A solution for DC!

[gentlesatirist]

OK, here it is :

"My message to DC Comics? If you're going to change your characters, then change them, and if you're not, then don't. Halfway is for cowards."

Who's the voice? CBR's Rich Johnston or Steven Grant? Alan David Doane of Comic Book Galaxy? Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading?

And surely whoever it is must be talking about the Infinite Crisis marathon of the last year or so...right?

Actually it's Lee Wochner, who wrote those words in a DC Comics overview published in Comics Journal #116...cover-dated July 1987.

(For the record, I have no idea who Lee Wochner is or was. Don't know if he ever wrote again for the Comics Journal or anyone else.)

At the time, Wochner was reacting to the (not real) changes DC was making to characters like Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. He encouraged the company to take more chances on projects like Thriller and Ronin in an attempt to find its next Dark Knight.

Anyway, just thought I'd point it out, given the amount of hand-wringing going on regarding Infinite Crisis and the One Year After project and the values of Silver Age storytelling vs. modern decompresion or whatever. DC and Marvel don't change until they're good and ready to. And even then they don't change all that much.

In 10 or 15 or 20 years, they'll put their fans through the same thing all over again.


- FE
Wickliffe OH

[The Wayner]

And I agree with you that the changes will come, again, within the next few decades. Heck, maybe even faster. Who knows, anymore?

The only thing I do know is that in 20 years, I'll be 70. Will I care? Hell, will I even still be ALIVE?

Let the Big Two change all they want, I'm now depressed... ;)

[gentlesatirist]

...just to point out that there's not really much of a chance of lasting change at either firm. They've got too much wrapped up in licensing and marketing to change anything too important about their core characters.

The tone of the stories and type of art might change from era to era, but the overall premise remains the same. It's illustrated escapist literature.

At the same time, there's something to be said for consistency in an unsteady world. Just funny how every 10 years or so we as fans really expect things to change.


- FE

[LeeWochner]

OK, here it is :

"My message to DC Comics? If you're going to change your characters, then change them, and if you're not, then don't. Halfway is for cowards."

Who's the voice? CBR's Rich Johnston or Steven Grant? Alan David Doane of Comic Book Galaxy? Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading?

And surely whoever it is must be talking about the Infinite Crisis marathon of the last year or so...right?

Actually it's Lee Wochner, who wrote those words in a DC Comics overview published in Comics Journal #116...cover-dated July 1987.

(For the record, I have no idea who Lee Wochner is or was. Don't know if he ever wrote again for the Comics Journal or anyone else.)

At the time, Wochner was reacting to the (not real) changes DC was making to characters like Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. He encouraged the company to take more chances on projects like Thriller and Ronin in an attempt to find its next Dark Knight.

Anyway, just thought I'd point it out, given the amount of hand-wringing going on regarding Infinite Crisis and the One Year After project and the values of Silver Age storytelling vs. modern decompresion or whatever. DC and Marvel don't change until they're good and ready to. And even then they don't change all that much.

In 10 or 15 or 20 years, they'll put their fans through the same thing all over again.


- FE
Wickliffe OH
Lee Wochner is and was a playwright and critic who wrote for The Comics Journal for several years.

He is also someone who has followed "52" and is amazed to see that 20 years later, nothing has changed at DC. (And he thanks you for digging up that quote, which he'd forgotten.)

Best,

Lee
leewochner.com

[shaxper]

Major corporations with a lot to lose never take unnecessary risks, whether in comic books or otherwise. It's sad, but financial security will always override concerns about art and customer satisfaction. The corporate world still cringes with fear at the memory of Coke II and Pepsi Clear. Risk is risky.

[MartinRedmond]

I think it would be cool to have more projects like Ronin. Just don't do it in Super-Man. Thriller wasn't that great though imo. In the same vein, you had Marvel's New Universe which was a bit borderline too serious. I really enjoyed Starbrand and Psi Force.

[gentlesatirist]

Ah, the wonders of the Internet. When a stranger can make a reference to something you wrote 20 years ago and discuss it electronically with many other strangers!

Came across that particular issue when my mom moved out of my childhood home last year and I had to retake posession of many boxes of paraphernalia.

I enjoyed two of the lead-in series to Infinite Crisis (Day of Vengeance amd Villains United), was mixed on IC and have enjoyed a great majority of 52. But I think I'm jumping off the train with Countdown. There's only so much teasing a man (and his ever-thinning wallet) can take.


- FE
Wickliffe OH