Count3rCu1ture Mobile - 08.31.11

**SPOILER WARNING for "The Man of Steel"**

This picture just happens to leak today. The same day that the "New DC Universe" officially launches with Justice League #1.

Today's vocabulary word, class, is "corporate synergy". Say it with me now...

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Atomic Comics R.I.P.

The market for the tablet has exploded in the wake of the success of the iPad, with nearly every electronics company rushing their own models in to production. Of course, the tablet is just the right size for reading comics, and the popularity of apps such as Comixology is growing right along with the tablet market.

But, where does this leave the traditional shops? Long seen as a haven for dyed-in-the-wool nerds, many people have normally strayed away from comic shops...For most shop owners that may not know how to adapt to changing times, the announcement of same-day digital releases can be a little scary…

- Me again, Examining the DC Relaunch Part 01: The Business, Examiner.com


Several news bits have come out this week that have made the above statements a lot more interesting.

First of all, did you see the movie Kick Ass? Remember the comic shop the gang hung out in? That was Arizona-based Atomic Comics, one of the biggest and most popular comic shops in the country. And earlier this week, they closed their doors for good.



All About Books and Comics is working to fill the shop’s orders to customers that have been left out in the lurch. That having been said, it has to be tough to be any comic shop owner and watch one of the giants fall with virtually no warning. Makes you wonder what hope any of the other shops have.

Interestingly enough, one of the biggest threats to brick-and-mortar shops is stepping in to help out. Digital retailer ComiXology has opened more than 100 digital “storefronts” for comic shops. The move is part of ComiXology’s comic shop affiliate program to help physical shops serve online customers as well, and seems like a good move. However, some owners of physical shops don’t think ComiXology’s terms are fair at all and are afraid that this may only hasten the death of the comic shop as we know it. And would that serve as the death knell for the market itself?

There’s certainly a lot of behind-the-scenes going on right now in the comic world, and some of it looks scary. Depending what side of the coin you call on, however, the future could look pretty bright as well. All of this merits keeping an eye on, because the future of an industry...check that, a culture could be at stake.

"Man of Steel" Taking Lead From DC Reboot

WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for the in-production Superman: Man of Steel.


Another reason DC may be holding out information is the current lawsuit between DC’s parent company, Warner Bros, and the heirs of Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. If the lawsuit is not settled by 2013, some core elements of Superman’s origin and character become property of the estates of Siegel and Shuster. Is DC planning a pre-emptive srtrike in completely changing the world’s most recognizeable superhero?

- Me, Examining the DC Relaunch Part 03: The Heavyweights, Examiner.com


It was a damn set-up.

Looking back on that statement, it certainly helps make the DC Reboot make a little more sense now. Sure, that's an awful lot of change, but it goes a long way toward reigning in a little more control of the biggest character in the industry (no matter how many wanna hate, let's face facts here).

Let's get right to it. Take a look at the cover for the new Superman #1 (drawn by the legendary George Perez), coming out in September, for just a moment:



Got it? Good. Prepare to use that as a reference point, okay?

Now, some enterprising individual(s?) happened to snap some set shots of Superman: Man of Steel, due out Summer, 2013. The shots are meant to be a revelation of the character Faora, played by Antje Traue. Before you ask the question, no, I don't have a clue who she is. The actress or the character. And really, it's not important here.

And I have to say, I normally tend to ignore spoiler shots like this. They very rarely tell anything about the final product because, in the world of CGI, there's so much missing. And a photo can't say a thing about whether or not the plot's any good. However, this one I came across - and these set pics happened to tell me a lot. Not about how the movie looks or how great of a story we're in for, but more of how DC and Warner Bros plan to get around this lawsuit issue and still create a new buzz for the biggest character in comics all at the same time.

Take a good look at the set photo. Pay particular attention to the man in red and blue:



Whoa wait, what? One more time, in slow-motion:



Yeah, I think that's exactly what DC has in mind. "Freshening up characters," "relating to real-world situations," and "injecting new life" all sounds good and fine, but exerting more control over your properties - and how they're portrayed in other media - is just as important.


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A coupla music videos for ya. Well, one full one and one teaser.

