BG Roundtable: Best & Worst of 2008

by Doug Smith

So, the gang at the Bad Genious was recently sitting around our secret headquarters, eating tater chips and drinking soda pops, when we realized we hadn’t done a roundtable in quite some time. Heck, the last time we did a roundtable, George W. Bush was President!


We quickly decided we should do a “Best & Worst of 2008” round-up. The decision was quick. The putting-together of random thoughts from a bunch of fanboys buzzing on caffeine and junk food? Well, that took a little longer. So, without further ado, I give you…the Best & Worst Comics of 2008!!!

Let’s start with Rory, still riding high from watching his own personal god (small “g”) perform at the Super Bowl…

Rory: Hm. Probably the best was Doctor 13 (although half was in 2007). Worst was Batman RIP.

Doug: That Doctor 13 series was an overlooked gem; I'll wager most people don't even know it exists. It didn't help that it was the back-up feature (in Tales of the Unexpected) to a mediocre Spectre lead story. But there's a trade out there for Doctor 13 and I would highly recommend it.

Brandon: My vote for best comic this year: Punisher #'s 55-60 (“Valley Forge, Valley Forge”).

This was one hell of a swansong for Garth Ennis on the Punisher MAX title. The framing device of using a new Punisher book about his time in Vietnam perfectly framed the story of how a group of military generals is trying to cover up their dirty past. It's a pity Garth Ennis has left this book, but I'm immensely pleased with this story. It's too bad because I feel as if this last arc was overshadowed by the glut of crossovers Marvel has been vomiting up all year.

Doug: I’m definitely suffering from crossover burnout. For the first time in years, I’m looking at some of these crossovers from the Big Two and skipping them. My days as a whore are behind me.

Speaking of whores, here’s our resident X-whore…

The General: I've pretty much just been buying X-titles and trades of things that came out four years ago. And, the X-titles rarely have high moments. They are generally either "decent" or "shitty."

Chris: I thought “Messiah Complex” was really good. Did that come out in 2008?

The General: It ended in January, so really the X-stuff I'd have to consider would all be the stuff that was released after “Messiah Complex”... and that's been a definite mixed bag.

Chris: Okay then and yes, I agree with your assessment. Gonna have to come up with some other stuff then.

While we wait for Chris to put down the chicken wings and come up with some answers, let's check in with our old friend Jon...

Jon Quixote: The Incredible Hulk #165-167 was fantastic.

Editor’s note: Jon is Canadian. This proves my theory that Canada is 35 years behind us in terms of pop culture. He’s also been raving about this “great” new band called Grand Funk Railroad, and he won’t shut up about how much he’s looking forward to Mel Brooks’ next movie, Blazing Saddles.

While we’re on the subject of people that are out of touch, let’s check in with our resident grumpy old man…

Doug: My vote for the best comic of the year goes not to one title, but a whole group of them: I think Marvel has done a great job with their C-list characters in the past year or two.
Immortal Iron Fist may just have been my favorite comic series of 2008, with Nova not too far behind. Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Britain and MI-13, and The Incredible Hercules are also excellent books. Moon Knight got much better as new writer Mike Benson found his way flying solo. Ms. Marvel continues to be a solid book three years into its run, as does X-Factor. The Inhumans, while not having their own title, continue to play big roles in major Marvel events. Eternals is a strong new series. I wasn't as keen on Ghost Rider, Black Panther, or the just-canceled She-Hulk, but they've all had respectable runs of 30+ issues. Who would have thought, a few years ago, that Marvel would have success with these characters?

On the other hand...2008 was the first year I didn't buy a monthly Avengers series in over 20 years. (I don't count Avengers: The Initiative...it's a good book but it's not really the Avengers.) When I did get sucked into buying New Avengers and Mighty Avengers as part of the Secret Invasion cross-over, it just made me even more upset about the status of my once-favorite series. Those crossovers were a boring waste of time and money, and for the most part, didn't even feature the Avengers! Ah well....Dan Slott arrived on Mighty Avengers this month, so that book is back on my pull list.

The General: I think that Doug's comment about the second tier books being better than the main books is pretty interesting and accurate in many regards.

Editor’s note: I love it when people agree with me. Mostly because it happens so rarely.

The General: I do feel that the main titles have ranged from watered down, to unfocused to just plain boring or bad while many second string characters have had really solid books in the last year or so.

And, I think that holds true for the X-line as well. Uncanny X-Men has had potential, but not found its sea legs. Astonishing X-Men is pretty much irrelevant and uninteresting (the first was to be expected, but the second was the surprise with Ellis writing). The only main X-book that has been any good is X-Men: Legacy... but that's been by effectively turning itself into a second string book focusing on Professor Xavier.

Meanwhile books like X-Force, Cable and Young X-Men, in my opinion, have been more interesting and focused than any of the main titles. And, while they all have their short comings, I find myself reading them often before the main titles.

I would disagree with Doug’s assertion that X-Factor has been strong. In my opinion, all momentum on the title has been undermined by it trying to be tied into every event that comes down the line, which has really caused it to lose focus. The rotating cast of characters and artists has only made matters seem worse. It's pretty close to the chopping block for me.

Mr. Orange: : I'm going to agree with Doug…

Editor’s note: Somebody else agreeing with me? Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket tonight! Let’s hear that again…

Mr. Orange: I'm going to agree with Doug and Tyler here, the smaller titles have been the best this year; they have been given a lot more leeway and allowed to shine. Books that have spun out of the major events have been really solid, surprisingly so.

