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Post by Chris on Jun 9, 2021 4:37:00 GMT -5
Whether or not this is a change for the better or not is up to the individual, and how the suggested consequences play out. And while this might seem like I'm going into consequences, everything here is basically just one great big heated meeting in the DC offices with lots of snap decisions being made. 1983(ish) Editor Julius Schwartz is informed of Crisis On Infinite Earths and how it will streamline DC's continuity by placing all of their characters on one Earth... This is a big one and the one I've wondered most about. Let's see... Sales are such on The Flash that the series still gets cancelled at 350, but the character is allowed to cool his heels in the future a la the ending of Flash 350 as DC waits for the right project for his return. While I could see Schwartz saving the character, I couldn't picture the actual comic "The Flash" not being cancelled, given where it was at in those days. Then again, much of what Cary Bates wrote for the last year or two of the series was based on the knowledge that the book would be cancelled and the character killed off in Crisis. So, I wonder a little. With Julius Schwartz hitting 70 in 1985, he likely won't be overseeing Superman for much longer. The drastic reboot doesn't happen, but DC still looks for outside talent to get sales and interest up. John Byrne takes over on Superman, but works within continuity though the character doesn't quite feel the same as before. With the success of Dark Knight, Byrne has Superman and Batman adopt a "reluctant allies" approach to their relationship (sort of like Mike Barr had them do in Batman and the Outsiders in 1983), Clark Kent and Lana Lang still broadcast the news together on WGBS and a relationship blossoms with Kent deciding it may be time to retire his "meek and mild-mannered" routine, Byrne will still work the occasional piece of skeevy sexual innuendo into his writing before penning the Barda porn tape issue which, this time, DC will reject. Byrne will feel stifled as a result and leave. At first, I read this as "Byrne will still work the occasional piece of skeevy sexual innuendo into his writing before penning the Barda porn tape issue which, this time, DC will reject. Byrne will feel stiffed as a result and leave. " and I thought, "Oh, I see what you did there." Then I re-read it and realized you didn't do it at all. Still kind of funny, though. We'll still get Curt Swan on art duties for DC Comics PresentsThat would be awesome. I would think the book wouldn't have Swan art every issue, though. I think it would continue the tradition of different artists every issue. Maybe different writers too, unless Byrne were writing it all himself. I can also see editor Andy Helfer being in a stronger position, since now DC isn't banking everything on Byrne's revamp. Helfer might be able to forestall some of Byrne's dumber stuff. Marv Wolfman will offer some new bold changes... He had previously tried to use Vandal Savage in the early 80's in the same way he would use businessman-Luthor in our timeline. Though that petered out, this time around he tries again, has Luthor come up with an invention which benefits Metropolis and the world and - building off of Eliot Maggin's already introduced idea in our timeline that Luthor would one day build LexCorp off of his inventions - we see a Luthor much like the one we got. Superman can't touch him for a while, but knows he hasn't gone straight. The public thinks that Superman is jealous of Luthor's rise in popularity, Luthor delights in this, and things come to an eventual head when Superman exposes with questionable results for the world. We also get a lot more Brainiac as he was in 1983. Sounds about right.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jun 9, 2021 11:58:24 GMT -5
How about a couple of behind-the-scenes scenarios in which hindsight becomes foresight? 1. When someone at First and Comico (and others? Can't remember) floats the idea of trying newsstand distribution, someone else convinces the powers that be that this would be a very bad idea, and it never happens.
Ugh. Someone else convinces Mike Friedrich not to invest in badly-colored special issues, and not to publish Imagine! but rather to feed the material into a more frequently-recurring Star*Reach.
