For a while there, I think I was checking Twitter only to see if I could glean news about whether The Sandman was picked up for a second season. Even my wife (who is not a big comic book fan) got into the series.
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The Sandman is televised poetry. Much as what I’ve read of the comic is poetry in sequential art form.
Cool beans! Did she check out the comics yet?
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She has not. Baby steps, I guess. I have tried to specifically curate comics for her to read that would fit her tastes/ She’s praised some of the stuff I’ve suggested for her (she really enjoyed the first arc of Fables, for example), but it never hooked her enough to ask for the next collection.
Some people just aren’t comic book people, I guess. But much like she loved watching The Sandman, we always watched Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow together.
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Very cool. Fables is a good hook for the non-comic crowd, I’ve noticed.
Nice! Enjoying DC content of some type together is always a good time. 
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For DCAOM
Catwoman-F
Green Lantern-B
Super Sons-F+
That gives them a high D average making this their second worst year ever behind only 2016.
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Trial of the Amazons: A+++
Three tribes of Amazons?!?!? A contest?!?!? Love it!
Jurassic League: A+++++
Dinosaurs!!! Awesome art!!! Great story!!!
Monkey Prince: A++
Silly, but fun. Always a pleasure to see Zhu Bajie (Pigsy).
Wonder Woman Historia The Amazons: A+++++
Gorgeous art. Amazing story. Looking forward to part three.
Nubia: Queen of the Amazons: A++
Really loving Nubia. Glad they brought her back.
The Batman: A+++
I don’t watch a lot of movies so it is always an event when I do. Enjoyed this one a lot.
Overall: A+++
However, I love Wonder Woman, Amazons, Dinosaurs, and Journey to the West (The Monkey King), so my grades are excessive and honestly suspect at best. 
I think I did not enjoy reading a comic series once years ago (Final Crisis maybe? Not enough Wonder Woman as I recall), but other than that I am pretty easy to please.
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Was Wonder Woman in Final Crisis?
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Not enough apparently!
Tbh, I can’t remember if it was Final, Identity, Infinite, or one of the other crises.
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I remember her being very active in Infinite Crisis with it dealing with her and killing Maxwell Lord, thus probably not that one.
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I will do mine in parts, since I should end up watching Black Adam before the end of the year. And I’ll make the time to watch Super Sons in full as well, or maybe not.
Merchandising: C-
Giving the sole contract to Todd McFarlane and McFarlane Toys has proven to be a mistake as I and others have noted even on this site (and is often discussed elsewhere, the one place we can probably responsibly discuss is the various DC subreddits). Now, mind you, I purchased the Red Son Superman figure and will likely buy (since it’s on sale) the Jonathan Kent Future State figure so my complaint isn’t as for the quality of the marchandise. No, my issue (and again, this mirrors what others have said) is Todd’s fascination with limited parts - spending, for example, way too much time making Metal figures. Or most recently Flashpoint; or DCceased/DC vs. Vampires, etc… In other words, as one wag put on a DC sub ‘the edgelord corners of the DCU.’
Now, I bet there are people who are happy to have a Captain Cold and Heatwave figure, even if they are costumed from a likely never-to-be-seen again design from a one-off event (Flashpoint) versus a classic or more modern design as they might prefer, but even as Todd is giving us this crap he doesn’t even bother doing things which might sell. For example, the Shazam family (including tiger), or Traci 13, or Project S Superman, etc. Things which are very rare and which do have support, probably as much if not more for someone who wants to buy Heatwave. But it seems like Todd has a mindset even when he will do a not Bat character of what will sell.
I am glad he’s continuing with some DC Direct project and I hoped he hired some of those people versus using the in-house people, who like Elon’s minions, are probably too used to catering to the whims of madmen to think for themselves and make independent suggestions. But overall, I am left
The DC Shop has been incredibly disappointing. Some of the batgod stuff looks interesting but nothing like it exists for anyone else. What does exist for other characters tend to be overpriced, boring, poorly made tees. I can find cooler and neater stuff elsewhere, for example, this Flash wallet which I got on sale:
I still like some other stuff I come across, like the cake toppers Justice League, and other toys which are non-Todd products but haven’t had as much luck this year as in past years finding that stuff (you can see Hal and Barry here, which again I got on sale).
