I've rarely partaken in Free Comic Book Day offerings because retailers are charged for the books, and I feel that the free comics should be used to attract new customers, not line the longboxes of people like me who visit their LCS regularly. LeVar Burton sums up the case for giving free comics to the new kids particularly well:
So I'm sorry to say that this year I'll be disappointing LeVar Burton and stealing a teaching opportunity from a child when I take advantage of the marketing promotion to get my hands on Booster Gold merchandise. I think Booster would want it that way.
(Besides, children shouldn't be exposed to the grim 'n' gritty New 52 anyway. Make 'em wait 'til they're old enough to know better.)
Freytaw posted on May. 2, 2014 at 11:46 AM
Grim 'n' Gritty, it's not the majority of the New 52. Not at all. But thanks to Batman, everyone thinks it is ^^
But Yes, Booster and Futures End is for me anyway !
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on May. 2, 2014 at 11:34 PM
I suppose that's fair. I read a bunch of the New 52 first issues at relaunch, and 90% of them would have qualified. The overwhelmingly negative tone made me stop reading DC's Comics that don't include Booster Gold, so I really wouldn't know if DC's New 52 output had become much more light-hearted now. I'm sure that major, year-long crossovers called FOREVER EVIL and FUTURES END indicate that the DCnU is full of sunshine and lollipops these days.
But seriously, I'm sure that there must be New 52 books that are lighthearted. I hear that about HARLEY QUINN, a book devoted to the playful antics of a deranged serial killer.
No, but really, truly seriously, I agree there must be some New 52 book where the hero is an upstanding moral leader and not just an angsty, navel-gazing anti-hero. Hopefully BOOSTER GOLD: FUTURES END will fit that bill.
Eyz posted on May. 4, 2014 at 6:21 PM
I'd say the majority of the New 52 IS dark and gritty. Where are the comedy books? Adventure titles? everything is thriller/drama with angst...
(and by comedy I mean true comedy books like Ambush Bug or Angel and Ape were way back when, not action titles with some touches of humor)
The New 52 is solely responsible for me reading now mostly IDW titles (compared to my mostly DC picks back a few years back)
So.. yay thanks DC? Now I'm following TMNT, Rocketeer, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, etc. (compared to before the Doom Patrol, Batgirl, BOOSTER GOLD and co)
Freytaw posted on May. 5, 2014 at 11:51 AM
*sigh*
Harley Quinn is not grim & gritty at all, this is totally fun et pleasant to read. And, there are Larfleeze, Justice League 3000, All-Star Western (most of the time), Batman Inc (stopped), Threshold (cancelled), Firestorm (by Dan Jurgens, cancelled), Justice League United (not start like a grim & gritty book and it smells a little like the JLI, for now...), Wonder Woman, The Green Team (cancelled), G.I. Combat (cancelled), O.M.A.C. (canceled...), Demon Knights (cancelled too), Dial H (cancelled), Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E (cancelled), Sword of Sorcery (cancelled), Legion of the Super-Héroes (cancelled), Legion Lost (cancelled)... Action Comics (when it's not Scott Lobdell...), etc etc etc...
Don't you see the problem ? Everybody claims they want original story, but nobody try to see the others stuffs that DC put for us... and of course, no buyers means cancellation, and cancellations means sometimes, a new grim & gritty book for replacement... If we still just complain and let the others books died, this is entirely our fault.
And sincerely, I am a bit tired to hear that.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on May. 5, 2014 at 1:44 PM
First of all, it is obvious that we have a different definition of what constitutes "Grim 'n' Gritty." I sampled many of the books you mention, and I would call most of them grim 'n' gritty. Our definitions clearly aren't compatable. For example, ALL-STAR WESTERN is a fine example of the cynical "realism" with all morality portrayed in shades of gray that I think defines the 'Grim 'n' Gritty' category. If a western starring a scarred anti-hero who murders people isn't grim 'n' gritty, nothing is. You might enjoy reading it -- it's a well-made book -- but that doesn't mean it isn't grim or gritty. (Point of fact, I'd be disappointed to read a Jonah Hex story that wasn't grim 'n' gritty, but that doesn't mean every western tale n a book titled ALL STAR WESTERN needs to be.)
Secondly, I am willing to concede that maybe DC is publishing a lot of books that aren't grim 'n' gritty, even if I'm not seeing them. However, almost everything in the New 52 line is more grim 'n' gritty than they were before FLASHPOINT, even if only because those old titles had 20 years of continuity to fall back on. (I've said it before, and I repeat it here; IDENTITY CRISIS was the worst thing to happen to DC continuity since Frederick Wertham.) Comparatively, I find this new tone to be unenjoyable, and I thinlk that DC is doing a disservice to the very thing that has made their characters into household names for the past 75 years. Certainly, this is a side efect of my having read DC comics for nearly 40 years. Your experience may differ.
On your final point, I agree with you one hundred percent: DC's publications are market driven. DC's tone is a response to the market's preference for Marvel Comics. (Marvel has beaten DC in sales for decades). The X-Men move more units, so DC's characters have become more angsty. Loudmouths on the internet like me may complain and refrain from buying any more $4 comics from DC, but it doesn't matter when the silent majority of buyers are purchasing the 900 or so BATMAN comics DC publishes each month.
We vote with our dollars, and I know that I am being out-voted: Grim 'n' gritty is what sells the most comic books, whether you or I like it or not.
Freytaw posted on May. 6, 2014 at 12:13 PM
All-Star Western change his tone recently, when Jonah was in the future (or present time if you prefer), that's why I quote it (even if since number #30, we are back to the Grim 'n gritty western figure, and that's very good too), I know that wasn't the best exemple of all. But still... maybe it is not your case, I never want to blame you precisely, but a lot of people complain about the unoriginality of DC Comics books without trying something else than Batman and Forever Evil. And that's why I am a little bit tired of it. We just "assume" than the other book are bad and just don't go after them. Grim & Gritty is not all... but we act like it. I understand the overdose, really, but when I see books like Larfleeze (the best exemple of all... with Giffen & DeMatteis in great form), I dont know why people who wants fun books just don't mention it. Maybe he is an anti-hero something, but we are very far away from the grim & gritty Nolan's Batman shit (was the worst thing to happen to DC continuity since Indentity Crisis ^^, and it is not even a comic book !)
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on May. 6, 2014 at 1:56 PM
Ha! I could not agree more! I hate those dull, humorless Nolan films where more often than not it looks like the cameraman is part of the fight as opposed to filming it. Blech!