I've never read a Deadpool book till Secret Invasion and really enjoyed it, especially as prior to this I’ve not been a fan of Daniel Way's light style of writing. Then there was X-Force, a book I was not expecting to enjoy, but picked up on a whim. It is dark, gritty, and very true to its mandate. So far it has stuck to its guns, and brought along not only action packed stories, but intelligently written ones too.

Though Guardians of the Galaxy hasn't been as great as Nova (which is a hard act to follow), the great scripting of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning has really brought to life some very obscure characters, especially Rocket Raccoon.





Wow….high praise for a book that features Rocket Raccoon. That seems like as good a spot as any to wrap up our 2008 Best & Worst Roundtable!

Please join us for our next roundtable, which, if Jon Quixote has his way, will have something to do with his declaration that Gordon Lightfoot is the new Dylan.



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BG Roundtable: Best Batman Villain

by Betsy

Batman is widely considered to have the best Rogue's Gallery of any comic book character. Between the Joker, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, and more, the Dark Knight has his work cut out for him when it comes to keeping the streets of Gotham City safe. This, of course, begs the question - who is the best Batman villian? I rounded up the rogues of the Bad Genious to find out the answer.

Ever contrary, Tim kicked things off by saying, "I'm something of an exception to the 'Batman has awesome villains' consensus. He's got a lot of memorable ones, sure, but the ones that actually threaten him, as opposed to being a bit of entertaining run-around fodder is - I think - a little scarce."

Your Friendly Neighborhood Editor was about to wing a batarang right at Tim's head when he thought better of this stance and continued. "I do like me some Joker though. And Riddler, for all his uselessness. But number one? Mister Freeze."

"Admittedly, this is thanks to the awesome Batman '90s animated series and it shows that the quality of his character varies greatly with how much the writers play to those strengths. But if they do? Wow. Creepy as hell. Intelligent. Driven. Focused. In a gallery of insane rogues, he stands out as remarkably sane. Evil? Perhaps, but always with a touch of ambiguity. Check out Gotham Central 1; he takes the time after being surprised by a pair of police officers to teach one of them the meaning of loss by killing his partner. He's not driven by sadism or malice, but rather by the desire to share his vision of the world. He's right, you see. We just can't see it. In that way he's very much like the best characterizations of the Joker, but where the big J is insane and irrational, Mister Freeze's twisted world view is made all the more sinister by the fact that he is very much compos mentis. Brrr."

Matt was quick to agree. "I don't follow the Batman books all that much but I do have a soft spot for Mr. Freeze. He has more of a hero-like origin, he tried to save his wife with cryogenics. An explosion involving his cryogenic formula, transformed him into Mr. Freeze. But instead of using his gifts heroically he decided to live a life of crime. I also like that he has to wear a cool-looking special armor suit to keep his body at a cold temperature in order to survive. He had a fantastic episode in the first Batman: The Animated Series which made me a fan of the character."

I've got to put in my own vote here for another chilly Batman villain: The Penguin. The Penguin is different from other Bat villains in that he is not crazy. I mean, granted, he dresses like a penguin and has a thing for umbrellas, but he's not a homicidal maniac; he is the gentleman of crime. But if I'm really being honest, part of the reason that the Penguin is my favorite Bat baddie is much the same as the reason that the Penguins are my favorite hockey team. I just think penguins are adorable. That's why I absolutely hated Danny DeVito's interpretation of The Penguin, but also found myself saying, "Aw!" when his penguin army invaded Gotham City. Is that a girly answer, or what?

Chris has trouble making up his mind on this one. "Favorite Bat villain, huh?" he muses. "My first instinct is to say Joker, because he seems like the one who's been fleshed out the most and is the most interesting. But that seems like such a standard answer. Then there's Ra's al Ghul, who is a very complex character, but I haven't had that much experience with him. Now that the Riddler has "switched sides," he makes for an interesting foil to Batman. Is Catwoman considered a villain still? The complicated relationship she has with Batman makes for some very unusual stories."

At this point, Your Friendly Neighborhood Editor picks up her batarang again, telling Chris to make up his mind.

"Overall, I guess I'd have to go with Joker: psychotic, frightening, and he knows how to push Bruce's buttons."

Doug immediately (albeit reluctantly) agreed. "As much as I keep trying to come up with a not-so-obvious answer, my favorite Bat villain is the Joker. I mean, come on, he’s definitely Batman’s #1 enemy. However, I think he’s been ridiculously over-exposed in the past 15 years or so, and I’d really prefer it if DC didn’t loan the Joker out as a nemesis to the likes of Robin and Azrael. And while we’re at it, Ra’s al Ghul could have used a much longer vacation than the one he got after his supposed death."

Doug then picked up his cane and told me all about the problems with "these kids today."

Liana loves the Joker too, but she prefers a different interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime. "When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things was hiding from my annoying little brother and watching the old '60s Batman show on the little tv down in our Queens basement. That show, to me at the time, was about the coolest thing going. My favorite episodes were those staring Cesar Romero as The Joker. Considering how tamed down the characters were from the comic series (something I did not know at the time) and how corny it all was, this silly version of the Joker managed to maintain his essence (minus the homicidal maniac bit) and, for many people, actually provides the definitive version of the character (minus the homicidal maniac bit). Cesar Romero's cackle and creepy painted-over mustache kept the Joker menacing and unrepentant, and it's his particular portrayal that is my favorite Bat villain."

