Comic Book Talk (3 Viewers)

I thought the comic division of DC had their shirt together? Like you said GA, this had to have come from higher up. But I still don't get it. They promoted this as being for "mature" readers. Were people expecting they'd get some cursing and blood or something?

There has been a lot of destabilization at the upper echelons of DC the past few months. Geoff Johns left his role (or was forced out, depending on whose stories you believe) as Chief Creative Officer. However you feel about him as a creator, it was widely believed he served as a mitigating force on Publisher Dan Didio's worse instincts. Which was a good thing because Dan Didio is basically one part carny, one part loud mouth idiot. The leaking, for no reason at all, of the big Batman/Catwoman wedding spoiler to the press is believed to have been a Didio move, the kind he hadn't been making recently as he tried to be on his best big boy behavior. So with Johns out of the picture there's probably no bulwark against Didio's dumber instincts and decision making, which isn't great. Jim Lee certainly has never shown to be one, and Bob Harras (editor in chief) has no real power and serves mostly an administrative role over day to day operations as opposed to being a big creative force. Which depending on how you feel about his EiC run at Marvel in the 90's may be a good thing.

Diane Nelson also left as their Warner Bros. corporate overseer and was just recently replaced by a lady named Pam Lifford, who is heading up some weird new hodgepodge division that has lumped themed entertainment, franchising operations, DC comics, and several other things into one department. She has no real background in publishing or creative, mostly marketing and brand awareness (which is pretty much what all the non DC elements under her purview are). So who knows how that turns out. It supposedly puts DC in a more high profile corporate position, whereas in the past it was sort of tucked away and free to operate with relative freedom, only drawing Warner's attentions as an IP farm. That could be good or bad.

I don't think any of this is apocalyptic or anything, but it's certainly been a shakeup after a few solid years of stability. Whatever the case, they'll still be more coherent and logical than Marvel, which has turned into the late-stage WCW of comic book publishers minus the financial ruin.
 
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The last thing we need is another cluster**** in comics.

I'm happy that the indie publishers are really catching on more.
 
So I was able to visit Excalibur today after my sessions were over. It's a nice place. Picked up a few things. It is the first LCS I've ever visit that did not have a dollar bin. That felt weird.
 
So I was able to visit Excalibur today after my sessions were over. It's a nice place. Picked up a few things. It is the first LCS I've ever visit that did not have a dollar bin. That felt weird.

And no stickers on their back issues, so that's a plus. Lol.

I've never really looked through their back issues other than a glance. How are their prices on those? I know they have a large selection of new stuff, as well as collectibles and books.
 
And no stickers on their back issues, so that's a plus. Lol.

I've never really looked through their back issues other than a glance. How are their prices on those? I know they have a large selection of new stuff, as well as collectibles and books.

They were a little pricey, but not so much as to make me walk away.
 
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You know, I never realized it but you're right, they don't have a dollar bin. That is a bit weird.

Anyway, just kinda looking at what's going on in comics recently. Chuck Wendig got fired off his Darth Vader book for Marvel supposedly for Twitter rants. A couple of months back there were rumors that Mark Waid got called on the carpet by Marvel higher ups for his online behavior and he did subsequently delete most of his online presences, although I think he's back in some. He's also currently being sued but that's Comicsgate stuff and more than I can handle. These guys really should just stay off social media. It has no benefit.

Then you hate Jim Lee and Dan DiDio doing that Batdick apology tour this past week. Word was that literally the first thing that crossed Pam Lifford's desk as new DC corporate overlord was the Batdick fiasco and she was none too happy. Supposedly this may even have her looking at the mainline books and reigning them in a bit, too. I think DC's days of relative freedom may be over.
 
So speaking of DC, a comic book group I'm a member of was discussing this tidbit that I picked up from one of the podcasts I listen to.

With Geoff Johns no longer CCO over at DC, we've noticed some subtle chsnges in the books, but those changes are not subtle enough to them. But those changes have us thinking that Didio and Lee might be trying to bring the DCU back to a New 52-like era.

Thoughts on that...
 
So speaking of DC, a comic book group I'm a member of was discussing this tidbit that I picked up from one of the podcasts I listen to.

