Don’t Believe the Hype! – Wednesday Comics

When it comes to the recently completed Wednesday Comics, I will say this much for DC: they are not afraid to take chances, and I will always like that about them.

As you all know, Wednesday Comics has been yet another in a long line of DC’s mostly successful weekly comic serials, but was produced this time with a twist: designed to read and feel like a Sunday newspaper comics section. DC published their anthology in an oversized format that could be unfolded and read like a paper.  Each page of the comic featured one story from a different creative team, and each week the stories would slowly come together, page by lavishly rendered page.

Cool idea, right?  I sure thought so.  But now here I sit, glaring thoughtfully at the stack of Wednesday Comics that have been gathering over the weeks, and I’m wondering why it has left me feeling strangely unimpressed and underwhelmed.  How could such a fresh and inventive idea have turned out to be just another adequate comic experience?  I need to understand why, and if you’re reading this then I’m hoping you do, too.

Wednesday Comics’ faults certainly can’t be found in its production value, that’s for sure.  On all levels this was a gorgeous book, and that’s saying something for glorified newsprint.  Mark Chiarello had an eye on design and aesthetic appeal when he put together this project, something to be expected from DC’s Editorial Art Director, and if his bosses haven’t yet given him a fat bonus for his work then they really, really need to.  By adopting the oversized pages, Chiarello gave his art teams the chance to shine and have some real fun with this book (and say what you will, but Wednesday Comics was a comic clearly intended for the artists.  Don’t believe me?  Just look at what Dave Bullock pulled off with Deadman).

I also found the portability of it to be incredibly appealing, and enjoyed the reaction I got from non-comic readers when I took it out into “the real world.”  I remember one moment where I was sitting in the doctor’s office and, for lack of anything else to do, pulled an issue out of my bag, unfolded it, and began reading.  An older gentleman sitting across from me leaned over and said “those the funnies?”  I smiled and said kind of, and then explained how it was actually a comic book designed to be read and carried around like a newspaper.  He asked if he could flip through it, and asked me questions as he did.  We talked and had a good time, but more on this in a bit.

So Wednesday Comics looked good, and was physically fun to read.  Where then did things go wrong for me?

Sadly, I find fault with the majority of the writers and their inability to use the Wednesday Comics format to their advantage.  Of course, this isn’t to say that no good stories were told, because a few like Strange Adventures and Kamandi were consistently wonderful week after week, but it became painfully obvious that most of the writers were either uncomfortable with this format or simply didn’t know what to do with it.  It seemed to me that they took the safe way out by telling conventional stories that gave their artists little opportunity to do anything other than what they were instructed to.  Azzarello’s Batman and Busiek’s Green Lantern were glaring examples of this; both had the potential to be great, and were ripe with artistic opportunities, but the plots were so formulaic and the scripts so rigid that they instead languished in mediocrity.

I was also shocked that such a “low-fi” project like this (as opposed to comics that tout glossy paper and computer-rendered colors) had the gall to charge $4 an issue.  I mean, we’re talking about 15 pages of story on newsprint here… even the typical 22 page comic book costs less than this.  What if you were only buying this comic so you could read Kyle Baker’s Hawkman story?  Even if you liked the other stories, you simply had to read this one weekly.  This means that if you wanted to follow his entire story, you would have to shell out $48 (assuming you didn’t care one bit for all the others).  That price obviously goes down as you increase your number of must read stories, but anthology comics like this are mixed bags where not every story is going to be that damn good, (did anybody actually read Caldwell’s Wonder Woman!?) and when those stories don’t deliver the maximum bang for the buck each and every week, you’re left paying for more than you actually wanted.

As I look over these complaints and compliments, it seems to me that they ultimately speak to a larger missed opportunity, and that’s one of reaching new readers.  Remember that older gentleman from the doctor’s office I was telling you about?  Why wasn’t Wednesday Comics written for him?  Or the kids who (hopefully) read Teen Titans and Supergirl, why wasn’t this entire serial written exclusively for their enjoyment?  In an awkward attempt to appease all of the people all of the time, DC tried to market this comic to fanboys, new readers, and young readers alike without ever fully capturing any of them, and that’s a shame because Wednesday Comics could have made a great primer to introduce new readers into the medium.

You can see how DC kind of wanted to try this.  While it helps that they also serialized the Superman story in USA Today, why didn’t they then also serialize stories in teen magazines, or fucking Highlights for that matter?  Why was Wednesday Comics only sold in comic shops when it could have done so much more good in a bookstore, grocery store, or Walmart?  By trying to appeal to those of us already locked into the direct market, DC inadvertently missed even greater markets of new readers and customers.

Ultimately, the stories contained in Wednesday Comics were nothing I needed to read, and as a diehard fan with years of reading experience I felt they weren’t anything I haven’t already seen before.  I applaud DC for taking a chance in trying something different, but I’m disappointed that they worked so hard to sell this to me, the guy who’s going to buy their comics regardless, when all along they should have marketed it to a newer, younger reader, and thus a potential new customer.

