RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books If you were comic god...

What would you do to keep the industry fresh and popular?

On the subject of characters, any minor/major changes? Roster change-ups? Nullifications?

What?

I would rip Marvel apart, because Marvel is the #1 in sales although they should sell waaay better. I would put Tom Brevoort in charge because he is the only fuck there who knows what's going on...


At DC I would do another crisis event, yes I would, that would clean up continuity one final time. But this time I would have Alan Moore, grant morrison, Mark Waid and James Robinson all be the uni-mind that makes it happen. If Alan rejected the offer then I would put Paul Dini or Alan davis in that spot.... I would put Alan davis in charge of subtle, if needed, redesigns for all characters. Alan would also be the artist of the new crisis-style mini series.

After the event..all that continuity mess would be cleaned up or let loose..whatever the writers decided....

No more than 25 monthly titles allowed, and there would be a push to step up the reprinting of past and new series into archive and affordable TPB format in sequential order...
I would also go all out to get books into all major bookstores, wal-mart, Meijer and other mega dept stores.

The DC series I would start or continue after the event would be....

1. Action Comics...Superman and Superman family backups..48 pages... (Grant morrison & Chris Sprouse)
2. Superman..just supes..normal size (Peter Milligan & tom grummett)
3. Detective Comics..Batman and Batman family backups..48 pages (Ed Brubaker & Seth Fisher)
4. Batman..just batman..normal size (Scott Peterson & Matt Smith)
5. JLA..normal size (Alan Davis & Mark Farmer, co-writers and artists)
6. Green Lantern..normal size (Bill willingham & Tom raney)
7. Wonder Woman..normal size ( Greg Rucka & JH Williams)
8. Flash..normal size (Geoff Johns & Mike McKone)
9. Adventure Comics...48 pages. Would star Aquaman and a rotating JLA backup. (Lead..Mark waid & Doug Mahnke, backups various)
10. Strange Adventures..48 pages. Would star Martian manhunter and a rotating JLA backup. ( Lead..Peter David & Kevin Maguire, backups various)
11. More Fun Comics..48 pages. Would star Plastic Man and a rotating humor backup. (Ty Templeton on lead & Art Adams on backups)
12. World's Finest..48 pages . Would rotate Atom, Green Arrow, and other various characters. ( Matt Wagner, Walt Simonson, David Mack & various)
13. Legion..normal size..same concept.. (Peter Hogan,Steve Moore & Ed Benes)
14. Teen Titans..normal size..same concept..(Bill Willingham & Rick mays)
15. The Doom Patrol..Robotman, Metamorpho,Changeling, and other abnormal heroes..normal size...(John Byrne as writer and artist w/ an inker)
16. JSA...same concept..normal size (Dan Jolley & Tony Harris w/Ryan Sook on fill-ins)
17. All-Star Comics...48 pages..Hawkman and JSA family backup ( Geoff Johns on lead and backup & Don Kramer on lead & Carlos Pacheco on backups)
18. Shazam..normal size..(Darwyn Cooke witer and artist)
19. House of Mystery...48 pages..the new vertigo & magic home. (various)
20. House of Secrets..48 pages ..the new Vertigo & mature home. (various)
21. Brave & The Bold...normal size..2 rotating character stories. (various)
22. Dc Comics presents..normal size..2 rotating character stories. (various)
23. War..normal size..vertigo style war tales. (various)
24. Western..normal size..vertigo style westerns. (various)
25. DC Showcase..normal size.. (like the Dc Solo proposal)creator driven single issues.

I would leave it up to the talented creators to determine the new DCU history and continuity. The comic backups would be by name creators always or by rising stars, they wouldn't be fill-in trash. they would be vitally important. Basically I would let guys like kurt busiek, warren ellis, P Craig russell, Mike Mignola, jeph loeb, tim Sale, John Cassady, Kevin Nowlan, James robinson, Brian Bolland, garth ennis, Steve Dillon, Dave Gibbons, rags morales, and Gene Ha do backups whenever they wanted and solicate them for work...

Hawkman would fight naked to boost sales.

Kidding.

I feel that being in continunity is up to the editor of a comic. If 60 years of history is dragging a story to a crawl, then do something about (the animated DCU doesn't have this problem...take a page from their book).

Make comics that appeal to women and children, then put them in places that everyone shops at. The first comic book shop I went to they were like "Holy cow, a girl!" and I didn't like it. I shop at B&N all the time. Put some comic books there.

I agree with what you have there Pig, for the most part, besides the folding of Vertigo into two DC titles. I think it should stay as its own imprint with seperate universe and such. (same for Wildstorm)

My only problem w/vertigo is that it takes away so many great creators from doing a regular DCU monthly. Anyway, Wildstorm and Vertigo could still go on, but I would start leaning to original graphic novels and mini-series in that case.

No more crapy artwork.
Lower comic prices. A comic should not cost 3 bucks just because the art and story are cool.

1. Make comics available in grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, and book seller chains.
2. All monthly comics at or under $2.00
3. All first issues $.25.
4. Continuity being an admirable goal, but not one that becomes a detraction to new and old readers. Tweaks in continuity are tolerated.
5. And hey, while I'm playing God here...new readers not being afraid of continuity. Life is all about investing yourself in new things!
6. Writers and other creative types don't treat fans with disdain (The John Byrne Rule)
7. Fans don't treat creative types with disdain (The Fanboy Rule)

--Jim

1. Put comics in 7-11's
2. Put comics in grocery stores
3. Put comics in WalMarts
4. Assume that people buying comics DON'T have 40 years of comics knowledge. Write so that someone picking up #350 as his first comic isn't totally lost.

KILL THE GREEN GOBLIN AND AUNT MAY!!!!

If i was Comic God, The first thing i would do is finish up the litigation between Neil Gaiman and McFarlane. Give Mircleman to Neil and get it back on the stands ASAP. Either in reprints or new material or maybe even both.

McFarlane can keep his balls though...