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Friday, June 12, 2015

DC You & All-new All-different Marvel: New Universes, Same Headgames




DC You.

All-New-All Different Marvel.


Same old editorial teams promoting the same old gimmicks and the same old creative teams producing the same comics at higher prices and lower quality in a whole new series of number one issues. Most titles won’t make it to their twelfth issue, and the entire universe will be rebooted in oh three to five years.


Instead of writing another rant about how the big two comic publishers are doing the exact same thing and expecting a different result I’m gonna write a different kind of blog. One that incorporates much of the advice I give men in my Simp trilogy eBooks.


The editors running the big two Comic publishers Marvel and DC want comic fans to get emotional about all the changes they implement to their favorite characters. They believe that if they get an emotional response from comic fans on message boards and Facebook groups that’ll get them attention and possibly sales.


And because quite a few comic fans get so emotional about the comments from editors and the first looks at the horrifically bad redesigns of iconic characters, their curiosity gets the better of them, they continue to buy comics they don’t like.


What most comic fans don’t know is that when they react to these changes they are giving people like Dan Didio and Axel Alonso leverage. Worse, many comic fans are forming a co-dependent relationship with a comic publisher and playing right into their hands.


Over the last 15 years editors like Dan Didio and Axel Alonso just do things to push buttons and get a response out of comic fans. Putting characters in horrible new costumes. Killing fan favorite characters in events. Ending a universe and rebooting it again. Just as soon as a comic fan gets comfortable and starts buying comics on a regular basis, they pull the rug out from under them. And knowing comic fans curiosity will always get the better of them, they keep pulling stunts and gimmicks in the hopes of getting the attention of comic fans and getting their dollars out of their pockets.


Comic editors at Marvel and DC are playing the same hard to get cat and mouse game with comic fans many difficult women play with men who are Simps and Tricks in the dating scene. And as long as the comic fan continues to chase the comics, the editors at these big two publishers will continue make promises and NEVER deliver on the goods.


The sad part is many comic fans will remain in this co-dependent relationship continuing to ride the merry-go-round with Marvel and DC continuing to buy poorer quality comics at even higher prices every passing year. Waiting for the day when things will get better. Hoping for the day when comics will be great again.


Only to have the rug yanked out from under them time and time again. And sadly never coming to understand that there’s never a plan to give them things like good stories featuring their favorite characters.  As long as the Marvel and DC can get the reactions out of comic fans with shock marketing and stunts they know they can keep an audience captive in a game of cat and mouse where they keep fans shelling out money for mediocre comics in the hopes of getting good ones.


This is the same stunt some of the more high-maintenance women use when they play hard-to-get with a man who is chasing them. These women know the Simp values her more than anything and will sacrifice their personal intangibles such as their dignity and self-respect to get and keep her attention and affection. As long as she dangles the promise of sex in front of them like a carrot, these poor suckers keep spending money in the hopes of getting laid.


Dan Didio and Axel Alonso know many comic fans value Marvel Comics characters and DC Comics characters more than anything. And sadly some will sacrifice things such as their dignity and self-respect to continue following the adventures of their favorite characters. So they play this game of cat and mouse with gimmicks, events, and stunts in the hopes of keeping comic fans strung along month after month.


Understanding how the difficult, uncooperative woman who plays hard-to-get plays in the dating scene I understand how this tactic has been adapted by editors in the comic book industry. In the dating scene when the man submits to the difficult uncooperative woman who plays hard to get and starts to chase her, the more rude disrespectful she gets. Playing more cat and mouse games. Making a man jump through more and more hoops. Pulling more stunts to shock him in the hopes of getting more of a dramatic reaction out of him.


All while laughing in his face. Because her intention is to NEVER give him what he wants. After she gets her cash and gifts her plan is to broom the Simp to the curb and move on to the next tool. In the case of comic fans, to move on to the next set of tools.

Like the High Maintenance woman, Didio and Alonso NEVER intend to give comic fans quality comic books. The goal is to keep stringing fans along but never delivering on the goods.

Because they don’t know how to produce high-quality comics. Like the high maintenece woman, they focus on selling comic fans the promise of what’s to come, not on delivering on the goods. As long as they can keep comic fans tricking off money on promises they have no incentive to pay off.

Sure, Marvel will toss a fan a crumb or two like Waid/Samnee Daredevil or some DC’s Convergence titles set in the pre-new 52 DC Universe, but they’ll never give comic fans consistent line of quality comics like editors of previous generations did. Didio and Alonso make their money by abusing and exploiting comic fans. They don’t want to form an interdependent relationship with readers, where they listen to the reader and make an effort to tell quality stories, they want maintain the co-dependent one they have with them where they abuse the reader and string them along with promises that things never being the same.

And just like the high-maintenance woman, The disrespect at Marvel and DC has escalated over the past decade in the editorials offices. Unfortunately many comic fans can’t see the contempt expressed to them by the editors at both comic book companies. With each gimmick, event and stunt they give a middle finger to readers. Killing characters. And blowing up the universe to start a vicious cycle of dysfunction all over again.


Most regular people see the signs of dysfunction but many comic fans still hang in there. Hoping wishing and praying that things will change at the big two.


Unfortunately, nothing is going to change at both companies. As long as diehard fans keep buying the comics neither publisher has an incentive to publish titles at a consistent level of quality. So in 24-to 36 months there will be another Secret War of Convergence that promises readers things will never be the same.


All while giving fans more of the same a few months later. The rest of the world calls this insanity, but the comic fan calls this a hobby.


As a fan of the comic medium, I grew up on Marvel and DC’s characters. But as a 41-year-old man I can honestly say enough is enough. If Marvel and DC want to reboot their universes fine. I just won’t be along for the ride with either company.


I still love comics. And there are just too many great comics being produced by indies and webcomics artists these days for me to spend my time hoping wishing and praying for the big two to go back to telling great stories with classic characters I grew up with. If they don’t want my money I’ll go spend it with another publisher who values my dollars. I swear there’s more drama behind the scenes at the big two than between the pages of their comics. If creators were allowed to put some of that drama in between the pages of a comic then maybe people would start buying comic books again.



If you're tired of the big two and want some great stories pick up the Isis/E'steem Crossover in paperback! My stories read just like comics and are great reading for all ages! 



1 comment:

  1. Sometime ago DC had a webcomics imprint and insight they should've turned many superhero titles into webcomics if they're seriously about targetting the masses.

    ReplyDelete