Comics are awesome.

[138 Scourge]

See, Mogo? This is what you get for socializing.

[Sparky Prime]

Likely it was a question of Guy being used to being angry all the damned time.

Guy should be used to that though. He's known for being hot headed most of the time.

As for killing Mogo, how much time to you really want to spend thinking about other options when you opponent has his own gravity well?

That's the thing... Mogo didn't offer any sort of defense against John and Kyle. The only thing Mogo did was create a construct of Katma Tui to warn John as the other mind controlled Green Lanterns caught up to them.

[Dominic]

Well, there you go. You go and pick at an emotional scab, what do you expect somebody to do?

Dom
-went to the comic store today.

[Sparky Prime]

Well, there you go. You go and pick at an emotional scab, what do you expect somebody to do?

John and Kyle were both prepared for Mogo to show them their worst fears and painful memories. Just seeing a construct of Katma Tui wasn't enough to unhinge John like that. Besides, he faced a lot worst in terms of "emotional scabs" during Blackest Night and he kept a level head then.

In other news....

DC announced yesterday their post-Flashpoint plans. DC will be relaunching 52 of their titles starting with brand new 1st issues. With this massive relaunch, several characters will be getting a new appearance, origin and age, while others will undergo only minor changes. Many will also be getting changes to their costumes.

[andersonh1]

In other news....

DC announced yesterday their post-Flashpoint plans. DC will be relaunching 52 of their titles starting with brand new 1st issues. With this massive relaunch, several characters will be getting a new appearance, origin and age, while others will undergo only minor changes. Many will also be getting changes to their costumes.

In other words, "It wasn't broke, but we're going to fix it anyway". Ugh. Yeah, I'm pre-judging, but this doesn't sound promising at all.

[138 Scourge]

In other news....

DC announced yesterday their post-Flashpoint plans. DC will be relaunching 52 of their titles starting with brand new 1st issues. With this massive relaunch, several characters will be getting a new appearance, origin and age, while others will undergo only minor changes. Many will also be getting changes to their costumes.

In other words, "It wasn't broke, but we're going to fix it anyway". Ugh. Yeah, I'm pre-judging, but this doesn't sound promising at all.

Yeah, but look at it this way. What're you reading from DC right now? Just the Lantern and Flash books, right? Now, you figure those are Johns' books, and figure that Johns is a higher-up at DC now and probably one of the architects of this line-wide revamp, I think the books you're into are gonna be pretty safe.

For my part, the only DC property I'm remotely interested in these days is the Morrison Batman stuff, so I don't have a dog in this particular fight. Looking at it from the outside, then, I can see where they're coming from. The "bringing in new readers" idea is always a nice one, and I'm all in favor of making stories more accessible. The safer option, one would think, would be low-continuity side-series like Marvel's "Thor: The Mighty Avenger" or the like, but comics fans en masse don't seem to buy those because they think the stories "don't count". Making the entire line of comics a relaunch is ballsy as hell, but I can see the logic behind it. It's gimmicky as hell, but gimmicks get people's attention, and getting basically free advertising in USA Today out of this gimmick is certainly not gonna hurt this effort any.

Spark, man, you didn't mention the other thing that DC's doing with this massive revamp. The whole "available at the same time on digital media and print". That, I gotta say, is pretty cool. Now, I don't think any of us that regularly gab about funnybooks around here get our stuff electronically at the moment, but y'all know we likely will at some point. I love the magazine or trade format, I do, but when I break down and get a tablet, digital comics downloads are one of the first things I'm gonna set up on it. Especially if the lower overhead of paperless distribution means they'll be cheaper on a tablet of some sort. Assuming this part of the thing goes according to plan, then that's pretty cool.

Now, anderson, you said "It's ain't broke". Well...yeah, it kinda is. Aside from the Lantern and Bat stuff going on right now, DC's getting clobbered by Marvel, sales-wise. This is not something dumb I made up, it's something I've read in a few different articles on the subject. Now, that just means they're the Burger King to Marvel's McDonalds, which is to say, they're still doing pretty damn well, but y'know how these corporations think. "Yeah, we're doing well, but how can we do better?" And more power to 'em if they do. The other thing that corporations tend to think is "We've got money invested in this, let's play it safe". So I don't think they'll be going out of their way to alienate the older fans. I'd guess that, despite your misgivings, you'll check a couple of the new #1's out, and probably be pleasantly surprised by what's happening in there.

Okay, I did the objective bit. Now, for myself, I'm not a DC guy anymore at all. This is not likely to change that. Jim Lee's one of those artists that I just can't get into anymore, I think I was in tenth grade the last time I looked at his art and thought "Yes, I like that". Having Lee-redesigned versions of these characters is like they took a page out of some "How To Get Scourge To Care Less About DC" handbook. So while I wish 'em well on this journey, I won't be going on the ride.

