R.E.S.P.E.3D
Last year I expressed some….dismay at the idea that DC thought they’d invented a new cash cow by publishing some variation on 3D stuff every September. I didn’t blame them as Villains Month was apparently DC’s best financial month since the New 52 started, but my fear was that editorial mandate would suggest that something would have to force this to happen on an annual basis. Bless them, DC tried their luck again this year. The Future’s End #0 was their big comic for Free Comic Book Day, featuring so many limbs being removed I suspected George Lucas was ghosi-writing it and I was fully expecting a repeat of last year’s crap, with people queuing outside shops to buy comics for no reason except they thought it’d be an investment opportunity. One that didn’t really pan out, did it?
Yeah, it was an investment thing, come on, don’t lie to me, man. DC put up some scare stories suggesting that the books might be allocated so they could be rare and suddenly my phone was 90% ‘Are you getting those 3D DCs in?’ Everyone thought they had another New Mutants 98 or Amazing Spider-Man 361 on their hands, especially given DC had said they were only printing so many of the enhanced covers because they were losing money on printing them. I had freelancers explaining to me that I should up the quantities on the ordering after I posted on Twitter that we didn’t like how they’d been solicited, so we’d be ordering low amounts and anyone interested ought to pre-order copies (Leaving open the question ‘Can I tell you how to stop writing comics that get cancelled, because 1 out of 3 DC books still being published isn’t a great percentage, is it? Don’t tell me my job and I won’t tell you yours.)
Long term….we were right. Although we were very conservative with our initial orders of Villain’s Month, they were offered o us by Diamond a few weeks later at a much reduced rate. We took a chance on literally a couple of copies each and they sat there, gathering dust. Then sometime around March or so, I heard DC would be trying their luck again with this stuff. ‘Future’s End’ an event starting from a weekly comic that would lead into the majority of their output featuring new 3D cover tech. They’d learned their lessons from last time and were so confident of how well this was going to do, they actually decided to solicit the comics without the creative teams in Previews, inviting us to keep up with websites so we could be as surprised as everyone to find out most of the teams were…the same people who wrote and drew the comic as last month (Oh, word to the wise. We’ve got better things to do than go chasing up vital information on how to order your product via some scavenger hunt. Save that crap for the Rubes and let us go on with the business of being a business, aye?)
And as we got closer to the first week of Future’s End, I noticed something.
No one seemed to care.
I’ve discussed before on how ordering works, the nature of cycle sheets and such. The other half of the equation is listening. Seeing which things people are saying they’re keen on reading, what they’re excited about. Social Media is essentially free Market Research for me and as much as I’m very good at pushing my tastes on people who trust my judgement (My trick is never assuming I know better than someone else what they’d like, and not talking to them like an unenlightened sub life-form because they like Hulk more than Habibi. Because it’s smart to learn from your own mistakes, but smarter still to learn from other people’s.) I also know enough not to block someone who just wants to pick up this week’s X-Men and leave by blabbing to them about Dark Horse Presents.
The long term effect of paying attention to people talking about comics on Twitter, Tumblr, etc, is that I know what is actually going to be popular and sell from the shelves regardless of what the publishing houses try to tell me. I’m not always right. and Lord knows there;s an extra 200 copies of Truth:Red White And Black in the world that didn’t need to be ordered. (Sorry, Paul.) but I saw enough that my guess in August has turned out to be a fact in September, one that I’m happy to report. That being:
DC: Future’s End has absolutely died on its arse. Tanked. Dropped A Bollock. No one cared 1st week of release. No queues around any shops. Nobody trying to sell pre-orders on eBay. Just this month’s DCs. Sitting on the shelves, ignored because people are saying ‘Hang on, why does this cost more than last month’s issue? Do I need this?’ I, for one, couldn’t be happier. To anticipate the usual subtweet backlash I get from writing this kind of thing, let me explain why a person who works in a comic shop would be happy that some comics aren’t selling:
I’m sick of publishing houses assuming that you’re stupid, if I’m honest with you. That they can pile out any Sub Wildstorm 1995 reject looking rubbish at a higher price because it happens to feature Batman and a 3D cover and assume you’ll buy it. That DC can presume to just replace J. H. Williams III on Batwoman because it doesn’t matter who’s drawing or writing the character, you’ll just buy the comic because DC is giving YOU the privilege of buying a Batwoman comic in the first place, True Believer. Obviously DC just have that magic touch when it comes to publishing female comic characters, which is why they have so many non Bat/Superman related women led titles out there….right? No, of course not. No matter how many PR friendly tweets DC want to send out about ‘dedication to the character’ and other meaningless bollocks, the success of Batwoman is due to Williams III. If DC want to pretend those HCs and comics sold due to the DC magic, but then they can explain why that magic isn’t working on World’s Finest, Catwoman or Supergirl.
