Tag Archive for backup story

More Backup Ranty Goodness

Deep One / 2012/01/09 / No comments

Over at Newsarama, we have learned that as well as Batman, Detective Comics is also going to a 40 page, $3.99 format. The additional pages will be story content, according to John Rood, the Executive Vice President of DC for Sales, Marketing and Business Development.

So, Batman is for sure getting backups featuring tie ins to the main story. What is Detective getting?

The short answer is we’re not sure yet. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Give us characters we haven’t seen enough of! Look, everyone loves the Bat. But a lot of us love his supporting cast. We understand that it’s expensive to print runs of comics, but here is the perfect opportunity to give fans of the GCPD, or of the many other neat characters who live in Gotham a bit of something to look forward to.
  • Show the women some love! There are a ton of great female characters that DC has basically ignored in the relaunch: Renée Montoya, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Josie MacDonald and Romy Chandler, just to name a few. Give them some decent screen time. You’ve promised us some Steph Brown and Cass Cain, but so far, we haven’t seen either of them. This is your chance to make it right, on the cheap.
  • Give the GCPD it’s due! Gotham Central was one of my favorite titles. Sure, now probably isn’t the time to relaunch the book, but using a backup in Detective Comics makes perfect sense. They are all detectives, after all.
  • Show me some Batgirls! Okay, I’ve already mentioned Cass Cain (aka Batgirl and the Black Bat), and Stephanie Brown (aka the Spoiler, Robin and Batgirl). Both of them are fan favorites, and they both have a history together. Why not show them doing their thing? Fans who don’t read Detective (like me) would buy issues with either of them. They would have a heart attack and buy several copies of any issue with both of them. Want to get even more fans screaming with delight? Do a Misfit run. She tried her hand as the new Batgirl in old continuity, why not bring her troubled, homeless self back?
  • Answer the Question! Look, I loved Renée as the Question, but that seems to be off the table now. So, bring back Vic Sage. He’s a detective, and I loved him in 52. Let a whole new generation appreciate the Question. Even better, use the backups to have Vic train Renée as the new Question. (On another note, if you do this, please put Renée on the Birds of Prey! Her appearance in Gail Simone’s run was inspired. More, please.)
  • Classic villains! Whatever happened to the Riddler? Or Killer Croc? Or Bane? Tell us in a backup!
  • Do some test marketing! Not sure if there is enough interest in a character? Give them a backup. Watch the sales rise and know that fans love Stephanie Brown, and Cass Cain, and Renée Montoya. Experiment. Take chances. People are buying Detective anyway, so take a few risks. They could pay off!

If any of these happened in the pages of Detective, I’d put it in my pull list in a heartbeat. So, listen up, DC. You have a chance to right some of the wrongs you’ve done in the past.

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Batman and Backups

Deep One / 2012/01/09 / No comments

Over at The Source, DC’s official blog, they’re talking about backup stories. Starting in issue 8, the comic

will feature the first of a series of back-up stories exploring the dark history of the Court of Owls, the mysterious and malevolent secret society wreaking havoc upon Gotham City in the ongoing series.

The Source Blog, January 9 2012

 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

I love backup stories. The backups from the new Action Comics are wonderful. Steel has appeared, but the story of Jonathan and Martha Kent really shined, and made me hope that Action would keep doing little stories at the end of a larger comic. I’m happy to pay an extra dollar for these gems.

Now, back to Batman. The price goes up a dollar, and we get…more Court of Owls stuff. For those of you unfamiliar with the Scott Snyder run on Batman, the Court of Owls is a mysterious organization that has done bad stuff in Gotham since the town’s founding. They are responsible for the death of at least one of Bruce Wayne’s ancestors, and possibly more.

Why do we need a backup for this?

Look, I like the Court of Owls stuff. It’s nice to see Batman not completely controlling Gotham City. It’s nice to see him wrong. But to me, a backup story should avoid direct tie ins to the Main Event. A backup can work if it’s coming at the Main Event from another direction, but this sounds more like a history lesson.

If we need history, why not include it in the Main Event? At least some of the backup is told from the POV of Alfred’s father. Neat, but I’m paying an extra dollar? When that could be included in the Main Event as diary pages, flashbacks or any number of other bits?

Okay, I get that it’s cool. Snyder has a great history of doing backup stories. I would rather, though, get a feel for the story from other characters that I care about. Say, Detectives Harvey Bullock, Renée Montoya or Crispus Allen. Even Commissioner Gordon would work. Seeing them working the case from a different angle would be interesting, and allow Gotham to develop from a viewpoint we rarely get to see.

Gotham City is a character in most Bat titles. It needs another point of view to develop it. The Wayne family is important, but there are other people in Gotham. I’d like to know how they see the city and the stories that have shaped it so much.

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