LOTS O’ LINKS: More DC New 52, Even More Other Stuff

IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. (Image via Wikipedia)

Catching up from last week…

– So a few days ago, Rich Johnston wrote that,

more and more, from creator upon creator, I’ve been hearing horror stories. No one is prepared to go on the record, those NDAs hold strong, and people would actually like to keep their jobs. For now.

Because I understand that at least one high profile creator will be making the jump to Marvel. As will quite a few slightly less-high profile creators with an opportunity to play up their new higher profiles in the wake of the relaunch. And that Marvel has also had to turn down a number of enquiries.

One common criticism being heard from a number of sources concerns the micro management of Dan DiDio, compared repeatedly to that of Bill Jemas*. Repeatedly asking for changes, then asking for changes to those changes. And then more changes to those that take them back to where they were in the first place, except now they’re up against an impossible deadline, which must be met…

I’ve been hearing some similar things, and I’m now also hearing that within Diamond the consensus is that DC DID purposely short-printed its New 52 titles to guarantee sellouts and drive up attention and excitement. The New 52 reprints are starting to come out, and as I understand it none of them qualify for DC’s discount and returnability incentives for retailers. Take this as rumor, as again nobody is going on the record at the moment… (More analysis on the sellouts here.)

– The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (which every one of you should join, if you’re not already a member!) has been given the intellectual property rights for the Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval. I remember the Seal being on every comic I read as a child. The Code supposedly saved the comics industry from government regulation in the 1950s, but it ended up destroying a lot of the creativity in Comics, and it took decades to recover – thank Godzilla for Underground Comix! (More here.)

I wonder if DC Comics is still in possession of the Comics Code’s boxes of paperwork and files. Those papers are historically significant, and I fear that DC may whitewash its own censorious past if it doesn’t turn them over – remember when Disney supposedly trashed its Winnie the Pooh documents a few years back?

– In one of its better journalistic efforts, Newsarama reached out to a number of comics pros and asked them about sexism in comics. Their answers are well thought out and well worth reading.

– The other day, Heidi MacDonald wrote (regarding bad/controversial comics),

Many years ago, I remember an editor on GREEN LANTERN telling me that since Hal had turned bad — leading to actual death threats against the creative team — sales had soared. The more they complained, the more they bought.

And on Monday, Jim Shooter wrote the first part of his New 52 review (analyzing Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 and Catwoman #1, natch), saying

I picked the two I’ve read so far because JayJay said they were generating a lot of discussion.

So all of the complaining has led to more sales for Bad Comics. Whoops. (Part 2 of Shooter’s review is here.)

More tomorrow!

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