Broken Frontier

Hello, everyone! This is William Gatevackes, taking a look at the books due in stores tomorrow, March 22nd.

Catwoman #53 was one of the few One Year Later books where the major changes to the title were revealed ahead of time. In the publicity leading up to the event, readers found out that the current Catwoman, Selina Kyle, was going to be pregnant and another woman would be taking over the Catwoman identity.

This title should be commended for using the OYL break to make a major change in the character. And the situation creates a mystery which could propel future storylines. But by jumpstarting the plot with a pregnant Selina Kyle, DC might be opening itself up to criticism from the world outside of comics.

I harken back to the TV show Murphy Brown, whose main character became a single mother, much like Selina Kyle appears to be. I remember that now infamous speech by Dan Quayle where he used the storyline as an example of what he considered to be the skewed moral standards of the world at that time.

What would happen if this kind of attention was aimed at Catwoman and, in turn, comic books in general? This issue might fly underneath the mainstream news’ radar, but all we need is one slow news day and one ambitious politician to come out against it to make it become a national issue.

The real world continues to mistakenly believe that comic books are marketed to and read exclusively by children. No matter how many articles there are in the press stating otherwise, most people think of comics as they were in the 1950’s, aimed at kids. All comics need is for some representative from the religious right to say this issue is corrupting the morals of millions of little girls to cause a firestorm of controversy and create a truckload of negative publicity for comics in general.

You think I’m being paranoid? There have been precedents in the past. Frederick Wertham’s book Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954, made the case for a link between comics and juvenile delinquency. This led to Senate hearings, the institution of the Comics Code Authority, and internal censorship by the comic companies.

Do you think things have changed? Just six years ago, a man was arrested for selling an adult comic book to an adult. At his hearing, the prosecutor said this, “I don’t care what type of evidence or what type of testimony is out there, use your rationality, use your common sense. Comic books, traditionally what we think of, are for kids. This is in a store directly across from an elementary school, and it is put in a medium, in a forum, to directly appeal to kids. That is why we are here, ladies and gentlemen. We’re here to get this off the shelf.” 

Does this mean that DC should not run the storyline? Heck, no. They should run any storyline they think is appropriate and would be interesting to the readers.  But they should be prepared for any repercussions as well. They should have demographics and sales numbers to back them up in case anyone in the media questions why they are putting this storyline where kids could get at it. Maybe if they present a compelling case, the world won’t consider comics just for kids anymore.

Again, all this worrying could be for nothing. But while it might be improbable that this might happen, it is still possible.

      

Another OYL featuring a change of lead character is Hawkgirl #50, which was previously titled after its former main character, Hawkman.

There have been no hints as to the fate of Hawkman, but his disappearance from the title isn’t the only thing that's changed. The stories will be more in the horror genre, and the comic features the new creative team of Walter Simonson and Howard Chaykin.

Chaykin and Simonson have over 60 years of experience between them. Both worked on titles that helped define the 1980’s (Chaykin on American Flagg and Simonson on Thor), and both have worked continuously since they broke in. It is good to see two comic veterans given the chance to revamp the book. And if their past history was any indication, Hawkgirl should be a title to watch out for.

The solicitation for Manhunter #20 reads, “It's One Year Later...and Manhunter's shocking new strategy makes her infamous in the eyes of heroes and villains alike!” This doesn’t tell you much about the issue. Considering that the title hasn’t even appeared on the Diamond Top 100 list for the last four months, you’d think that DC would tell us a little more about the issue to try and interest new readers.

Could DC be giving up hope on the title? Or do they have something more up their sleeves to promote the title? Because the information they gave me here doesn’t really make me want to pick up the title.

       

While JLA Classified is not an OYL book, JSA Classified #10 is. This could be because the regular JSA series is currently being published while we are in between regular JLA books.

This issue features the return of Vandal Savage. While only a few months ago he appeared in the pages of Flash, let us not forget that in the DCU continuity Savage has been gone for over a year.

This, of course, doesn’t really explain why another storyline featuring Vandal Savage appears so soon after his last. There is a complaint in the fan community about characters becoming overexposed. The Joker, for instance, is used as an example of a villain who appears in too many books. Sure, the Joker must be an interesting character to write, but there are other villains Batman can also fight.

Is Vandal Savage in danger of become overused? Well, I can’t remember the last time he appeared as the central villain in a story before that Flash arc. And his appearance in JSA Classified appears to be a sequel, if not a continuation, of that Flash appearance. So I don’t believe the character is becoming as prevalent as the Joker is. But we’ll have to see where Vandal goes from here.

Batman #651 continues the story from Detective Comics #817. That issue featured a return to a certain status quo for Batman, with several old supporting characters returning in familiar roles.  And there did indeed seem to be a general, overall lightening of the character. Whether or not this shift continues in this issue remains to be seen.

Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #16 is scheduled for tomorrow, but I already covered that title in a previous column.

Devil’s Due is coming out with Forgotten Realms Book III: Sojourn #1 tomorrow. This story is based on the world of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game. This world first appeared in 1985 and was one of the more popular settings for the game.

Devil’s Due is the leader in publishing licensed properties. In addition to Forgotten Realms, they publish stories based on another TSR/Wizards of the Coast property, Dragonlance. They also hold the G.I. Joe and Transformers license from Hasbro, and recently acquired the rights to publish a Family Guy comic book.

Dealing in licensed properties is a dicey situation, especially for a smaller publisher. Sure, these properties have a built-in audience, but the cost of obtaining the license makes the books more expensive to produce.  You have to manage the cost-to-profit ratio very carefully, or you may end up bankrupting your company, which has happened before, most notably with Dreamwave.

Devil’s Due has been managing their licenses fairly well so far. Several of their G.I. Joe books have landed in the Diamond 100, and they have a number of non-licensed limited series such as Lost Squad and Black Harvest to supplement their income. And for Sojourn, as a way to increase revenue, they are printing a variant cover for the issue. The variant features a cover by a different artist, a heavier, cardstock cover, and a price $4 more than the regular issue.

This might seem harsh, making die-hard fans pay almost twice as much for a variant. But Devil’s Due is trying to make as much profit as they can. If the Forgotten Realms completist is willing to pay extra money for this book, Devil’s Due can recuperate some of the costs associated with the licensing fees.

Speaking of variant covers, Squadron Supreme #1 has two of them. This series, featuring a thinly-veiled version of DC’s Justice League of America, continues with the characters and storyline from Marvel MAX’s Supreme Power book. Only this time, the title is being published as a Marvel Knights imprint.

What does this mean? It means that the nudity, language and graphic violence that was prevalent in Supreme Power has been toned down. One assumes that Marvel is making this change to reach a larger audience. While most comics buyers these days are adults, the company might be trying to increase the books readership amongst teens. Of course, this might create a situation like the one I mentioned during the Catwoman preview above if a younger reader picks up the less kid-friendly Supreme Power to get the back story.  

Marvel anticipated this by publishing an all-ages appropriate recap of the previous series called the Saga of the Squadron Supreme. This allows comic owners to direct the under-18 clientele to something other than the original series if they want more information. 

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William Gatevackes is married and lives in Mamaroneck, NY with his lovely wife Jennifer. He writes the periodic comic review at  PopMatters and is inappropriate to be sold to anyone under the age of 18.