DC is teasing out more details about its Free Comic Book Day offering, with a post on official blog The Source promising preview material from the second wave of ongoing New 52 titles (Batman Incorporated, Dial H, Earth 2, GI Combat, The Ravagers and Worlds’ Finest), “art by legendary illustrator Jim Lee and other top talents” – which sounds, to me, suspiciously like it’ll be either sketchbook material, pages from already released comics or something we’ve already seen in some form – and a brand new story by Geoff Johns, although no artist is listed for that story yet.
The post promises “more surprises to come” about the free book, which’ll make its debut May 5. Will we see more new titles announced between now and then to be previewed in the book? Will the identity of the artist for the new Johns story turn out to be a surprise in and of itself (Any Marvel exclusive artists rumored to be making the jump between publishers anytime soon, I wonder…)? Batteries to power. Speculation Engines to speed.
January 30th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Boring…….ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
January 30th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Is it too late to be “Text H”?
January 30th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
Blackest Night 0 and War of the Supermen 0 were good FCBD offerings. Time to pick up the ball again DC.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:57 am
I would like to see Johns/Frank’s Curse of Shazaam backup #0! How awesome would that be!!!
January 31st, 2012 at 5:11 am
It is hilarious that DC STILL has not realized that DCnU is a fiasco that’s flopping hard since October and that their fan-base is leaving in hordes. Go on DC continue with the New 52 atrocity: a year from now it every Wednesday will be FCBD for you cause only for free people will pick your books…
January 31st, 2012 at 6:53 am
Martha Kent are to still bitter about being, umm let’s see, oh yeah, dead in the new DCU?
January 31st, 2012 at 6:59 am
LOL@DC for alienating their fans with a useless and stupid reboot. Marvel is back on top already and DC now can not do an event like X-MEN vs. AVENGERS to boost sales because nobody know would care for JLA vs. JSA since those teams have not even met yet.
January 31st, 2012 at 7:41 am
Thats a whole lot of DC focused aggression. I suspect abuse. Has Superman ever smacked it up, flipped it, or rubbed it down on you? Has Batman ever uttered the words “Papa spank” in your ear? It’s ok, this is a safe place MDNA.
January 31st, 2012 at 7:56 am
I bet Didio cries himself to sleep lately. His silly reboot is already losing money as sales have plummeted and all those discounts to retailers and returnable books are killing the profits. He spat on the fans and he is gonna get what he deserves.
January 31st, 2012 at 7:57 am
The only FCBD offering I’m looking forward too is Valiant’s X-O! Marvel’s retread of previously published .1 issue is a waste of an opportunity (especially with the Avengers movie coming out). I don’t want to even comment about DC, except that maybe the Curse of Shazam idea from an earlier comment would be interesting.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:06 am
Say what you will about the DC reboot but at least it’s something new and we don’t have to worry about EVENTs.
Who cares if Marvel is back on top? X-men vs Avengers a 12 issue long event, Fear Itself was terrible and now Marvel is just repeating Civil War all over again. I have no interest in reading some crappy event from Marvel yet again.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:12 am
I’ll take the DC Reboot over X-men vs Avengers any day. No way am I about to spend 3.99 for a twelve issue long event again. Civil War made nearly every Marvel character unlikable and every since that and One More Day I find myself not caring a damn about barely any Marvel character.
Let me know when comic books get back to telling good stories and not just money grubbing events and stunts like killing a character off and bringing then back the very next issue.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:17 am
Yeah, I have to agree. Between Marvel’s .1 and a major event after major event, I’m tired. Right now all I’m reading is Amazing Spider-Man (which is top notch). Otherwise, I’m a DC guy and I’m enjoying the reboot.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:18 am
The New (and getting older every time someone says it) DC 52 is NOT a fiasco, parts of it certainly are ill advised *cough LIEFELD cough* but it was and is a brave move that’s worked. And this is from a Marvel zombie who only gets 4 DC books.
X-Men Vs Avenger on the face of it is un-inspired granted but I’m willing to bet some interesting things come out of it.
The structure of the two companies is radically different, comparing the two is just gimp fanboy behaviour.
Where DC are failing is in the movie side of things.
January 31st, 2012 at 9:57 am
A customer walks into a comic shop and says he hasn’t read comics in years and wants some stories he can read without having to know the backstory. I can recommend about 50 DC books, 7 or 8 independant books, and maybe 2 from Marvel. This is a problem.
Also, yes, Marvel outsells DC by 7% – 8%in a month. Marvel does this because they publish 80% – 90% more books in a month than DC. Marvel may sell more but DC is definitely the more profitable publisher.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Marvel sucks.
We need more DC movies.
January 31st, 2012 at 1:23 pm
To further your point, lead sharp…. I think DC’s lack of success in the movie department hurts them in the comic end. If you’ve seen Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Thor, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk then you can pretty much jump in to their comic counterparts and know what is going on. DC, however, doesn’t have that luxury. As good as Nolan’s Batman movies have been they have just been that: good movies. But from a comic book standpoint there is not much in the way of similarities between the movies and the comics. Superman, hasn’t had a good showing in 30 years, Green Lantern (while not terrible) was not a good way to attract readers.
DC is doing what they feel they need to do to succeed in the future with it’s comics. Yes, it’ll piss off some die-hard fans, but people in general hate change. If they built their business around people not wanting change then they’d be done.
January 31st, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Personally, I don’t see a significant bump in readership for either Marvel or DC whenever a new movie releases. When I talk to non-comic buyers (read: general public) about the upcoming *insert superhero* movie, rarely does the conversation ever divert to the comics.
When it does they argue, “Why would you spend $3 for a single comic book? I certainly wouldn’t waste my money like that. And you collect how many comics?”
I’m beginning to agree with them. Sometimes I’d rather wait for the movie, or get the animated DVD versions of my favourite superheroes. At least then I could avoid redundant events, money draining crossovers, or silly reboots. I think in the near future both Disney and Warner Bros. are going to look at their comics divisions and decide they don’t need them to get the word out on their licenses, because the movies and television shows do a heck of a lot better job of doing so.
Seriously, I cannot remember the last time I’ve seen a little kid read a comic book when I’m out and about. Comic companies have been losing their primary demographic, namely children, for years. Without them to ensure the future prosperity of comic sales, comic companies will suffer greatly.
January 31st, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Wow, it seems like you can’t throw a rock without hitting a “death of the industry” comment lately. Not saying that it’s wrong, just worth noting.
I’ve only been paying attention to comics news sites and blogs for the last 4 years or so. Can someone tell me, is this a new trend or a recycled one?
January 31st, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Well DC’s so-called “great” idea of rebooting was certainly not that great since only 5 months into The New 52 and sales are almost back to what they were before. Are they going to stabilize? Doesn’t look that way. It’s crystal clear new readers do nit stuck around while the old are leaving pissed.
February 1st, 2012 at 6:45 am
Marvel is not much better.They have knock offs of almost everyone of their heroes. Their stories are just reapeats of old stories. And now DC is becomeing so much like marvel i can’t tell the difference anymore! I have read comics for over 20 years, This is the end of that for me, Good by…..
February 11th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
yeah Im with Darryl I’ve had it with this crap. Im going back and rereading my masterworks and archives and such. comics ended in 85 for me