One little paragraph, so many...ahem...inaccuracies: Not only will Jock not be back on 'Tec in issue #881, there won't even BE an issue #881. And although Scott Snyder will be switching over to Batman, Jock won't be drawing anything at all in the new improved DC Universe--at least in September.This is just odd. OK, we know DC wanted to keep the cat in the bag about Flushpoint. But that bag is wide open now. This letter column appears 4 weeks and a day after DC's big announcement, 3 weeks and 5 days after DC announced the new Bat titles and creative line-ups. It ran more than two weeks after the full September solicits were released online. It ran on the same days the new Previews was on shelves. And in the very same book, the DC Nation page reveals the big changes, including that Snyder was moving and that Jock wouldn't be his artist.
The need to lie about what was upcoming was long past, is my point.
And before anyone suggests how long a lead time the letters page might have had, this column has a letter discussing Detective #876, so at most its 2 months old. And while I don't know DC's exact production schedule, or when the issue was sent to the printer, the DC Nation page says that Flushpoint was announced "21 days" ago--which means that page was sent off a week ago, which means they should have been able to go in and edit that letter column to reflect reality sometime in those 21 days.
So why let the blatant deception stand? Maybe DC just doesn't care enough about their letter pages to worry. Or maybe DC *still* hasn't told their letter page editors about Flushpoint--that's how intense the secrecy was!!
Just a picayune point, I know. And besides, come September, the letter pages in most comics will be gone, for at least awhile, since so much of DC's output will be new #1's, and therefore have no letters.
Still, it is annoying that DC has so little respect for the vaunted letter columns (that they trumpeted about so loudly on their return), that they publish deliberate misinformation long after the need for that misinformation has passed. I'm just sayin'.
I think it's another symptom of how badly planned the reboot has been. I'm starting to get the impression that all of this was cooked up maybe only a few weeks, maybe a month or two, before the announcement -- and they didn't have time to put together any kind of comprehensive transition plan, like re-editing letters pages.
ReplyDeleteI've said elsewhere, I really hope some staffer at DC is taking a lot of notes about all of this. Someday, all the backroom details of the reboot -- how it was put together, who was behind the push for it, how much shouting went on around the office -- will make an extremely interesting book.
But why come up with such detailed lies in the first place? Just talk about more great things to come, keep watching, blah blah.
ReplyDeleteAnd another thing ... I wish the lettercols would quit assuming we all go to them after reading the story. It's spoilers a go-go across the line.
Spoilers A Go-Go would be a great name for a blog...
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