[andersonh1]

There are a lot more books I would be reading if the prices weren't so high these days. Back when I was a major collector in the early 90s, I bought all the Batman books every month, all the Superman books (that was four books a month in the early 90s), the Justice League titles, Justice Society, the Flash, Animal Man, Aquaman, Green Lantern... pretty much all the major characters, and whatever minor ones caught my eye. I probably read 15-20 titles a month, which was easy when they were $1 each. I like all of them, but it's a question of economics that keeps me very selective about which books I buy. Four or five titles a month is my self-imposed limit these days.

So I'm not too happy about redesigns and relaunches. I like buying books with numbering in the hundreds. I hate starting over, yet again. I hate trendy updates of established characters. Anyone read Superman: Earth One? Emo-teen Superman doesn't work. Having invested in characters for years, characters that have history and relationships, I hate to see those up-ended. We'll see how it goes.

The one thing that does make very good sense is the major expansion into digital comics. With more and more people on the Ipad and Kindle, that's a smart move. I prefer an actual book in my hands, but when it comes to news for example, I'm almost all web-based in my reading. DC needs to move beyond the brick and mortar stores in an aggressive way, and it looks like they're making the attempt.

[Dominic]

Reading comics online is an ungodly pain in the ass. I read PDFs when I have to for work or school. I will read a few pages at a time, (be it a "Mosaic" or a preview). But, I will not read a full issue of content, complete with adds and foo-foo page turning effects. And, I am even less interested in reading a few pages at a time.

They stop with printed editions, I am out.


I would be more willing to give "Flashpoint" the benefit of the doubt if it was not arguably DC's 4th massive reboot in 6 years. It is at least the 3rd in the last 5. And, all but one of those was helmed by Johns. Wow, even driven stories with no staying power and a lack of high ideas. On behalf of my wallet, thanks DC.


Dom
-has not managed to read any comics from last week, or this week.

[138 Scourge]

There are a lot more books I would be reading if the prices weren't so high these days. Back when I was a major collector in the early 90s, I bought all the Batman books every month, all the Superman books (that was four books a month in the early 90s), the Justice League titles, Justice Society, the Flash, Animal Man, Aquaman, Green Lantern... pretty much all the major characters, and whatever minor ones caught my eye. I probably read 15-20 titles a month, which was easy when they were $1 each. I like all of them, but it's a question of economics that keeps me very selective about which books I buy. Four or five titles a month is my self-imposed limit these days.

That's about where I'm at, too, more or less. Herc, FF, Criminal, and...of all things, Venom. Plus the occasional one-shot. It helps that Criminal's a set of limited series and not a regular ongoing, but still. I was just trying to point out that you're probably reading the books that'll be affected the least. Of course, new stuff's come to light, so maybe the Flash will be getting a more thorough change than I thought.

So I'm not too happy about redesigns and relaunches. I like buying books with numbering in the hundreds. I hate starting over, yet again. I hate trendy updates of established characters. Anyone read Superman: Earth One? Emo-teen Superman doesn't work. Having invested in characters for years, characters that have history and relationships, I hate to see those up-ended. We'll see how it goes.

Yeah, man, I hear you on this one. It's pretty much like what happened to the Legion of Super-Heroes after Zero Hour. But I don't think that the entire DC Universe is gonna get that kind of extensive reboot. I mean, again, could be wrong, but it'd be pretty surprising. As for "Superman: Earth One", I've heard of it, of course, but unless someone holds me at knifepoint and forces me to read it, I'm gonna go ahead and avoid it. There's no reason to go around reading JMS stuff when one doesn't have to.

[Sparky Prime]

Spark, man, you didn't mention the other thing that DC's doing with this massive revamp. The whole "available at the same time on digital media and print".

Meh. I prefer an actual printed comic book to digital media personally, but it is kinda cool that they've decided to offer them the same day as the books for those who like the digital media.

I would be more willing to give "Flashpoint" the benefit of the doubt if it was not arguably DC's 4th massive reboot in 6 years. It is at least the 3rd in the last 5. And, all but one of those was helmed by Johns. Wow, even driven stories with no staying power and a lack of high ideas. On behalf of my wallet, thanks DC.

Where are you getting those numbers from? 4 massive reboots in 6 years? They've only had 1 reboot in the last 6 years, that being "Infinite Crisis". And I wouldn't say there is no staying power/high ideas behind these stories as DC did comment in that letter to retailers: "We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling. Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes."