Here’s a riddle for you, CBMers:
Q: Why do Marvel and DC put mediocre writers and artists on flagship titles like Detective Comics, Superman, and Uncanny X-Men?
A: Because you’ll buy them anyway.
For the last few weeks, there has been a lot of hubbub amongst the comic community regarding the state of the industry. Between Before Watchmen, Avengers VS X-Men, and numerous creative team shifts, there has been much fodder for this discussion. The dialogue has come from fans and creators alike. While the actual issues at hand are vast, the general consensus is that something needs to change.
Consider this: Right now, the title that gave DC Comics its name is being written by Tony Daniel. Let me reiterate this: Detective Comics is being written by Tony Daniel. Tony Daniel is possibly the epitome of mediocrity in comics. And yet, the first issue of the relaunch went into four printings.
People didn’t buy this title because they were excited to see what Tony Daniel did with the character. He’s worked on Batman plenty of times before and anyone that’s read his work knows that the answer is going to be “nothing new.” No, people bought the first issue of Detective Comics because it’s Detective Comics. Similarly, some of the biggest titles in the comic industry right now (Superman, Uncanny X-Men, Justice League, etc) are being subjected to sub-par, if not downright lousy, runs. Hell, between the first half of Grounded and its current run by George Perez, it’s a wonder anybody still reads Superman. If it wasn’t for the fact that, you know, it’s Superman, this book probably would have been cancelled a while ago. It’s sad. It’s sad that DC is letting this happen. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Marvel reader or a DC reader. Everyone can recognize that Superman is one of the titles that DC should be putting grade-A talent on.
But the thing is, they don’t have to. They don’t have to put any effort into Superman because people will buy it anyway.
This is why Tony Daniel is writing Detective Comics. This is why Marvel is putting out their umpteenth “biggest-event-ever-no-seriously-guys-we-really-mean-it-this-time-really-really-for-real-seriously” crossover. This is why Rob Liefeld has just been put on THREE TITLES. It’s because we’re sheep. We’ve been following these characters since we were kids and we’re going to buy their titles out of sheer habit.
But we don’t have to.
This began to occur to me a few months ago. I looked at my pull list and realized how many titles I was reading out of habit, out of loyalty to the character and not the quality of the title itself. I then began looking at just how many books there were on my local shop’s shelf, and specifically how many of these titles weren’t published by Marvel or DC. That’s when I started rearranging my list. I stopped reading any titles that were not absolutely stellar. This left me with four DC books and two Marvel books. Ultimate X-Men? Gone. Didn’t deliver like I thought it would. Aquaman? Good….not great. Justice League? I got tired of reading a comic that read like it was being written by people that didn’t actually like comics that much. One by one, these titles dropped, and one by one, I added new independent titles to my pull list. Memorial. The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. Morning Glories. Fatale. Chew. iZombie. Heart. All of these are incredible titles that deserve far more readers than they have.
Here’s the thing: DC and Marvel do not care about blogs. They do not care why fans are buying their titles and they do not care if you like what you’re buying or not. They only care that you are buying, period.
The best way to make your voice heard as a comic book reader is to stop buying titles that are anything but great. You are not obligated to buy these titles. If anything, Marvel and DC are obligated to put out great material for you to purchase. THEY owe YOU for your years of support and they are not delivering. They may not listen to comments on CBM, but they WILL listen to your wallets.
So I’m begging you. Take this to heart. Stop supporting mediocre comics. Stop buying comics that you don’t enjoy reading, and stop passing great titles by because they don’t have Wolverine fighting every member of the Marvel Universe in one issue. What you should start doing is putting quality over quantity, and quality over familiarity. There are some fantastic creator/independently-owned reads out there and I can't recommend putting your money towards them enough. If enough people do it, believe me, the Big Two will get the message. We are capable of changing this industry and it’s high time we started doing it.