Running DC...could you do it??

[xorn87]

I read a lot of posters complaining that, this is wrong and that needs to be fixed. Well here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is. Everyone thinks it's easy to decide story lines, lineups, creative teams, etc. Let the boards decide. Tell us whose idea for DC you like best.
Let's say DC canceled all it's series and wanted to start over. They only want a dozen books coming out a month. You pick the titles (or make new ones), creative teams, and new lineups (if need be). So, come on.... let's see what you got....



1) Superman
Creative Team: Joss Whedon and Steve McNiven

2) Batman
Creative Team: Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

3) Green Lantern
Creative Team: Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

4) The Flash
Creative Team: Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

5) Justice League
Creative Team: Kurt Busiek and George Perez
Roster: Mon-El, Red Arrow, Nightwing, Flash (Wally West), Donna Troy, Hawkman, Geo Force, Black Lightning, and Wonder Woman (Leader)

6) Teen Titans
Creative Team: Chris Claremont and Mike Allred
Roster: Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy (Conner Kent), Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and Ravager

7) Action Comics (Superman based characters)
Creative Team: Greg Rucka and Art Adams

8) Detective Comics (Batman based characters)
Creative Team: Bruce Timm and J.H. Williams

9) Green Lantern Corps
Creative Team: Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke

10) Adventure Comics (stories featuring various DC characters)
Creative Team: Giffen & DeMatteis and Rags Morales

11) Suicide Squad
Creative Team: Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Roster: Various DC Villans

12) All Star Comics (stories featuring DC space characters)
Creative Team: Warren Ellis and Ethan Van Schiver

[tjarvis]

I read a lot of posters complaining that, this is wrong and that needs to be fixed. Well here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is. Everyone thinks it's easy to decide story lines, lineups, creative teams, etc. Let the boards decide. Tell us whose idea for DC you like best.
Let's say DC canceled all it's series and wanted to start over. They only want a dozen books coming out a month. You pick the titles (or make new ones), creative teams, and new lineups (if need be). So, come on.... let's see what you got....



1) Superman
Creative Team: Joss Whedon and Steve McNiven

2) Batman
Creative Team: Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

3) Green Lantern
Creative Team: Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

4) The Flash
Creative Team: Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

5) Justice League
Creative Team: Kurt Busiek and George Perez
Roster: Mon-El, Red Arrow, Nightwing, Flash (Wally West), Donna Troy, Hawkman, Geo Force, Black Lightning, and Wonder Woman (Leader)

6) Teen Titans
Creative Team: Chris Claremont and Mike Allred
Roster: Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy (Conner Kent), Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and Ravager

7) Action Comics (Superman based characters)
Creative Team: Greg Rucka and Art Adams

8) Detective Comics (Batman based characters)
Creative Team: Bruce Timm and J.H. Williams

9) Green Lantern Corps
Creative Team: Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke

10) Adventure Comics (stories featuring various DC characters)
Creative Team: Giffen & DeMatteis and Rags Morales

11) Suicide Squad
Creative Team: Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Roster: Various DC Villans

12) All Star Comics (stories featuring DC space characters)
Creative Team: Warren Ellis and Ethan Van Schiver

Some of your teams I like, some not so much. I think your biggest problem is that a lot of your list is Marvel Exclusive and you wouldn't be able to use them. Which if you're talking running DC comics is something you would have to take into consideration.

[StormWatch]

Personally I could write all the storylines and artists let me think on that one.

[Desaad]

Right, taking into account the fact that there are exclusives, budgetary constraints, etc....

Superman
JMS and John Cassady

Batman
Brian Azzarello and Dustin Nguyen

Wonder Woman
Joss Whedon and Aaron Lopresti (I actually think he'd be good for this)

Green Lantern
Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke

Justice League
Kurt Busiek and George Perez

Lineup - Superman, Batman, Hal Jordan, Tomorrow Woman, Green Arrow, Ray Palmer Atom, Flash (wally or Barry)

Legion of Superheroes
JMS and Francis Manupal

All of them, with Johns' old school Silver Age version.