DC Universe Infinite: B - - (minus minus)
The site needs to add more collections and stuff which appears to be behind the more expensive pay wall should not, IMHO, be there when it’s almost a decade old. And the site should probably explain some stuff a bit better - some annotations would be helpful. It’s a shame that the woman who was the former librarian retired and Mark Chiarello was forced out. It would be nice to get some annotations and more editorial material. That would be the type of bonus material that makes the subscriptions more worthwhile to consumers - and DC should do it and think of it as similar to the introductions that were written for Deluxe Editions and Onmibus. And since the contracts can be worded as such that DC could re-use this material for collections or elsewhere, it’s not like they are just going to pay for it once and not use it otherwise.
Also, the site really needs to bring back the DC Wikia for this reason. It’s the main reason I signed up for the community in the first place, years ago, but not got active because when I tried to participate, someone - I forget whom, discouraged me and implied since I wasn’t buying a DC Universe membership, that I could not make Wikia entries.
The grade is based on readability and use. I have to test it on my iPad since I’ve heard about the complaints and honestly, based on the HBO Max app, it might go down. But the app worked well on my iPhone. I have a non-personal use Android MotoG and reading one short floppy was fine on that but I find Android to be a hell-hole so I cut the app a lot of slack there. On the desk top it was pretty seamless. I prefer Hoopla, however. Even my iBooks and the comic reader I have on my iPhone for scans is more pleasant.
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Ok here’s my takes. You will find that they’re heavily influenced by how DC dealt with Superman, but hey the heart likes what it likes 
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Comics A-
The good:
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DC gets an A when it comes to Superman. Between the Warworld Saga, Superman Space Age, World’s Finest, Superman Son of Kal-El, and the 30th Anniversary Death of Superman special, it has been a good year for The Man of Steel. In particular, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Warworld Saga on the pages of Action Comics was simply fantastic. As a Superman fan, I’m satisfied with the output, & I want more.
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Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Dark Knights of Steel, DC Mech, Justice League Vs Legion of Superheroes, and DCeased have all been very entertaining reads.
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Dark Crisis. I previously had this in the “Not So Good” category, but I changed my mind. I was wrong. It’s good. I get into it in a bit more detail in a post below, but between the one shots, Daniel Sampere’s art, and legacy characters getting a big chance to shine, there’s definitely been more good than bad. Hopefully the DC Universe doesn’t remain without a Justice League for too long, but we should find out more about that fairly soon.
The Not So Good:
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Batman is mired in darkness. Zdarsky’s Batman has some great action and is much better than Ram V’s Detective Comics, which teeters on sleep inducing for me. Generally speaking though, DC needs to lighten up a bit when it comes to The Dark Knight.
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Wonder Woman’s current run by Cloonan and Conrad had a very promising start with the world hopping adventures, then just took a turn for the silly with the mind control milk or whatever the heck it is. I think they lightened up a tad too much here.
I’ll come back with my take on the other stuffs.
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Movies B+
It was a so so year. Black Adam and League of Super Pets were both great in my opinion. I didn’t like The Batman at all. Like I said in my comics review, DC’s main vision of Batman, their trademark hero, gets bleaker and bleaker with time. Funny that my favorite takes on Batman this year didn’t come from any solo works. Yeah I don’t give a hoot about reviews or the box office.
Then there’s the animated straight to digital movies, I thought Battle Of The Super Sons and Green Lantern Beware My Power were both better than anything DC put out in theaters this year. I wish the theatrical movies would follow their straightforward approach instead of being caught in their own self importance.
I had this at a B-, but the animated movies lifted it to a B+. I might have been more generous with my grade if WBD was able to stop the string of bad publicity that started with Justice League and doesn’t seem to want to end. James Gunn being active on Twitter in a somewhat open/transparent dialogue with fans is a good first step, but please WBD… good news for a change.
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Ok, @Vroom, one thing I learn about report card…they can be scary, what can be worst is having a bad grades from my teacher to having a parent who may not be happy with your grades!
