MICHAEL DAVIS: Shock To My System
I’ve spent the last few months praising the DC New 52 in one form or another. Months before the books came out, I was debating those who thought the reboot was anything from a simply bad idea to the end of the world, as we know it.
I defended the idea then and in fact over the last three weeks right here on ComicMix. I’ve supported the idea and got into a heated battle with Marc Alan Fishman over the new 52.
Yesterday was Marc’s lovely wife Kathy’s birthday. Happy birthday Kathy and here’s your present…
Marc was right.
The DC New 52 sucks.
Everything about the New 52 is horrible.
I’m going to take a random decision made by DC, a totally arbitrary completely chance judgment they have made to make my point that the entire New 52 is the worst thing to happen to comics since Fredric Wertham and the Spirit movie.
Now. What completely indiscriminate, unplanned, hit or miss just off the top of my head move has DC made with the New 52 that has made me see the light of their atrocious affront to the entire comics, nay, the entire entertainment industry!
Let’s see, lets see, what needle can I grab in a haystack of bad moves?
What?
What?
What??
Got It!!!
DC comics cancelled Static Shock!!
Full disclosure: I co-created Static Shock and wrote the original Milestone bible and named all the characters after my family but that has nothing whatsoever to do with my deciding to use Static Shock as an example as to why I changed my mind about the DC 52. My history with the character is beside the point.
No, I did not like the new Static Shock book after John Rozum left and no, I did not say I didn’t like it before DC cancelled the book for fear that the opinion of one of the creators would affect the sales but that’s besides the point.
The point is DC cancelled Static Shock and that’s just one of the reasons I was wrong about the New 52.
My other reasons?
That’s beside the point.
The little support from the millions of Static Shock fans out there is no reason to cancel something I created! The reason it’s no reason is beside the point. Losing half the sales from issue one is no reason to cancel a book where my Mom was the inspiration for Static’s mom. The sheer audacity of DC comics to cancel a book where I have a vested interest in is why the DC New 52 is horrible. Why that matters is beside the point.
Why not cancel the Justice League? So what if the book is selling in the hundreds of thousands? I don’t like it anymore! The fact that I liked it (loved it) before they canceled Static Shock is beside the point.
There that is my unbiased and completely unprejudiced reasoning behind my change of heart regarding the DC New 52.
You were right, Marc. What was I thinking? Happy Birthday again Kathy, you are married to a very wise man.
WEDNESDAY: Now Mike Gold Takes On John Ostrander
I will take you word that he will return !!
BUT just find the timing odd seeing they were using him to crossover to two other titles then pull the plug, then there is the book its self.
A creative team that is put together by DC, a writer who stated that every pitch he had made once given the book had been turned down, with the release of the comic getting closer and being told what he wants to do isn’t going to happen the artist says he has some ideas which obviously his editor ok’d.
Seeing maybe that the writing on the wall the writer leaves leaving the untested artist as the main writer, at this point DC knows if they’re going to cancel the book or not so they make a point to say they’re looking for a new writer when besides the initial 52 press release they’ve done nothing to advertise the books existence at all since any other form of advertisement was done by the creative team themselves on their own dime. Low and behold the book is canned with it’s last issue to be the issue right before the new writer was to come on board, a writer who besides a interview about getting the book hasn’t been heard from since.
It’s easy to blame the creative team but Green Arrow wasn’t selling and they changed that creative team, same thing with Superman. If Voodoo can get a new writer( even though everyone was ok with Marz ) with the DC tag line of “we want to take it in a different direction” there is no reason Static could have gotten that as well.
How many issues did this make it in? And how many issues did the writer actually complete before leaving?
isuue 5 is out now !! issue 8 will be its last !! new writer starts issue 7 !! John Rozum only wrote issue 4 !! first 3 issue’s were plotted by the artist !!
It’s simple…
DC (and Dan D)…doesn’t like Black People.
Nuff said.
kayne,
You think?
The cancellation of Static Shock came as a surprise to me. The only nice thing I can think to say in response is to ask what DC’s plans are? They’ve been saying all these characters with cancelled titles will come back up elsewhere, why don’t they tell us where? They need to be taken to task when they make a non comittal statement like that. Just telling the audience to “Keep Reading” isn’t enough, just point us in the right direction for characters you promise and we show interest for.
Nah-that can’t be it. If that was the case they would have cancelled Justice League to get rid of that annoying and vastly inferior to Static, character Cybojangles or whatever his name is.
Wait a sec…they also cancelled Mr.Terrific!!!
Nah-I read Mr.Terrific, they cancelled that book not because he was black but because he wasn’t terrific.
As as an aside-there is a bit of rumblings on the net that DC cancelled both books because they were black characters. I guess the fact they published the books in the first place was besides the point.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory, I say.
Is that humming sound the sound of the Death Ray being powered up?
Static wasn’t cancelled for any other reason than their lack of faith in the direction of the book combined with poor sales. More than likely, it was on the docket for the new 52 because Static was a) black, b) from Milestone (so they could say they are incorporating all their sucked up universes into the DCU) and c) because he was black.
Give it another 3 months, and look for more cancellations. Blue Beetle, Voodoo, Grifter, JLI, The Dark Knight…
Oh VERY true !! just waiting for DC to do an interview along the lines “We gave Static a chance but no one wanted it as an on going !” thing is it was not a good book BUT Xombi was a GREAT mini but still got very little interest !
Thank you for the birthday wishes, Michael! Love ya!
Even I tilted my head at Shock’s cancellation. It was surprising. Hopefully DC won’t come up with some crappy excuse, ya know, like they do. What are we supposed to do? “Keep reading” the same uninteresting schlock that really should be cancelled because the writing sucks? *coughCatwomancough*