The Flash
Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

Teen Titans
Gail Simone and Mark Bagley
Get the Quad back together -- Superman, Robin, Wonder Girl, Impulse...then Blue Beetle, The Shining Knight (Ystina), Ravager, and whoever else Simone wants.

Captain Marvel
Paul Cornell and Julian Lopez

Aquaman
Geoff Johns and Shane Davis

Secret Six
Gail Simone and Gary Frank
Gail Simone's team, please.

Justice Society of America
Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver

Alan, Ted, Carter, Jay....Mr. Terrific, Obsidian, Sand, Damage, Magog, Courtney.

They aren't necessarily all my favorite titles - I have no real interest in a Wonder Woman, Batman or Superman title for instance - but they are all bankable and important and I think they are needed to prop up any publishing schedule of DC's.

[carabas]

It's really easy to say you'd put Joss Whedon and Steve McNiven on Superman, but quite another thing to actually to put a writer who is busy with television work, and has never shown any remote interest in Supeman, and a Marvel exclusive artist on the book.

That said...

Action Comics: anthology title without regular creative team
Detective Comics: dito
Batman: Ed Brubaker and Cameron Stewart
Superman: Geoff Johns and Gary Frank
Wonder Woman: Greg Rucka and Rags Morales
Green Lantern: Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sviver
The Flash: Grant Morrison and Phil Jimenez
Birds Of Prey: Gail Simone and Nicola Scott
Legion Of Superheroes: Joss Whedon and Karl Moline (probably another hard reboot)
Doom Patrol: Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba
JLA: the 52 team and a host of all star artists
JSA: let's see what the guys from Fables can do...
Teen Titans, Outsiders, Aquaman...: kinda ruined now, let's try again in a few years.

Bonus: New Gods, Grant Morrison and zombie Jack Kirby co-plotting, art by zombie-Kirby.

[JumpingJupiter]

Ivan Brandon or Brian Wood on WW.

But no. I couldn't run DC.

[dumbstruck]

I wouldn't necessarily change creative teams. Two things I would do is stop letting Johns and Morrison have free reign. They'd work for me, not the other way around. And I would lesson the amount of editorial interferance. Let the writers write their own stories, without having to force them into any kind of multi-year "direction".

[Will.S]

Just to make this more interesting, I'm only going to using the talent available. All they need to do is reshuffle their talent where they could do their best work and infuse the title with a fresher feel:

Action Comics: An anthology can work like carabas said but I see this as the flagship Superman book so I'd keep Geoff Johns and Gary Frank on the book. Also I would stop retreading the "World without a Superman!" story, that's been done to death. Superman should be the main draw but it could just as easily use many other supporting characters or superheroes as long as Superman isn't out of the book for months long.

Superman: JMS and Pete Woods.

Wonder Woman: Keep the same current team.

Batman: Don't change the current teams (ok maybe change Winick for Dini) but lose all those ancillary books, they're not going to sell that well and if they're bad they're just going to weaken and dilute the entire line. Less is more, and I would just keep it Detective, Batman, and one or two extra books.

Green Lantern books: Keep the current talent on there.

JLA: Kurt Busiek and Francis Manapul.

Teen Titans: Gail Simone and Mark Bagley. Gail knows here DC history pretty well, can write team books exceptionally well, and has a great sense of dialogue. Bagley is great with young characters (New Warriors, Ultimate Spider-Man) and brings a fresh and clean look to the book but if not him then Mike Norton with Joe Rubenstein works just as well. Scrap the Titans book.

The only book I'm at sort of a loss for is The Flash, Geoff pretty much had his Wally run already and that would be the character I would have kept rather than Barry. I might come to a decision once Rebirth finishes but this title needs a really good focus and creative team with a lot of imagination but don't reuse Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, or any other writer who's done extensive work on the title already. I wouldn't try to recapture that magic, I would make new magic and wouldn't be afraid to use indy talent.

