Today's News about "Future's End" and Multiple Weekly Comics Illustrates That DC has Gone and Utterly Lost It's Mind

My Hesitation about Weekly Comics
Weekly comic-series. That assortment of words can stir up a mess of emotions in me I can't easily comprehend. When I talk about a weekly comic-series I don't mean how there are so many Avenger's comics that arguably one comes out every week. I am referring to those times when a comic publisher will do an event comic that comes out once a week, every week, for a whole year. These always make me nervous and hopeful at the same time.

The shining example in many people's eyes of what would count as a weekly comic-series that was done marvelously well would be DC's, "52". The worst example of this can also be found within DC, with their "Countdown to Final Crisis" comics. Really, I can't think of any time in recent memory Marvel had a weekly year-long comic series coming out besides when they were doing "Amazing Spider-Man" on what was basically a weekly basis, but that didn't have a set time-length so much as it eventually ended and became the current "Superior Spider-Man" comic and its assorted tie-ins.

A "Batman Eternal" teaser image.

DC is already starting one weekly comic soon called "Batman Eternal". They also have one called "Future's End" starting in May. That sounds excessive as it is, but today I read some absolutely mind-blowing news.

A little earlier today DC went and dropped the bomb that not only do they have their new weekly series "Future's End" starting up in May, but come September every ongoing DC comic will kick it into overdrive by looking ahead some years into this potential future, and result in another weekly comic (to be named later) being launched that examines the things that could lead to this potential future, or something. Oh, and the September comics will be in that annoying 3-D-cover format DC used for Villain's Month of 2013.

One of my favorite satirical news duos sums up my view perfectly.

I don't swear much, but has DC gone utterly fucking insane?

I mean honestly, they already have the pressure of one weekly comic starting in April, another in May, and before I absolutely rip into them maybe we should simply examine three big flaws with simply doing just a weekly event comic, never-mind having two going on, with "Batman Eternal" and "Future's End" being in full-swing by the time September arrives and then brings October with a third weekly series.

3 Big Potential Weekly-Series Flaws

If the concept is bad, the whole thing will be bad
If the overall idea of the story is flawed, or the concept doesn't work well, then the whole series will suffer. Putting aside how "Countdown to Final Crisis" was also harmed by its many tie-in comics and was barely acknowledged by "Final Crisis"--in fact with some plot points in that comic directly contradicting the series--"Countdown" was hobbled from the start.

The whole point was that it was building to the real event, and basically all the readers were getting was setup. It flowed poorly, it was often dull, and the focus was scatter-shot in a way that was annoying whereas "52"'s way of jumping around to various characters made sense as an overall tapestry was formed. "Countdown" was an utter mess, but it was basically doomed from the word "Go", in my opinion. With a comic-book there may be the occasional mediocre or terrible story-arc, which is fine because you just wait for the next tale. When its a 52-issue mess...you're screwed.

This snazzy teaser for "Countdown to Final Crisis" was basically the only thing that I liked about the series

Art=rush-job
Another problem with weekly comics is sometimes the art can feel rushed, to put it lightly. You have all these artists working on a tight schedule and fill-ins will almost undoubtedly be needed, it can be quite messy. Now, if a careful balancing of artists is done where certain ones illustrate particular stories things can work out well. "Brightest Day" was a comic that came out every other week (switching-off with "Justice League: Generation Lost") but the majority of the time it was clever in having a particular artist stick with a story-beat. Ivan Reis was the main person who drew the Aquaman sections, for example.

The cost of knowing what the Hell is going on
When a comic comes out weekly for a year that is a big investment for a reader. Should it be a $2.99 comic you're easily paying over a hundred if you don't get a store discount, and if there are numerous tie-in comics for the event, or some-to-most issues are $3.99 for some reason you're now at almost 300 benjamins for the privilege of keeping-up with the big event.

"Future's End"--A Weekly and Line-Wide Event?

