You know, I was just thinking about this matter, and while I fully supported DCU’s decision to remove all of his content from the site, I’m starting to think that it should be added back for DCUI–not for the sake of endorsing the truly reprehensible things that he did, but simply because I feel that if the site is going to be comics-only from now on, it needs to be comprehensive. Then readers can decide for themselves if they feel comfortable reading his work.
The way i would do it is not add his name to the credit list. You’re not going to sell those issues and have to give him a check anyway…WWE does something similar with their network and Benoit (although the crimes are different) point is don’t promote the name
I dont think its a must for the service and totally understand the decision but there is a workaround. Otherwise people are just going to find ways to read them if they choose
With the fact that DCUI is bringing Black Label into the fold, I’m anticipating Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. It would also be pretty cool if all the Earth One graphic novels got uploaded
Superman at earths end? Is that part of the new 52?
Yes I agree, put the GL series by Jones on here. Yes he may be a bad person but reading his work or even liking it doesn’t mean you condone his actions.
People don’t have to defend themselves for liking the work of someone who committed an evil act. We know you don’t support what they did, you don’t have to say it. Here’s an example: If you like Chris Benoit’s wrestling matches it doesn’t mean you support him killing his family. It stupid to say “what he did is wrong and I don’t support it” obviously no one in their right mind would support an act like that.
These aren’t trendy or cool, but for nostalgia’s sake I’d love to re-read the first comics I ever read (in the late Seventies-early Eighties). In a way, that’s my “Golden Age.” There are tons of holes in the current selection of issues from that period.
For example:
Superman (1939-) mid-300s to early 400s
Action Comics (1938-) mid-400s to mid-500s
Flash (1959-) missing issues from the mid-to-late 200s
JLA (1960-) random missing issues between 159-169
Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest 18 (1981) - as far as I know, this may be the only New Teen Titans material from the Wolfman-Perez era that isn’t available
New Adventures of Superboy (1980) 1-27
World’s Finest (1941-) missing issues between 204-284
There are so many great DC comics that I’d love to see here, but I’ll try to keep it brief and only include 10 suggestions.
Wonder Woman: The Hiketia - The only part of Greg Rucka’s iconic WW run omitted from DC Universe, and widely considered the highlight of his run. And with WW 84 coming out soon, more excellent WW content wouldn’t hurt.
Y: The Last Man - I could just list the entire Vertigo ongoing catalog take the rest of this list, but I’ll keep things from getting boring and only include my favorite, Y: The Last Man. The story of Yorick and co. is an excellent journey that every comic reader should experience, and adding this (along with the rest of the Vertigo catalog) would add an entirely new genre of mature stories to the service that is perfectly designed for binge reading. We’re also getting a Y TV show soon, so again this would be great cross-promotion.
Action Comics Back Catalog - A tall order, I know, but having the entire collection of the longest running superhero series would be an excellent piece of history to have on the app, and would allow some iconic Superman stories to get some attention.
Superman Smashes the Klan - One of the best Superman stories of the 2010’s, one of the best all age stories, and incredibly powerful and moving. A no-brainer.
The Shade Vol 1 - The only part of James Robinson’s Starman running missing, aside from the Hellboy crossover that we’ll probably never see reprinted.
Ex Machina - Ok so this is another mature readers Brian K Vaughan series… but it was published through Wildstorm, and other self-contained Wildstorm series like Planetary are already on the service, so this deserves to be included.
JLA: Earth 2 - The only missing piece of Morrison’s JLA run and the best modern Crime Syndicate story.
Solo Complete Run - Solo was an excellent anthology miniseries from the 2000s that strangely has an incomplete run on the platform. Completing it would be a welcome addition.
Watchmen - Important for Doomsday Clock alone, aside from being a classic.
Man and Superman - Marv Wolfman’s Superman Origin was overlooked when it was released, hopefully its inclusion would bring it welcome attention.
Quoting all three of these to say that I think if there’s going to be a gap in Vertigo/Black Label material, it’ll likely be those that are “creator owned.” That was the appeal of the Vertigo line back in the day, that outside of WB having first dibs on movie/television rights, the creators had final say on their projects. Since all these books were made before subscription/steaming services like this, I don’t know if DC/WB/whatever have the right to those books unless they renegotiate for them.
So basically, I’m sure with DCUI we’ll get Vertigo books like Animal Man and Hellblazer, and with Black Label we’ll get books like Batman: Damned, Superman: Year One, and Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. However, I don’t know if from this deal we’ll get books from Verigo like 100 Bullets and Y: The Last Man, or Black Label books like The Last God, or the Hill House line of books.
One that can go either way from what I understand is The Sandman. From what I understand, DC owns the rights to the characters, but they have a gentleman’s agreement with Neil Gaiman in terms of how DC uses the characters, and they only show up in books like Paul Cornell’s Action Comics or Scott Snyder’s Dark Nights: Metal if Neil gives the go ahead. So does that also equal to putting The Sandman and the recent Sandman line of books here?
The point I was making is we don’t know just exactly how much of the rights are with Joe Hill and the people working on those books and how much is with DC, and if they would have to get special permission to put them on DCUI.
You make some great points, I agree some creators wouldn’t want their mature titles stuck on what is primarily a superhero comic service. However, I think WB would treat this the same way they do reprints of the titles. After all, have they ever gone to these creators for permission to reprint their titles in new formats (deluxe edition, absolute, etc.), and did they ever get their permission to digitize their works in the first place? It seems like creators have little to no input in that matter, and I don’t see that changing for this.
