DC Nation: What the heck was THAT?!

Everyone hates late comics.  Fans, pros, distributors, shop owners...everyone.

But...if there's one thing that's more of a turn-off than late comics, it's a publisher's sulky, existential navel-gazing on the topic.

DC Nation is a weekly promo page in the comics published by...you guessed it...DC Comics.  It's usually hosted by DC front-man Dan Didio, sort of a Stan Lee-meets-Tony Soprano character.  However, this week Dan turned it over to one of his editors, Matt Idelson....whose unshaven, doughy and (judging by the column) clueless visage topped the column.

Behold! The poster boy of Modern Comics Professionalism!

Some quick background:  Both DC and Marvel Comics (a.k.a. "The Big Two") have experienced some rather high-profile bellyflops when it came to late comics, most of which involved A-list creative teams who couldn't seem to get their comic books done on time. 

Understandably, there's been some vocal push-back from the fan and retail community...but as you can see from Matt's DC Nation column (from which I've excerpted below), it's doesn't appear to be getting through.  Instead, Idelson throws up a classic "Gordian Knot" defense...implying that the problem is just too intractable for poor, hapless editors to solve.

As Matt sees it, an editor has only three options:

1.  Use a previously prepared inventory or "file" story.  The problem?

"...nowadays it seems like readers react poorly – they know they're reading an inventory story. I guess part of the reason for this is that stories today are so concretely focused on the present, and how it will impact the future of the character. There's little patience for stories that fill in gaps from the past."

2.  How about bringing in a guest writer or artist to keep the story arc moving forward?  Sounds logical...but Matt begs to differ:

"But that's met with frustration by the readers, who wanted to see a certain team remain intact for this most important of stories."

Well...what's a long-suffering editor to do?

3.  What about not releasing a comic book until it's completely finished, no matter how long it takes?

You guessed it:

"...who wants to go to the comics store and not find their book waiting for them? I know that would drive me crazy when I was centering my week around my next comics run."

So, does Idelson proclaim a bold new commitment on DC's part to hitting deadlines?  Does he offer an apology for all the late books, or report that there might be certain practices (like soliciting books that aren't even remotely close to being finished) that DC will modify or abolish?

Nope.  All we get is, essentially, a shrug:

"It seems like each of the three options is frowned upon by about a third of the reading population."

Gosh....then I guess there's nothing that can be done, right?

Unless you count soliciting the advice of the fanbase you just said was divided into three irreconcilable camps:

"I'm curious to know—how do you, the reader feel we should proceed? What would you want us to do? Regardless of the answer, I guess the bottom line is that you can't please everyone. The real question is: how can we, the editors, please the most people?"

Wow...they really don't have a clue, do they?

Well, since you asked, Matt...here's how you can please the most people:

1.  As we roll into the summer convention season, before you announce your exclusive deals with rock star creatosr, check out their track record.  Can they consistantly perform on a monthly comic book?  If not, what makes you think they suddenly will now??

2.  How about not soliciting stories until they're at least 3/4 completed, so comic shops won't end up holding the bag on ordered titles that are six months tardy?

3.  Why not build in an incentive or benchmark scale into the deal, so if the creative team completes their obligations by a certain date, they are rewarded with a higher page or royalty rate?  Conversely, you could set up a similar system of penalizing benchmarks, where creators are paid steadily less past an agreed upon deadline.

4.  Take a breath.  The Big Two have been locked in this insane "death spiral" of cosmos-shaking mega-events for so long, the fever pitch seems to be overtaking the ability of many to produce or properly edit the stories.

5.  Stop blaming the fans.  Late books are solely and completely the responsibility of the creators and the publishers who hire them.  True professionals will do whatever it takes to get the job done...whether that means skipping a convention, spending half an hour less on a message board or the X-Box, or (most importantly) refusing to take on more work than they know they can realistically complete.

6.  Apologize.  You'd be surprised how far a simple apology for late work can go.  Don't make excuses.  Don't mope or shrug....or imply this is just the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future...or act like nothing's wrong.  "Hey, we really screwed up.  We're sorry. We hope we can get it together and deliver a great product on time, every time."  There....that wasn't so hard, was it?

7.  Heed the advice of the Comic Coverage "How to Create a Comic Book On Time" guide.

Comments

[Mithel]

By God but that man is unappealing.

[James Meeley]

I don't know. I kinda felt for Idelson a bit in this. He is right that there does seem little way to make the fans happy. No matter what they do, someone is going to bitch.

Personally, I've always felt that have "inventory stories" around is a good idea. It really helps cover your butt. Yeah, some people are put off by theose, but, well, F@#% 'em! Now, I'm not saying the story should be hackwork, but a good quality inventory story can really make the wait between the mian stories issues much less a pain. Just look at Detective Comics since Dini came on, as proof of this.

Of course, I think you should email me a link to #7 on the list. I mean, that IS what he asked for, right? Perhaps seeing a mere fan able to spell it out so clearly for him might help Idelson and other editors at DC. I know it certainly couldn't hurt.

As it stands, I think I'll send my choice of the three options. Anyone got Idelson's email address?

[Mark Engblom]

"I don't know. I kinda felt for Idelson a bit in this. He is right that there does seem little way to make the fans happy. No matter what they do, someone is going to bitch."

See, that's why DC governing their decisions based on whether or not one group or another is going to whine about it is pretty silly. Of course they're going to offend someone....just like any business that interacts with the public.

The way to make fans and retailers happy is to deliver the promised product on time. It's really not rocket science. Placing themselves in situations that put them more at risk of blowing deadlines is unprofessional and rests squarely on their shoulders.

I think the "We Can't Please Anyone" excuse is a straw man argument, which subtley shifts the responsibility for DC's failures onto a fussy and incoherent fan base.

Maybe it was the photo of Idelson that raised my ire, but it just seems so representative of my generation's shlubby, shruggy "office casual" way of doing things. I'm not suggesting they all start wearing dress shirts and ties like the Julius Schwartz-era DC staffers, but man....what an unprofessional looking slob.

[Tom the Bomb]

The fact that Idelson's piece was allowed to see print makes me think there's a problem of editorial culture within the DC offices. They've embarrassed themselves several times, they've read and heard the backlash, and they've been commiserating with one another at the office. "We try and try, but whattya gonna do?" I think they're reinforcing their attitude amongst themselves rather than genuinely committing to fixing the problem.

Mark's laid out solutions here and at the linked post. These are things that DC should already know.

In addition, I would respond that I don't mind an inventory story or two. But if used, they should come in between longer arcs, not between issues of an ongoing arc, as has been the case with the Johns/Donner Superman story. The longer the wait between chapters in a single arc, the more pressure that's put on the story. It encourages the question, "Was it worth the wait?" and it becomes increasingly hard to live up to that.

I'm all for #4. I know they argue until they're green in the face that mega-events make them money, but from a quality storytelling perspective, I would like to take more time between them. So many of them are setting up new status quos that could be explored more.

[Mark Engblom]

"They've embarrassed themselves several times, they've read and heard the backlash, and they've been commiserating with one another at the office. "We try and try, but whattya gonna do?"

I think you're dead-on here, Tom. There's definitely a "seige mentality" at work here, with no real indication they plan to take serious steps to fix the problem. Rather than trying to please the Three Factions of Fandom, I would suggest that the editorial staff do what's best for DC Comics, which means getting their product out when promised, as well as understanding the weight of those promises. Is a solicitation date a "promise"? I believe it is (as do countless successful businesses)....a pity so many involved in creating comics don't see it that way.