You’re not stupid. You can see the difference in quality of an issue of Batwoman worked on by J.H. Williams III and one that isn’t, whether DC want to acknowledge that her popularity is entirely down to his work and efforts or not. You looked at the cover art of the Future’s End and said ‘No. This isn’t worth my money.’ You have the critical faculties to be discerning about your purchases and make decisions based on those judgements. You’re not a hive of walking ATMs that just need to be shown a picture of Nightwing to dispense cash at DC. I respect you for that.
What I don’t respect is the short-term thinking of various freelancers who have been shilling these covers at me, telling me how amazing they’re going to be, because the long-term effect of pushing comics solely based on the cover is that it’ll make the actual creative team irrelevant. As I said, DC didn’t even bother listing the creative teams on the Future’s End titles when they solicited them in Previews, and I’ve read a few things to suggest that not all the comics even had finalized creatives assigned when they announced this was happening.
Does this….bother anyone else? Because it would seem to me that if DC could have started selling comics in September 2013 quantities purely on their ability to conceive of a crossover event with shiny cover technology, then it doesn’t matter who’s writing or drawing the actual content. Every single creative talent working on a DC NU 52 book would be entirely interchangeable (and presumably a new, lower page rate could be paid, since it wouldn’t matter if Alex Ross or Jim Ross was drawing Action Comics this month.)
For any number of DC freelancers to try to convince me this process is a good idea is like, well, like those people working in W.H.Smith who encourage you to use the electronic self-service tills, making the human manned tills obsolete. so that actual human endeavour is replaced with technology that doesn’t need a living wage. You’re screwing yourself in the long-term to look good for your editors in the short-term. I’m sure DC and Marvel would love to be able to sell comics purely on the strength of their licenses and gimmicks alone It’s not been that long since Artists working for the Big Two, or D.C. Thompson, for that matter were told they couldn’t be credited for their work in the comics they were working on, as that would confuse readers. A nasty lie designed to destroy the chance of any talent getting a reputation that would allow them to negotiate higher page rates, return of original artwork and such.
Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, Frank Miller, Steven Bissette, Alan Moore, Will Eisner, Gary Groth. The Image Boys. Countless, Countless others. All men and women who risked their careers and reputations in order to make sure this generation of comic creators would be paid a fair rate and recognised for their efforts and creations. Don’t sell that out for this month’s gimmick. I’m talking to creators and customers alike here. Because the failure of Sin City 2 at the cinema wasn’t a victory against people whose opinions you don’t like in comics, it was a defeat for the idea that any comic creations can transcribe into cinema unless they’re owned by Disney or Time-Warner. Hollywood lives in fear of risk and it’ll be that bit harder for anything else to get made now that Sin City 2 is perceived as a failure.
If there’s an upshot from this, it’s that we seem to be back to promoting talent over gimmicks, and DC pushing the fact that they’ve had John Romita JR drawing Superman for the last couple of issues and the draw of Multiveristy is that Grant Morrison is writing are steps in the right direction. The direction that says Marvel and DC might own the toys, but they’re nothing without someone good to play with them. And with that in mind, (With kind permission of Cameron Stewart), here’s a look at the new Batgirl comic he and Babs Tarr have created. It starts with issue 35, shipping on the 8th of October 2014. I’m buying it because it’s by people whose work I like. I think that’s the only good reason to buy any comic.
Give The Kids Their Toys Back.
It used to be that when people asked me the best way to break into comics, I’d have an spiel that ran about 20 mins or so, touching upon awareness of your product, friendly customer service, knowing your audience and what they’d probably like, doing your research, checking updates online, cultivating a relationship with the independent and small press world. That kind of thing.
Nowadays, I just tell them: ‘Go watch The Wire.’
I’ll come back to this.
I’m assuming if you’re reading this on bleedingcool.com, then you’re aware of the story leaking yesterday that DC will be relaunching all of their mainstream titles in September once Flashpoint rewrites the history of the DC Universe. New number ones, $2.99 price point across the board, aimed at a slightly younger audience. Sounds great, to me. I’m just worried about one thing:
What if it’s too late?
For this generation, the idea that superhero comics REALLY weren’t for kids came about with The Ultimates. Now, I like the 1st two volumes of The Ultimates. They’re funny, ‘packed with redeeming social commentary; as Russ Meyer used to say, beautifully drawn and in general a nice step in the direction of superheroes for adults. That was fine. When that angle was contained within that title.
The problem came when, much like in the eighties when every superhero comic wanted to be Watchmen or Dark Knight, all the Marvel and DC wanted to translate that sensibility and more importantly, sales figure to all their titles.
