So lately I’ve been thinking about possibly giving up reading comics or at least scaling back my pull list. See I’ve got 44 issues that are sitting and waiting for me to read. And that’s just current issues that have come out in the last three months.
Granted, I pretty much took the entire month of November off from reading due to tremendous time suck that is National Novel Writing Month, but still 44 comics? I’m sure that there are plenty of people who read comics where 44 issues would represent multiple months of not reading anything.
And those 44 comics are just current books that I’ve picked up during my weekly trips to the comic shop. That’s not including the seven trades I’ve got on my “must read pile” or the dozen others sitting on my bookshelf. It’s also not counting the hardcovers that I keep promising I’ll crack open for the years end.
So basically I’m accumulating comics faster than I have the ability to read them.
It should also be pointed out that I’m not a busy guy. Since the winter has arrived my social calender has cleared out and I don’t work an obscene amount of hours. And yet I’ve still got more comics that I’ve got time to read.
When I was thinking about dropping books a couple months ago I singled out a few books that I thought could get cut. However just a few days ago when I gave it more thought I realized that I could probably cut out Superman titles and not think twice.
I used to enjoy reading Superman comics. Somewhere I’ve got a ragged copy of Superman #423 and Action Comics #583. I loved Byrne’s revamping of the Post-Crisis Man of Steel. But Superman has been struggling for quite some time now and I’m just going along for the ride. And the really bad thing is that even DC knows that Superman’s lost his luster and they don’t appear to have any interest in fixing things.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the evidence. Look at the line up for the Super-books last year.
Sure on the surface you’ve got three titles; Action Comics, Superman and World of New Krypton. But Kal was only appearing in World of New Krypton. Superman focused on Mon-El while Action Comics showcased Nightwing and Flamebird in a story that was so unpleasant that I didn’t really shed any tears when Greg Rucka ended his association with DC Comics.
So, for an entire year you’ve got Superman’s two titles featuring characters that aren’t Superman. That’s twelve issues of Superman-free comics in Superman and Action Comics. Sort of setting an odd precedent don’t you think?
This year we have Superman appearing in his own title, while Action Comics has been ceded over to Lex Luthor. Yeah, Superman is so boring that Lex Luthor has taken over on of his titles and people are actually enjoying it more, I know I am.
What it basically boils down to is that for at least two years, including the year celebrating the 70th anniversary of his first appearance, Superman was relegated to a single monthly title. Just like Jonah Hex.
Superman is supposed to be the marquee character for the company and he’s demoted to starring in a single monthly title for two years? It doesn’t seem like DC has all that much confidence in the character does it?
Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s been working nonstop for 70 years, he deserves to slow down a bit, but getting a singular solo monthly title is humiliating, especially considering how many titles Thor, Iron Man and Deadpool have over at Marvel. Oh, that’s right, those three characters are all considered viable movie properties, which can’t really be said about the Last Son of Krypton. Bad example.
And then to make matters worse you’ve got JMS abandoning his monthly writing gig on Superman to focus on developing more Superman Earth One graphic novels. So the only positive buzz the Man of Steel’s had in years ends in a fumble. Good going DC.
And again, I get it; Superman’s a difficult character to write, making him starring in multiple comics a month an incredible headache. And if you don’t have enough stories to fill two monthly titles give one away. It makes sense. I just wish that they’d make a formal announcement that Action Comics would be handed over to characters that, y’know, writers felt like coming up with stories for.
I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before Scoop Scanlon returns to starring in the title that he helped launch.
Basically I think that DC needs to sort out it’s problem with Superman or else I won’t have a problem dropping the book he’s in. I mean it’s only one title, but still…