With Geoff Johns no longer CCO over at DC, we've noticed some subtle chsnges in the books, but those changes are not subtle enough to them. But those changes have us thinking that Didio and Lee might be trying to bring the DCU back to a New 52-like era.

Thoughts on that...
 
So speaking of DC, a comic book group I'm a member of was discussing this tidbit that I picked up from one of the podcasts I listen to.

With Geoff Johns no longer CCO over at DC, we've noticed some subtle chsnges in the books, but those changes are not subtle enough to them. But those changes have us thinking that Didio and Lee might be trying to bring the DCU back to a New 52-like era.

Thoughts on that...

I've actually had that feeling ever since Heroes in Crisis was announced. I have no hard proof, but it's just a feeling I have. I don't really trust DiDio not to give into his baser instincts, and New 52 was absolutely him doing that. I don't think they're bringing New 52 back per se, but I do think everything is going to be a lot more DiDio-rific again. Maybe he will be on a shorter leash this go round, though.

I miss Paul Levitz....
 
So, Bleeding Cool stuck again, posting an interview with Vox Day (of comicsgate fame). As a result, they've finally named a new Editor-in-Chief. That should've been happened. What the hell were they thinking giving that guy a platform?
 
So, Bleeding Cool stuck again, posting an interview with Vox Day (of comicsgate fame). As a result, they've finally named a new Editor-in-Chief. That should've been happened. What the hell were they thinking giving that guy a platform?

I've long had the impression that there is little oversight there. If you're staff you just post whatever, unedited, as quickly as possible. The guy that did the interview, Mark Seifert, is co owner of the site, but it was a total blunder. Their newly named editor has some of the worst edited writing on the site and doesn't seem to understand half of what she writes about, though, which seems par for the course. I think they're on a shoestring budget and everyone except Rich Johnston is working for peanuts.

I basically only go there for Johnston's rumor mongering, but even he doesn't seem to have the sources he used to. He still breaks stuff time to time, but they days of Lying in the Gutters being a must read rumor column feel like a million years ago. And his role with the site is weird. I remember when Bleeding Cool launched and he was poached from Comic Book Resources the implication was that it was his site, funded by Avatar Press. But he now insists he has no ownership stake or editorial oversight there and that it isn't "his" site at all, he's just a hired gun. That was definetly not the implication originally.

There really is almost no good comics related journalism anymore. CBR and Newsarama turned into garbage clickbait generalist entertainment sites. I have no idea what Heidi McDonald is doing these days. Bleeding Cool turned generalist a bit at a time. Kinda depressing what the state of things is these days.
 
I've long had the impression that there is little oversight there. If you're staff you just post whatever, unedited, as quickly as possible. The guy that did the interview, Mark Seifert, is co owner of the site, but it was a total blunder. Their newly named editor has some of the worst edited writing on the site and doesn't seem to understand half of what she writes about, though, which seems par for the course. I think they're on a shoestring budget and everyone except Rich Johnston is working for peanuts.

I basically only go there for Johnston's rumor mongering, but even he doesn't seem to have the sources he used to. He still breaks stuff time to time, but they days of Lying in the Gutters being a must read rumor column feel like a million years ago. And his role with the site is weird. I remember when Bleeding Cool launched and he was poached from Comic Book Resources the implication was that it was his site, funded by Avatar Press. But he now insists he has no ownership stake or editorial oversight there and that it isn't "his" site at all, he's just a hired gun. That was definetly not the implication originally.

There really is almost no good comics related journalism anymore. CBR and Newsarama turned into garbage clickbait generalist entertainment sites. I have no idea what Heidi McDonald is doing these days. Bleeding Cool turned generalist a bit at a time. Kinda depressing what the state of things is these days.

CBR and Newsarama were my favorites. But CBR got out of hand with these stupid top 15 lists and Newsarama just got bad.

When it only became about getting clicks and the revenue from them, that's when it all went downhill.
 
I don't know if anyone else is reading Detective Comics, but dear sweet baby Jeebus, please make it stop. I'd rather look at blank pages.
 
I don't know if anyone else is reading Detective Comics, but dear sweet baby Jeebus, please make it stop. I'd rather look at blank pages.

I'm not. Is there more Batwang or something?
 

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