Politics, sex, religion and serious violence became the touchstone of modern mainstream superhero comics. Dr Light was retconned into an angry rapist, Norman Osborn slept with Peter Parker’s girlfriend, Batman became so paranoid as a result of The Justice League’s betrayal that he set up a global cctv network, Wonder Woman snapped a man’s neck on television, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne practiced superhero oral sex. Again, for the record, I have no problems with any of this stuff being depicted in comics; I just don’t believe they’re the appropriate things to be doing in titles that are aimed at children.
This style of storytelling culminated in Civil War, which became the model for the industry and certainly Marvel’s publishing plans for the next few years. Summer long crossovers, incredibly decompressed storytelling with very little actually happening, numerous spin-offs, and titles hijacked in order to flesh out thin plots. Ultimatum (An Ultimate Universe crossover.) wasn’t so much a story as a progression from one violent death to the next. Over the last few years, it’s been a steady decline to almost total inaccessibility. Between this anti-new reader mentality, unnecessarily jacked up price points and the rise of the availability of new comics online for free, the new comic market has been taking a kicking.
I think one of the significant reasons for this is that, speaking as someone spends time behind the counter, it simply hasn’t been safe to recommend most Marvel/DC comics to children for a long time, and I can’t tell you how incredibly difficult that is.
Personally, I really like Deadpool Max, but I just turned 34. Deadpool is an action figure; he’s a character in Marvel vs Capcom 3. He’s probably the most bankable single Marvel have come up with since Wolverine that kids love, and he features in a comic I can’t sell to kids. What ought to be is that a parent should be able to pick up a Marvel/DC superhero title and safely be able to pass it onto their children without having to worry if there’s going to be an alternate history of the Nazis in the opening 10 pages.
I’m aware that Deadpool Max is aimed at adults, but most parents simply aren’t aware of the silly nuances of the comics industry where a superhero can swear in one title and not in the next. They wouldn’t expect to walk into W.H. Smiths or Barnes & Noble and try and work out why Kermit is having his normal adventures in The Muppets Show comic and fisting Fozzie whilst gutting Staler and Waldorf with a blunt chisel in DARK MUPPETS MAX!
(Let me sidetrack for a minute and say that I have no problem with superhero comics featuring this stuff. As long as they aren’t being used to sell toothbrushes and pajamas at the same time.)
The idea of Marvel/DC superhero comics should be that they’re a gateway point into the medium. They’re a nickel bag product. You get started with Spider-Man and Batman, move onto Miracleman, Rocketeer, Creepy and end up at Love and Rockets, Eightball, Glamourpuss, Elephantmen. Or to put it in Wire form, you start with weed, move on to speed and end up on coke. Right now, as a retailer, I’m in the position of trying to push product that is the equivalent of crystal meth on first time users. It’s like the film ‘Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.’ was the only advert for Barbie toys.
This isn’t, in any way, a call for the return of badly written superheroes. People say that in the age of Xbox 360, the Internet and Iphones, kids aren’t willing to read anymore. This is nonsense. Kids love reading, but you have to present the material in such a way to they can enjoy it. Things like Twilight, Harry Potter, Artemis Wolf, Dr Who, The Dandy, Tiny Titans and a dozen other examples are proof that you can’t play the ‘There’s no money in the younger reader market.’ card. You have to create content aimed at them, and if I’ve learnt one thing about children in my twelve years of working with them, it’s that they DON’T like being referred to as ‘KIDZ’ or ‘Younger Readers’ or any of that crap.
So, if DC are being straight about this, that the days of Sue Dibny being raped, of the dead coming back with a guilt trip monologue for two pages, of cities being blown up and Green Arrow killing people as a consequence are over, I’m ecstatic. Hopefully this’ll lead to writers exploring more adult themes in a line of comics that aren’t aimed at kids, a line pitched somewhere near the Vertigo/Epic aesthetic. I’m just hoping it isn’t too late. That when Mario Stanfield returns to the street corner, there’ll be a new generation of eager new addicts.
(Recommended for people trying to get children into comics: Tiny Titans, The Muppets, Bone, Marvel Super-Hero Squad, Calvin and Hobbes, The Dandy.)
Can’t Go Back.
Right, so the rumour doing the rounds this week is that come September, Barbara Gordon is going to be ‘uncrippled’ as part of the relaunching of the DC Universe. For those of you unaware, Barbara Gordon is the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, a librarian who became the 1st Batgirl. After a run as the 3rd wheel in the Batman and Robin duo, she was shot and maimed by The Joker in the graphic novel ‘The Killing Joke’ and was left unable to walk as a result.
