I think we’ve got a different speed. We go hyper fast. There’s going to be – and people have noticed this, and it’s not going to change – regular catch-up captions at the top of each issue. There’s going to be people as unobtrusively as possible – but still pretty obtrusive because we’re not writing for the trade anymore but for single issues – saying “I am so-and-so, and this is what I do.” We’re making once again a comic that people can join at any issue. We expect people to join in on issue #3, and this is what it takes to find the mainstream audience again. You can buy issue #5 of “Stormwatch,” and it should be easy enough to just go from there, or you can buy the back issues if you like.
It’s an interesting brew all-in-all. It’s a very interesting time to be a comics writer. We’re changing everything very, very fast, and there’s a lot of people out there who haven’t read a comic in decades or at all who are reacting to this. Some of them don’t know how to read comics, or they aren’t used to the speed of the stories or just what’s going on. We’re here to make sure we catch those people as well, and that we come to suit them.
That’s Paul Cornell, talking about Stormwatch at CBR, commenting on a couple of things that have been floating around the comics internet concerning the writing of DC’s New 52 books: Namely, the “not writing for the trade” mentality, as well as how understandable these books are for all-new readers. While I applaud the move, it makes me wonder how existing readers, more used to the Marvel model, are going to appreciate the new style in the long term…
September 21st, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Just because Cornell referred to making single issues more accessible didn’t mean he did it, or will do it. Look at the reaction to STORMWATCH #1 at http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/09/19/she-has-no-head-the-comics-project/
People who don’t have experience reading a lot of prose stories don’t know how much basic information they get about the characters and their situations in prose works that they don’t get in current narration-less comics. A typical prose writer has a lot to say about his characters. The typical superhero comics writer doesn’t.
SRS
September 21st, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Steven beat me to it: the expressed sentiment is nice and all, but it’s not at all what he actually did it. Stormwatch was widely considered one of the most impenetrable and new ready unfriendly books of the relaunch so far, although Legion Lost seems poised to give it a serious run for its money in that department.
September 21st, 2011 at 5:00 pm
I got into comics as kid in the early-mid 70s. i didn’t need a “jumping on” point. aamof, the “*see issue #138 of avengers” made me want to actually read that issue. and at the same time as there were comics that were soap opera like in their never-endingness, there were also still comics that had a complete story in one regular issue. heck, there were some that had 2 complete stories in one issue. it doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition.
September 21st, 2011 at 7:10 pm
I applaud this back to basics approach. Remember, Marvel used to publish books like these back in those days when Trade did not exist. Having said that, the tradepaperbacks are great for readers to get their fill of long sustained actions without having to wait a month for each installation. I suppose you need a good balance of both, and the cynic inside me tells me DC won’t be sticking to this ‘policy’ for too long.
September 21st, 2011 at 11:37 pm
Writing for the Trade doesn’t matter. I mean, it can. But it’s been the emphasis for too long.
Writing for the new potential reader, however, is a good idea. Especially in what is a line-wide relaunch aimed (by claim) at new readership.
I enjoyed Stormwatch #1. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun, and Cornell is worth trusting in. But I base so much of that around things like me already having a working understanding of most of the characters involved from previous reading, and being a fan of Cornell, as stated. I’m not a new reader. Would a new reader be as able to follow the story in that issue? Would they be as forgiving for shortcomings of issue one, expecting the next one to be better without having history with the creators?
I haven’t read Legion Lost yet, but I hear it’s even worse for the new reader (and experienced ones, from what I’ve read online).
This, with the article published above about Catwoman and Red Hood #’s 1 make me really question what DC is doing more than the concept of the relaunch itself ever did. Did they actually have a plan beyond slapping #1 on the cover and playing a very dated-looking commercial for a few weeks? The more I see of examples like these, the less confidence I have.
And I am a DC fan. Long-time fan. I’m the easy sell, as it were. The hard sell is new readers. Don’t blow this for them.