Consequently, we get the Batman graphic novel by Englehart & Rogers, and more excellent work from the line.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 9, 2021 20:58:28 GMT -5
Editorial relents, but decides they can't just abandon all the time, effort, and research they have invested so far, and start thinking about another project they can do with the material they have. Schwartz says to do whatever they want with it all and exits, satisfied that DC will not be giving him a huge middle finger by destroying his creative legacies. DC leaves intact both the multiverse and the vehicle by which it was introduced - a signature Schwartz character, the Flash. Alright, so what happens with Crisis then? I'm guessing it still happens with Wolfman reworking his script to accommodate the fact that his plan to create one timeline will not be forthcoming. He still wants to produce something that will signify the end of an era and will open doors for the future and with that, we still get the death of Supergirl. Still intending to use her death to catch readers off guard with an even bigger passing the following issue, Wolfman looks for a hero to use with Barry Allen now off-limits. Disappointed that he can't close out the current era by killing off the hero who ushered in the previous one, he thinks of other possibilities who might fill the symbolic role he's looking for and hones in on Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Though it takes quite a bit of persuading, Wolfman convinces DC to let him kill off the character who doesn't yet even appear in his script by taking advantage of the fact that over in his own title, both John Stewart and Guy Gardner are fighting for the role. So Wolfman leaves DC history intact, but still wants to do something about its multiple Earths. His new story has The Anti-Monitor defeated with most other worlds surviving (Earth 3, for instance, will probably still get the heave-ho) but the barrier separating them too fragile to traverse from here on out. Message being: no more JSA/JLA team-ups and that sort of thing. However, a number of characters will find themselves trapped on Earth One and will be worked into "our" universe. Wolfman doesn't account for every hero this affects (other than the Charlton heroes), but it allows stuff like the Giffen and DeMatteis Justice League to use Doctor Fate, Blue Beetle, etc. though Captain Marvel will be unavailable due his residency on Earth S and Guy Gardner will be off-limits until the Green Lantern offices decide how to proceed with him given what's happened with Hal Jordan. Roy Thomas gets to continue with All-Star/Young All-Stars/Infinity Inc. without being hampered by all the changes Crisis would have wrought upon the team, but DC eventually loses interest in publishing a title set on an Earth outside of their main one and cancels whatever Earth 2 title exists in this world. However, with John Byrne not bringing Mike Carlin to DC in 1986 in this timeline, Carlin isn't in a position to prevent The JSA from getting the occasional mini-series, back-up feature, appearance here and there either.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 9, 2021 21:27:55 GMT -5
Dateline 1968: After visiting his office and being wowed by Joe Simon's future plans for Brother Power the Geek , Carmine Infantino goes to bat for the book and says if it's cancelled, he'll leave for Marvel. When issue 3 hits the stands, Mort Weisinger resigns his post as Editor of the Superman line.
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Post by tartanphantom on Jun 15, 2021 23:01:54 GMT -5
Wow, trying to follow these timelines is like juggling multiple DC pre-Crisis Earths and merging them in with Marvel's current alternate universe/realities, and then giving Charlton the publishing rights for the whole shebang. After 4 pages I'm hopelessly lost.
No wonder everything is retconned these days.
But please, keep going-- it's still entertaining to see what comes next... me, I'm just a helpless bystander on this one.
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 16, 2021 8:20:45 GMT -5
Editorial relents, but decides they can't just abandon all the time, effort, and research they have invested so far, and start thinking about another project they can do with the material they have. Schwartz says to do whatever they want with it all and exits, satisfied that DC will not be giving him a huge middle finger by destroying his creative legacies. DC leaves intact both the multiverse and the vehicle by which it was introduced - a signature Schwartz character, the Flash. Alright, so what happens with Crisis then? I'm guessing it still happens with Wolfman reworking his script to accommodate the fact that his plan to create one timeline will not be forthcoming. He still wants to produce something that will signify the end of an era and will open doors for the future and with that, we still get the death of Supergirl. Still intending to use her death to catch readers off guard with an even bigger passing the following issue, Wolfman looks for a hero to use with Barry Allen now off-limits. Disappointed that he can't close out the current era by killing off the hero who ushered in the previous one, he thinks of other possibilities who might fill the symbolic role he's looking for and hones in on Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Though it takes quite a bit of persuading, Wolfman convinces DC to let him kill off the character who doesn't yet even appear in his script by taking advantage of the fact that over in his own title, both John Stewart and Guy Gardner are fighting for the role. So Wolfman