Indeed, it seems that while everybody loves a clown (so why don't you?), everybody loves a slightly different version of The Joker. Take Dan, for example.

"I like Joker. Especially in Batman: The Animated Series Joker. He's funny. And has the same voice as Luke Skywalker. The end." When asked to expand upon that a bit, Dan added, "My favorite Bat villain, by far, is the Joker. The wacky-crazy Joker of Batman The Animated Series, more so than the scary-crazy Joker of the comics. There's just something a little bit freeing with the madcap cartoon version. He's loony but funny. Crazy but not completely homicidal. Luke Skywalker sounding but less whiny. Maybe Dark Knight will change my mind on scary-crazy Joker being the weaker version. I can't wait to find out this weekend."

So, it's settled, then: The Joker is the greatest Bat bad-guy of all time.

Ah, not so fast! First, we need to hear from our resident Bat expert, a man who is about to get a Batman tattoo, Kach.

Kach begins with a history lesson. "In 1989, Tim Burton unleashed the "Bat-Phenomenon" upon our collective brainmeats. During that summer, Batman became fully ingrained into popular culture. You could not walk 2 blocks without seeing someone donning the Bat-Symbol upon their chest. Even the campy television series from the '60s made its return to syndication and was heavily watched by people all over again. The Batman animated series which followed broke so much ground that it is now considered a milestone in animation."

"It took one man less than 10 years to destroy all of that, along with Batman's good name: Joel Schumacher. Schumacher, along with screenwriting sidekick Akiva Goldsman, turned Batman from the dark, Gothic, tough-as-nails vigilante who we'd last seen in Batman Returns into a whiny, love-sick, media darling who had his own Bat-credit card."

Suddenly, nipples & codpieces were added to the costumes, allowing Schumacher to continue his fetish obsessions on film, He also brought the acting talents of Chris O'Donnell & Alicia Silverstone into the mix, and this did not just signify the death knell for their prospective careers, but also killed the Batman film franchise. For years afterwards, a Batman movie, or even any other superhero movie, became a pipe-dream."

Don't hold back, Kach! Tell us how you really feel.



"I cannot think of any villain in Batman's rogue gallery who has done that much damage to the character in that short an amount of time. I mean, Batman bounced back from having his back broken by Bane in far less time than it took his film career to rebound in 2005."

"So, Batman's worst villain in my book: Joel Schumacher."

There you have it! Some of the worst villains can't be found in Arkham.


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Trades Wait For Me: Sorrow, Sub-Mariner, the Phantom, Cable & Deadpool

by Doug Smith

Life is actually slowing down a little bit, and the mountain of trade paperbacks weighing down my bookshelf are finally getting some love and attention. Following my Y: The Last Man marathon, I tackled a few done-in-one books, and a smaller run on a “catch-up” title. Pleasant surprises were to be found in this stack o’ books! So grab the popcorn and get ready for reviews of Sorrow; Sub-Mariner: Revolution; The Phantom: Man Eaters; and a bunch of Cable & Deadpool.

Oh, and because we're always looking for more hits here at the Bad Genious...look kids! Boobies! That's right, I have no shame.

Sorrow trade paperback (Image Comics) by Rick Remender and Seth Peck (writers) and Francesco Francavilla (artist)

Image publishes a lot of miscellaneous miniseries, most of which slip under my radar. I came across some of Francavilla’s artwork online recently, and was impressed enough to order the trade collection of this four-issue series that he did last year. Sorrow tells the tale of four young people who stumble into a town filled with vengeful spirits. The story is nothing radical – angry Indian spirits aren’t exactly a new concept – but the writing is solid and the dialogue has punch; the quality is akin to something from the Showtime series Masters of Horror or the current NBC anthology Fear Itself. I was very impressed with the artwork though, which is quite creepy and gruesome. Francavilla employs an old-school style, which I found ironic since it’s a very different style than what drew me to his work in the first place; there are definitely some Joe Kubert influences here and at times his inks remind me of Tom Palmer, one of my all-time favorites. Francavilla is certainly an artist to keep an eye on. Grade: B

Sub-Mariner: Revolution trade paperback (Marvel) by Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson (writers) and Phil Briones (artist)

Another book where the artist is the star. I was familiar with Briones thanks to his work on the recent White Tiger miniseries, but he really took a step forward on this six-issue miniseries featuring Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Briones embraced a more “classic Marvel” style here, heavily indebted to John Byrne in his heyday; there’s even an homage page to one of Byrne’s classic Namor covers. (Note: the image presented here is a cover by the late and much-missed Michael Turner.) The writing is nothing to sneeze at though; Cherniss and Johnson tackle Namor’s post-Civil War status quo with a nice mix of political intrigue and superhero action, deftly moving their setting in time back and forth to foreshadow a fairly daring climax. I would imagine that some people would have a problem with Namor’s decisions and actions at the end of this series, but I thought they made sense for a character who has never really defined himself as a “superhero”. A much better book than I expected, and I’d like to see a follow-up by this same team. Grade: B+

Cable & Deadpool trade paperbacks Vol. 3 “The Human Race”, Vol. 4 “Bosom Buddies”, and Vol. 5 “Living Legends” (Marvel) by Fabian Nicieza (writer) and Patrick Zircher, David Ross, Lan Medina, Ron Lim, and Reilly Brown (pencillers)

