Valerie D'Orazio, The Occasional Superheroine, has recently written a long and angry (as only a true fan can be) piece about mainstream DC's gallop into decline and irrelevances, as demonstrated by the sales collapse of Countdown. It seems of obvious interest to our audience.
A lot of her post could be construed as Dan DiDio-bashing--for instance, this bit:
Yes, "Minx" is an innovation -- not a DiDio project.
Yes, "Zuda" is an innovation -- not a DiDio project.
What are the innovations of the DiDio regime?
a) "Taking the smile out of comics" with the "innovative" "Identity Crisis"
b) Aping the successful "Crisis on Infinite Earths" of twenty-five years ago with "Infinite Crisis"
c) Aping the successful "Crisis on Infinite Earths" of twenty-five years ago with "52"
d) Aping the successful "Crisis on Infinite Earths" of twenty-five years ago with "Countdown"
e) Aping the successful "Crisis on Infinite Earths" of twenty-five years ago with "Final Crisis"
And now we have the highly-innovative "Countdown" spin-off "Arena," which, by DiDio's own admission, is on the level of "fan-fiction."
Bashing. But justified.
For a long time, I wasn't inclined to bash Dan DiDio. I've had enough long looks behind the doors of Marvel and DC to realize that mostly the companies are run by reasonably smart people who are doing their best in an industry where no one knows anything about why anything is successful (TM William Goldman).
But then DiDio started publishing his weekly "DC Nation" editorials. I finally stopped reading them after realizing that they made me feel bad--bad about liking superheroes, bad about liking DC, bad about liking comics. They made me despair for the future of the industry. So I stopped and I feel much better now.
Go, read.
Updated to correct the orthography of Dan DiDio's name.
Posted by Kevin J. Maroney at August 26, 2007 1:18 PM
D'Orazio is bashing, sure, but she's simply articulating what I think a lot of people are starting to realize, or suspect -- that DiDio's hand on the tiller is stifling creativity and killing morale at the ground level. What I didn't know (because I don't pay that much attention to such things) is that Countdown was tanking in sales. I always tend to overestimate the tolerance of the general readership for crap.
I remember attending two DC Nation panels at Comic-Con and walking out once I saw that no real information would be forthcoming, but what struck me was the sense of awkwardness with all these people there and Dan DiDio essentially cracking the ringmaster's whip. On reflection, the reluctance of the panelists to say anything of substance could have had as much to do with wishing to disclaim responsibility for what was going down as it did with not wanting to give things away.
That's not to say that some good stuff didn't come out of the necrophiliac circle jerk(TM) that was Infinite Crisis. I studiously avoided 52 at the time but am now quite enjoying reading it in TPB form, fluffy as it is. Blue Beetle is a joy, and Booster Gold looks like it could be pretty fun. However, Countdown is a step too far, too soon, and for Final Crisis...? What next? Final This Time For Sure Crisis? No, Seriously This Time We Mean It Crisis?
I didn't know Countdown was an industry joke either, but I'm not surprised. Also, I'm wondering how pained Paul Dini must be to have his name be right at the head of that.
I like the suggestion of Dwayne McDuffie as a replacement. Are things are bad enough that DC will be looking for that replacement, though? And what horrors will be wrought before that happens?
Dan DiDio strikes me as DC's answer to Bill Jemas.
As I noted before, the line of DC comics from Identity Crisis through Infinite Crisis into 52, and all the related continuity tomfoolery, succeeded in making me not care about the DC Universe any more.
I love superhero comic books. It's not that. It's that, if I pick up a Shazam comic, it doesn't have a Captain Marvel that I recognize. It's that, if I pick up a Shadowpact, it doesn't tell me what I need to know to read the comic, even the characters' names. It's that, faced with inventing a cosmic threat, Infinite Crisis picked Superboy. Hard to put Superman up on a pedestal when he's one bad day in Limbo away from going crazy. At least it took an entire evil universe to turn Ultraman evil.
Just for the heck of it, my WTFOMGBBQ moment from last week's DC books was in Green Arrow Year One which has a bit which never should've gotten past the writer or editor. Spoiler after some space for a retcon which is particularly significant for GA but which has never been mentioned before...
Ollie now has an opium habit in his background. He got it the "proper" way; it was used in raw form as a painkiller for serious injuries, but he's on it long enough to become addicted and have to go through significant withdrawal. Of course, that seriously weakens Roy's classic story and history with heroin, and makes Ollie look like even more of an asshole in terms of his actions then.
Of course, this adds *nothing* to his character as already established, or provides any particular new ways to go with him. It just weakens severely an existing classic story and drops something into his history seemingly just for the heck of it.
LXWMOQLLCR- Winick! Bedard! Diggle! Together they are the League of Extraordinary Writers Making Oliver Queen Look Like a Complete Retard! BELIEVE IT!