Also I'd have more editorial consistency by at least attempting to keep people on the same page. I'd have less interference, if a writer goes a little too far with an idea that doesn't work well (and this is entirely a case by case thing) reign him/her in a bit but don't limit them or their writing and DO NOT do what they did to Dwayne McDuffie and handicap his JLA roster.

F**k whatever else is going on, the title is the JLA. The JLA should be either their driving force title or should stand alone by itself very well. It shouldn't be forced to work with other titles, in fact it should be the other way around unless the characters don't make sense and if they don't just indicate to the reader the time line.

[CBikle]

Were I in charge, I don't know if I'd be as involved in putting together creative teams, as I think that's largely decided by availability and other factors (although some I might aim for would be reuniting Allred & Milligan on a project and Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb on something [not necessarily DCU] and aggressively look for new talent).

Mostly I think my time would be involved on getting all of the editors to start communicating with each other (maybe hire Jim Shooter as an "editorial troubleshooter", but reign him in just a little...)

For crossovers and companywide storylines, I think I'd try something on a smaller scale, like a crime-story (maybe something with the League Of Assassins); participation would be voluntary, but I'd probably encourage the lower-selling books to get on board.

[Darrell D.]

4) The Flash
Creative Team: Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

5) Justice League
Creative Team: Kurt Busiek and George Perez
Roster: Mon-El, Red Arrow, Nightwing, Flash (Wally West), Donna Troy, Hawkman, Geo Force, Black Lightning, and Wonder Woman (Leader)

7) Action Comics (Superman based characters)
Creative Team: Greg Rucka and Art Adams

So, I'm guessing these will be 'they come out when they come out' titles...



11) Suicide Squad
Creative Team: Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Roster: Various DC Villans
I like this idea. Will never happen, but I like it.

[/QUOTE]

[K-DoG7p7]

Yes I could run Dc..


Sucsessfully?

thats another question

[Will.S]

Justice League
Kurt Busiek and George Perez
While I like this team given their Avengers run, realistically speaking George on a monthly is very likely to have delays since Legion is having so many.

Granted, that's a book that has near Crisis level amount of characters since there are so many Legions but George would only work here if he had 1 or 2 years of lead time with room for fill ins.

[Jolly Mon]

I wouldn't necessarily change creative teams. Two things I would do is stop letting Johns and Morrison have free reign. They'd work for me, not the other way around. And I would lesson the amount of editorial interferance. Let the writers write their own stories, without having to force them into any kind of multi-year "direction".

Your two points seem contridictory. Unless you are saying you would increase editorial oversight for Johns and Morrison, and lessen it for the other writers. Which could be a good thing.

[F1uke]

I could run DC





...to the ground

[dumbstruck]

Your two points seem contridictory. Unless you are saying you would increase editorial oversight for Johns and Morrison, and lessen it for the other writers. Which could be a good thing.


That's exactly what I mean. GJ and GM are allowed to do whatever they want, and everybody else is interfered with so their titles match up with the golden boys. This imbalance needs to be corrected.

[NeoStar9X]

Not really sure about creative teams as I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to them outside of a few names however here are the titles I'd put out.

1. Justice League of America (might remove the big three from this or put them in the background. Reason is listed below when it comes to their titles. Instead I'd use others to replace them to try and push their status up. The others would be the other heavy hitters like Flash, Aquaman, etc.
2. Justice Society of America (3 part stories only due to the size of the cast and they would rotate. Take in the younger heroes here instead of going to the Titans

Big events would be done in these two books instead of having event books..

3. Batman
4. Superman
5. Wonder Woman (with ads in all titles. If she's going to be apart of the "big 3" she should be advertised).

