I am making this thread because @beachboy was incapacitated by his DC boredom. Those more immersed in current DC titles, please enlighten me what needs to change for things to heat up at the Distinguished Competition.
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Lol. I apologize for the length of this.
I am an avid comic book reader (I read a lot of stuff, DC, Marvel, Indies, etc). I do love DC. They have a great deal of issues.
First, there is an oversaturation of Batman comic book content. There does not need to be that many Batman comics. Second, there are too many crises which take place in the DCU, effectively rendering continuity pointless, and disrupting any existing consequences that occur. The lack of continuity hurts DC on all platforms, movies, tv, comics, etc. One of the things people love about the MCU is how everything comes together, and how characters make several appearances that make sense and are mostly additive.
Another issue is that DC simply does not hire quality writers who have a firm understanding of their history and universe anymore, and this reflects a great deal in their current titles. Historically, I donât think people give enough credit to individuals like Marv Wolfman who had a lot of ingenuity and created many iconic heroes/teams for DC and Marvel. Of the current DC roster that is regularly active, the only writer that strikes me as passionate and having a deep understanding of DC lore is Joshua Williamson. Beyond that, some writers are decent but lack the depth to make a big impact.
DC also does a very poor job of advertising/marketing their core characters beyond Batman/Bat-family. For instance, if you were a casual reader or movie-goer who was not well-versed in the DCU/DCEU, you probably wouldnât recognize that Dr. Fate is an OG who has been around a long time (1940). This brings me to my next point, DC is very poor at creating collected editions for their more obscure heroes, especially during certain time periods (80s for instance). As others have echoed, the company lacks a creative direction, they could really benefit from an individual like Kevin Feige who would oversee the direction of their titles/characters and continuity. If DC were to give a crap about continuity and develop some of their legacy characters, they would sell more books in my opinion. They have several amazing characters that can stand alone and have a great supporting cast around them, but its hard to give a shit when you put your best writers/artists on Batman books and to hell with everything else.
Also, back then there were a great deal of creative ârunsâ where the same creative team held a title for longer than just 5 issues. While there are some runs like this in DC currently, as mentioned previously, the creative teams are not of the same caliber. Ram V and Mike Perkinsâs Swamp Thing is one of the best titles from the big 2 right now, but hardly anyone talks about it. I donât even think DC really markets that title, and I was very surprised when they expanded the maxi series from 12 issues to 16.
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A pervasive case of white-nose disease might help (itâs the real world disease thatâs killing off bat colonies) to unclog the story-telling from sidekick #27 defeating new criminal #176 (with ties to old criminals #1 and #2).
I think⊠oh never mind. Zzzzzzzzzz
Whatâs up with Wonder Twins #1 being a $10-15 book ?
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KCC pump on one of their lists this week (or last week).
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The KCC pump came from this (I would believe)
One thing I will say about DCâŠI find the actual quality of the comic itself far beyond that of Marvel. From paper quality, to color contrast, and the ink. Itâs such a contrast between the two.
So DCâŠfix the other stuff, but keep your nice book quality the same.
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dc spec
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I think people sometimes ignore how disjointed Marvel is because other folks are willing to spend stupid money on the secondary market.
Look at Iron Man. Heâs currently out in space as a God, hopping around with Cap fighting Myrmidon and Overseer, and whatever he has going on in the Avengers title.
The Hulk went from being immortal to suddenly becoming a pseudo starship.
Thor was both locked in perfect suburbia nightmare realm AND battling Knull at the same time AND doing his thing with the Avengers.
Iâd like to think that DC is getting their act together in terms of continuity. I think that was the point of Death Metal. That said, I have dropped quite a few DC titles because theyâre just uneventful. Robin, Suicide Squad, etc.
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They cancelled Justice League Dark series and made it a backup story, but decided this was fine. 
As a young boy, I had the opportunity to read a bunch of old comics that my mom. Most of the covers were shredded or missing, but the stories were pretty fun. Loads of Detective Comics, Sgt Fury, some other war comics a smattering of Superman with Lois. I enjoyed reading those comics.
Over 40+ years later, I have thousands of comicsâŠbut not one single DC comic. Why?
To be brief, I think it comes down to time. You can refine, reimage or regurgitate ad nauseum, but time creates a problem for the same characters and creating new content. DC flat out has OLD characters, and there are only so many ways Batman or Superman can be put in an interesting story that hasnât been told or retold many times over the past 50+ years. To me, frankly, the characters are fine, but the plausible storylines are boring.
And to be transparent, Marvelsâ time is coming. You can already feel Spider-Man becomingâŠold. FF and Iron Man are already there, with Hulk and Thor kind of floating on the waves of movie profits. They will become DCâŠit is only a matter of time.
And to finish my thoughts; I think paper comics, as we look at them now, and their production is probably numbered. They will never go âawayâ, but they certainly wonât be as easy to obtain in paper format in our future. I just try to enjoy the stories and art while they are here, but at this point, I see no real reason to even try out anything with DC.
Marvel comics are atrocious - agreed
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I wish we sold more DC stuffâŠI love the quality and art of their books. Iâm sure it will come back around again!
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Thatâs the reason for all the new characters that people seem to â â â â â about non-stop. With new characters come new concepts, stories, etc.
Personally, I think theyâre complaining because the new characters didnât make them money, not because they didnât care for the story. Thatâs just my opinion.
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Iâd agree that a LOT of Marvel is borderline unreadable. The MCU is making them hotter than they deserve to be. Try picking up an X-men title without having read it for 30 years. Itâs nonsense.
I think the big two constantly feel the need to have massive stories, but the smaller ones are better. The new Moon Knight and Black Panther are ok because they arenât saving the world or multiverses.
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I forgot to add one thingâŠI though DC knocked it out of the park with the introduction of those Joe Hill Horror series of comics not long ago. I bought everyone of them. I especially liked Basketful of Heads, Plunge, and Dollhouse Family.
I donât have any idea if the sales were good, but it was a breath of fresh air from them. Heck, Nice House on the Lake was also a hit.
Perhaps they need to embrace the gritty, horror genre a bit and run with it.
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Horror comedy has been good with them now with Soul Plumber.
DC needs to diversify and not put out 25 Bat-titles a month. If they did a big Vertigo-style adult-oriented push, it would get people talking and maybe bring in some top tier talent.
Iâm tired of buying titles like Catwoman and Detective just for pretty covers and not even having a reason to open the book,
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Tec has been good, Iâve enjoyed Tamakiâs run but the whole parasite arc was a bit humdrum.
I havenât been reading Catwoman⊠but the last few covers have been great.
I wouldnât 
on them that hard. There are titles that I enjoy for sure.
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