-Tony Rakittke

Wednesday Comics #12 – Review

Well, there you have it. Perhaps the most novel and interesting comic book format to ever hit the stands wraps up this week with the final installment of Wednesday Comics. My co-editor Tony has a longer column in the works about this whole endeavor, but before I get to the individual story reviews, I’d be remiss not to share some brief general thoughts.

When this comic first came out, I absolutely loved it. I mean LOVED it. But as the installments kept coming, my enjoyment began exiting. I think the main reason for this is that in the beginning, this truly unique newspaper format captured and catapulted my imagination into directions the comic itself wasn’t taking. For example, I for one wasn’t thinking that every story was going to be an arc. I thought there would be some variance in the stories and some would be a series of one shots, some would be mini-arcs, and some would be full blown arcs. I was shocked that they would all be slow building arcs, which essentially meant that creators were making a full comic and segmenting it into different parts. To me this is a failure to really maximize the format and an inability for the content to match the novel form.

As I said, more to come from WCBR on this topic, so now let’s get down to grading the individual stories per this issue and their final grade:

Batman by Brian Azzarello (writer), Eduardo Risso (artist) – A tragic story whose conclusion we all saw coming 2 months ago. However, this installment captured the moment fantastically much like the first one. Unfortunately, I will always associate this strip with the bloody kiss at the end. Yuck. B+ (Final Grade: B)

Kamandi by Dave Gibbons (writer), Ryan Sook (artist)– A great ending to a great series. This is one of the true successes of this series. A (Final Grade: A+)

Superman by John Arcudi (writer), Lee Bermejo (artist) – Great, great art. But stupid writing. For example, why would residents of Smallville be comfortable with a huge Alien sitting in the street? Little dogs just walking by it? Superman using a pay phone? Confusing Lois and Batman scenes at the end… C- (Final Grade C+)

Deadman by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck (writers), Dave Bullock (artist) –This was the surprise hit for me. I could never imagine being into Deadman, but this was one of my favorites. Nice ending that tied-up loose threads cleanly. A (Final Grade: A)

Green Lantern by Kurt Busiek (writer), Joe Quinones (artist), Pat Brosseau (colorist) – Overall, an unimaginative story with excellent character development that played homage to iconic moments. Fans of old school GL will probably like this much more than those of us in the post- Johns take on GL. This issue was a true microcosm  of the story’s entirety. B- (Final Grade B)

Metamorpho by Neil Gaiman (writer), Mike Allred (artist) – This comic came together much better than when it started and in the end, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The end kept up the fun weirdness and quirky characters. A- (Final Grade B)

Teen Titans by Eddie Berganza (writer), Sean Galloway (artist) – Lame action, confusing story, and failed nostalgia. Really hoping the bad guy (who ever it was- I was lost to it) destroyed the Titans. D (Final Grade D)

Strange Adventures by Paul Pope – Awesome comic, awesome installment. Clicked on every level and ended in existential musings that were perfect for this title. Put Pope on this regularly. A+ (Final Grade (A+)

Supergirl by Jimmy Palmiotti (writer), Amanda Conner (artist) – This was my second favorite series behind Strange Adventures. The direction was clear, focused, and the momentum took it to all the right places of the DC Universe. Loved the ending, even though it was cliche’ and silly. A (Final Grade A)

Metal Men by Dan Didio (writer), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (artist) – Really enjoyed the art and characters, but the story was just stagnant and claustrophobic. Such a forgettable ending and series… B- (Final Grade C+)

Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell – I never read this. The color scheme and art turned me off, so I have no grade. But, I will read it….. one day… maybe.

Sgt. Rock by Adam Kubert (writer), Joe Kubert (artist) – I liked the message and emotional importance of the ending, but overall, seeing Rock get tortured for 4 weeks straight was a waste of this story. Loved the art though. B (Final Grade C)

The Flash by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher (writers), Karl Kerschl (artist) Iris West by Dave McCaig (writer), Rob Leigh (artist) — Can someone please diagram for me what happened here? I have never been so lost in a story. Did Kershel acknowledge that the whole plot was nonsensical when Iris read a Flash comic and said, “I don’t get it?” Art saves this from being an F. D- (Final Grade D-)

The Demon and Catwoman by Walter Simonson (writer), Brian Stelfreeze (artist) – Solid outing all around. That being said, none of this particularly interested me. The Shakespeare reference was cool, though. B+ (Final Grade (B-)

Hawkman by Kyle Baker – Next to Pope’s work, this was my favorite art. Looked like drawings on a wet newspaper and I loved it. Overly, chatty ending that seemed all a little corny. But, really an entertaining story in entirety.  B (Final Grade A-)

Grade: B

-Rob G.