Comic Books Comic Book • Page 47

Controversial opinion(?): The DC Rebirth one-shot is legitimately good, down to the Watchmen ending.

I still have little trust in DC as a company, so I can't put much stock in the payoff, but this was meta and fun and a good read.

 

I really enjoyed it.

 

I enjoyed it a great deal. I remain cautiously optimistic for the new titles.

 

Why? Marvel doesn't need rebranded (with a variation of a recent brand at that). They're killing it right now. All-New All-Different was last fall. More people will be confused or annoyed by this than excited.

Oh, yeah, 'cause Rebirth. DC is gonna have a peak in sales with all these new #1s, a peak that will probably quickly drop, but still. So, the literal day that Rebirth comes out, Marvel announces this. Just like they're always releasing movie stuff when their Distinguished Competition does. lol.

The rivalry is alive and well, and hilarious to watch, tbh.

 

Does that really surprise anybody? Marvel's gone through like 3 rebranded in the midst of DC changing from New-52 to Rebirth

 

I'm over both of them. Gonna read three or four Marvel books via trade. I'll see how Batman goes with their creative teams before I invest at all.

 

And why return to the Marvel NOW! moniker? Is Do they intend to keep this as a running thing? Every few years comes a new Marvel NOW!?

Also, one thing I have noticed, whenever Marvel have big reveal / twist, their media partners are super lax about spoilers. TIME, EW, and AP all had the Cap "reveal" in their headline. This has been a thorn in my side for a long time.

 

I legitimately think the people mad at the rebranding are even funnier than the rebranding itself. It's just a tag line. Television networks and series, stores, food companies, etc., have marketing pushes like this all the time. It's a dang business, lol, come on. Every rebrand isn't as big as New 52, All-New All-Different, and Rebirth.

 

i think everyone understands that, but it reeks of bad taste. Its clear they are only doing this to garner a big reaction from their audience (not a coincidence that it came out same day as DC Rebirth) but you gotta understand that turning a character (created by two jewish creators) who has stood as a symbol of anti-nazi views for the past 70 years into that very thing is just distasteful.

This post i think accurately describes why people are allowed to be upset by this, please read it:

If you’re not outraged, just come sit over here for a minute

 

Quite frankly, rebranding makes a lot of sense when it comes to serialized comics. TV shows have "seasons" that allow them to recalibrate or build interest. Comics don't have that luxury, and so the companies have resorted to this rebranding. It is a part of the hustle. Some just work better than others.

 

Could you imagine eating something that had a label on it that looked the same as it did in the 1970s for example?! Nobody would buy it lol.

 

didnt Marvel say a couple years ago that they were gonna run their series like TV show's and have 1 year of a comic be the equivalent of 1 season of a tv show? Makes sense then why once a year they rebrand/change creators up.

 

Honestly, DC and Marvel should move towards a TV season or even European "volume" system.

When DC announced the Nu52, I actually went to the DC panel at SDCC and asked Dan Didio if they had considered switching to something like that. Because if the point of Nu 52 wasa discussion along the lines of: "decades of continuity and seeing issue #800 of something is too intimidating and so we need to start fresh to bring in new readers" it seems to me that the Nu52 was going to be on issue #60 in 5 years and the same problem will begin rearing its head. It is what brought down the Ultimate Universe. Suddenly the universe for those afraid of continuity was mired in its own convoluted continuity .

Why not just tell a story, then close that volume and move on? Didio's answer was "we do serialized comics and so that is what we will continue to do."

I think Marvel has the better end on this. Even if they aren't out and out doing the TV season method.

 

This industries inability to evolve is gonna be the end of it. From the fans to the creators to the editors everyone is far to obsessed with nostalgia and trying to keep the things they once were. I await the day some forward thinkers will be brought in to run these companies and finally move them into the 21st century. You'd think the pathetic sales numbers would give them enough reason to wanna reach new audiences? Yet they spend all their time trying to hold onto their old fans, makes no sense to me.

