Comments on: Friday Distracticon: Serial trouble and I don’t mean Captain Crunch

By: Jeff Hebert

Jeff Hebert — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:50:48 +0000

@Mr. Q: I’m all for experiments, and I actually hope this one turns out well. As I said, I like a number of the stories. I just don’t think, overall, that serial larger-arc stories told one page at a time in tabloid sized comics on newsprint are going to fly, long-term, for the reasons I said.

I hope I’m wrong because I’m for anything that expands the reach and increases the success of comics. I just doubt it, that’s all.

By: Mr. Q

Mr. Q — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:40:25 +0000

There is a reason why its called “an experiment”, Jeff. Personally, the experiment has its good qualities. I grew up reading the Sunday comics and comic strips and DC’s Wednesday strip is a nice breath of fresh air.

It has some top notch strips. The Batman and Superman strips are very good but there are some dark horses that grab my attention even more so. Kamandi is one of them. I love the Prince Valliant approach to the story telling and it doesn’t let down on the action. Another winner in my book is Metamorpho. The tag team of Gailman and Allerd just works as they bring back the silver age quality of this great character and his cast. GL is a winner since it goes with its silver age/space age roots and runs with it. Flash is a two part winner since it tells the story of Iris West (ala a Mary Worth/ Rex Morgan M.D. sort of way of story telling) and the scarlet speedster himself. Also, Hawkman, Sargent Rock, Deadman, Supergirl, and Strange Adventures (Adam Strange’s comic) rock out in their own way.

The few flaws in this is the Wonder Woman strip. Too many panels trying to cram so much story in one shot imo. Also, Teen Titans is great but the artist is rather lacking. Mt biggest beef is the 3.99 price tag. They say its due to the great artwork and story-telling but I still believe this would work better if they lowered the price somewhere between a 1.50-2.00 price tag. Also, this comic should be offered in mainstream stores like Borders and perhaps newsstands. Hell, if DC can make some deals with some newspapers (like they did with USA Today) these comic strips can be seen by new readers all around. It would be nice to open up a Chicago Tribune and see the adventures of Kamandi and Metamorpho.

I do hope they find success in this experiment. It has so much potential to reach new people if done right. Plus there are many other DC characters that could shine in these strips. Until then, I await Wednesday with anticipation.

Mr. Q

By: Jeff Hebert

Jeff Hebert — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:09:41 +0000

I like it as an experiment too, and give them full thumbs up for trying to innovate.

I agree that some of the stories are just not very good so far, although I like Hawkman probably the best out of all of them. Which is good, I think, people have enough there that what one person doesn’t like another will.

I suppose really what they have here is a weekly short story anthology. Which isn’t really my cup of tea but I can certainly see how it would be for others. I think the main source of my skepticism that it’ll “work” is like I said, you’ve got long serial stories basically being released one page at a time, which I think is sort of betwixt-and-between the long form on one hand (i.e. TPBs or just regular monthly comics) and true “short” comics on the other (i.e. one page complete stories).

It could work, sure, and I bet some of the stories will be great and some will flop. But as you say, that’s more on the stories themselves rather than the format.

My concerns on FORMAT are sort of to the side of the actual content (art and writing both) of the stories themselves.

By: Biffbiffley

Biffbiffley — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:58:47 +0000

William said it best.

so I’m just goign to leave a “Me too” post here…:)

By: Niall Mor

Niall Mor — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:25:28 +0000

I just ordered one for the heck of it. If anybody’s interested, I’ll let you know when it arrives, and maybe put a review up on my blog.

By: William A. Peterson

William A. Peterson — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:45:03 +0000

Well, I don’t think it was ever intended to *replace* the standard format of comics…
Just because it’s not going to be as popular as the regular sort, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a Failure!
It IS an experiment, and as an experiment, I find it interesting…
I’m more troubled that roughly half the ‘book’ is pure and absolute garbage (especially “Hawkman” and “Wonder Woman”!), and by the prospect that DC will blame the format, when the blame lies with the poor quality of the product!

By: Hammerknight

Hammerknight — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:40:08 +0000

They said at the ComicCon last weekend that they were going to put all the Wed Weeky together to make a big book later on.

By: Hakoon1

Hakoon1 — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:02:14 +0000

Yeah, I’ve been thinking of a HM3 Comic for a while, never got ’round to it.

By: Jose Inoa

Jose Inoa — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:31:59 +0000

True. One page stories are cool, but I only remember those in the form of Hostess(C) ads in good ol’ Marvel Comics. I’m kidding. I meant magazines like Heavy Metal, Creepy, Eerie, and other independent titles and anthologies. (Dang this dates me.)

Y’know… WE could do this with HM3…

By: John

John — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:30:47 +0000

Jeff…you’re wrong.

You knew I was gonna say that.