Every once in a while you'd have a crossover with these three titles. You know how Superman, Supergirl, and Action have their crossover. Same thing here. This would really boost WW's sales at times. Announce these crossovers ahead of time so people can be prepared to put in their WW order at online stores or comic shops

6. Action Comics (more one in done or two parters. Rotate characters such as Guardian, Mon-El, Jimmy, Steel, Superboy, Legion, etc)
7. Detective Comics (more one in done or two part stories similar to how Paul Dini was writing it. Rotate the cast as well with Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Jason Todd, Batwoman)
8. Green Lantern (maybe some issues totally about the Corps instead instead of the lead GL)
9. The Flash (Would be DC's Family book similar to how Fantastic Four is Marvels. The characters and families seem the most stable and solid in that regard. All Flashes would appear at times.) Would really push this and JSoA to provide a balance in terms of content since other titles might be really violent depending on the writer and artist.
10. Titans
11. Magic series
12. Cosmic Series

The last two would really be single issue stories with rotating cast and writers with some of the big names doing issues to bring attention to it. You couldn't drag out stories here as you'd lost the attention of readers as they aren't really crazy about these two areas.

Not that detailed I know. I'd make sure the three big teams however were unique in their focus.

JLoA: Big events at times but dealing with people out to destroy the world. However not all stories have make the world stop in their tracks. Stories could last a few hours in universe and be in one location (with the world not knowing what happen because the team is that good about stopping things). Don't always have to be on Earth.
JSoA: More training, team work, mistakes, etc. Break team into groups and rotate them.
Titans: More street team, stealth based at times. More proactive then the other teams. Which would be a problem at times for the JSoA and JLoA.

Most importantly. Digital versions will be offered if allowed. If not then trades (paperbacks) would be released a lot sooner. No more writing for the trade either. I wouldn't m ind part two of a story being the last section of a trade and part 3 being included in another. Let authors writer their story without having to worry about making it 5 or 6 issues just to fill a single trade.

[dumbstruck]

1. Justice League of America (might remove the big three from this or put them in the background. Reason is listed below when it comes to their titles. Instead I'd use others to replace them to try and push their status up. The others would be the other heavy hitters like Flash, Aquaman, etc.



Not sure if you actually read the current title, but the big three are already background characters in JLofA, and the series is sinking faster than the Titanic.

[NeoStar9X]

Not sure if you actually read the current title, but the big three are already background characters in JLofA, and the series is sinking faster than the Titanic.

Don't think it's simply because of that though. There are other problems with JLoA. I just think that with the JL and their on titles and then showing up else where the big three can be overexposed and stop other characters from being built up. Not really sure what you can do about that though as I don't really like that to be honest.

Or you could just get rid of the JLoA title and replace with Brave and the Bold. That way you can really showcase everyone not have a "team" you need to show all the time.

[dumbstruck]

Don't think it's simply because of that though. There are other problems with JLoA. I just think that with the JL and their on titles and then showing up else where the big three can be overexposed and stop other characters from being built up. Not really sure what you can do about that though as I don't really like that to be honest.

Or you could just get rid of the JLoA title and replace with Brave and the Bold. That way you can really showcase everyone not have a "team" you need to show all the time.


IMO, like it or not, Morrison's JLA and JLU set a precedent for what Justice League should be. The magnificent seven need to have a presence in any version of JLA going forward. And not just a background presence like they get in the current series. They need to be front and centre. Maybe not all at once. They can be rotated. But they need to be there. Anything less just isn't going to connect with a lot of readers. If DC wants to go with a JLA feature the B thru Z teams, they're going to have a major uphill battle, no matter how good the writing may be.

[xorn87]

I'm thinking why not have a JLA team with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and rotate in members as needed on missions. That way the fans get their big 3 and DC can still showcase other heroes who need more attention.

[Blind pugh]

Green Lantern
Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke
Dammit I want that book! :frown:

[xorn87]

[QUOTE]Justice Society of America
Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver/QUOTE]

This would be cool.

[xorn87]

I really would like to see the Suicide Squad dome by Ennis and Robertson. Just give them carte blanche with certain villains. Take a chance.