Bleeding Cool: Chaos and Order at DC Comics

[aaronghunter]

DC is a terrible place to work! We get this from creator after creator. All the cool people work for Marvel... with good reason!

Except we've gotten similar statements about Marvel over the years, what with the editorial mandates, layoffs, and the different (worse) royalty terms for low performers.

[Shinomune]

For instance, I Vampire was always going to be a hard sell, but it got huge critical acclaim and solid tpb sales. If this were Marvel, Fialkov would have been getting another book or two not just after, but during I Vampire. And before you knew it, he might end up gradually becoming a Jason Aaron or Jonathan Hickman. Instead....nothing.

If this were Marvel, probably I Vampire would have been canceled on the sixth number. Maybe eighth.

[Rakzo]

DC is a terrible place to work! We get this from creator after creator. All the cool people work for Marvel... with good reason!

Totally unbiased comment people!

[Punter23]

I don't reach too much into BC anyway. It seems a Marvel kiss up rather than a DC.

Anyway I feel that DC is fine, not every business or sports team is perfect. There will be issues but DC will be fine, there will be more new people coming and so on

[RoughNTumble]

I pretty much only read the titles that are driven by the vision of a writer. Wonder Woman, Batman inc., Action Comics, etc. Given that DC isn't letting this younger talent have the chance to show their voices on their ongoings, and the fact that morrison is leaving soon, it doesn't look good for my pull list when it comes to DC. They're doing all they can to run this company into the ground. They tried playing musical chairs with writers and editors, and nothing is really changing. Maybe they need to look higher up the chain for the problem.

[blinker]

If this were Marvel, probably I Vampire would have been canceled on the sixth number. Maybe eighth.

Really? Marvel seems to have more faith in their books than DC.

If I-Vampire was published by Marvel and made the same sales that it did at DC, I could see it lasting 20 issues.

[Shinomune]

Marvel, at least until nDCU/New 52 is by far more famous to cancel quickly bad books (-20K), while in DC Comics poor selling books lasting more issues.

[Outside_85]

Well, we don't know what pissed off Perez, but he did want to kill Lana Lang, something that you can see very easily why was refused.

Actually we do, he spoke about it at a very small convention that was on video somewhere (probably BC).
Essentially Perez had figured, before he got started, that he would be able to have the same freedom that he had back in the day when he rebooted Wonder Woman (with success I might add).
But found out that he first of all had to reflect his book set in the present so it fit with whatever Morrison was doing with Superman's past in Action Comics. Problem with that was that Perez wasn't kept appraised in advance if Morrison decided to change something, stuff like the Kent's being dead.
The other bit was that according to Perez when he handed in a script, a group of people would then go over it and then send it back with a list of things they wanted changed, rinse repeat. It ended with Perez telling them that he didn't care, they could change as much as they wanted and put his name on it, but he wouldn't touch the script after sending the first one off. If I am not mistaken, he said he never even read the books when they finally came out. (So for all the Superman fans who hated his run; don't worry Perez wasn't happy either).

Color me clueless, but why is keeping Lana Lang around important?

[CagedLeo730]

Really? Marvel seems to have more faith in their books than DC.

If I-Vampire was published by Marvel and made the same sales that it did at DC, I could see it lasting 20 issues.

Marvel has cancelled Age of Apocalypse with issue 14 (issue 10 in December sold 19,337). It cancelled X-Treme X-Men with issue 13 (issue 8 in December sold 16,536).
I Vampire #5 sold 18,816. Issue 10 sold 16,517. Issue 15 sold 12,846. It's being cancelled in April with issue 19.

[Jadenewt]

Really? Marvel seems to have more faith in their books than DC.

If I-Vampire was published by Marvel and made the same sales that it did at DC, I could see it lasting 20 issues.

Really? Because it seems to me that Marvel just cancelled X-treme X-men and Age of Apocalypse today. They were both well under 20th and had gotten some decent reviews.

[PennyDreadful]

All I can say is this: multiple creators have had complaints about DC's current editorial policy. Not just Rozum, Perez, or Liefeld. Check out this article and scroll down for quotes from Nick Spencer and Chris Roberson. Spencer's quotes, IMO, are the most damning.

You'll also notice that Paul Cornell has left Stormwatch AND Demon Knights...and shortly afterward was hired by Marvel to write a Wolverine book. That's one of their flagship characters. In fact, several creators in recent years have left DC under a cloud and been snapped up promptly by other publishers. When several people start saying similar things about the place, it's a troubling sign.

[blinker]

Really? Because it seems to me that Marvel just cancelled X-treme X-men and Age of Apocalypse today. They were both well under 20th and had gotten some decent reviews.

Okay, okay. Marvel always appeared (at least in my mind) as a company that has more faith in their properties, whereas DC tends to cancel things more quickly. But maybe that’s just me.

[Punter23]

Okay, okay. Marvel always appeared (at least in my mind) as a company that has more faith in their properties, whereas DC tends to cancel things more quickly. But maybe that’s just me.

I associated the other way around, it is a business these things happen. Remember people are all different, so many people will be unhappy if they are told different to what they want to.

[Mr. Holmes]

All I can say is this: multiple creators have had complaints about DC's current editorial policy. Not just Rozum, Perez, or Liefeld. Check out this article and scroll down for quotes from Nick Spencer and Chris Roberson. Spencer's quotes, IMO, are the most damning.

LoL @ Roberson.

[Jadenewt]

Okay, okay. Marvel always appeared (at least in my mind) as a company that has more faith in their properties, whereas DC tends to cancel things more quickly. But maybe that’s just me.

I don't know they both have a tendency to cut a series short if the sales simply aren't there but that's just business. Try counting how many Marvel ongoings creep below 20k and how long they are allowed to stay there. Only one I can see is Captain Marvel and it just broke the plain the month. Hopefully the Ultron crossovers will boost it enough for them to continue for awhile.