A definitive explanation of what the DC Comics restructuring means to you, the fan.

39 Comments | Posted: September 9th, 2009 | Filed under: Think About It Won't You

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39 Comments on “A definitive explanation of what the DC Comics restructuring means to you, the fan.”

  1. 1 Ray Cornwall said at 1:49 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Hey, we get Levitz back on the Legion- THAT’S worth talking about. Levitz is the best Legion writer ever. So that’s worth talking about.

    The rest- eh, not so much.

  2. 2 Kevin Church said at 1:58 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    I’m glad that you’re enthused about a writer from 30 years ago coming back to a property he helped define. It worked so well for Jim Shooter, after all!

  3. 3 Matt said at 2:08 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    this is how I feel every time you talk about the Pet Shop Boys.

  4. 4 Kevin Church said at 2:26 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Because my being a fan of a band and enjoying their music is exactly like the hordes of overentitled comic book readers Monday Morning Quarterbacking over the management of multimedia corporations.

  5. 5 jessamyn said at 2:52 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Is this where I come to get my comment sarcasticized?

  6. 6 Jemaleddin said at 3:05 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    And this is why people choose Marvel: slightly less paternal and condescending.

  7. 7 Kevin Church said at 3:09 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    “Is this where I come to get my comment sarcasticized?”

  8. 8 Kevin Church said at 3:10 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    And this is why people choose Marvel: slightly less paternal and condescending.

    Hey, guys, apparently I work for DC Entertainment now or something!

  9. 9 Ray Cornwall said at 3:13 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Never was a huge fan of Shooter as a writer- LOVED Levitz. So I’m hopeful.

  10. 10 Dorian said at 3:32 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    And this is why people choose Marvel: slightly less paternal and condescending.

    And the encouragement of incredibly stupid forms of tribalism. Don’t forget that.

  11. 11 Kevin Church said at 3:44 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    (Just as an aside to Ray: While Levitz’s plots were pretty good examples of team superhero comics done well, his tin ear for dialogue and inability to write anything close to actual human beings has kept me from being as big as devotee as some, and I actually quite like the Legion.)

  12. 12 Ray Cornwall said at 4:11 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    You’re saying Levitz has a tin ear for dialogue (which is somewhat true), and then you’re comparing him to Shooter? Yeesh.

    I don’t think there’s ever been a writer of the Legion that’s ever been strong on dialogue or making the characters believable. I’ve always accepted that you just don’t get that from a good Legion comic; the set-up makes that impossible (more characters than any other team book short of the pre-House of M X-Men, utopian future). What Levitz did- and did really well- was tell great team superhero comics while strengthening the concept that the fans were contributors to the Legion, a concept that’s long been lost from the franchise. For better or worse, the Legion was as close to publishable fanfic as you can get from a big corporation. I doubt that Levitz could restore that to the franchise (and I’m not sure that’s even a good thing), but I’m still looking forward to his comics.

  13. 13 Mark Clapham said at 4:13 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    It means to me that my interest in Adventure Comics has now been officially raised from ‘ick’ to ‘curious’. Otherwise, yeah.

  14. 14 john doe said at 4:15 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Not only that, Kevin, but you’re obviously wrong from an intellectual stand point, not just a “you should treat people nicely” stand point. The DC restructuring COULD matter to your average comic book reader. You don’t really know, and I’m sure talking about it instead of being mean to create content would be more constructive. But then again, I’m not the master blogger so maybe I shouldn’t talk right?

  15. 15 john doe said at 4:16 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Sorry, posted this out of order. “Is it really necessary to be this cantankerous, Kevin, for apparently no reason?”

  16. 16 Kevin Church said at 4:18 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    “Is it really necessary to be this cantankerous, Kevin, for apparently no reason?”

    Yes, “John Doe,” it is.

  17. 17 john doe said at 4:21 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    I miss the days when the customer was always right. What happened to treating people nicely when they comment on your blog? I mean, there are a million comics blogs I can go to and comment on. Why come here if I’m going to get berated?

  18. 18 Ray Cornwall said at 4:23 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    “Is it really necessary to be this cantankerous, Kevin, for apparently no reason?” says the man who doesn’t post his name. (I mean, do you think Ray Cornwall is a psuedonuym, y’all?)

  19. 19 Chris Sims said at 4:23 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    “Customer?”

    I’m sure Kevin’ll offer you a full refund.

  20. 20 MaxtotheMax said at 4:25 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Big ups to Kevin Church’s haters?

  21. 21 john doe said at 4:25 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Why does it matter if I post my name? I’m a longtime browser of this blog and I frequently enjoy it, but unnecessary negativity is a downer where I come from. My name doesn’t change that; also, my real name IS John Doe, so the joke’s on you, isn’t it?

  22. 22 Andrew Hickey said at 4:26 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    John, you’re not Kevin’s customer. I disagree with his post – I think Levitz stepping down/being fired might well have a tremendous impact on the comics DC put out, as he’s been credited with a number of important decisions over the years – but no-one’s forcing you to read this blog, or to comment on it, and he’s under no obligation to be polite to an anonymous stranger just popping by to tell him how wrong he is…

  23. 23 Kevin Church said at 4:27 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    John Doe, please feel free to visit another blog, one that will tell you that the grumbling of fans has anything at all to do with the workings of huge multinational companies whose products they happen to enjoy.