Proof that mega crossovers do work! When Marvel first launched this series several years ago, I read the first two issues and walked away unimpressed. I didn’t read it again until it crossed over with Civil War, and I was amazed to find myself really enjoying it. The book found itself on my pull list and stayed there until its recent cancellation. I’ve gone back and filled in the sizable gap in my collection with the trade paperbacks. Throughout the run of the series, Nicieza spices things up with just the right amount of humor (sometimes wildly inappropriate humor) and has a blast writing Deadpool. Cable is a harder character to make work, as he’s just…well…boring. Nicieza gives him a fascinating raison d’être as a Christ-like mutant savior of humanity, but Nathan Dayspring Summers is just such a blank slate personality-wise that it never really achieves its potential. But Nicieza still acquits himself well here; he avoids the continuity-slog and over-plotting that marred his Thunderbolts run and focuses more on moving his protagonists forward, an impressive trick considering the deep ties these two characters have with the X-universe. Patrick Zircher is the main penciller in these volumes; I’ve always thought he was very underrated and I’m glad to see that’s he’s currently getting some higher-profile work with a series of Thor one-shots. Grade: B

The Phantom: Man Eaters graphic novel (Moonstone) by Rafael Nieves (writer) and Vatche Mavlian (artist)

This is an interesting twist on the graphic novel, as it’s actually a prose story with illustrations; each two-page “spread” features prose with a “strip” of artwork running through the middle of the pages. The story concerns the Phantom tracking a pride of man-eating lions that have ravaged a small African village, but this being a Phantom story, the real enemy walks on two legs. Nieves delivers an impressive writing job, keeping the story moving briskly without sacrificing detailed descriptions and characterization; given the confines of the format, it’s a nice trick and I’m sure it wasn’t easy to pull off. Mavlian provides moody artwork that compliments the writing. All in all, a fulfilling read. Grade: B

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Trades Wait For Me...Y: The Last Man

by Doug Smith

One of the benefits of falling behind – way, way behind – on reading the big stack of trade paperbacks on my shelf is that I can read multiple volumes of a series in a row. Since I knew that Vertigo’s Y: The Last Man series was coming to a close with issue 60, I elected to hold off on reading the series until it was done. The tenth and final trade paperback of the series came out a few weeks ago, so I finally sat down and read all ten volumes over the course of one week (I had read the first three volumes as they were released). And wow, what a reading experience it turned out to be! By this time I’m sure you’ve all heard what an amazing series writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra gave us, but in case you’re not sold, let me offer you this:

“Soldiers and spacemen, cowboys and ninjas, pirates and robots.”

That’s right, this series has all of the above. I didn’t even realize it until Yorick Brown, the star of the series, reminisced about his adventures. He encountered all of the above, and it’s to Vaughan’s credit that he skillfully wove all of those disparate elements into one brilliant series. All of the things we loved to play at as children; I’m just amazed he didn’t find a way to mix some dinosaur action in there as well.

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Over the course of sixty issues, Y: The Last Man follows Yorick, the last man on Earth thanks to a mysterious plague (referred to as the “gendercide”) that kills every other man. Humans aren’t the only ones affected though; the only other male mammal to survive is Yorick’s pet monkey, Ampersand. What kept these two alive? That’s the answer that Yorick and his female companions, Dr. Mann and Agent 355, must find if the human race is to have any hope of surviving past the current generation

Their journey takes them from America’s east coast to its west coast, and then on to Japan, Australia, and finally France. There are echoes of The Odyssey, as they have to overcome one obstacle after another along the way. Since the series progresses in a semblance of real time, there is also a huge passage of time; the first 59 issues cover five years in the lives of our heroes, as they struggle (much like Odysseus) to travel in a world where mass transportation has collapsed. It’s a nice thematic element in a work that features a supporting character named Hero, and a lead named after one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters.


Vaughan very effectively puts an end to the old “if the world was run by women, there would be no wars” argument; given the chance to run the world, women prove themselves to be just as power-hungry and paranoid as their male counterparts. Society completely breaks down in the days following the gendercide; the early issues have a sense of horror about them as the survivors try to make sense of what has happened. Some women join the ultra-militaristic Amazons, while some others try to salvage what’s left of the world’s governments. With no men left, most of the world’s infrastructure collapses It’s not that women aren’t capable of doing the jobs that were performed by men, but it was an infrastructure designed, implemented, and staffed by men; women simply weren’t in the positions and given the training to step in and replace the fallen men. How many women are currently in the U.S. government, or working as police officers, or airline pilots? To Vaughan’s credit, society fares better where women had been given equal opportunity to serve alongside men (as seen with the arrival of the Australian navy).


Along with the three lead characters, there is a large cast of supporting characters who play roles of varying importance; everybody is given a distinct personality and you find yourself caring deeply for people who only appear in a handful of issues. The dialogue is sharp and real, and there is a rich vein of humor throughout the book’s run; the Russian agent Natalya and her mangling of English are particularly amusing.

Pia Guerra was a new name to me when this series launched; she handles the majority of the penciling duties over sixty issues, with an early fill-in from Paul Chadwick, and regular fill-ins from Goran Sudzuka later in the run. Jose Marzan Jr. inks all sixty issues, giving a consistency to the series that may have been lacking otherwise. But the real artistic star is Guerra; her work reminds me of Steve Dillon in that it is deceptively simple. There’s not a lot of “flash” here, very little that will knock you out and make you say “wow” at first glance, but her storytelling sense is exceptional, and that’s what I want from an artist, more than anything else: tell the damn story! And she does, and she excels at conveying emotion in her characters. And yes, she can do stunning, highly-detailed work too, as a two-page spread of Paris in the final issue breathtakingly proves.


