Over in one of the Dan DiDio threads, there was some talk about how one of the posters there would pare down and re-organize the entire line of DC Comics. One part of that suggestion was about a team-up comic, like Brave & the Bold or DC Comics Presents. I wanted to respond to that, but it seemed several steps removed from the main topic, and I knew that lots of folks here would have their own opinions about this.
SO…
Who out there would like to see DC take another shot at a team-up style book? Does anyone have any specific ideas about such a book? Would you have a regular writer & artist or rotating creators? Would you have a regular team-up character or would it be random for every team-up?
I think a Bat-family book would be fun, focusing on the Robins/former-Robins and Batgirl, but including various teamups with the others. They all don’t have to be in each issue, but exploring the dynamics of various pairs, trios, everybody is interesting to me. Babs could also easily offer support as Oracle, if she’s not in the action of specific issues. I tend to love stories with (a) Dick and Babs and (b) Dick and Damian. Although Dick teaming with any Robin is usually fun for me. I think Babs and Jason have interesting connections (literature, defense mechanisms, Joker trauma), and I’d like to see their relationship explored more.
I think a villain teamup book could be fun too. The Rogues from Flash would be a natural fit for this, although something similar could be down for other Rogues galleries (especially Batman’s, although this could be a chance to let some lesser know villains shine).
Wonder Woman team up with anybody
Green Lantern and Flash
Aqua family teamups… I think strengthening connections outside of Atlantis as well as within is important. I think Garth has barely interacted with Arthur or Mera.
The trickiest thing with a teamup book is that big names move comics, but they’re spotlight stealers. That said, something like DC Comics Presents or The Brave and the Bold still has potential since keeping a big name as a fixture of the series can give it stronger continuity and bring in readers, giving the lesser-known half of the teamup exposure. It’s a reasonable tradeoff.
I’m actually not quite so interested in a teamup book that’s within a single “family” of characters like the Batbooks. The only reason is that those combinations of characters will happen naturally in their own titles. A separate title dedicated to it would be redundant.
As for creators, I find that rotating creative teams are often fun in concept but disappointing in practice.
I used to play around with this idea in my head. At one time I landed on the idea of Steel (John Henry Irons) and Green Arrow as rotating stars. One story arc would feature Steel and the next arc Green Arrow. No rules about how long an arc would be, but an emphasis on keeping it minimal. One or two-issue stories would be my preference.
I agree with what BatJamags said about the redundancy of a Batfamily team book. It would be too redundant with the 5 to 8 Bat-titles already in place. I miss the days when a team-up book was used to explore the breadth of a comic book universe, with a heavy emphasis on unlikely team-ups and spotlighting characters who don’t currently have that spotlight right now.
I may have misunderstood the premise… I thought the idea was that the whole DC line would shrink, so most of the Batfam would no longer have solo books.
I have thought it might be fun to bring back Worlds Finest. Start off with the trinity in the first arc and then do a sort of round robin as each character starts investigating a mystery that usually leads into a crossover with other denizens of the DCU. Much like the old newspaper strip did in the beginning when Flash got hurt and ended up at the hospital where Black Lightning was visiting.
It can also spotlight some minor or obscure characters that we might not see otherwise.
In the thread that spawned this one, they DID posit a premise with a shrunken line. For this thread, though, I wanted to talk about team-up titles under ANY premise.
Your answer is great. My response comes from the premise that DC will be more or less as it is now. If we consider that other premise, one in which we have a greatly reduced number of titles, including Bat-titles, a Batman Family comic would, indeed be a nice solution.
Team-up books would require a return to shorter stories lasting only one issue, maybe two or three-- otherwise it looks like a mini-series, and might as well be a mini-series. That’s kinda current thinking on the publishing side. Having offered that, I’m gonna join the Wonder Woman bandwagon.
Superman and Batman in particular have been done-- but Wonder Woman could be given a greater purpose in seeking to team up with the other heroes month after month.
They could each have a mix of multi-issue storyarcs and smaller stories, feature headliner characters paired with lesser-knowns, etc. Essentially what their older volumes did, but new and…now!
I think this would be great! Even without the shrunken line. Right now, unless they bump into each other in 'tective, they really only rarely meet in groups of two. When they do meet the author often can’t develop relationships much because it could interfere with other titles.
I’d also like a generic team up book. No set “main” characters. These kind of books are how I get to meet some characters. Sometimes there my only interaction with characters I love that don’t have their own titles.
I guess I could write a Superman book. I mean, if the gig opened up and they needed someone…
Speaking of the titles I mentioned, I wouldn’t be opposed to them coming back in the 100-Page Giant line. It did wonders for From Beyond The Unknown, after all.
I kind of like the idea over at Marvel right now with the Giant Size XMen. How Hickman is doing one shots focusing on one character each issue. DC could do something similar but with groups of characters. Have one mainstream popular character and one obscure character. Each issue would have a different writer and a different artist. It could also be a way to show off talent at DC with new writers or artists who arent big names.
I just wrote about this in a different thread, but I’d like to see what others think of this pitch. I’d like to see a team-up book about superheroes and supervillains working together for various reasons. They wouldn’t have to be from the same rogue’s gallery, either, so anything would be fair game.
I was always a fan of the “Brave and the Bold and DC Comics Presents,” DC was able to use their top draws, Batman and Superman, to introduce new characters and talent. I would not be opposed to that again.
I just read the perfect workaround to this while reading Ambush Bug. Darkseid is mentioned on the cover, but minimal appearance in the comic itself. Do what you have to do to sell books, lol.
