thought i'd do a comparison between the books i'm buying from dc 12 months ago, 6 months ago (just prior to flashpoint) and this coming month. DC singles only, no Vertigo books or trades.
October 2010
Green Lantern, Batman: The Return, Knight & Squire, Action Comics, Power Girl, Secret Six, Zatanna
Total books: 7
Really weak month. A lot of Batman tie-ins and other one-shots that I had zero interest in. Looks like there were a number of books missing from this month to make way.
April 2011
Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: Emerald Warrior, Action Comics, Batman Inc, Detective Comics, Batman & Robin, Batgirl, Power Girl, Secret Six, THUNDER Agents, Xombi, Zatanna,
Total books: 13
That looks better. April was boosted by two Green Lantern titles I previously had no interest in but now were tied into a pretty decent event (War of the Green Lanterns), Snyder had landed on Detective while the rest of the Batbooks returned to form, and Xombi. Xombi was great.
October 2011
Batwoman, Action Comics, Batman, Wonder Woman, Animal Man, Frankenstein, Demon Knights, I Vampire, The Flash, OMAC, Men of War, Superman, Supergirl, Batgirl, All Star Western, JLD, Green Lantern
Total books: 17
I could easily drop a few of these (Superman, Batgirl, All Star Western) but I'm both hopeful about the future and curious to see where they go. I'm buying slightly more than I was pre-reboot, but I'm more critical of DC now than ever. The reboot feels like it was successful for the first month in spite of itself. Rather than use this opportunity to bring in new readers, DC is satisfied with a temporary boost of sales due to curiosity and catering to the typical comic fan. They're not trying anything new. They're not using this opportunity to bring in enough fresh faces. The best books were often written by those new to either comics or DC (Lemire, Snyder, Fialkov, Cornell) while the worst had children of the 90s (Lobdell, Lee, Liefeld) behind them. There's little diversity in the comics, and even less in the creative teams behind the books.
DC wants to create a larger shared universe than they've ever had before, and I think that's a good idea, but what about the extended DCU? There's a Young Justice TV show that's apparently pretty popular, so why isn't there a Young Justice comic? Why is there no attempt to lure female readers? 25% of comic readers are women, so why is there only 1 writer? I understand that DC may not have received many (if any) good pitches from female writers, and that there are apparently a few writers with books in the works, but if this reboot is something DC has thought of for several years, they must have had someone beyond Gail Simone with an interesting story to tell.
DC are never going to have the hype and attention they've had for the last month again, and I don't think they're going to be as successful as they had hoped.
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Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.