Tag: DC

People looking for a surefire way to print money, comics division, have often suggested a Harry Potter comic book. Since that ain't happening (JK Rowling just isn't interested), Vertigo has just landed the next best thing: a graphic novel adaptation of Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium Trilogy, with the comics version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo set to appear in 2012. Subsequent volumes will appear in 2013 and 2014.

DC is concentrating on their "New 52". But what of the other stories? As DC replicates a strategy from 25 years ago, when will we see self-contained stories which can be added to a strong backlist? What will be the new "Watchmen"?

Here's a number for you: Out of 65 DC Universe comic books published in July, 32 were by the writer/artist creative teams listed in the solicitations -- less than half of the bunch. Most of the others were either completely drawn by guest artists or had help from one or more of them. And for a couple, even the story credit changed. Not counting the six DC Retroactive books, the video-game adaptations and the New Wave titles, none of which are involved in the day-to-day of the DC Universe, the strike rate is 22 out of 55. So, presuming that's not a coincidence, it looks like the big DC relaunch was about 40% well-planned, at this juncture.

It's the daily DC 52 trailer, this time for LEGION OF SUPERHEROES by Paul Levitz and Francis Portela. Surely you all know the name of the music, right? And you got the hidden in-joke, right?

Here is a Village Voice interview with Marv Wolfman, which is interesting for many reasons. Because Wolfman is always a thoughtful commenter on the comics industry and its may pressures, but also because CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS --and NEW TEEN TITANS by the same Wolfman/Perez team -- is to the New 52 generation what Fantastic Four #1 (the 1961 one) was to so many before it. With its sweeping changes, dramatic deaths and multiple universes, it set the stage for many a crisis to come. And, famously, there was talk after CoIE of doing a line-wide issue #1 reboot. The idea lay dormant until now. But Wolfman points out that for an event to be an event it should have actual motivation:

Before I go any further, these comics are not aimed at me...nor should they be. I am a long lapsed superhero reader, but surely not the kind that the DCnÜ wants to entice into reading their comics. So accept this as just one review out of 8264 that will be posted today and tomorrow. AND YEAH. SPOILERS. so don't read until you've read the comics in question.

Whoa whoa whoa. Superman may have lost his red panties, but as shown by Henry Cavill on the streets of Chicago, he's gained...a giant package.

Today's trailer spotlight is RESURRECTION MAN by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino. The music: "Dies Irae" from Mozart's Requiem. Can you see the connection? That David Macho is a smart one!

If you couldn't stay up late enough for midnight madness last night, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns will be at Manhattan Comics on 10 E. 23rd St., between Broadway and Madison sometime between 11 and 1 pm today to sign. They will only be there for about 30 minutes. Everything in the store, except new books is 52 percent off today only, so it's also a good chance to grab some other loot. No pizza will be served, unfortunately.

Yesterday, ICv2 ran a three-part interview with DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and JIm Lee which is, if not the most substantial comics business site run interview with the duo ever then the most comprehensive since the reboot. Brigid runs down all the high points but in case anyone missed it, here's Part 1, Part 2 andPart 3. It covers everything from the obvious "Why ARE you doing this?" -- to questions on mass market, digital, and so on. The net effect, as seen in mainstream interviews of late, is that things weren't working -- the price decrease didn't bring in enough new readers, stories were flat and piracy is hurting. But there are some familiar themes as well. Asked about The Way Forward, they respond:

Oh boy, good thing the week before Labor Day is always a quiet week in comic-book land! We managed to scrape together some news items.

Confirming rumors, it's been announced that Justice League has indeed sold out. Nikki Finke gets the scoop: