characters in DC. Given how difficult it has been for people even on single-character books (like Superman) to do a consistent job with characterization, Johns' work has been impeccable on this series. Each character acts the way he (or she) should -- frequently, more so in Justice League than they do in their own books (again, see, for reference, Superman).Similarly, Jim Lee has done an outstanding job. I know he has been a fan favorite for many years, but he's honestly never been one of mine, in part because, at least back in the day, I always thought his faces looked the same for everyone. But at least so far in this series, he has done a good job making everyone's face distinctive and keeping them all with their classical looks while still making them looking younger and "updated." His backgrounds and "SFX" elements are first rate.
The series overall has been excellent. Out of all the titles that I've started reading in the New 52, one of the only ones that has delivered issue after issue, and has never disappointed, has been Justice League. It's got some of the best writing and art of any title I've tried. And so, I expect to be with Justice League for the long haul. Here, finally, like Batgirl, is a series that is truly enjoyable, and is one of the rare gems of The New 52.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
DC's New 52 - another messy reboot
Every once in a while, it seems like the DC comics company decides to "reboot" their continuity. In 1985, they collapsed their multi-universe of alternate "Earths" into a single one, killing a bunch of characters (like my favorite, Supergirl) in the process, in a series called Crisis on Infinite Earths. When the series concluded, the DC continuity had a single universe -- one timeline without alternate earths -- and all the previous stories were (or should have been) erased. All the signature characters (Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.) had their origins re-told, and many of the DC comics were re-numbered starting on #1. Because the Crisis story involved the characters going back to the beginning of time and preventing the single Earth from splitting into many alternates, logically, none of the stories people had read from Action Comics #1 in 1938 until 1985, could ever have happened. This allowed DC to completely restart their universe.
Unfortunately, DC did not do a 100% "clean" reboot. Some of the characters in the universe remembered the previous timeline, even though they shouldn't have. The Spectre, who in a way lives "outside" of time, remembered the old continuity, even though under the new continuity the old one was supposed to have never existed. The character Harbinger, who was invented for the Crisis series, continued to exist (even though, since the heroes had changed the past, in the new continuity the Crisis had never happened). And many past events from before the Crisis still supposedly "happened" in some form. For example, in the post-Crisis limited series Hawk and Dove, Hawk explicitly remembers his brother Don (the first Dove) dying "when the skies turned red" (the Crisis events). Thus, as the years progressed, DC's writers kept making references to pre-Crisis events. These references confused everyone, as people were left to wonder, "What stories that I read before 1985 are still canon, and what stories aren't?"
To make matters worse, over the years, DC's writers and editors repeatedly made decisions that confused and screwed up the new continuity. They could not resist eventually adding alternate versions of Earth (not surprising because this is a very common comic-book trope, and I can't imagine any company with as many titles per month as DC going very long without the need for alternate realities). And the fans kept clamoring for pre-Crisis characters to return -- most notably Supergirl and the original Flash (Barry Allen). DC tried to appease folks with substitute versions of these characters, such as the shape-shifting artificial being "Matrix" which could take the form of a female character that people called "Supergirl." But the fans were not satisfied.
Over the years, DC has screwed their universe up enough times that they have had to have more "Crises" to try and correct the continuity -- such as Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis. I wasn't reading comics as these course corrections were attempted, so I don't really know exactly how they proceeded, but I do know that they must not have done the job, because in later summer 2011, DC Comics once again decided that their universe was such a complete and utter mess, and so incomprehensible to new fans (or returning folks like me), that they needed to completely restart their universe over again, with new, fresh stories. Because there were (originally) 52 titles being put out per month, they called these titles "The New 52."
When I decided to get back into comic-books, after learning about this, it seemed to me that the #1 issues of The New 52 were the logical place to start. I had no idea what I would like, or dislike, so I began with a few of them. It became immediately apparent to me that DC comics had again made a mess of its reboot. Once again some events from before the reboot are still remembered by some characters (for example, Barbara Gordon still remembers being shot by the Joker back in the 1980s). But they've made it even worse by having the comic-books take place at different points in the timeline relative to each other. For example, the two main books about Superman, Action Comics and Superman, take place 5 years apart, even though they are being published concurrently. And Justice League #1 takes place some time after the events of Action Comics but before the events of Superman.
What DC is left with in the mish-mash that is The New 52, are three types of comic-book titles: true reboots, reboots with backstory, and a third category I can only call complete messes. Below, I will outline each of these categories.