Subsequent to this, she drew upon her skills with computers and became the hub of the electronic DC universe, reinventing herself as the anonymous Oracle. Linked to everything that goes on digitally, she became one of the key members of the JLA, The Titans and founded her own guerilla super-heroine team: Birds of Prey.
Barbara’s injury is often cited as one of the early examples of the syndrome known as ‘Women in Refrigerators’: a nasty plot device where a woman related to the central character is maimed, raped, killed or in some other way abused in order to give motivation to the lead stopping the Big Bad. It’s a variation on the schtick in action movies where the black partner is killed to drive the white guy more reason to take out the crime boss/crazed killer, etc (Hello X-Men: 1st Class.) On the whole, it’s usually a sign of an inability to write a compelling narrative and create cheap drama instead.
Where I disagree that Bab’s abuse is just one more symptom of the ‘Women in Refrigerators’ is that, well, honestly speaking, The Joker was the best thing that ever happened to the character of Barbara Gordon.
There’s a lot of talk about how badly women are represented in mainstream superhero comics. Rendered in a way that borders on the fetishistic, used as sexual decoration, underwritten, under motivated. Only really interesting to the dominant consumer base if they have large breasts or wear not a lot of skin-tight spandex. Off the top of my head, there’s only one comic starring a female that’s run consistently without being cancelled and that’s Wonder Woman. Men don’t want to read about female protagonists.
All valid and true points, but try having any kind of disability and see how well women fare in comparison, in terms of representation.
Off the top of my head, if you want physical ailments, then you’re looking at the X-Men, who frankly make too much noise given they’ve spent most of the time living in a mansion, don’t seem to have to work any jobs for their income, are totally stunning and on the whole don’t have much in the way of visual deformities (‘Oh Noes, I have claws that nobody can see unless I choose to show them’ ‘Waah, I’m a statuesque blonde who can read minds and can turn into diamond if I choose to’.)
Then there’s Matt Murdock aka Daredevil who’s blind, but his real disability seems to be a cycle of really stupid behaviour that runs as follows: Life goes wrong. Cry about an ex. Elektra and/or The Black Widow show up for a bit while Matt wallows in self-pity. Become a crime boss of some sort, realize that was a pretty stupid idea given his habit of telling every pretty girl that He’s Daredevil. Foggy will get beaten up in some way. Goes off for a sulk to find himself; worrying everyone he knows as he hasn’t told anyone where he’s gone, culminating in his jumping across lots of buildings in costume. So, no, I don’t think we want to be Matt.
Professor X? Well, he’s a genius, but aside his liking of underage girls, he has a habit of coming up with really stupid solutions to things: ‘I’ve had enough of Magneto running around disagreeing with me and being up in space generally leaving everyone alone. I’m going to go confront him and then absorb his psyche into mine just after he rips Wolverine’s skeleton out of his body. That’ll end well. Or with his mind melding with mine until we become a giant purple transformer that crushes New York City and kills The Avengers, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four. To me, my X-Men!
Then there’s the Hulk. If you want a quick idea of what having any kind of behaviour disorder is like, meet Bruce Banner. It’s an incredibly simplified version of it, but the underlying theme holds true. Bruce is a mild mannered guy who flips out and attacks things when he’s under stress due to his unresolved childhood issues. He spends the rest of his time feeling incredibly guilty about this, trying to put right what he did wrong in his mania, living in fear of his next attack. A life spent looking for a cure that probably doesn’t exist. It’s probably the best depiction of mental health issues in mainstream comics outside of Pete Milligan’s Shade The Changing Man or Hewligan’s Haircut.
Barbara, on the other hand, did something with her life. Unlike a lot of the women who suffered the indignity of being a woman in a refrigerator (and believe me, the Crisis on Infinite Earths era DC Universe was a bad time to be a woman), Barbara moved on. She accepted her fate and made the best of her life. Not in a shiny ‘And now I will be happy and drift off into the sunset, never to be referred to again’ way, but she carried on living, being part of her community of friends and colleagues.
She’s had some rough patches subsequent to that (not least of which was Dick Grayson popping round to give her a sympathy shag the day before he married Starfire), but she’s a real testament to the ideal that disabled people are as much a valid and vital part of the world as everyone. As Batgirl, Barbara really wasn’t much more than Huntress-Lite and a half-hearted attempt at female empowerment (‘Gasp! I’ve been taken down…by a GIRL!’) As Oracle, she’s the strongest representation in comics that people who aren’t entirely okay can still make a contribution to society as a whole, that we’re as capable as we can be and shouldn’t just be swept under the carpet, locked up in homes and asylums until we die.
And this winter, it seems that’s exactly what will happen to Oracle, her struggles and determination will be forgotten about.
I hope I’m wrong.
No One Is Innocent 