DCnU? Hell Yes Please!

Reboot, new costumes, new writers and artists, new superhero teams HELL YES! I just finished pouring over this month’s Previews and I can’t wait for September! I think for whatever reason I am the only person excited by the DCnU (sweet Jesus what a crap moniker). I like when companies try to change themselves, whether it’s good or bad at least they try.

Marvel has been called “The House of Idea” ever since I worked there back in the late 90s. Sure they crank out a great movie here or there but the comics are kind of bleh as of late. I am reading more DC comics than Marvel but I don’t think it’s because DC is a trail blazer I mean it is DC the company who never really takes a risk, but I think because they have allowed a wider variety of writer to do their books.

Marvel has what 4 of them and they each right 3 books a piece? Yes I know I am exaggerating but really Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and Brian Michael Bendis all seem to be on every book. I don’t begrudge those guys I think they are decent writers (though Invincible Iron Man is a snooooze-fest as of late) Marvel always seemed to put all its writing eggs in one basket and has yet to learn from that mistake. DC however seems to give more newish writers a shot than Marvel does and I think it shows in the content they put out.

Now back to the DCnU. I think as geeks we aren’t truly happy unless we are bitching about something. So all the arguments I hear against DCnU sound like this: What about numbering? What about all those years of continuity? The costumes look stupid, the costumes are a throwback to the 90s etc. This just flies in the face of their core readership! Digital will kill the local shop owners! and it goes on and on. So let’s address these “major” complaints:

1.       What about the numbering?

a.       I’ve been collecting comics since I was eight I’ve seen comics titles renamed, rebooted and renumbered more times than I can actually remember hell Marvel just did it with Thor. Now it’s Journey into Mystery, the original title from 1962. Avengers is back to issue #17! Did anyone freak out? Nope, so who cares?

2.       What about all those years of continuity?

a.       I own Uncanny X-Men from issue 120 to present I can honestly say I DON’T CARE. They are ending Uncanny with issue 544 and relaunching TWO NEW X-TITLES. Where’s the outrage over all those years of history? Where’s the annoyance over all that lost continuity. “Oh but they aren’t going to forget all those years happened!” Really? I mean you really think they are going to mention all those years of history or are they pretty much going to start it all off as day one?

3.       The design, look, colors of the costumes are stupid!

a.       Um pssst, THIS ISN’T REAL! A dude with a giant “S” on his chest whose isn’t recognized by anyone because he wears glasses? No one notices the entire spandex suit with cape under his clothes, where the hell does he keep the red boots? All of this sounds like a great design idea? Really? Really?!

4.       This just flies in the face of their core readership!

a.       Ok this is one of my favorites, see if the core readers were enough to sustain the market then things would stay status quo, yes we geeks don’t like change but if they don’t you won’t have comics to read at all. See May’s best selling comic was Fear Itself selling 96,318 issues (Estimated Comics Sold to North American Comics Shops as Reported by DiamondComic Distributor) we sort of need more readers. And by just harping on the old stuff, stuff no one under the age of 35 remembers is probably not a good idea as a business model.

5.       Lastly, digital will kill the local shop owners!

a.       This one is classic and every small business owner cries foul with this same line about something else. For example the independent toy store owners cry that Wal-Mart is killing them and how can they compete with that? So the comic shop owners cry how can we compete with digital? The same answer applies to both businesses, OFFER SOMETHING MORE! Christ it’s a business and you need to WORK for it. So that means not being a douche bag when someone buys a comic you think is crap, or just give a straight forward answer instead of a grunt or an “I don’t know over there somewhere”. DO YOUR JOB and if you do people come back. Big Box stores win out because we as shoppers know they don’t care about us there so we don’t expect much, however a “Mom and Pop” shop implies you give damn so start acting like it!

Now the same day digital poses an interesting option. I don’t really have an interest in it for the same reason I don’t own a Kindle or a Nook, I like the prestige (and I mean geek cred) of owning the very first appearance of Sabretooth in Iron Fist #14 and being able to pull it out of the comic box and show some one. I like getting things signed by writers and artists all things you can’t do with a digital comic. On the flip side I am running out of space! I have about 19 large comic boxes, 16 in storage and 3 at home so the digital side of things makes sense I mean it’s why I stopped buying CDs; I just don’t have the space. So how can a comic shop compete with this? I will use the local shop I go to every Wednesday as an example of how:

1.       Be Pleasant and Personable: Dean is what a small business owner should be, he’s nice and respectful treats the regulars like gold and when a new person comes in asks if he can help them. Talks to the newbie for a bit to get a feel for what it is they are looking for or might like and actually makes suggestions and shows them where they are.

2.       Do Something for the Customers: He has gaming days on the weekends for Warhamer and other table top games. He also has fliers for and supports local events like marathons and conventions.

3.       Keep Current: He might not like all books he sells, hell he might not even read comics anymore but I’ll be damned if he can’t talk about any of the ones on the shelf.

4.       Be Willing to Get Product: Dean let’s you order anything out of the Diamond order form even if it means he needs to order a case when you only want 3 figures out of it. I know this because it happened with the Blackest Night Figures DC put out. I wanted 3 of a set of figures and he ordered the case rather than telling me no only if you buy the whole case.

5.       Remember It’s a Business: Be professional, I’m not saying show up in a suit but keep the store clean, keep it organized, answer questions without being Comic Guy from the Simpsons.

