I usually don't use this forum to rant
and editorialize. At least I think I don't.
But I couldn't let this pass without
comment. And most of you probably never saw this.
I was at the supermarket picking up a
few needed items. When you have two kids there's always a few needed items. At the
checkout while the cashier struggled to find the UPC label on my bottle of Sobe I spied a
magazine lying down at the tail end of the checkout counter where they usually stack the
coupon flyers. It was ADVENTURES WITH THE DC SUPERHEROES. A colorful cover crammed with
characters (nice art by Tom McWeeney) that we know and love. The thing was a free giveaway
in cooperation with the dairy farmers, the “Got Milk?” folks.
It runs 32 pages with puzzles and games
and stuff featuring the Batman and Superman etal interspersed with “Got milk?”
ads. What a great promotion for DC Comics, right? They probably printed a few million of
these things. Kids who never picked up a comic would be exposed to our medium, right?
No way. That would make too much sense.
Among the puzzles and games and ads and interviews with NASCAR racers (huh?) there was
only two pages of actual comics. And they were only there as promotion for the new
BATMAN BEYOND straight to video movie. Instead we have the members of the JLA presented in
a juvenile manner as decorations for lame word games and “find-its”.
But that’s not bad enough. On the
back of the book were coupons. For the Warner Bros Studio Store. For BATMAN BEYOND videos.
For personalized children’s books featuring Superman and Batman. (you know the kind.
“Only you can save us from Brainiac, JASON,” said Superman. ) A
coupon for a stay at a Best Western hotel. Didn’t you want one of them when you
were a kid? A dollar off coupon for Underoos and a two buck coupon fro Batman Beyond toys.
No coupons for the purchase of comic
books. No subscription form for DC Comics. No mention that there are currently comic books
of Supes and Bats and the Flash and the rest in monthly publication. No mention of
comics except for a piece on how they're produced. The closest thing to a solicitation for
comics is a plug for BATMAN ANIMATED by Paul Dini and Chip Kidd. And DC Comics website is
listed last on a long list of “fun” websites in an article on the World Wide
Web.
This would have been, could have
been, a great promo for DC and comics in general. An attractive package and FREE! But
there's never a connection with the comics medium made and the characters are presented as
vapid caricatures of their monthly (or even animated) counterparts.
How many times does this happen? Lots
more than you think. DC (and Marvel) turns out lots of these special projects comics. I
worked on one for Six Flags theme parks. I saw a very entertaining one at my kids’
pediatrician promoting children's Clariton (the allergy drug) with Batman and Robin and
Poison Ivy. And there are plenty more. And in NOT ONE of them have I ever seen a
connection made to comics. What would it take to put a subscription card in with the
comic? Every other damn magazine has them. Is DC afraid that the folks paying for
these would object to a little cross-promotion? Do they not think of it? Are they
restricted by Warners from doing this? This last is possible as Warners gleefully kills
any deal where DC Comics would be sold in the WB Stores. In fact, in a recent mailer the
WB Stores were offering lithos of Marvel characters and referring to them as
“The World’s Greatest Superheroes”.
It just steams me that I work in a
business that not only doesn't spend a time or make an effort to market itself outside of
Diamond Previews but they actually seem ashamed of what they produce. Sure, they'll
promote the latest sanguine effort from Vertigo hoping the comics snob in Entertainment
Weekly will take a look at it. But they're genuinely reluctant to showcase the cast
of characters that the company was built on. The greatest collection of household name
characters in the universe
Blame video games, blame the internet,
blame Pokemon. But at least get out there and fight to get a share of the periodical
market. At least spend the cash to promote tradepaperbacks instead of letting
Borders and Barnes & Noble just display them spine out at the ass-end of the science
fiction section like they were some afterthought.
I feel like I want to be dragged into a
room and have the Ned Beatty character from NETWORK explain the cold hard facts of why
it's all like this; why the comics industry is working so hard to do itself in.
I'm go lie down now with a cold
washcloth on my head.