DC rebirth is literally be sold as "this is for long time readers", and is the opposite of being inviting to new readers.

 

All of this is overlooking what I think is an obvious detail: Red Skull seems to be using leftover Xavier powers to plant memories and control Steve Rogers.

This isn't a retcon. Steve isn't a Nazi. He's under someone's control. He's gonna eventually break free and fight the Red Skull. This is one chapter in a, like, 5- or 12-issue arc where a Nazi tries to tear down an American symbol and succeeds for a short time but ultimately fails.

This doesn't spit in the creators' faces. This celebrates their legacy. It just takes more than one issue to tell.

 

I like how in the movie,Steve was asked straight up if he wanted to kill Nazis, and he said no. He wanted to stop any all bullies. Maybe that's why I am not irrationally outraged over something that won't be true a year from now.

 

Yeah, and I think everyone upset understands that perfectly. I just think its a cheap gimmick done in poor taste. This twist exists in the context as a end of an issue reveal for one purpose, and thats to garner headlines and get people angry (which it did, so job well done on their end). Considering Marvel is well known for these "shocking" headlines in order to draw more readers I think its fair to say that a lot of this reaction comes from a place of being tired of it. I also think that eventually these "fake" last page reveals with the singular goal to create controversy are gonna go to far (and this very might well be it, or not). They are using the image of a (fictional) WW2 icon as being a nazi as a way to sell comics and create a reaction, and I (and many others) believe that to be in poor taste. Just because they are gonna reverse the decision later down the line /reveal he was never a nazi doesn't change a thing. If you are gonna tell the story of Steve Rogers being brainwashed into being a Hydra Agent to only overcome it later on, then there are better ways to tell it rather than relying on the image of Steve Rogers being a nazi to sell the story. Its poor story telling in my opinion, and im happy people are not letting Marvel slide with it this time.

Im really bad at articulating my thoughts a lot of the time, so I hope I am doing a decent job of getting my point across.

 

I think Rebirth is trying to be more inclusive and bring a lighter tone to DC. Did you read it?

in regard to Superhero comics the Marvel and DC movies sell a lot of tickets. They have shows on TV and it does nothing to move the sales needle. There are just so many things competing for entertainment dollars. Also many towns don't have an LCS. Bringing in new readers is hard.
When Marvel is charging 4 dollars for a 22 page book that takes 10 minutes to read I worry that floppy comic are becoming more and more marginal.

Image and independents are great but that's not what pays the bills at LCSs. When Marvel and DC are healthy the comics industry as a whole is more healthy. They are also owned by giant media conglomerates so it's not surprising they can't adapt to changes quickly.

 

I have not yet, but every piece of advertising I have seen of it is Geoff Johns saying "This comic is for long time readers of DC comics" so that is where that statement came from.

 

Haven't kept up with comics recently but that watchmen ending has me intrigued to say the least.

 

I think it's more like that they want to bring back the legacy aspect of DC. Generational heroes and all that.

 

Yeah, I took it more as "we have lost our way, and so this is an acknowledgement for those we have left behind," which is not to say it is somehow exclusive of new readers. Ideally, it would appeal to both.

And the idea of DC comics making move to address the gritty nature of their comics the same year BvS comes out makes me chuckle. I can't wait for Johns to make DC: Rebirth: The Movie.

 

The legacy aspect of DC was what drove me to check out the DC side of the comics industry, total sucker for the generational stuff, flash family, bat family, et al.

 

Fair enough. Ill be working at a comic convention this weekend so hopefully I can find a copy of it and read it. Ill be going in skeptical, but hopefully it sells me on rebirth.

 

Just finished reading Rebirth #1 and now I feel like I need to go read Flashpoint hah. Other than Rucka, I am honestly not familiar with most of the other artists/writers shown at the end for the new issues coming up.

Has anyone decided on which, if any, they'll be following along with?