And it's not just whether the series got a complete reboot or not that is confusing (although complete reboots, or near-reboots, did help a lot). It's that the comics are taking place all over the history of the DC universe. Some titles (Superman, Supergirl) take place today. Others (Justice League) take place five years ago. Still others (Action Comics) take place even earlier (perhaps 5.5 or 6 years ago... it's hard to tell). Even others (Wonder Woman) take place in an indeterminate time period. This was true in issue #1, but I figured it would be cleared up after a few months. So far I am on #5 of the titles I am currently collecting, and nope -- it has not been resolved. Worse, a friend of mine is current (on #15 or so) with these titles, and he's still not sure whether Justice League takes place before, after, or concurrently with Wonder Woman.
I think I understand what DC tried to do with the early issues of The New 52. They tried to make them exciting, maybe a little confusing to draw readers in, and complex. They wanted to slowly reveal the relationships between the titles and between the present and the past. And perhaps those goals were admirable. But the problem is, with 52 different titles, all with different levels of "reboot," all taking place at different time periods, while being published the same month (or even week), DC has just produced a massively confusing universe. I'm not at all certain that it would have been any harder for me to just jump into ongoing comics that had 13 years of continuity that I'd missed, than it has been to jump into series that claim to be "rebooted" but often have vestiges of stories I haven't read, and that have incredibly confusing connections to one another. And my confusion, which is high in many cases, is partially mitigated by the fact that I am buying these early New 52s as back-issues, so I have been able to read #1-#5 in a very short time (about 5 weeks, instead of 5 months). I can't imagine how confusing it must have been for people to read this stuff "live" -- and wait more than 5 months (in most cases) to figure out what the hell is going on in each series.
Comic-book collecting is a slow hobby, not for the impatient, and I know that. You can't expect, and in most cases don't want, a story to wrap up in one or two issues. But, it seems to me when a company is rebooting its whole universe specifically to make it more "user friendly," they shouldn't then turn around and make the interrelationships between the various rebooted characters so incomprehensible that even an old hand at it can't figure out how the titles connect to one another.
Now, that said, I am enjoying a few titles, and if you are new to comics, I can definitely recommend four that will not confuse you too much (other than not knowing whether they all take place at the same time or at different times). Supergirl and Justice League are true reboots, and one can easily read these titles without having ever read any stories about the characters before. Wonder Woman has been cleanly rebooted but has an indeterminate backstory that occurred "before" issue #1. Up to #5, we know the backstory is there, and see hints of it, but it isn't confusing at all, and the story moves forward in a comprehensible way. Finally, Batgirl has been rebooted with a somewhat involved backstory, but it's entirely possible to read the Batgirl series (up through at least #8) without knowing the past story -- or with knowing it, because there are references to what you might already know, but they are vague enough not to be continuity-twisting.
I'm afraid I can't really recommend any of the other series I am currently reading (or that I tried to read). Although Action Comics is a "clean reboot," the stories in it are a mess, and there is no sense of plot or continuity to them. The story hop-scotches around, with the story in #4 not being picked up again until #7, and with the Superman of the far future making a sudden appearance at the end of #5. Although, as an old-time reader, I understand the Legion of Super-heroes references and the appearance of Steel, a new reader would surely go "wtf" and probably give up the series by #5. I know I'm on the verge of it myself, but I will give it a few more issues. Similarly, although it pains me to say it because the series is written by a favorite of mine, George Perez, I can't recommend the Superman comic either. The story is not as much of a mess as Action Comics, but the references to the (so far unpublished) "five year backstory" of Superman are highly confusing, and the storyline in which Superman finds himself (basically having a mental breakdown) is not appropriate for the first few issues of a new series with a "new" Superman -- the character needs to be established first, George, before you "break" him!
I think DC could have had a great idea on their hands with a clean reboot. I believe that the Justice League, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman comics prove this. They are among the best-written comics of all the ones I've tried so far, and they work very well as truly restarted titles. If only DC had done this clean a reboot with everything, The New 52 would have been a great deal better off. Because they didn't, I hate to say it, but I would not be shocked at DC having to do yet another reboot some time in the next 5-10 years, to untangle the whole mess they have got on their hands already, 1.5 years into the current continuity.
Unfortunately, DC did not do a 100% "clean" reboot. Some of the characters in the universe remembered the previous timeline, even though they shouldn't have. The Spectre, who in a way lives "outside" of time, remembered the old continuity, even though under the new continuity the old one was supposed to have never existed. The character Harbinger, who was invented for the Crisis series, continued to exist (even though, since the heroes had changed the past, in the new continuity the Crisis had never happened). And many past events from before the Crisis still supposedly "happened" in some form. For example, in the post-Crisis limited series Hawk and Dove, Hawk explicitly remembers his brother Don (the first Dove) dying "when the skies turned red" (the Crisis events). Thus, as the years progressed, DC's writers kept making references to pre-Crisis events. These references confused everyone, as people were left to wonder, "What stories that I read before 1985 are still canon, and what stories aren't?"