Will those things save your business? I don’t know but I do know anytime someone asks me about comics or where they can get stuff for their kid, niece, nephew and its geek related I point them to Clockwork Comics.

See folks a redesign, a reboot, a renumbering, or digital versions, none of these things will kill comics. Sure people buy MP3s and digital copies of movies and magazines, news papers and video games, but there are still plenty of other people who want the actual physical copy of the items. They can all exist together as long as no one forgets the merits of both. So give the (God I really hate the name) DCnU a shot, maybe the characters aren’t what you want or dreamed them to be, maybe the costumes aren’t up to your high standards, and maybe the teams seem a bit off kilter but all those things might actually be great and help you remember why you bought comics to begin with. And maybe, just maybe all those things will get someone new to grab a comic for the first time with the same sense of wonder that you did when you got yours.

My first super-hero comic was Uncanny X-Men #212 Wolverine and Sabretooth Round 1. I got it at a 7-11 and kept on reading. I know you remember your first comic and I know no one but you thought it was as amazing.

Green Lantern ... You Broke My Heart

DC...

Y U NO MAKE GOOD LIVE ACTION MOVIES!?!?!?!?

Ok so I’ve seen Thor, X-Men First Class and finally Green Lantern and I figure I might as well weigh in. I think the headline says it all but just in case WHY DC, WHY U DO THIS TO GREEN LANTERN! Be aware HUGE SPOILERS are coming.

Ok so it wasn’t complete train wreck, I mean it wasn’t Batman good, and it wasn’t Spider-Man 3 bad it just was. You never get a feel for any character, you don’t truly understand anyone’s attraction to one another sadly it missed the mark on all the things that have, as of late, made a great super-hero movie…character. From Iron Man to Thor we always get a sense of the lead character and why they are the way they are, but not in Green Lantern. Nope we have five different stories going on that don’t mesh, ever, and in fact don’t even know they are in the same movie, which does make sense seeing as there were FIVE writers!

So we have the following five stories:

1.       Parallax (Villain 1)

2.       Hal’s Origin (Green Lantern)

3.       Green Lantern Corps

4.       Carol Ferris (Love interest/romantic story)

5.       Hector Hammond (Villain 2)

Hasn’t anyone learned that writing by committee never works? I mean obviously not. But there you go, was Green Lantern a wretched movie, no it was simply something to watch and forget about two seconds after you leave the theatre. And incidentally almost all of the DC Cartoon flicks have ONE writer and are exponentially better than any live action flick DC/Warner has put out.

Let’s go with I thought was done right, Sinestro (Mark Strong)! Yes the character with the least amount of screen time was done the best. From the moment you saw him he was a badass right until the bit in the closing credits when he dons the yellow ring. Mr. Strong either read comics or had the forethought to go read the Sinestro Corps War. Of course this was awesome from a comic geek standpoint; no one else understood the meaning of him putting on the yellow ring because you never get a sense of the “why”.

Honestly I don’t fault the actors for the lack of emotional impact for the viewers, though Blake Lively while nice to look at, sweet Jesus take some acting lessons! Anyway the people I blame for this lack luster film are the writers (all FIVE of them), director and suits who all too often concern themselves with merchandising rather than a decent story. Then need to cram as much crap as possible into a film always escapes me but I guess if you only had 3 action figures to make what’s the point right?

Ryan Reynolds was serviceable as Hal Jordan. I am sure right about now he is wishing he did Deadpool, at least Marvel knows how to make a live action film. Instead Mr. Reynolds will be known as the man who flat lined Green Lantern. I mean he did what he could with the words in front of him, and perhaps someone should have sat him down and made him watch Green Lantern First Flight (only ONE writer as a side note) so he would know who Jordan is. Hell they should have just made that live action and be done with it but sadly once again DC’s cartoon movies far outshine their live action films.

Now I keep reading how everyone wanted some Sci-Fi epic and I don’t agree with at all.

What I wanted was an origin story; Hal gets the ring from Abin Sur and has to figure out how to use and what the ring is out. Then at the same time face some enemy, non-cosmic, becoming the hero he always was. Once that threat is finished Sinestro and say three Alpha Lanterns show up and Sinestro says “Hal Jordan, NEW  Green Lantern of Sector 2814, you WILL be trained!” Hal ends up in a green bubble and off they go. BOOM sequel set and you get a small taste of how Sinestro acts.

Then in the sequel we can see Sinestro and Hal become great friends, that way when Sinestro dons the yellow ring the betrayal hits even harder and makes sense, unlike the end credit teaser.

One question that eats at me all the time — why they hell do all the movie companies keep killing the villains! They NEVER die in the comics but hell we’ll slaughter them wholesale in movie so we can never get the great character moments of hero versus their nemesis. The whole point of the super-hero is the rouges gallery of villains and all that hatred and remorse that goes along with them! No we can’t have that just bring in more villains that always works right? Right? Spider-Man 3 I’m looking at you…in shame.

It could have been fantastic but DC/Warner Bros. will never learn the lesson of less is more. I mean how many characters are going to be in the next Batman flick? Well at least three that will need full backgrounds; Catwoman, Bane, Ra’s al Ghul, then you add Batman, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon and we get to six characters that need a good amount of screen time, sigh maybe they will surprise us. But I doubt it.

 I can’t wait for Captain America! Marvel can’t make a cartoon to save its life but damn they OWN live action.