A slightly-older "Future's End" teaser

Clearly, weekly-comics can worry me, even if sometimes they turn out to be delightful in the way "52" did. Therefore, with DC having announced they are going to have two weekly comic-book series, "Batman Eternal" and "Future's End" you can understand my hesitation.

Then DC announces another soon-to-named weekly comic which will have the entire publishers line-up serving as a kind of massive prologue in September while apparently crossing-over with the "Future's End" weekly series, and my hesitation turns to shock.

THEN DC declares how the covers will come in 3-D as they did for Villain's Month,which many may recall was a royal mess, and my shock turns into slack-jawed disbelief at the combination of gall and idiocy I feel DC is displaying.

I can't wait to pay extra for a stupid cover gimmick

Honestly, are we being serious here? DC wants to have two weekly comics already going, then do a line-wide event in the month of September, and have that lead into another weekly comic? Even if the concepts are slightly interesting (addressing one concern I have about weekly comics) and even if the art works out well too, isn't the cost of this basically going to be astronomical for the reader?

Between the many comics with 3-D covers (that you already know DC will be charging $3.99 or more for), the weekly cost of "Future's End" and whatever the weekly comic that comes in October will cost, someone who just wants to enjoy the entirety of these events could easily spend half a grand--before even taking into account if they also want to read "Batman Eternal"!

I really do feel that DC as a company has lost its mind. This "Future's End" and October-series business sounds bloated with there being so many comics between the weekly series and September event. Plus, it feels like a price-gouging exercise with the horrendously stupid 3-D covers making a return. I'm honestly terrified this kind of excessive behavior is bringing us right back to the absurd shenanigans  that occurred right before the last great big crash of the comic market.

Who would have thought a reboot would now look restrained compared to what DC is doing now?

The Month of Madness
I liked the Nu52 reboot DC did, it was ballsy and dangerous but paid off. Over time the comics haven't been that impressive however and I've been reading less and less titles due to either dropping them or having the ones I liked cancelled. Now we have gotten to a point where DC is again doing something surprising, but where it is sheer lunacy instead of a brave risk that's worth taking. Does DC honestly think its reader-base can support three monthly titles, a big month-long event, and the regular issues of series that will be coming out before and after September--or as I'm thinking of calling it, "The Month of Madness (trademark pending, but not really)"?

This is insane, overly-expensive, and I plan to have little-to-no part of it, simply reading the main (and thankfully just monthly) Batman comic, Green Arrow (because of its incredible art) and a Justice League comic or two occasionally.

Today, February 27th, 2014, is the day I think DC officially showed us how it has gone over the deep end. These three weekly comics, a big September event, and all the regular titles may, for all I know, do gangbusters in terms of sales. However, I really think that isn't likely and instead we could be on the verge of a comics market-collapse that will be so immense it'll cause us to marvel at the grotesqueness and majesty of it all.

I honestly just hope all the comic stores will be okay if this blows up in DC's face and leaves Marvel, Image, and the rest of publishers laughing.

Flashback Friday--Looking Back Over "Brightest Day" and It's Swamp-Thing Epilogue Mini-Series

The More Things Change...The More They Surprisingly Actually Change

Remember "Brightest Day?" Arguably a quite good mini-series done by Geoff Johns (whose work can be spotty) and Peter Tomasi (a pretty talented person) this basically was what came after the sometimes good and sometimes dreadful, "Blackest Night," event. I've re-read the event in a trade (the 1st one) and my old comics as when it first came out I just kind of skimmed it instead of reading closely. I zoned out a bit around the 7th issue which finally sort-of explained what the point of the series was. Things did pick-up however.

A weekly series (Like the great "52") that didn't actually have the events take place every week (unlike "52"), "Brightest Day," followed some of the characters who seemingly were inexplicably brought back to life at the end of, "Blackest Night," whilst a few other characters who were resurrected kind of did their own thing in separate comics and mini-series. Some of the resurrections were obviously going to happen (Aquaman, Martian Manhunter) a few were out of left-field(Reverse-Flash, Maxwell Lord) and by far the most clever was Deadman, whose whole point of being a character is that he's....well, dead.