    Or was me suggesting you stop reading my website so you have a better internet experience too negative for you?

  24. 24 Mike said at 4:28 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    …customer?

  25. 25 Ray Cornwall said at 4:30 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Oh yes. The joke. It’s on me. Wow.

    I feel like Al Jaffee:

    1. “I’m a longtime browser!” So’s Internet Explorer. And you’re less useful.
    2. “I miss the days when the customer was always right.” When did you buy something?
    3. “my real name IS John Doe” So…your parents are either sadists, or the most incredibly uncreative people possible.

    Good Lord, I wish I was as good at snark as Kevin. Yeesh.

  26. 26 Kevin Church said at 4:31 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Guys, I just figured out that John Doe is someone who was previously banned on my site for being exceedingly rude to myself and commentators under the very original sobriquet “Captain Trips.” I’ll just add his new IP address, email address, and name to the spam queue and he can go back to being a non-entity.

    Nobody forces anyone to do anything around here, right?

  27. 27 Ray Cornwall said at 4:34 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Actually, Darkseid forces everyone on Apokolips to read The Rack. Out loud.

    Don’t know why.

  28. 28 Kevin Church said at 4:42 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Anime Jack is Anti-Life.

  29. 29 Jeff Stolarcyk said at 4:42 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    John Doe and Dom should totally meet up. And that other guy.

    Kevin Church Revenge Squad.

  30. 30 Aaron said at 4:47 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    I only visit this site for the cantankerousness.

  31. 31 Mikester said at 5:07 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Post more about puppies and flowers, you big jerk.

  32. 32 keith said at 5:08 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    I come for the cantankerousness, but I stay for the naked pictures of Burt Ward.

  33. 33 Matt said at 5:49 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Because my being a fan of a band and enjoying their music is exactly like the hordes of overentitled comic book readers Monday Morning Quarterbacking over the management of multimedia corporations.

    You’re reading my mind.

    Seriously, I cannot understand why anyone interested in comics would NOT want to talk about this. It’s big news. Do I think anyone gives a shit what I say? Absolutely not. But why would you care so much that I choose to say it? and why do I care so much that you care so much that I choose to say it? and where is my blankie I want to find a corner to go fetal and suckle my thumbywumby call the waaahmbulance

  34. 34 Kevin Church said at 6:05 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Seriously, I cannot understand why anyone interested in comics would NOT want to talk about this. It’s big news.

    It’s “big news” about a corporation shifting some people around and moving someone who was in a higher position back down to a lower rung on the ladder with more direct control over content. Nobody outside of a group of maybe fifty to a hundred people at DC is directly affected by this in any significant way, but to hear people like you talk, DC had brought Paul Levitz into their living room, sat them down on the couch, and had a heart-to-heart about why mommy and daddy were going to live in separate places.

    On the creative end, this might mean something in six to eight months, but the rabid hyper-speculation and attendant entitlement issues that accompany a highly defensive fanbase who really, really worry about stuff like Dick Grayson’s haircut and how J’onn J’onnz’s death doesn’t line up with their carefully-maintained mental timeline of the DC Universe means that right now, the signal-to-noise ratio has way out of whack.

    Do I think anyone gives a shit what I say? Absolutely not.

    But you put a post it on your website and commented here about it, so you obviously want people to pay attention to your thoughts. We all do. That’s why we’re egotistical enough to buy domains and comment on other people’s posts and chat on Twitter, etc, etc.

    I like you, Matt. I like Alert Nerd. But the initial dickish comment about my choice in music and subsequent defensive posture you’ve adopted over a jokey (if abrasive) post entreating people to calm down – one that was in 60-point Univers Bold Italic – baffles me.

  35. 35 Shane Bailey said at 7:31 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Univers is such a pretty font isn’t it?

  36. 36 Matt said at 9:29 pm on September 9th, 2009:

    Agreed on the entitlement issues, absolutely.

    I hope we can agree there’s someplace between “this is absolutely not worth speaking of” and “holy shit DC’s management changes mean that they’re going to change Katar Hol’s origin and this makes me unreasonably angry so that I’m shaking.” I think there’s a conversation to be had in that space.

    Regardless, I’ve clearly taken a bit of snark way too seriously at this point, and my initial comment was meant to be good-natured smartassery–honest. for any misunderstanding, I am truly sorry. things get pretty fucking droll over here, and it was in that spirit that I commented in the first place. I like sardonic, even if I misinterpret on occasion. I like you too. I might even love you a little.

    Let’s take that part offline.

  37. 37 mightygodking said at 1:59 am on September 10th, 2009:

    Kevin Church Revenge Squad.

    ooo ooo ooo they could sit around a big table that has a print of “the Rack” in the middle of it with a dagger stuck through it

  38. 38 Dayv said at 4:18 am on September 11th, 2009:

    Hey, guys, apparently I work for DC Entertainment now or something!

    Hey, congratulations! Please make Superman gay. You have that power now, right?

  39. 39 Phill said at 9:07 am on September 11th, 2009:

    Ah, so that’s why there are so many comments on this post. I now wish I didn’t know that.

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