I won’t give away any more information for fear of spoilers; I will say, however, that when we recently had a roundtable discussion about comics that made you cry, I didn’t have a ready answer. After reading the final issue of this remarkable series, I have to admit…I was a little choked up. Vaughan brings all of his characters and plot threads home with some really clever storytelling tricks and one of the most heartbreaking goodbyes I’ve ever seen, and this issue really puts the “plus” in this book’s final grade: A+

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Dan DiDio’s Not Dead Yet!

by Doug Smith

In a recent interview, DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio said, “"We do an examination of what it takes to be a hero in the face of total defeat, and, more importantly, finding the will to continue to fight against overwhelming odds”.

He was talking about Final Crisis, but he could have just as easily been talking about his job.

In case you missed it, the last two weeks have not been kind to Mr. DiDio. There was the news that Marvel trounced DC in May, with a better than 50% lead in both dollar sales and market share, and Final Crisis - DC’s big summer event book – posting less-than-stellar sales. There was Grant Morrison basically throwing DC’s editorial staff under the bus from Speed about the continuity confusion surrounding Final Crisis and the books that supposedly led into it, Death of the New Gods and the fan-scorned weekly Countdown to Final Crisis; comments such as “I requested a moratorium on the New Gods so that I could build up some foreboding and create anticipation for their return in a new form … instead, the characters were passed around like hepatitis B to practically every writer at DC to toy with as they pleased,” as seen in this interview, hardly shine a positive light on DC’s editors. And then things really blew up when the recently-departed-from-DC writer Chuck Dixon said “I did not quit", and then replied to this column at CBR with some comments that seemed to point the finger squarely at Dan DiDio as being the reason for his departure; Newsarama picked that up, and things continued to snowball

These three events were enough to throw fuel on the already-burning fire of fan discontent, so that by the time Warren Ellis issued a newsletter with a cryptic hint about a big change coming in the DC offices, DC fans had DiDio headed to the unemployment line and Jimmy Palmiotti moving in as his replacement (when, in fact, it was VP of Business Development John Nee who had resigned). At Heroes Con, Palmiotti had to answer questions about the situation and let people know that not only did he not want the job, he’d never been approached about it, which had to have been an awkward conversation since DiDio and Palmiotti are said to be very good friends.

And while all of this was going on, Heidi MacDonald quietly broke the news at The Beat that DC had renewed Dan DiDio’s contract. Sorry, haters.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Certainly not for the fans who want DiDio fired, and maybe not for some of the people in the DC offices, as suggested by this follow-up column at CBR. To judge from the internet chatter, Gotham City is burning down while Emperor DiDio fiddles.

But is DC really that bad right now? Let’s take a look.

I’m not the biggest DC fan in the world. I’ve been reading their books for over a quarter-century, but I’m more of a Marvel guy in my heart. Now, some people may think that makes me unqualified to offer a “state of the universe” on DC, but I think it allows me to remove passion from the analysis. That, and a lot of what you’re about to read isn’t so much my opinion as what I see other fans saying around the ‘net.

First, let’s just get it out of the way: DC is fumbling with their big crossover events. Infinite Crisis wasn’t the blockbuster that its twenty-year-old predecessor was, and fan reaction is mixed to this day. DC caught lightning in a bottle with the highly successful weekly series 52, but badly botched the “sequel”, Countdown, which, along with its myriad tie-in books, caused so much fan disappointment and outright wrath, that it appears to have already affected Final Crisis in the sales department. And the smaller-scale Amazons Attack was widely derided as well. “Sinestro Corps War” was a hit, but that wasn’t promoted as an “event” the way the others were; it was a crossover between two related titles which expanded at the last minute to include some quick cash-in tie-ins. It’s too early to tell if the new weekly book Trinity is going to be a hit or a miss.

So, yeah, big events? Really not DC’s strength these days. So let’s take a spin through their core titles.

Let’s begin with books that are generally considered to be good. Green Lantern has been a fan favorite title since Geoff Johns revived Hal Jordan; the “Sinestro Corps War” was one of the most well-received events of recent years, and the upcoming “Blackest Night” storyline has fans buzzing. Green Lantern Corps is a little more under the radar but seems to be getting a halo effect from the GL love. Johns also seems to be making fans happy with his long run on Justice Society of America, and has Action Comics on the right track after artistic delays threatened to derail it. Johns is teaming with George Perez on the upcoming Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds miniseries, which promises to give the Legion of Superheroes the creative revamp it desperately needs. Add to that mix the arrival this week of writer James Robinson on Superman, and the fan-fave Booster Gold (co-written by Johns and Jeff Katz), and we have several key titles in very good shape. If I were DC, I’d have Geoff Johns chained to a desk for the next five years, at least.

(A quick disclaimer: I realize there are fans that don’t care for the work of Geoff Johns. Heck, I’m not his biggest fan either, although I do like most of his work. Nobody is universally loved. I’m only speaking in terms of “general perception” here. That same principle applies to all of the books and creators I’m discussing.)

