DC to Rely on Sameness to Sell Comics
Because unique characters and comics didn’t work, DC has decided to put all of their eggs in the Justice League basket. I can’t blame them. If your Hawkman, Static Shock and Legion of Superheroes comics aren’t selling, why keep putting them out? Comic books are a fickle market. We fans say we love certain characters, but we don’t say it with our wallets.
DC announced two new comics yesterday, both of which fall back to tried and true money earners:
Superman/Wonder Woman and Justice League 3000.
Her lasso is out of control!
DC already announced months ago that they’ll be making a Superman/Batman comic, reviving a title from before the reboot. So I guess it just makes sense to add Superman/Wonder Woman, especially considering their new romantic relationship. Not much is known about Superman/Wonder Woman so far (other than it focusing on their relationship), but it will be written by Charles Soule and drawn by Tony Daniel, and it will debut in October.
All they need now is Batman/Wonder Woman to make the trinity complete. Expect that announcement any month now.
Justice League 3000 is replacing the soon-to-be cancelled Legion of Superheroes comic. DC started the New 52 with two Legion comics, both of which have now been given the heave ho. I’ve never been a Legion fan myself, so I never bought the comics, but I always figured the Legion was important enough to always be around. But nope! DC has decided to simply create a Justice League in the future. Click the jump to see all the future versions of the characters. This idea is…interesting, to say the last. I don’t know what to think of the idea. It’s too bad Legion had to go, and it’s too bad DC is just falling back to the safety of the ‘Justice League’ brand name. But maybe Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire can work their magic. They’re the brilliant creative team behind those hilarious Justice League comics of the 80s and 90s.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that DC is relying on the Superman and Justice League brand names more than they should. Both DC and Marvel are doing it. I just find it…generally disappointing. Not that I was buying Hawkman or Legion of Superheroes, but I liked to believe some people were.
Anyway, click the jump to see the new futuristic JL members and let me know what you think about these two new comics in the comments.
I think I like Green Lantern the best. Maybe this future Justice League will just offer DC a chance to make future versions of all their characters. Future Hawkman anyone? Future Wonder Twins? Hells yeah! And, of course, Future Robin. Make it happen, DC. They just should straight up use the Super Friends cast, honestly.
Posted on June 18, 2013, in Batman, Comics, DC, Superman and tagged Justice League 3000, Legion of Superheroes, Superman/Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman. Bookmark the permalink. 17 Comments.
Henchman-4-Hire 
I’m distraught over Hawkman’s cancellation. I loved the new comics! Oh well; at least he’s in Justice League of America now.
The Justice League 3000 designs, for the most part, look great! I agree that GL looks the best. Superman’s could use some more work (that hair…), and Batman’s is absolutely dreadful. The main problem I’m having with the costumes here is more or less the same problem I had with the Teen Titans’ new costumes — there’s just too much red. The color is warranted for the likes of Wondey, Supey, and Flash, but Batman? Really? Ugh. All of this red is just too much!
Anyways, I really hope we get to see Hawkman and Aquaman in JL 3000.
Great article as always!
Thanks!
And you make a great point, there is a lot of red. I’m sure DC was just trying to tap into the Batman Beyond market in terms of making Batman red. At least it makes Green Lantern stand out. And I would definitely be in favor of Aquaman 3000. He should already be in the lineup, gosh darn it!
I love Batman Beyond and the Red/Black suit but this Batman Red/Black suit ain’t working for me. It’s nice to see a mostly black foundation with some red but this is just no. GL looks awesome but doesn’t shout out GL at all. Oh well, hopes this will be great.
I’m digging all of the costumes, though Flash’s neck scarf/face mask seems like it wouldn’t work at super high speeds. Not that I know anything about traveling at super speed.
Well, an ordinary scarf worked well for Wally West in the Young Justice Tie-in comic. Granted he’s only a fraction of Barry’s speed.
It’s the same reason all of Marvel’s titles are Avengers, X-Men or Spider-Man: Fans refuse to buy anything else. If it doesn’t have the characters they know and love, they don’t care. It’s why all three of Marvel’s female solo titles have sales in the shitter. It’s why Morbius was cancelled with 9 issues. It’s why Alpha Flight and Excalibur couldn’t last long any more.
It’s infuriating.
Indeed. It’s my ongoing theory that we’re soon to reach a point where all comics will have Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Batman, Superman or Justice League in the title. It’ll be Spider-Man Presents: The Fantastic Four or Spider-Man and the Defenders.
Blame popularity. DC and Marvel want to sell comics, they use the most popular characters they have.
It wasn’t that long ago in my mind that it was only Spider-Man and the mutants which held the most popularity, and the Avengers was only a mediocre selling title. But that all changed in recent years with Bendis and the movies, so now Avengers is top of the heap. Who’s to say the same thing might not happen to some other hero or group. Hopefully Marvel/DC will keep pumping out new heroes on a semi-regular basis until something hits a chord with readers, or conversely, find a writer of Mozart like genius who can make something old, fresh and popular and entertaining.
That’s the opposite direction of my theory, that something new will come along. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think the publishers these days are so focused on profit that they’ll clamp down on what they know sells and not let it go. Marvel remains willing to try new comics, like Morbius or putting Sif in Journey Into Mystery, but those comics get cancelled.
I’m not a fan of supes together with WW. after all that trouble him and lois went through to get married before the relaunch, and then suddenly he’s with wonder woman…oh well.
and the justice league 3000 sounds weird. i personally love hawkman. his backstory is one of the most unique ones out there. to replace him with a balding superman is nearly blasphemous. GL looks the coolest, and batman would too if he didnt look like he was trying to emulate count dracula (all that red…). But big names like Justice League usually churn out god material, so will probably give it a go.
on a side note, i was wondering if you could answer a poll on my blog. i swear this isnt spam. im not looking for likes, comments, follows or any of that stuff. i just need a little help deciding what to read next. would really appreciate the help. bit.ly/13UgM5f thanks.
sorry the link died, heres a new one. http://tinyurl.com/pzve7bm
Voted!
I’m willing to give Superman and Wonder Woman a chance as a couple. I fully believe that DC should try new things with the New 52, things that exist only in this continuity. So I think it’s a big deal to hook these two characters up…though I think I would have been a bigger fan of Batman and Wonder Woman, but oh well.
HA! so i’m not the only one! i thought i was imagining the whole bats/Wonderwoman vibe thing. i genuinely think that that would have worked out better. especially since it’s rumored that our power couple won’t be a couple for much longer.
and thank you so much! i really appreciate it.
Bats and Wonder Woman were very cute together in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon!
YES! i totally agree! i just discovered that both Justice League and Justice league Unlimited were continued as comics. gonna get on that now.