DC's NEW
52 the morning after
Okay so we've
seen 3/4 of the new 52 books now, and I enjoyed this past
weeks selection of 13 new #1's more so than any other week
and while there was quite a bit to rave about (loved how
Supergirl tied in to the other titles - nicely done,
thrilled to see the return of editors notes in the books*See
Detective Comics #1 to see what Gordon is talking about),
and I'm hoping they'll cover more of the problems I'd
written about in the past
HERE.
It's looking hopeful that they will.
And while most of us at Graham Crackers have been really enjoying
the majority of these re-launches and clearly it's been a
financial success for DC (so far) the one change that
seems to stand out the most from this re-launch (to me) is
the sheer amount of OVER THE TOP violence and sex in
these new DC comics. It's like DC is going out of
it's way to make sure you don't confuse this DC with your
FATHERS DC. And rather than try and match Marvel
for sex & violence in their books - they're going in
aggressively to make sure their books have much more
pandering violence and sex that even Marvel. And I'm
not talking Vertigo!
Keeping in mind that I'm middle aged now - I tried to step back and be
open minded when I came across these situations in these new
books. When I was 13 years old and bought Teen Titans
#1 (wolfman/Perez 1980) and they introduced a sex symbol
character named Starfire that couldn't understand why humans
felt compelled to wear clothing - I was shocked to find this
in a comic, glad mind you, but still surprised they were
doing this. Would this character have acted this way
in a 1950s DC comic some 30 years earlier. No way.
Now in 2011 when they introduce Starfire in their new
re-launch
(spoilers ahead)
she's introduced again as a sex symbol
but one that openly asks Roy (Speedy) to have sex with her
even though she's currently 'with' the Jason (Red Hood).
The difference being that in 1980 the character was
introduced as naive and innocent, now she's evidently the
slut heroine of the book. Catwoman spends the
majority of her comic showing off her cleavage in different
ways and ending the story having sex with Batman on the
floor. The new Suicide Squad spent the better part of
their first issue being tortured by our government to test
how loyal they are, Green Lantern Corps opens with several
GL's being graphically murdered, Detective #1 ended with the
Jokers face being cut off his skull and pinned to the wall,
Batman #1 contained a victim being used as a human dart
board to slowly bleed to death. None of these acts
were done 'off camera' or obscured in the shadows.
Be it the right move or wrong move, how I
should be selling these new titles?? Every new DC 52
book is rated T for Teen or Teen Plus (16 or older).
What am I supposed to point a kid that 8-12 and wants to
read some DC comics? All new Batman Brave and the
Bold? Tiny Titans? That's it? I can't hand an 11
year old kid a Batman or Superman without pre-warning his
folks that some of the content might be objectionable?
While
I've been pre-reading each of the new
13 titles each week before we open on Wednesday, I can't
keep that up once they introduce another 15 titles and I
still have to read Independent releases as well as Marvels.
Some books will get skipped and I have to rely on their
rating system which as it stands says only Teenagers or
older should be reading these things?!
Both of these
choices, the sex and the violence being included and shown
rather than hinted at or obscured will no doubt generate
larger sales which is the name of the game both for DC
Comics and even us as retailers. I believe DC is
intentionally stepping up both categories to compete with
equal exposure shown in modern TV, Video Games & Movies
(also known as the competition).
Comics have to stay competitive if they want to continue to
exist, and I get that, I'm only disheartened that they feel
it's necessary to do it across the entire line and still
want to know what DC title I can hand to a pre-teen reader
(also known as our future customer base)? Here's
hoping some of the future titles from DC won't be just for
teenagers or older...
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