Next, let’s move to the Batman family. Most fans seem pleased with Paul Dini’s work on Detective Comics. Grant Morrison seems to be more divisive with his Batman run – some love it, some hate it – but sales are strong (especially for the “RIP” arc) and plenty of fans are digging it, so this is pretty much what you expect when you hire Morrison. Nightwing fans are happy for the first time in years with new writer Peter J. Tomasi. With Chuck Dixon out, Robin obviously needs a new writer (is Fabian Nicieza permanent on that title?), as does Batman and the Outsiders. Catwoman was just cancelled, but this may have as much to do with character re-tooling as sales; Selina Kyle has been getting back to her villainous roots of late, so expect to see her as a prominent player in Batman’s books again. Overall, it looks like the Bat-Office could use some stability, but the two big flagship books are solid, and there’s nothing wrong with the other titles that can’t be fixed with the right hire. May I suggest either keeping Nicieza on Robin, or moving him to BATO where his strong team-book background could be an asset? And whichever one Nicieza doesn’t write could go to Sean McKeever, who should have some time on his hands now that Countdown is over. That still leaves Birds of Prey, which just got a new writer and has been a bit shaky since Gail Simone left; let’s see how Tony Bedard shakes out here.

Speaking of Gail Simone…one of the most high-profile fiascos of the past few years was DC’s relaunch of Wonder Woman. Creative shuffling, long delays, and just flat-out bad creative decisions have really hurt this book. Hiring Gail Simone is a step in the right direction, but this book still needs a lot of attention. Still, so long as we’re moving in the right direction…

The other massively screwed-up relaunch was The Flash, and even Mark Waid couldn’t get that one fixed; he found out the hard way that you really can’t go home again. No offense to current writer Tom Peyer, but this book needs a high-profile writer and some serious promotion to get it on the right track. DC has recently started working with J. Michael Straczynski, and his fan base and background in sci-fi could be a perfect fit here. This book certainly needs fixing, pronto.

What else needs fixing? Legion of Superheroes, where Jim Shooter has learned the same hard lesson as Mark Waid, but as mentioned above, DC seems to have a Crisis-related fix in the works there; we’ll see. Supergirl has been creatively cursed since issue 1, but word is that Johns and Robinson are going to pull that book closer into the Superman family of titles, so there’s hope there. Again, moving in the right direction…

What else we got? There’s The Brave and the Bold, which didn’t live up to sales expectations with the Waid/Perez dream team. Some fans loved the book for its old-school fun, but others were just left cold. Straczynski is coming on board that title, and might boost sales, but it’s also very possible that a team-up book is just going to be a niche seller in this day and age. Blue Beetle has a very vocal and dedicated fan base, even if they are small in number; the same can be said for Manhunter and Jonah Hex. While these books aren’t topping the sales charts they are quality comics. Teen Titans struggled after Geoff Johns left, but has been getting steadily better in recent months (the current “Terror Titans” arc has seen an upswing in positive fan response). On the other hand, we have Titans, which just recently relaunched under the pen of Judd Winick, who also writes Green Arrow/Black Canary, and…well…let’s just say Judd Winick has his detractors (rumor has it there’s a new writer coming on board GA/BC soon anyway). The new Titans series is inspiring more than a little hatred on the internet these days, so let’s put that one in the “fix it” column. Personally, I think Dwayne McDuffie would be a great choice to write that book, as it calls for strong character work with a touch of humor, both of which he can do well.

And that, finally, leads us to the book McDuffie is currently writing, DC’s flagship team book, Justice League of America. Sales continue to be strong on this series, but there is fan grumbling about the book being forced into crossover tie-ins, which prevents McDuffie from hitting his creative stride. That may be, but even the arcs that haven’t been crossovers with other “big” series have felt…small. And this book just shouldn’t feel small. McDuffie has chops, but maybe he’s just not quite right for this book. Or maybe it’s editorial interference. Either way, this is a book that we should file under “good but should be better”.

There are other books in the DCU, of course. Superman/Batman and Batman Confidential, but those are secondary titles for those characters. Books like Simon Dark or the recently-cancelled Infinity Inc. and All-New Atom. Checkmate, which got a lot of love during Greg Rucka’s tenure but no sales; Shadowpact, which launched at the same time and just ended its similarly fan-approved but sales-starved run. Lots of miscellaneous miniseries. Oddballs like The Spirit. All-Star Superman, which a lot of fans love (despite its tardiness), and All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, which a lot of fans loathe but sells like crazy when it does come out. But none of these books really make up the heart and soul of DC Comics. The books I discussed in the paragraphs above…those are the books that are really the lifeblood of the DCU. The books by which the health of that line can be judged. And honestly…it doesn’t look that sick. Yes, there have been some big mistakes made on DiDio’s watch, but it appears that DC is making moves towards fixing those titles. And there’s nothing that can’t be fixed simply by using writers that DC already has in-house on other books.

The quality, for the most part, is there. The problem is, the sales are not. So, how to fix that?

If I was to whisper in Dan DiDio’s ear, I would tell him “no more events”. Fans are burned out, and lashing out. Make the “Final” in Final Crisis mean something. Focus on the core books, make them as good as they can be, because you’re almost there. No more weekly books for the time being either. You got lucky with 52 but crapped out with Countdown. Take the time, energy, and resources needed for a weekly book and put them into the core monthlies (and give fans’ wallets a break). Once you’re confident things are humming with the regular books, follow the “Sinestro Corps War” model for small events. Let them begin as subplots in a book, build up, and then explode. (Indications are that this model is already being employed with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman “events” this year.) Cross over to other titles only if it makes sense. If Green Lantern is selling well, and you feel you’ve got good creative teams going on Wonder Woman and The Flash but sales are slack, then let those three writers figure out a crossover that works, so you can get more eyeballs on those titles that need attention. Even if it’s only a temporary bump in sales, you might pick up enough new readers to make it work. Same thing with, say, Batman and Manhunter, or crossing Blue Beetle over with Superman and Action Comics. Smaller, focused, creator-driven crossovers are the way to go. And find a better way to market these books, because if there’s one thing that is not being laid at DiDio’s feet, it’s DC’s poor marketing, which has been mentioned as a weakness for many years.