One of the most interesting things about reading, "Brightest Day," now is seeing what aspects of the continuity "stuck" in the New 52 and what was changed or essentially dropped. Deadman was still dating Dove (as appears to have ended badly in "Hawk and Dove" and "Justice League Dark", Blackest Night still apparently happened (as shown in, "Green Lantern)," and the Swamp Thing came back from the dead (as shown in "Swamp Thing").

However, Firestorm was completely rebooted along with Hawkman, Martian Manhunter is a quite different person with a vastly altered history with the Justice League, and as for Aquaman...well, this sort of gently started the, "He's a no-nonsense guy who is pretty pissed," style of the character we have in the New 52. Yeah, the New 52 is still a bit of a mess continuity-wise because it chose to keep some things going but re-started most. Also, "Brightest Day," introduced the neat Aqualad!

This was a fun series that somewhat made sense as inevitably a fair amount of the characters turned out to not matter much to the main series even if they had their moments in the Big, "Brightest Day #0," issue which kicked things off. Maxwell Lord basically just was important to the Generation Lost mini-series, I have no idea what purpose Jade or Osiris served, and that guy who throws the boomerang really wasn't in the comic at all until at the end when he was needed to move the plot along.

As I've stated, this was all mainly an excuse to bring back Swamp Thing as a guardian of the world (or something) who got rid of the last of Nekron's evil left over from the, "Blackest Night," comics. Also, it brought John Constantine back into the main DC Universe whilst he continued to exist in a Vertigo comic, so kudos to, "Brightest Day," for that.

Of course, this was a bit of a false-start for ol' John as even though he is doing a great job as a character in, "Justice League Dark," he was in the terrible mini-series about Swamp Thing that came after this and was--as I stated--just dreadful. Titled, "The Search For Swamp Thing," the plot was thin, the ending was both rushed and stupid, and the whole three-issues just seemed completely pointless other than slightly helping to establish the Swamp Thing and John Constatine in the DC Universe (and drop some hints about "The Green" and "The Rot" that would actually turn out to be important in the New 52's, "Swamp Thing," and "Animal Man," but even that doesn't make this stinker worth a gander). Yeah, this was bad, but, "Brightest Day," was still pretty good even with the nasty aftertaste of, "The Search for Swamp Thing."

As I said, "Brightest Day," was enjoyable. So much happens its hard to describe. From events on Hawkworld that somehow involve the Lanterns who control love, to Aquaman temporarily only being able to control dead sea-life in a disturbing twist, to some actually quite sweet moments between the now-living Deadman and his grandfather--yeah, a lot happens, with some of it being more useful to the overall story than other parts.

So, the series started out slow, but actually did speed-up, was pretty fun even if at times it did not make sense, and introduced Aqualad, who was pretty interesting considering he was the evil Black Manta's son but worked with Aquaman. One major problem of the story can be expressed though with the character of Black Manta--sometimes the series would have a character appear and then they wouldn't pop up for a bunch of issues. Manta was in the zero issue and I don't think we saw him again until around the ninth issue. Hawkman and Hawkgirl would get most of an issue and then disappear (same with Firestorm), Martian Manhunter has essentially his own cool issue where he's tricked into thinking he's living in a perfect world but isn't...and after that issue his story really just fizzles out.

Besides my complaints, I really did have a fun time, which--with some of the comics coming out these days from DC--is a bit harder to do now (some of the New 52 is leaving quite cold while other parts are fun). I'd give this series a read--although you really need to ingest, "Blackest Night," first to fully understand it.
Brightest Day #0-#24--3.5 out of 5 stars.
The Search For Swamp Thing #1-#3--1 out of 5 stars.