Tuesday, June 14, 2011

It's All In The Timing

Of course, it's difficult to pull off a massive line-wide re-launch, with 52 new issues in one month. "Scheduling nightmare" wouldn't begin to describe it.

So, while I'm trying not to be too harsh here, a couple of notes from the DC solicits.

First, from the Action Comics #1 solicit: "This extra-sized debut issue is the cornerstone of the entire DC Universe!"

So, if it's the cornerstone, why isn't Action Comics the first one to be published? It's not--it breaks on 9/7, whereas Justice League debuts the new New DC Universe on 8/31. Maybe DC is using a different definition of the word "cornerstone"...?

Ah, but that's just playing semantic games based on one word on a press release probably written by some unpaid intern. So not very sporting. Sorry. But let's look at a real scheduling issue, as pointed out by Bleeding Cool:

SUPERMAN #1
On sale SEPTEMBER 28 •
The new adventures of Superman begin here!

STORMWATCH #1
On sale SEPTEMBER 7
They are Stormwatch, a dangerous super human police force whose existence is kept secret from the world Directly following the ominous events of SUPERMAN #1, Adam One leads half the Stormwatch team to recover the [INFORMATION REDACTED] from deep in the Himalayas.


So Stormwatch directly flows out of Superman #1...and events in Superman #1 are so ominous that they have to use [REDACTED] so they don't spoil the events of Superman #1 in the Stormwatch solicitation.

Yet Superman streets 3 weeks AFTER Stormwatch.

So, DC, are we all supposed to buy Stormwatch and not read it for three weeks??

Not a good sign when in the first month the trains already aren't running on time...

1 comment:

Mark Engblom said...

Wow. Pathetic. Good catch, Snell! I will be very interested to follow the unfolding Superman reboot in light of your predictions a few years back. DC is undoubtedly crafting a legal-proof version to beat the Siegel/Shuster case, but it remains to be seen just how craven and mercenary they're willing to get.