To make matters worse, over the years, DC's writers and editors repeatedly made decisions that confused and screwed up the new continuity. They could not resist eventually adding alternate versions of Earth (not surprising because this is a very common comic-book trope, and I can't imagine any company with as many titles per month as DC going very long without the need for alternate realities). And the fans kept clamoring for pre-Crisis characters to return -- most notably Supergirl and the original Flash (Barry Allen). DC tried to appease folks with substitute versions of these characters, such as the shape-shifting artificial being "Matrix" which could take the form of a female character that people called "Supergirl." But the fans were not satisfied.
Over the years, DC has screwed their universe up enough times that they have had to have more "Crises" to try and correct the continuity -- such as Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis. I wasn't reading comics as these course corrections were attempted, so I don't really know exactly how they proceeded, but I do know that they must not have done the job, because in later summer 2011, DC Comics once again decided that their universe was such a complete and utter mess, and so incomprehensible to new fans (or returning folks like me), that they needed to completely restart their universe over again, with new, fresh stories. Because there were (originally) 52 titles being put out per month, they called these titles "The New 52."
When I decided to get back into comic-books, after learning about this, it seemed to me that the #1 issues of The New 52 were the logical place to start. I had no idea what I would like, or dislike, so I began with a few of them. It became immediately apparent to me that DC comics had again made a mess of its reboot. Once again some events from before the reboot are still remembered by some characters (for example, Barbara Gordon still remembers being shot by the Joker back in the 1980s). But they've made it even worse by having the comic-books take place at different points in the timeline relative to each other. For example, the two main books about Superman, Action Comics and Superman, take place 5 years apart, even though they are being published concurrently. And Justice League #1 takes place some time after the events of Action Comics but before the events of Superman.
What DC is left with in the mish-mash that is The New 52, are three types of comic-book titles: true reboots, reboots with backstory, and a third category I can only call complete messes. Below, I will outline each of these categories.
True Reboots
What I call "true reboots" are comic-books like Justice League, Action Comics, and Supergirl, where absolutely no stories we've ever read about the characters have ever happened, and everything is completely new. Supergirl #1 has Kara Zor-El arriving on earth for the first time in her life. Justice League #1 has Batman meeting Green Lantern for the first time ever. Action Comics #1 has Superman wearing street clothes and a cape, and still not quite able to fly yet. These comics all start completely from square one, and move forward only. There are no real flash-backs (nor any need for them): it is the clear start of a totally new set of characters. In my opinion, quite apart from how good the individual plots are in these comics (Supergirl's is excellent; Action Comics' is a disaster), this is the category into which DC should have placed all 52 titles. Unfortunately, it seems to be occupied by the vast minority of books.Reboots with Backstory
What I call "reboots with backstory" are comic-books where the character has been rebooted, but some elements of the backstory from as far back as the 1986 era right after Crisis, still "happened," or perhaps there is a longer backstory that is not part of the past continuity, but still happened for some years before the publication of issue #1. Examples in this category are Batgirl #1 (in which the title character remembers being shot by the Joker and paralyzed, but not all the many events of her life as Oracle after that), or Wonder Woman #1, where the title character seems to have been around in the world for a while (people in issue #1 already know to call her "Wonder Woman"), but none of the previous stories people read about in her earlier comics seem to have happened. Another example is Superman #1, which takes place five years after the events depicted in Action Comics #1 (although they were published the same month -- see how confusing it is?), and repeatedly references events that are in the comic-book's past, but have never been printed by DC comics before (they're not referencing past issues of Superman or any other title).Complete Messes
Finally, there are the comics I can only call (from a reboot/continuity perspective) "complete messes." These are comics that are an utter Gordian knot of confusion, mixing old printed stories from the past continuity, with "backstory" that is fictional (never printed but still in the "past" of the current storyline), and total reboot material (new stuff that assumes no prior story). Examples of this include Green Lantern #1, which clearly references a whole variety of events that took place in earlier published comics, Batman #1, Detective Comics #1, and Hawk and Dove #1. For instance, in the Hawk and Dove series (which only lasted 8 issues), Dove repeatedly makes reference to her relationship with a character named Deadman, with whom she got involved during a story-line that existed in the previous published (pre-New 52) continuity. But ask yourself -- how is that possible? Some of the characters who were completely rebooted, such as Superman, were involved in that previously published storyline. So how can Dove remember something that involved Superman, but Superman be rebooted and not remember it? You can get migraines trying to unravel these messes.And after 5 issues... in many cases I still don't know what is going on
The upshot of all this mish-mash with some characters being given a "clean" reboot and others a messy one, is that DC has made a complete hash of The New 52. One of the main goals of their company-wide "reboot" was supposed to be to make it easier for new readers to jump into DC's titles, to make it less intimidating to read Superman, who before 2011 had a multi-decade continuity. It presumably was supposed to make lapsed readers like myself have an easier time getting back into things. For some titles, like Supergirl and Batgirl, this has absolutely been true. For other titles, like Detective Comics and Green Lantern, I gave up after the first issue, being so utterly and completely confused that I could not follow them enough to bother with further installments.And it's not just whether the series got a complete reboot or not that is confusing (although complete reboots, or near-reboots, did help a lot). It's that the comics are taking place all over the history of the DC universe. Some titles (Superman, Supergirl) take place today. Others (Justice League) take place five years ago. Still others (Action Comics) take place even earlier (perhaps 5.5 or 6 years ago... it's hard to tell). Even others (Wonder Woman) take place in an indeterminate time period. This was true in issue #1, but I figured it would be cleared up after a few months. So far I am on #5 of the titles I am currently collecting, and nope -- it has not been resolved. Worse, a friend of mine is current (on #15 or so) with these titles, and he's still not sure whether Justice League takes place before, after, or concurrently with Wonder Woman.