I’m going to be honest here, it’s so easy to say A+ on everything, BUT…but this is my honest and fair report card on DC…
Publishing: A+
They had some good comics this year, so I can’t complain.
Outside Media: B+ I did enjoy the Justice Society & Green Lantern Jon Stewart movie, that was good.
Theatrically-released movies: C+,
What hurt the most was looking forward to the movie on a release day, then they’ve changed it, Aquaman 2 was supposed to be out this month, then to March, then to later in the year.
The Batman was good, but depressing, I did like the Super pet League.
TV: A-
Stargirl was so good and fun to watch.
Merchanding B+
There was a error on the 1989 Batman shirt, beside that, I just love all the DC stuff I got including Funko pop and lego Batmobiles.
**DC Universe Infinite:**A+
First of all, all the @moderators & DC teams get a huge A+ for all their hard work.
I’ve enjoy every bit of it, from reading the comics to chatting on the message board. This is the friendliest community board ever, and no one insult you, or creep you out with weird question. I can feel really safe being on here knowing everybody is a DC fans and has their own things they like or dislike and I can respect that.
That’s it. And that was fun.
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TV A-
The Good:
- Superman & Lois is an A+. The season 2 finale was the best hour of DC entertainment I’ve watched in years. Excited for season 3 next year, and at the same time a bit sad that it may be the final season, given both DC Studios and The CW’s new directions. I hope James Gunn keeps the show alive somehow.
- The Flash experienced a bit of a comeback with season 8 after a lackluster season 7. The writing could still use some work though.
- Legends Of Tomorrow had a great final season, that shouldn’t have been the final season.
- Peacemaker was very entertaining. Weird mix of somewhat dark comedy and action, but it worked.
- The Sandman was different. I’d never watched a show like that before. Deeply unsettling, thought provoking, and beautifully made.
The Not So Good:
- Stargirl was sleep inducing, except for the finale.
- Titans decided to double down on morbidity with people vomiting snakes. Exactly what I envision when I think of Nightwing, Starfire, & co
. - Naomi not only completely butchered its source material, but featured the most awkward dialogue and unconvincing plot of any DC show that I’ve watched.
The A grade is largely because of Superman & Lois, but it was a good year overall for DC on TV.
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Oh shoot, I forgot season 3 of Harley Quinn came out 
Yeah, that longly awaited season 3 most of us were holding our breaths for and constantly checking updates… yep, forgot I watched that too.
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Merchandise A-
If we’re just talking collectibles (figures, statues, etc) this grade would be an A+. McFarlane deserves the lion’s share of the credit here by offering multiple product lines, including DC Multiverse, DC Direct, Page Punchers, and Super Powers. The Super Powers revival alone is reason enough for me to sing their praises. It’s also great that they’re starting to introduce statues to the mix, though I hope for a more varied output in that department from them in the future (cough more Superman cough). Mego is back with DC figures of yesteryear. Iron Studios is absolutely killing it with their DC statue output. Funko put out some great DC pieces and had me buying multiple pops for the first time. It’s been a good year and I have 0 complaints when it comes to collectibles.
Other merch on the other hand, more like a C. Sure I can find me an ok Superman t-shirt or hoodie if I wanted one, but that’s about all there is. What about jackets? Button-up shirts? Polos? Clothing that features some embroidered details instead of the cheap prints that fade with time? Plus sizes for big folks like myself? Mugs? Accessories? The DC Shop could use a little more variety in its offerings, and so could other online stores offering DC merchandise.
I care far more about the collectibles side of things though than I do about the other stuff, hence the A grade.
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DC Universe Infinite A-
Ultra has fundamentally changed the way I read comics. I can’t be happier as a customer for this offering that not only saves me a ton of money, but allows me to read DC books I probably wouldn’t have bothered with before. The (-) is because it can be a bit of a chore to find things.
DC Community A+
Shout out to all my fellow community members and the moderators. You all make this place fun to visit day in and day out. Happy Holidays to all of you .
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Apologies for the multiple posts. I figured it was better than one mile long post. Also I got too excited 
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Always a pleasure to see the word “wag’ used.
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Understood. It kind of goes with the territory here.
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