leaves DC history intact, but still wants to do something about its multiple Earths. His new story has The Anti-Monitor defeated with most other worlds surviving (Earth 3, for instance, will probably still get the heave-ho) but the barrier separating them too fragile to traverse from here on out. Message being: no more JSA/JLA team-ups and that sort of thing. However, a number of characters will find themselves trapped on Earth One and will be worked into "our" universe. Wolfman doesn't account for every hero this affects (other than the Charlton heroes), but it allows stuff like the Giffen and DeMatteis Justice League to use Doctor Fate, Blue Beetle, etc. though Captain Marvel will be unavailable due his residency on Earth S and Guy Gardner will be off-limits until the Green Lantern offices decide how to proceed with him given what's happened with Hal Jordan. Roy Thomas gets to continue with All-Star/Young All-Stars/Infinity Inc. without being hampered by all the changes Crisis would have wrought upon the team, but DC eventually loses interest in publishing a title set on an Earth outside of their main one and cancels whatever Earth 2 title exists in this world. However, with John Byrne not bringing Mike Carlin to DC in 1986 in this timeline, Carlin isn't in a position to prevent The JSA from getting the occasional mini-series, back-up feature, appearance here and there either. The Crisis that Left Infinite Earths Intact is a commercial success, even though the impact on regular sales is minimal. However, the era of big comic-book Events is unavoidable; Marvel's competing Secret Wars also made a lot of money despite its relative artistic merit. Accordingly, DC decides to greenlight a project by that bearded British writer who's making head turns with his reinterpretation of Swamp Thing, Alan Moore, and we are treated to a 12-issue maxiseries titled Twilight of the Superheroes, set on Earth-T (which is pretty similar to Earth-one, but with occasional differences). The series is a success, and introduces the idea that superhero comics can be written from a more mature point of view, to the chagrin of a fraction of fans who think that such a move will eventually doom the genre. Still, responding to the positive reviews in the media, DC decides to start a new line of darker superhero comics with a heavier accent on psychological aspects and what is supposed to be more mature themes. The new line was to be named "Vertigo" in honour of the Hitchcock movie, but is eventually named "Noir". (The Vertigo imprint will be used later on for a similar line of comics featuring more mystical characters like John Constantine, Sandman and Mandrake). The Noir line publishes a new Batman series, staring with what is essentially Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, but also counts titles like Slam Bradley, Roy Raymond's Incredible but True, Martian Manhunter and the short-lived Hugo Strange's Id. Marvel tries to imitate DC's success with the Noir line by revamping its Epic line, but a few titles quickly put together and with barely any budget fail to attract big names. As DC's star rises, Marvel seems to stagnate despite putting out more and more limited series, like Mutant Muppets, The A-Team vs the X-Men, or The Adventures of Chuck Norris(tm).
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 16, 2021 12:31:56 GMT -5
Alright, so what happens with Crisis then? I'm guessing it still happens with Wolfman reworking his script to accommodate the fact that his plan to create one timeline will not be forthcoming. He still wants to produce something that will signify the end of an era and will open doors for the future and with that, we still get the death of Supergirl. Still intending to use her death to catch readers off guard with an even bigger passing the following issue, Wolfman looks for a hero to use with Barry Allen now off-limits. Disappointed that he can't close out the current era by killing off the hero who ushered in the previous one, he thinks of other possibilities who might fill the symbolic role he's looking for and hones in on Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Though it takes quite a bit of persuading, Wolfman convinces DC to let him kill off the character who doesn't yet even appear in his script by taking advantage of the fact that over in his own title, both John Stewart and Guy Gardner are fighting for the role. So Wolfman leaves DC history intact, but still wants to do something about its multiple Earths. His new story has The Anti-Monitor defeated with most other worlds surviving (Earth 3, for instance, will probably still get the heave-ho) but the barrier separating them too fragile to traverse from here on out. Message being: no more JSA/JLA team-ups and that sort of thing. However, a number of characters will find themselves trapped on Earth One and will be worked into "our" universe. Wolfman doesn't account for every hero this affects (other than the Charlton heroes), but it allows stuff like the Giffen and DeMatteis Justice League to use Doctor Fate, Blue Beetle, etc. though Captain Marvel will be unavailable due his residency on Earth S and Guy Gardner will be off-limits until the Green Lantern offices decide how to proceed with him given what's happened with Hal Jordan. Roy Thomas gets to continue with All-Star/Young All-Stars/Infinity Inc. without being hampered by all the changes Crisis would have wrought upon the team, but DC eventually loses interest in publishing a title set on an Earth outside of their main one and cancels whatever Earth 2 title exists in this world. However, with John Byrne not bringing Mike