In a lot of ways, being the editor-in-chief of either DC or Marvel is like being the head coach of a pro sports team. If you’re winning championships, you’re a genius. If you’re losing games, you’re a moron and you need to be fired. Years ago, the Utah Jazz had two superstars in Karl Malone and John Stockton, a great coach in Jerry Sloan, and were a perennial powerhouse in the NBA. Then Stockton and Malone retired, the team started to suck, and there were calls for Sloan’s job. Did Sloan forget how to coach? No, but the team needed to rebuild. Ownership stuck by him and now Jerry Sloan’s had the Jazz back in the playoffs for the last couple of years, with a young team with lots of potential.

Dan DiDio may not be a genius but I also don’t think he’s an idiot. He’s rebuilding. The signs are there. Problem books are moving in the right direction. Remember, Final Crisis has been in the works for two years. Once the Countdown train was on the tracks, there was no turning back, even after that book turned ugly; DC was locked into a year of that title and then (almost) another year of FC. There’s still work to be done, but I don’t believe that DC needs a complete turnover at this time. If, a year from now, things are still as ugly as they are today, then maybe. What they’re working on right now, today, as you read this, is what we’ll be seeing next year.

Maybe there’s so much turmoil in the offices that a change is needed; I’m not an insider so I can’t say if DiDio’s time and talent management are as lacking as some rumors indicate, but if that’s the case, then DiDio’s bosses have to make that call. But DiDio’s not the first high-level exec to go through this kind of turmoil. It was just a few years ago that Marvel EIC Joe Quesada was, quite possibly, the most hated man in comics. There were constant calls for him to be fired (some even coming from within the DC offices!), petitions for his ouster, a laundry list of things he had screwed up, rumors of creative unrest (remember the “Mark Waid fired from FF” debacle, the one that broke the internet in half?), new series failing left and right…and even though he still has his detractors to this day, you’ve gotta say that today he’s looking an awful lot like the coach who just won the Super Bowl.

But that’s just my opinion…I’m just a random dork with a blogger account. What does everybody else think?
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Footnotes*...Spidey's Brand New Way

by Doug Smith

As a life-long reader of comics and casual observer of fan reaction around the internet, I’ve realized that the comics industry has three major problems:

(1)Late-shipping comics
(2)Decompression
(3)The two-headed monster known as JoeDan Quesadidio, which is hell-bent on destroying Marvel and DC…and thus, comics as we know them!

But lately, it seems that one-half of that Quesadidio bi-beast has taken steps towards addressing those first two points, and the methods being used could signal a change in the way that both Marvel and DC publish their comics.

That’s right, people, I’m talking about Amazing Spider-Man.

Wait! Come back! I know, I know ... I hated “One More Day” too.

But I’m not here to talk about the storylines spawned in the wake of that much-reviled status quo shakeup. Rather, I want to talk about how Marvel is successfully publishing their flagship title three times a month. Emphasis on HOW. (Successful in terms of scheduling…if you want to look at sales numbers, you can go here and see how the numbers can be interpreted about sixteen different ways to prove a variety of points.)

People were skeptical that Marvel (home of more than their share of late comics, especially since Joe Quesada became EIC) could publish Amazing Spider-Man on an almost-weekly schedule, but damn if they’re not doing it. Since the “Brand New Day” era started, the title has been utilizing a rotating team of writers (Dan Slott, Zeb Wells, Bob Gale, and Marc Guggenheim) and a deep bench of A-list artists, including Steve McNiven, Phil Jimenez, Salvador Larroca, Chris Bachalo, Barry Kitson, and Marcos Martin. Some of these artists have been associated with delayed books in the past, but to the best of my knowledge, Amazing has yet to miss a ship date.

So just how are they doing this?

Obviously, the rotating creators are a major factor in this schedule, but the other big piece of the puzzle is the length of the story arcs. So far, three-issue arcs by a writer/artist team have been the norm, although they are leading up to a longer arc, “New Ways To Die”, in a few months with the prolific John Romita Jr. handling the artwork. Shorter arcs have no doubt helped in the successful scheduling, as even a reliable workhorse like Larroca would be hard-pressed to do six straight issues in a two-month window. But three straight issues are apparently very possible, especially with plenty of lead time. We have to assume that there’s plenty of lead time in Spidey’s editorial office, as Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort recently mentioned on his blog that he and Slott were recently going over the story for ASM #600…that’s about 40 issues and well over a year of lead time!