I think I understand what DC tried to do with the early issues of The New 52. They tried to make them exciting, maybe a little confusing to draw readers in, and complex. They wanted to slowly reveal the relationships between the titles and between the present and the past. And perhaps those goals were admirable. But the problem is, with 52 different titles, all with different levels of "reboot," all taking place at different time periods, while being published the same month (or even week), DC has just produced a massively confusing universe. I'm not at all certain that it would have been any harder for me to just jump into ongoing comics that had 13 years of continuity that I'd missed, than it has been to jump into series that claim to be "rebooted" but often have vestiges of stories I haven't read, and that have incredibly confusing connections to one another. And my confusion, which is high in many cases, is partially mitigated by the fact that I am buying these early New 52s as back-issues, so I have been able to read #1-#5 in a very short time (about 5 weeks, instead of 5 months). I can't imagine how confusing it must have been for people to read this stuff "live" -- and wait more than 5 months (in most cases) to figure out what the hell is going on in each series.
Comic-book collecting is a slow hobby, not for the impatient, and I know that. You can't expect, and in most cases don't want, a story to wrap up in one or two issues. But, it seems to me when a company is rebooting its whole universe specifically to make it more "user friendly," they shouldn't then turn around and make the interrelationships between the various rebooted characters so incomprehensible that even an old hand at it can't figure out how the titles connect to one another.
Now, that said, I am enjoying a few titles, and if you are new to comics, I can definitely recommend four that will not confuse you too much (other than not knowing whether they all take place at the same time or at different times). Supergirl and Justice League are true reboots, and one can easily read these titles without having ever read any stories about the characters before. Wonder Woman has been cleanly rebooted but has an indeterminate backstory that occurred "before" issue #1. Up to #5, we know the backstory is there, and see hints of it, but it isn't confusing at all, and the story moves forward in a comprehensible way. Finally, Batgirl has been rebooted with a somewhat involved backstory, but it's entirely possible to read the Batgirl series (up through at least #8) without knowing the past story -- or with knowing it, because there are references to what you might already know, but they are vague enough not to be continuity-twisting.
I'm afraid I can't really recommend any of the other series I am currently reading (or that I tried to read). Although Action Comics is a "clean reboot," the stories in it are a mess, and there is no sense of plot or continuity to them. The story hop-scotches around, with the story in #4 not being picked up again until #7, and with the Superman of the far future making a sudden appearance at the end of #5. Although, as an old-time reader, I understand the Legion of Super-heroes references and the appearance of Steel, a new reader would surely go "wtf" and probably give up the series by #5. I know I'm on the verge of it myself, but I will give it a few more issues. Similarly, although it pains me to say it because the series is written by a favorite of mine, George Perez, I can't recommend the Superman comic either. The story is not as much of a mess as Action Comics, but the references to the (so far unpublished) "five year backstory" of Superman are highly confusing, and the storyline in which Superman finds himself (basically having a mental breakdown) is not appropriate for the first few issues of a new series with a "new" Superman -- the character needs to be established first, George, before you "break" him!
I think DC could have had a great idea on their hands with a clean reboot. I believe that the Justice League, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman comics prove this. They are among the best-written comics of all the ones I've tried so far, and they work very well as truly restarted titles. If only DC had done this clean a reboot with everything, The New 52 would have been a great deal better off. Because they didn't, I hate to say it, but I would not be shocked at DC having to do yet another reboot some time in the next 5-10 years, to untangle the whole mess they have got on their hands already, 1.5 years into the current continuity.
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