Carlin to DC in 1986 in this timeline, Carlin isn't in a position to prevent The JSA from getting the occasional mini-series, back-up feature, appearance here and there either. The Crisis that Left Infinite Earths Intact is a commercial success, even though the impact on regular sales is minimal. However, the era of big comic-book Events is unavoidable; Marvel's competing Secret Wars also made a lot of money despite its relative artistic merit. Accordingly, DC decides to greenlight a project by that bearded British writer who's making head turns with his reinterpretation of Swamp Thing, Alan Moore, and we are treated to a 12-issue maxiseries titled Twilight of the Superheroes, set on Earth-T (which is pretty similar to Earth-one, but with occasional differences). The series is a success, and introduces the idea that superhero comics can be written from a more mature point of view, to the chagrin of a fraction of fans who think that such a move will eventually doom the genre. Still, responding to the positive reviews in the media, DC decides to start a new line of darker superhero comics with a heavier accent on psychological aspects and what is supposed to be more mature themes. The new line was to be named "Vertigo" in honour of the Hitchcock movie, but is eventually named "Noir". (The Vertigo imprint will be used later on for a similar line of comics featuring more mystical characters like John Constantine, Sandman and Mandrake). The Noir line publishes a new Batman series, staring with what is essentially Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, but also counts titles like Slam Bradley, Roy Raymond's Incredible but True, Martian Manhunter and the short-lived Hugo Strange's Id. Marvel tries to imitate DC's success with the Noir line by revamping its Epic line, but a few titles quickly put together and with barely any budget fail to attract big names. As DC's star rises, Marvel seems to stagnate despite putting out more and more limited series, like Mutant Muppets, The A-Team vs the X-Men, or The Adventures of Chuck Norris(tm). This is outstanding, but it partially conflicts with chadwilliam's consequence: Len Wein remains editor at Batman since sales are doing fine. We still get The Killing Joke, Dark Knight Returns, and in 1989, the movie. No Year One. Doug Moench remains on the titles which will likely expand as Batman's popularity increases following Dark Knight with perhaps a Legends of the Dark Knight styled title giving different writers and artists a run at the character. Frank Miller kicks things off with something like Year One, but which fits into continuity - Sarah Essen, the adultery, Flass, but no baby, no Alfred raising Bruce, plus references to Harvey Harris, Mrs. Chilton, etc. get worked in; Dick Sprang gets a story; Jim Starlin and Berni Wrightson do The Cult, and with Starlin not getting into trouble by killing off Jason Todd (which he suggests but Wein won't permit realizing the consequences) sticks with the character longer than he did. With DC looking to bring more British writers into the fold, we'll hopefully still get Alan Grant on the titles and with him Norm Breyfogle, and Jim Aparo replaces Tom Mandrake over at Batman with Batman and the Outsiders winding down and everyone accepting that with Batman leaving the team anyway, it makes sense for Jim Aparo to be penciling the character somewhere. Sales are such on The Flash that the series still gets cancelled at 350, but the character is allowed to cool his heels in the future a la the ending of Flash 350 as DC waits for the right project for his return. With Julius Schwartz hitting 70 in 1985, he likely won't be overseeing Superman for much longer. The drastic reboot doesn't happen, but DC still looks for outside talent to get sales and interest up. John Byrne takes over on Superman, but works within continuity though the character doesn't quite feel the same as before. With the success of Dark Knight, Byrne has Superman and Batman adopt a "reluctant allies" approach to their relationship (sort of like Mike Barr had them do in Batman and the Outsiders in 1983), Clark Kent and Lana Lang still broadcast the news together on WGBS and a relationship blossoms with Kent deciding it may be time to retire his "meek and mild-mannered" routine, Byrne will still work the occasional piece of skeevy sexual innuendo into his writing before penning the Barda porn tape issue which, this time, DC will reject. Byrne will feel stifled as a result and leave. We'll still get Curt Swan on art duties for DC Comics Presents which isn't cancelled (though World's Finest is due to Superman and Batman no longer being seen as compatible) and eventually, Marv Wolfman will offer some new bold changes while returning the series. He had previously tried to use Vandal Savage in the early 80's in the same way he would use businessman-Luthor in our timeline. Though that petered out, this time around he tries again, has Luthor come up with an invention which benefits Metropolis and the world and - building off of Eliot Maggin's already introduced idea in our timeline that Luthor would one day build LexCorp off of his inventions - we see a Luthor much like the one we got. Superman can't touch him for a while, but knows he hasn't gone straight. The public thinks that Superman is jealous of Luthor's rise in popularity, Luthor delights in this, and things come to an eventual head when Superman exposes with questionable results for the world. We also get a lot more Brainiac as he was in 1983. Feel free to reconcile the two so that DC does the things chad describes under the "Noir" line and with increasing sales.
