Marc Alan Fishman: The New 52 Report Card
Good morning, DC! Please, have a seat. Why yes, this is a new office. Thank you for noticing. Would you like a mint? Oh go ahead, pocket a few to take home with you. Are you nice and settled in? Excellent.
I wanted to stop today – just a bit shy of your one year anniversary as the “DCnU” – and give you an evaluation. And let’s be honest… this time last year? You were phoning it in something fierce. Anyways… I’ve assembled some thoughts about this leaner-meaner-DC you’ve tried to become. How about we take a little time now to go over my thoughts.
I’d like to start with something positive. Frankly, it took balls to announce to the world you were resetting things. Or rebooting them. But not ret-conning them. However you want to phrase it. To take your entire line back to #1 certainly got you the attention you wanted. Suddenly all the Internet was ablaze with rumors and opinions. You even got TV, newspapers, and traditional magazines interested in you again. I bet you hadn’t seen this kind of love since you killed Superman. For a few months. But not really. How is the Eradicator doing these days anyways? Ha ha ha! But I digress. If nothing else, you like to look like you’re a risk-taker. Frankly, we both know you’re not, but that’s a lengthy discussion we’ll have at another time.
Looking over your line, I can’t help but feel like you couldn’t stop yourself from playing favorites. For every amazing Batman you put out, you matched it on the shelf with less-than-stellar clones like Detective Comics and The Dark Knight. Action Comics got the world talking about Superman again. Superman reminded us why we stopped reading his book somewhere between Electric Blue and New Krypton. And four Green Lantern books? I mean, I know you were trying to suck up to me with giving Kyle Rayner his own book… But did you actually read what you put out?
Justice League was your pride and joy. Justice League International was made with scraps from the bottom of the fridge. And for all the love you gave Animal Man and Swamp Thing, you couldn’t match the complexity and depth in Resurrection Man or the abysmal Suicide Squad. I just kept getting the sense that you unnecessarily spread yourself too thin, DC. You published fewer books per month than you had prior… but in getting leaner, you didn’t realize it would make each effort you put out that much more important.
I feel like I’m being a bit harsh on you. Here… stop crying for a second. You did good things too. I mean, let’s talk about Batman, Action Comics, Animal Man, and Swamp Thing, OK? Here you were able to really play with people’s expectations. Your gamble paid off in spades. Grant Morrison proved (well, I should say is continually proving) that he can marry his love of the golden/silver age while still spinning modern yarn for the lynchpin of your universe. Scott Snyder’s pair of books were decidedly different, and elegant in separate ways. In Batman he was able to prove his deft hand at writing a plausible difference between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, when under the cowl. And while I didn’t have the patience or wallet to enjoy the entirety of “The Court Of Owls,” just keeping to the main Bat-Book proved all the epicness I needed to thoroughly enjoy the event. And over in the “The Dark”? Well, all I can say is you’re finding the perfect way to release Vertigo books with a different logo on them. And I mean that in the best way.
See… Don’t you feel better? And hey, also keep in mind that for the first time Aquaman was really selling well. And the core Green Lantern title has never been sharper. Now, of course we both know you slapped a #1 on it, but it never really “reset” after flashpoint. Very smart of you. Well, it doesn’t hurt that Geoff Johns is the one writing it, so he didn’t have to apply his whole “make the universe over” rule to his own book. When you have that many letters in your title, I guess the rules don’t apply. Say, how did OMAC sell, anyways? Cough, cough! Excuse me. Nervous tic.
As I sat to prepare your report card, it became increasingly taxing to determine a final grade. I mean, if I were to be harsh about it? I would just give you a D, and call it a day. The greatness achieved from the top talent you employed just can’t hold up those who only tread water. For all the interest you garnered from the mainstream media, you never figured out a way to hold on to their attention, lest you revert back to the old days of just throwing anything out there in hopes of someone paying attention.
Who did you decide to make gay this week? Whose backstory did you change, just to get the message boards flustered? And don’t even get me started about your “girls should wear pants” fiasco. The continual desire to turn amazing artists into mediocre writers, and your desire to employ Rob Liefeld even after his one book was basically universally jeered. And of course, your commitment to force needless crossovers throughout the line, to bump up sales. All of these things pull your GPA (Geek Projected Approval) down into the gutters.
I could go on, but I see you’ve stopped paying attention to me, DC. I know you want to focus on the future – by raping the past. Batman is about to enter “Nightfall.” There’s all that “Before Watchman” stuff you keep cramming down our throats. Oh, and I’m pretty certain I heard you muttering something about more Justice League teams and the resurrection of WildCATS. I can only hope you learn from your mistakes, in going forward. So for now, I’m ready to give you a final grade for your first year, you get an Incomplete.
SUNDAY: John Ostrander
There are a lot of good points here, but I want to say that I don’t think anyone at DC, or anyone anywhere, would have thought that the New 52 would hold the media’s attention for more than a few months. The fact that it was such a huge story for about a third of last year speaks really well for DC, in fact, and in the end I’m pretty sure this reboot was a net win for them. Most people I know are reading more DC books than ever, and those books seem better and more important (you already mentioned Action, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Batman, and Green Lantern; let’s add All-Star Western, Wonder Woman, and Batwoman to the list of books that can’t be missed… and I’m probably forgetting a few).
Further, minimizing the announcement of Alan Scott’s homosexuality as a publicity stunt kind of downplays its importance. Yes, obviously it generates good press. But regardless of the intent, it’s a nice gesture towards our friends in the LGBT community.
And actually, Before Watchmen is pretty good.
All-Star Western is astonishingly good, probably the best of all the New 52. And this is coming from someone who’s never been a fan of westerns, Jonah Hex, or Palmiotti and Gray. But they (and, especially, Moritat) are just hitting it out of the park every month.
Yeah, DC is getting really bad about shoving unwanted books down our throats. Why just the other day, Bob Wayne kicked down my front door and…
Suicide Squad, abysmal? Quite the contrary, it’s actually one of the best books they’re putting out. Fun character-driven stuff with some of the blackest humor I’ve ever seen from DC.
And Justice League International started out poorly but has grown into one of the more enjoyable titles (while Justice League had the opposite trajectory).
“Who did you decide to make gay this week?”
Really? They make one character gay and you’re going to turn it into a thing, like it’s a bad thing? Really mature there.
Just stirring the pot Robert. I actually think James Robinson handled the “outing” appropriately. How DC and the press spun it? Not so much. It’s great to show the LGBT community support… But it’s not enough to just say “oh, and this character is now gay.” It’s REALLY about the context of it, which was severely underplayed.
I’d fight with you on Suicide Squad though. Just can’t stand it, at all. In comparison to Simone’s Secret Six? Night and day to me. Again, this is strictly personal opinion.
By the looks of it though, I think I should look up All-Star Western.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!