Clarification of a Point

In my last post, I made a point about DC needing to cut the crap. I used some examples. I want to clarify this point a bit.

I did not mean to imply that the books I mentioned are crap. To be fair, I have not read some of them (Magog and Azrael). DC did not do a good enough job to convince me that I needed to read them. I have enjoyed Great Ten, but I don't really see the need for this book.

Here is what I want to see:
- If you are doing a mini-series on a character, make it the best story about that character ever. Make it a story that I can sell as a trade for years. Stop the random mini-series that tie into some big overarching story that no one will care about in a year.

- If you are going to do a new ongoing series about an obscure character (Web or Shield) there has to be a publicity blitz. Everybody reading a DC comics for the weeks leading up to it need to see an in-house ad telling them why they have to read this book. If you can't, don't put the book out.

- Keep your books important. I stopped reading Justice League when it was Vixen and Company. That's not the Justice League, and I don't think I was alone in stopping reading. Lets get back to books needing only to be relevant to themselves. Tell some great Titans storylines, without anything crossing to any other book.

- I want people to come in and ask if I had read a certain book because it so excited them and they want to talk about it. I've been getting that with Blackest Night and Green Lantern, but not with anything else. In a long time.

- Find a way to get new readers into your books. Why should I read this book? Why should I jump on board? Make some buzz. Get the internet talking about it.

- Keep what you have worked so hard to get. Green Lantern has doubled for me with the Blackest Night story. Now keep them. Batman and its family of titles have grown with Reborn. Keep them. As soon as you hit a stinker of a story, they will find a reason to walk away. Keep them relevant.

- While I understand the desire to spin off from other titles, be careful not to cannibalize you audience. Putting out books like Justice League Lost Generation is that it is really only targeted at your core DC audience. It doesn't look like something I can switch a newly won over Green Lantern fan onto. Give me more books that I can. Give me more books that you don't need 15 years of DC knowledge to enjoy.

They cannot become #1 by getting the DC fans to simply buy more. They need to get more readers buying more. When I was growing up, I read Avengers AND Justice League. I read Uncanny X-Men AND New Teen Titans. Now, my Justice League sales are half my New Avengers. My Teen Titans are 1/4 of my Uncanny X-Men. That is what they need to change. Build it and they will come. Put out books that they cannot NOT buy. They have the characters. Write the stories!

Things I'd love to see from all companies:
- Thought balloons. That is one of the things that made comics unique. You could see a characters actions, but you also knew what they were thinking. The Beat had something about Stephen King wanting to use thought balloons in American Vampire and was told that they weren't used anymore. I think that is a big mistake. I truly think that there are two reasons for the disappearance of thought balloons:
1. Decompression of comics. When a story was told in one issue, the writer had to maximize each page. A well-placed thought balloon could go a long way to moving the story along. Nowadays they can use 4 pages of non-dialogued action to show it.
2. The Hollywood factor. Comics now look like storyboards for comics and if you can't see it, it doesn't happen in a movie.

- Better house ads. When was the last time you saw a house ad and it reminded you to grab a book? Its been a while. Or a page promoting all of the books shipping the next week? Somebody call Stan Lee and ask him how to promote a new book. You could all use the help.

- Better covers - When was the last time you bought I book you had no intention of buying solely because of the cover? This weeks Power Girl was the first book in a while I have flipped through solely because of the cover. Enough of the pin-ups. It is the best sales tool each book has, but companies are ignoring them. The last Irredeemable had a guy sitting in a chair. 1, that didn't even happen in the book and 2, who would pick it up because of that? If there is nothing in the book that is exciting enough to put on the cover to grab a shoppers eye, you need to rethink your strategy. I am sitting here thinking of classic covers and very few are pin-ups. The issue before last of Uncanny X-Men had Magneto meditating. Ooooh. Gotta read that! But there was an Iron Man a bit ago with Ghost coming through him on the cover that would make you want to see what happened.

- A Plain English Retailer Version of Previews - It would be much easier for me to order if I could get the info without the hyperbole. Ie, Captain America #605 - Cap and Falcon continue their search for bad guys, Part 5 of 6. The Previews solicits are now written for consumers and I have to read between the lines to get what I need. And when I have to do that I am going to miss stuff, like that stupid Deadpool Rank and Foul book that shipped this week. Just say Deadpool Handbook.

OK, that's enough for today.