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 16, 2021 12:53:16 GMT -5
The Crisis that Left Infinite Earths Intact is a commercial success, even though the impact on regular sales is minimal. However, the era of big comic-book Events is unavoidable; Marvel's competing Secret Wars also made a lot of money despite its relative artistic merit. Accordingly, DC decides to greenlight a project by that bearded British writer who's making head turns with his reinterpretation of Swamp Thing, Alan Moore, and we are treated to a 12-issue maxiseries titled Twilight of the Superheroes, set on Earth-T (which is pretty similar to Earth-one, but with occasional differences). The series is a success, and introduces the idea that superhero comics can be written from a more mature point of view, to the chagrin of a fraction of fans who think that such a move will eventually doom the genre. Still, responding to the positive reviews in the media, DC decides to start a new line of darker superhero comics with a heavier accent on psychological aspects and what is supposed to be more mature themes. The new line was to be named "Vertigo" in honour of the Hitchcock movie, but is eventually named "Noir". (The Vertigo imprint will be used later on for a similar line of comics featuring more mystical characters like John Constantine, Sandman and Mandrake). The Noir line publishes a new Batman series, staring with what is essentially Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, but also counts titles like Slam Bradley, Roy Raymond's Incredible but True, Martian Manhunter and the short-lived Hugo Strange's Id. Marvel tries to imitate DC's success with the Noir line by revamping its Epic line, but a few titles quickly put together and with barely any budget fail to attract big names. As DC's star rises, Marvel seems to stagnate despite putting out more and more limited series, like Mutant Muppets, The A-Team vs the X-Men, or The Adventures of Chuck Norris(tm). This is outstanding, but it partially conflicts with chadwilliam's consequence: Len Wein remains editor at Batman since sales are doing fine. We still get The Killing Joke, Dark Knight Returns, and in 1989, the movie. No Year One. Doug Moench remains on the titles which will likely expand as Batman's popularity increases following Dark Knight with perhaps a Legends of the Dark Knight styled title giving different writers and artists a run at the character. Frank Miller kicks things off with something like Year One, but which fits into continuity - Sarah Essen, the adultery, Flass, but no baby, no Alfred raising Bruce, plus references to Harvey Harris, Mrs. Chilton, etc. get worked in; Dick Sprang gets a story; Jim Starlin and Berni Wrightson do The Cult, and with Starlin not getting into trouble by killing off Jason Todd (which he suggests but Wein won't permit realizing the consequences) sticks with the character longer than he did. With DC looking to bring more British writers into the fold, we'll hopefully still get Alan Grant on the titles and with him Norm Breyfogle, and Jim Aparo replaces Tom Mandrake over at Batman with Batman and the Outsiders winding down and everyone accepting that with Batman leaving the team anyway, it makes sense for Jim Aparo to be penciling the character somewhere. Sales are such on The Flash that the series still gets cancelled at 350, but the character is allowed to cool his heels in the future a la the ending of Flash 350 as DC waits for the right project for his return. With Julius Schwartz hitting 70 in 1985, he likely won't be overseeing Superman for much longer. The drastic reboot doesn't happen, but DC still looks for outside talent to get sales and interest up. John Byrne takes over on Superman, but works within continuity though the character doesn't quite feel the same as before. With the success of Dark Knight, Byrne has Superman and Batman adopt a "reluctant allies" approach to their relationship (sort of like Mike Barr had them do in Batman and the Outsiders in 1983), Clark Kent and Lana Lang still broadcast the news together on WGBS and a relationship blossoms with Kent deciding it may be time to retire his "meek and mild-mannered" routine, Byrne will still work the occasional piece of skeevy sexual innuendo into his writing before penning the Barda porn tape issue which, this time, DC will reject. Byrne will feel stifled as a result and leave. We'll still get Curt Swan on art duties for DC Comics Presents which isn't cancelled (though World's Finest is due to Superman and Batman no longer being seen as compatible) and eventually, Marv Wolfman will offer some new bold changes while returning the series. He had previously tried to use Vandal Savage in the early 80's in the same way he would use businessman-Luthor in our timeline. Though that petered out, this time around he tries again, has Luthor come up with an invention which benefits Metropolis and the world and - building off of Eliot Maggin's already introduced idea in our timeline that Luthor would one day build LexCorp off of his inventions - we see a Luthor much like the one we got. Superman can't touch him for a while, but knows he hasn't gone straight. The public thinks that Superman is jealous of Luthor's rise in popularity, Luthor delights in this, and things come to an eventual head when Superman exposes with questionable results for the world. We also get a lot more Brainiac as he was in 1983. Feel free to reconcile the two so that DC does the things chad describes under the "Noir" line and with increasing sales. Yes, I er... forgot to mention it. ( *O.K., I'm actually retconning my post!