As I've said, I didn't go but should that keep me from giving my 2 cents (even if it is a little late). I'll keep it short by only talking about stuff that I was interested in:
- Incredibly Hulk by Silvestri and Aaron. I'm not a big fan of Silvestri's art (don't hate it but he wouldn't be my first pick for Hulk) and the only book I've read by Jason Aaaron is Scalped (which I have been enjoying) and my initial reaction to the story was the typical "It's been done." But after watching Aaron's video talking about it and a couple more interview blurbs I'm starting to think it may be pretty good. I'll buy it anyways because it's the Hulk but I do feel good going into it.
- DC's women. This is one issue that's really spilling over to the blogs and comic sites, Dan DiDio's reaction to a fan calling out for DC to hire more women. I've never met Dan DiDio, maybe he's a great guy, I don't know, but I know I've often found myself not liking how he comes across in interviews and at cons. Maybe he was tired, maybe he was fed up with the amount of negativity being thrown in his direction, or maybe I'm just imagining things but his reaction came off as rather hostile towards the fan and the panel audience in general. When the percentage of women creators working on your comics drops from 12% to 1% people are going to raise some concerns. When your books are singled out time and time again for negative portrayals of women you may want to think about what you're doing to a large percentage of your potential audience. Many people have said that it appears the number of women attending Comic Con continues to rise and perhaps it's time to look into why DC's number continue to go down (in sales and in terms of women working there).
- DC's relaunch/reboot/whatever. Despite the threat of a protest (which amounted to a couple cosplayers who got more attention for their costumes than what they had to say about the reboot) this topic did seem to dominate the news. Even some mainstream-ish news people were talking about it instead of just talking about what movies and TV shows were there. And Marvel, though having some announcements to make, had nothing that could match it. But despite seeing some more pretty pictures from it and some more Jim Lee sketches I'm still not that into it. I actually give a tip of my hat to DC for trying something daring to get people reading their comics, I just don't have a good feeling about how they're going about it. I thought maybe that Morrison on Superman could be interesting but the more I hear about it the less interested I am. The flood of Batman books doesn't sound all that appealing. And overall it doesn't come across as all that new reader friendly especially with all this talk about Flashpoint explaining things. I don't want to read Flashpoint, it doesn't seem new reader friendly to me, and if you bring it up when trying to sell me on the reboot you're pushing me away. Having said all that, does it seem to anyone else that a large portion of the negative reaction and complaining about DC rebooting is coming from people who aren't reading the books? On the one hand why are those people so upset if they aren't reading them? On the other hand, it's not a good sign if potential new readers are complaining already. But then again, they may just be a vocal minority.
To clarify my stance on it, I'm not complaining that they are doing it, I think they have to do something. I'm just saying that on first glance I'm not a fan of how they're doing it and what the resulting DC universe will look like. But that's okay, I'm just one person and this could end up appealing to a much larger audience than who is reading the books now.
- Overall content: There's a graph going around showing just how many panels were about comics and comic related stuff versus movies and TV and it seems to show that comics were a big part of it. I don't want to come across as "Comic Con should only be for comics" but as a comic fan I am happy to see them well represented. Though this is just in terms of panels, I'm not sure what the general feeling on the floor was.
So overall it seems like a good time was had by most. It was hectic, it was stinky and sweaty, and most people didn't get to do all that they had hoped... It was Comic Con and I missed it so bring on Fan Expo Canada.
1 comment:
I think they should have done a complete hard reboot. Yeah, I can say that because I'm not a current reader, and anyone who cares about the characters would chew me out for it, but for business/creative/longevity's sake? Start from scratch.
I gave up on superhero comics a while ago, but hung in there with X-Factor for a while, and still continue on Ultimate Spider-Man, because they're largely the result of one (or two) creatives. Mainly the writer. Without Peter David there is no X-Factor. Without Bendis, there's no Ultimate Spidey.
I would have LOVED to have seen the DC relaunch take on a new creator-focused view like that. Get rid of crossovers, first. Then... give the characters to a writer who wants to work on that character for EVER and let them have at it. Keep the individual books in their own little worlds. Sure, you can borrow other characters when you want, but the fact that these books are all in these pocket worlds means you don't have to worry that some particular character would have been in an alternate dimension at that time, or whatever, because you wouldn't know what time it was!
And, it would be even more awesome if the books all looked and read different. A 'house' style is the dumbest thing on the planet for comics. What works for Batman, doesn't work for Plastic Man. What works for Birds of Prey doesn't work for Wonder Woman. Let the creative people do what they do best! Don't hire the ones who are bending themselves in the wrong way in order to get through the 'house' door, hire the ones who stride in a wide open front door. Maybe they'll bring some friends! :)
It's way too much to hope for one day, but it'd be awesome.
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