The full one comes from my pals Shinobi Ninja. It is the title track from their record, Rock Hood, which packs one hell of a catchy melody. But don't take my word for it...



The teaser is from the forthcoming The Browncoats Mixtape from Adam WarRock and KHill of the ThoughtCriminals. Not what I'm used to hearing from these guys at all - and it sounds so cool...



Oh, and speaking of WarRock? Feel free to head to the link above to check out (among all the other good stuff this guy unloads) the free singles he's been releasing this month, the latest being "Commedia Dell’Arte". He's unloading free stuff as part of a donation drive to help handle expenses for his upcoming tour with Random (aka Mega Ran), MC Lars and MC Chris. Go help a brotha out. And score some excellent free tunes to boot!

DC Comics Announces Complete Reboot. World Asks WHY?

You. Have GOT. To be. KIDDING. ME.

DC Comics announced today that the current ”Flashpoint” event series (you know, the one with sixteen different tie-in mini-series?) will end on August 31. On that same day, a new “Justice League” series by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee (nice!) starts at #1.

The following month, however, DC will unleash 52 new #1 titles as they set out to reboot the entire DC Universe.

Action Comics (currently at 900+ issues)? Detective Comics (currently at 875+ issues)? Wonder Woman? Green Lantern? ALL of them are starting over.

Those new #1s include costume redesigns for more than 50 superheroes (look to your left for an idea) and - get this - “a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character's legend - but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph,” according to DC's Senior Vice President-Sales Bob Wayne.

Which, according to Wayne, also means - you betcha! - "Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes.”

So how, exactly, does DC justify throwing away 77 years of history like Ah-nuld ditching a Kennedy for a dumpy middle-aged Hispanic chick? Here’s Co-Publisher Dan DiDio to explain (via USA Today): "We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line. This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience."

In other words, they’re going to pull an Ultimate Marvel (go look it up). The only difference is, when Marvel did this sort of thing, it was to attract readers who had seen the X-Men and Spider-Man movies and give them a latching on point without scaring the hell out of them with several decades of ongoing plotlines that would turn them right off. They made a line of comics that new readers could jump right in to if they wanted to, but were still smart enough to leave in place their established line for those fans who had invested all of their time, money, and effort in to following those stories.

Not DC, jack! No way! They’re tossing out EVERYTHING! And the sick, sad part of it is...they’re doing it for no good reason.

Let’s torpedo the whole “All stories will be grounded in each character's legend - but will relate to real world situations” right the hell now. Superman recently announced his US Citizenship to become more of a global hero (among several other logical reasons). That was met with a knee-jerk, ignorant response from people who hadn’t read these books since the days of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson (and that’s being generous) that Sooperman’s an Uh-murh-kin, Gawd demmit! You don’t like it, you kin git out! Hence, DC rescinded the move - and asshats like the guy who wrote the article at the other end of the previous link celebrated, feeling safe that a fictional alien comic book character was back on the side of the “good guys”, not realizing that he’d never left in the first place. So, out goes the “real world situations” argument.



Next? Oh yeah - "We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line.” WHY?? You have the Green Lantern movie coming out. You have Batman: The Brave and the Bold as well as Young Justice on the Cartoon Network. You have DC’s animated movies making a pretty good killing at a pretty good pace. Where can you possibly see where they need to be “freshened up” when people around the world know and recognize these characters and where they came from?

Marvel didn’t feel the need to relaunch their entire comics line when Iron Man made bank at the box office, did they? No - because they were well aware of the marketplace and their fans. They didn’t try to shove down consumers’ throats the idea of starting all over because the core fans wouldn’t have stood for it and, I’m sorry to have to break the bad news here but, if newer fans were coming in to buy the books based on the movies, they would have already shown up. Instead, DC is out to alienate both sides. Stupendeous.

This argument and several other tangents and examples pointing out how monumentally idiotic of an idea this is could continue for days. At the end of the day, DC has inexplicably done what they do best...when the train is rolling with full momentum, they’ve decided to slam on the brakes and attempt to make a left turn right off the track. As a lifelong DC fan, it hurts to say...and they wonder why Marvel keeps kicking their asses.




WCW - one of many examples of why ”rebooting the product” doesn’t work.