Both Marvel and DC are in a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don’t situation with late work, especially when it comes to high-profile projects. If they delay a book (as Marvel did with Civil War), they get hammered by the fans. If they use fill-in artists (as DC did with Infinite Crisis, and just announced they are doing again as Carlos Pacheco joins J.G. Jones on Final Crisis), they get hammered. They simply can’t win, which is why it’s in their best interests to get the scheduling nightmares under control. I find it fascinating that Marvel can publish Amazing Spider-Man three times a month now, when they couldn’t publish it once a month last year. But if there’s one thing the book’s new editor, Steve Wacker, seems to know, it’s how to make the trains run on time. He came to Marvel after launching the highly successful 52 at DC, a weekly series that used a team of superstar writers, a pool of artists, was received well by fans, sold like hotcakes, and hit its ship date every single week. (It should be noted, of course, that Wacker left DC about halfway through that book’s run, so other people managed to keep the train on the tracks.) Whatever his secret is, Wacker seems to know how to schedule books appropriately and manage talent in a way that leads to success. There can be no doubt that he's using the lessons he learned while working on 52 now that he's a part of the Marvel Bullpen.

Rotating creative teams aren’t the answer for every single book, of course. I understand that creator-owned properties are going to come out on their creator’s schedule, whatever that may be. I’m fine with that. I’m also OK with special miniseries being completed by one team (although, for the love of Kirby, in those cases don’t solicit the first issue until the series is almost done!) as those tend to be more “labor of love”. But seeing what Marvel is accomplishing with Amazing gets me wondering if that model can’t be utilized on other company-owned series, like the much-delayed Astonishing X-Men. I don’t know if the delays on that book were the fault of writer Joss Whedon or artist John Cassaday, or a combination of the two (or, to be fair, completely out of their control). But for the sake of argument, let’s say that it was the artist that was late. I do understand that Cassaday was a big part of the book’s draw, but would it have hurt the book that much to be scheduled with Cassaday doing the first six issue arc, followed by, let’s say, Steve McNiven on issues 7-12, and then back to Cassaday? So long as an individual arc was consistent artistically, and didn’t have single issue rush jobs by fill-in artists, I believe fans would have been happier. And I don’t mean to pick on Cassaday, as I’m a big fan of his artwork; it’s just that this particular title is a very good example of a book that could have benefited by using two alternating A-list artists instead of suffering long delays. (The current volume of Captain America has been using Mike Perkins as a fill-in for Steve Epting, to great effect.) Again, if the problems had nothing to do with Cassaday, then we’ll have to dig deeper for solutions. Two of Marvel’s biggest scheduling disasters (Spider-Man/Black Cat and Ultimate Wolverine vs.Hulk) had nothing to do with late artists.

Delays can be deadly to a reader’s interest in a book. I know that I was certainly losing interest in Astonishing as the months went by with no new issues in sight. It didn’t help that I was finding the story itself to be a little on the thin side with each issue, which leads me to that other great threat to comics….

Decompression.

Now, I don’t think decompression is a bad thing, if used properly. The problem is, too many comics aren’t using it properly. At three bucks a pop, we fans want to get our money’s worth. We also don’t want to wait several months to get to the end of a storyline. Again, interest will start to wane; it’s only natural. Going back to the Astonishing example, a six-part story that feels padded isn’t very satisfying. It’s even worse when delays happen during the course of that story, and now the reader is being asked to give nine or ten months (or even more) to a storyline that isn’t wowing them. I felt that the last two pre-BND arcs in Amazing Spider-Man (“Back In Black”, which was six parts, and “One More Day”, which was four parts) suffered greatly from this combination; stories that were taking more issues than needed to tell the story, compounded by serious delays. By the time “Back In Black” was over, I was fed up and pissed off at having spent several months and $18 on what could have been done in just two or three issues.

Six issues is plenty of time to decide that you don’t like a book and drop it. I dropped Gail Simone’s All-New Atom after slogging through the first six issues, which I didn’t enjoy at all. Several months later, I picked up an issue on a whim and enjoyed it enough to put the book back on my pull list. Now, had those first six issues been just three issues, I probably would have been willing to give the next storyline a chance, and DC might have kept me as a reader; but by the time issue six came out my mind was made up. Marvel just relaunched Cable and I could tell by the end of issue two that I was done with this book. Not that it was bad, but it was so glacially paced that I felt I was wasting my money; no way was I going to buy through issue five to see how things turned out. I might have been tempted to buy through issue three, had that been the end of the first arc; but that would have required much more economical storytelling on the part of the creators.

This brings us, again, back to the “Brand New Day” era. The three-issue arcs make for a nice, quick, well-paced read. There seems to be a conscious effort to pick up the pace. Part of that is no doubt due to the scheduling of talent; shorter arcs mean a better chance of having one artist doing the whole story. But it’s also made for crisper storytelling which is more satisfying to me, the consumer. The stories don’t feel “compressed”; the pacing feels just right, not too rushed and not too slow. Every story is different, and the trend towards forcing everything into arcs of five or six issues defeats the whole point of decompression, which was to allow stories to find their natural length and rhythm, instead of being shoved into one or two issues. In allowing writers and artists more freedom in their storytelling, Marvel and DC went too far in the other direction; now, hopefully, the pendulum will swing back the other way, and a happy balance can be found.

There’s definitely a lesson to be learned from the way Marvel is handling Amazing Spider-Man, and it’s a lesson that can, and should, be applied to titles at both companies. Build in plenty of lead time. Tighten up story arcs. Schedule artists (and writers) in such a way that deadlines don’t become constantly moving targets. Monthly titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Mighty Avengers…these books shouldn’t be allowed to get months behind schedule. Because if Marvel can publish Spider-Man three times a month using top-notch artists, then there’s really no reason for any monthly title to get behind to the point that storylines have to be wrapped up several months later in a “special” issue or annual (yeah, I’m looking at you now, DC Comics).

Love it or hate it, Amazing Spider-Man just might be the way of the future.
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