*) The Noir line's quasi- Batman Year One is what chadwilliam was describing. The Killing Joke is indeed produced, but as an Earth-J based story, not included in the new continuity. Alan Moore immediately regrets its publication, but justifies it by saying "it's an imaginary story. Aren't they all?" The Dark Knight Returns is not stated to be canonical, but since it fits with the new comic, it just might be until editorial decides otherwise. Meanwhile, the legacy Batman and Detective Comics keep being published, still set on Earth-1, with no retcon whatsoever.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 16, 2021 13:16:36 GMT -5
This is outstanding, but it partially conflicts with chadwilliam's consequence: Feel free to reconcile the two so that DC does the things chad describes under the "Noir" line and with increasing sales. Yes, I er... forgot to mention it. ( *O.K., I'm actually retconning my post!*) The Noir line's quasi- Batman Year One is what chadwilliam was describing. The Killing Joke is indeed produced, but as an Earth-J based story, not included in the new continuity. Alan Moore immediately regrets its publication, but justifies it by saying "it's an imaginary story. Aren't they all?" The Dark Knight Returns is not stated to be canonical, but since it fits with the new comic, it just might be until editorial decides otherwise. Meanwhile, the legacy Batman and Detective Comics keep being published, still set on Earth-1, with no retcon whatsoever. So the Noir line knocks Marvel out of the water while DC's legacy titles remain unchanged? Don't their sales begin to decline too? Isn't there fan pressure to move a character like Batman fully into the noir imprint?
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 16, 2021 13:45:13 GMT -5
Yes, I er... forgot to mention it. ( *O.K., I'm actually retconning my post!*) The Noir line's quasi- Batman Year One is what chadwilliam was describing. The Killing Joke is indeed produced, but as an Earth-J based story, not included in the new continuity. Alan Moore immediately regrets its publication, but justifies it by saying "it's an imaginary story. Aren't they all?" The Dark Knight Returns is not stated to be canonical, but since it fits with the new comic, it just might be until editorial decides otherwise. Meanwhile, the legacy Batman and Detective Comics keep being published, still set on Earth-1, with no retcon whatsoever. So the Noir line knocks Marvel out of the water while DC's legacy titles remain unchanged? Don't their sales begin to decline too? Isn't there fan pressure to move a character like Batman fully into the noir imprint? Quite! DC's strategy, (just like Marvel with its Ultimate line in our world), is that hardcore fans will buy both the legacy titles and the Noir ones; traditionalists will still buy the legacy titles, and people who prefer new, harder-edged stories will give the new one a chance. The Batman movie certainly gives the new title a boost. Give the system a few years, and readers of the new line (as well as those of Vertigo for that matter) insist on a higher production value on top of their more mature storylines. Better paper, better colours, and of course... a higher price tag that goes beyond the natural increase due to normal inflation. Realizing that it will be hard to compete with new things like those newfangled computer games and that an eventual world of 5$ comics would probably mean a much smaller readership, DC decides that it is in its interest to keep at least part of its comics business on the newsstands instead of LCS, in the form of cheap floppies and an increasing number of digests. While comics naturally do not stay at 40 cents forever, the price increase is much slower for the legacy titles and the Blue Ribbon Digests than for the more mature books. Awash in America Online money, Time-Warner even buys a few newsprint-producing paper mills. Ironically, since Marvel follows suit with a line of cheaper comics ("Marvel Classics", as opposed to the new and higher-quality "Excelsior" line), AOL/Time Warner ends up producing the paper on which Marvel comics are printed.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 16, 2021 15:49:33 GMT -5
Dateline: 1991. With DC winning the sales war easily thanks to their two line strategy, Marvel tries to go with another strategy... they decided to focus on art. They start a new line of creator-owned titles called the Masterpiece line and high budding superstars Todd MacFarlane and Erik Larsen to create anything they like. Spawn #1 and Savage Dragon #1 are released to great fanfare in December 1991 under the new line.
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