North Carolina Bound... The DC Comics Suggestion Box

[Rich Johnston]

This weekend sees DC comics creators from across the country head to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a creative summit, with editors and publishers on hand.

That's if they can escape blizzard bound New York.

There will be workshops, brainstorms and lectures, and it is likely that the future of the New 52 will be hammered out (or presented at the show)..

What we don't know is if there will be a suggestion box. Where DC creators can anonymously provide suggestions for the company, both for the summit and for the publisher as a whole. Always a good way to get unfettered, uncompromising reactions.

So it was suggested that Bleeding Cool runs one. Results at the end of the day!

[tako]

Suggestions:

• Bring back all previous Teen Titans history
• Wally West
• Comic books in one universe that don't conflict with each other or undo each other every other issue.

[tamanini]

A new Shazam family Title
A new Lobo mini series
A megasuperultra crossover with all the titles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Friday]

Do your best to present stability to the public.
Reduce editorial mandates on creative personnel.
Increase communication lines from Editorial to the talent. People have less problems doing what you ask if they know why.

[vjostrowski]

Suggestion:

Writers' story ideas are more important than editors' story ideas.

Makes me shit blood when I read Bob Harras or Eddie Berganza or Dan DiDio talk about what THEY want to see happen in a comic book or which characters THEY like.

I thought the writers were supposed to do that and the editors were suppose to make sure it makes sense and fits into the big picture?

My suggestion to DC would be to take a look at what's working in your own damn company: I love a good handful of these New 52 books. Batman, Wonder Woman, Action, Dial H, Demon Knights, Batman and Robin, Batman Inc, Earth 2, etc...

But the ones that are good have clearly been editorially fucked with the least. That's the common theme and it's really pretty obvious.

[fukbot]

Ongoing:
Blue & Gold (Booster & Beetle in their own series!)
Lobo
Sensation Comics (starring Wonder Woman)
Atom
Question
end Red Lanterns

[Maybeland]

A Cyborg ongoing.
At least one black writer.
Apollo and Midnight shack up and fight somebody other than Stormwatch members.
A good writer on Red Hood.
Fabian on Drake(also how did Tim Drake miss getting a dragon costume) be it solo or TT.
Let Gail Simone right Babs recovery story.
Find some better artist for the mid-tier books.
I'd like to see one cover with someone smiling who isn't the joker.

[tako]

Suggestion:

Writers' story ideas are more important than editors' story ideas.

Makes me shit blood when I read Bob Harras or Eddie Berganza or Dan DiDio talk about what THEY want to see happen in a comic book or which characters THEY like.

I thought the writers were supposed to do that and the editors were suppose to make sure it makes sense and fits into the big picture?

My suggestion to DC would be to take a look at what's working in your own damn company: I love a good handful of these New 52 books. Batman, Wonder Woman, Action, Dial H, Demon Knights, Batman and Robin, Batman Inc, Earth 2, etc...

But the ones that are good have clearly been editorially fucked with the least. That's the common theme and it's really pretty obvious.

I'm pretty sure editorial will never touch Batman, Inc.

If someone were to wave their editorial wand over Batman, Inc...Grant Morrison would write the editor out of existence.

[TheLostSuperFriend]

I was watching Adventure Time the other day with my boys--neither of whom have any interest in DC or Marvel comics, despite liking the characters, but they adore that show, and I like it too.

And while watching, it occurred to me that it really wasn't so different from the Weisinger-era Superman.

We've gotten used to all of it now, but all that stuff--Braniac, Kandor, Lois's schemes, Jimmy as Elastic Lad, the Legion, the Legion of Super Pets, etc., etc., etc., was totally NUTS. Yeah, it got old, and when we were teenagers and trying to be cool it seemed unbearably cheesy, but in a lot of ways those books were the Adventure Time of their era.

And was Superman ever more popular? Maybe for a brief time when the Donner movie came out, but I'm not sure even then.

I think Superman ought to be the "day-glo funhouse" that Grant Morrison described a ways back. He captured that in All-Star Superman, but lost it with the New 52.

I don't think Superman is past his prime at all. But I don't think anyone is going to much care about a generic, Marvel-like hero who is actually less interesting than some of his copycats. He's not Batman. He's not Wolverine. And you'll kill him if you try to make him like them.

So my suggestion is, watch a lot of Adventure Time, and with that in mind, go read those old Weisinger-era books. Try to see them with a fresh eye. Don't get all nostalgic. But do try to bring that crazy, wild nuttiness back to the books.

My two cents.

[Marvel Zombie 9]

1) Bring Wally West, Stephanie Brown, Donna Troy, and Cassandra Cain back. (OK, maybe I took it too far with that last one)
2) Doom Patrol!!!!!!!
3) Bring back Shadowpact co-written by Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges. Make it the sister book of Lemire's JLD.
4) Ignore all of us crazy BC posters and do what you want to.