Remake/Remodel: DC Rebirth so you don't have to

So are their books going to be officially rebranded as Afterbirth or is that just implied?

As a fan of moreoreless everything else Tom King has done, I'm finding his run on Mister Miracle really unenjoyable and gratuitous. There's too much quirk to write it off as a Gritty Reboot, but it seems very alienating and fanboys-only-ish. Anyone else?

I only read the first issue, but it was hilariously dumb

officially rebranded as Afterbirth

Marvel and DC have both put the old-school rectangle back on their covers, but the design is super-garish in both cases, looks hella naff

I haven't read the latest Miracle but the way I interpreted the book so far is King is trying to get into the headspace of the depressed - I thought he captured the deadening of affect, the disassociation, finally erupting in rage after being pressed beyond endurance really well. I have a hard time reading it because like Ware it cuts a little too deep. I'm sure King picked the character of Free to go into these themes because of his traumatic backstory and the irony of him being an escape artist. I don't think it justifies quite all the hype, because the distance between the superhero fantasy world of empowerment and the dead-inside life of the mentally ill is just too much dissonance and the reader can't connect those two worlds. I'm not really sure who the audience for the book is, but I'm still glad it exists.

the newest one was where it all clicked for me, and all of the themes aligned

and the meta-commentary that funky flashman brings to the table was well utilized

I'm reading Dark Nights Metal #4, in the first half we've got a fish shouting "By Poseidon's Beard!" at Deathstroke and Starro the Conquerer making a grand entrance with "HAHAHAH! I'm back, losers!" I'm into this.

I couldn't work out what the fuck was going on, but I did also lol at that Starro line

Is this Phantom Girl as in LSH's Phantom Girl? How'd she get here?: http://www.dccomics.com/comics/the-terrifics-2018/the-terrifics-1

NM, guess this "explains" it: https://www.cbr.com/who-are-dc-comics-terrifics/

Excited to see how the Legion is reintroduced, whenever it finally happens (after all these dribs & drabs)...

She got sent back to the current day by Glorith in a trans-time body-swap with The Durlan when he returned to become RJ Brande, DUH.

morrisp = #fakegeekgirl

I thought that happened during the "Five Years Later" storyline, which is no longer canon in the "retroboot" version of the team (or something).

Legion's history has never made any sense

when they're doing it right, yes

I personally feel that random individual Legionnaires, off on their own, are of very limited interest... the main appeal of the Legion (for me) is the space-opera scope of the whole team together, in its element.

are you suggesting that DC might be making a dumb publishing decision based solely on airing some dormant IP

i'm suggesting a split gilbert hernandez matter eater lad / jaime night girl/phantom book or gtfo

Penny Century >> Laurel Gand

Without wishing to troll, the Legion is dumb dated bullshit and can fuck off

it did!

It has at least 3 times in 20 years, LOL

I am quite enjoying... Doomsday Clock

Weird mix of curiosity about where the story's going, hate read, and actual enjoyment

Forgive me

The first issue had me guiltily intrigued. The second issue was a hot mess and I'm done.

Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. Whoops, it’s Krypto... :(

It makes more sense to think of this as the se

I mean,

It makes more sense to think of this as the sequel to Zak Snyder's Watchmen

I see that they mention Tom Strong in that Terrifics solicitation. The Mooresploitation continues apace!

Why doesn't Moore own the ABC stuff again?

Looked it up; ABC was an imprint of Wildstorm which got acquired by DC

Not shedding any tears for Snake Man though

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WildStorm#Creator-owned_titles

ABC is listed under Wildstorm's creator owned titles. I know that several of these titles have nothing to do with DC now but where did ABC go wrong?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Best_Comics A little more info here, and on the LOEG page

The short version was that ABC was negotiated with Moore right before Lee sold Wildstorm, and Moore decided to compromise until DC pissed him off with movie business. He wrapped up his contributions and took League elsewhere, while some other series were continued for a while. I have no idea who owns the other characters or how the licensing and ownership stands for the other books

Listing them under Wildstorm is technically true, but only so much as they published the line

It's just weird that he didn't secure ownership of his characters when many other less experienced Wildstorm creators did.

I think he has ownership, but the publishing rights were (and likely still are) held by Wildstorm/DC

It’d be a very Moore move to not make more material in order to help kill sales of the existing material if it’s DC publishing it

DC shouldn't be able to incorporate ABC characters if Moore still owns them.

I think the reason he could do more League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is because they are public domain characters.

Whether it's ownership or publishing rights, it's weird that he didn't get this sorted.

If kids like J Scott Campbell and Joe Madureira can do it then why can't Moore?

What characters have they been using?

never mind, saw the Tom Strong mention

Here we go:
https://www.cbr.com/dc-rights-americas-best-comics-alan-moore/

Thanks. I'm sure it's all written somewhere but it still leaves the questions of why he didn't do a creator owned deal for all of ABC and why DC is allowed LoEG movie and reprint rights.

Because the market was in the dumper and he needed money, afaict

The short version was that ABC was negotiated with Moore right before Lee sold Wildstorm,

Lee specifically had Moore create an entire line to make the Wildstorm sale more attractive to DC - it was basically ABC and the colouring department that DC bought.

Lee and Dunbier flew to England the morning the sale was announced to mollify Moore in person.

and Moore decided to compromise until DC pissed him off with movie business.

and multiple incidents of censorship. He compromised for one reason only: he'd committed to a year of each title, and it would have been putting about ten artists and Klein out of work.

He wrapped up his contributions

He'd already gone two years beyond his initial plans, because he got so excited about the work once he was deep in it, tbf. (He originally thought that other writers of his stature would want to come in from the #13s.)

and took League elsewhere,

League was an Homage (Wildstorm's creator-owned imprint) book, not created for ABC. Lee muddied the waters by moving it under ABC at DC for bookkeeping purposes: Moore's cheques came from a separate company called Firewall, LLC, not DC/Warner.

while some other series were continued for a while. I have no idea who owns the other characters or how the licensing and ownership stands for the other books

??

― mh, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 5:51 AM (two hours ago)

It's just weird that he didn't secure ownership of his characters when many other less experienced Wildstorm creators did.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 6:10 AM (one hour ago)

He made the line WFH in order to get higher page rates for the artists. It's only weird if you ignore his entire publishing career, where he perpetually makes decisions based on the principle that he would prefer to assume he is dealing with honorable people who won't fuck him over, rather than ever pay attention to business matters. "Whatever you think is best, Steve."

I think he has ownership, but the publishing rights were (and likely still are) held by Wildstorm/DC

― mh, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 6:12 AM (one hour ago)

He has no ownership whatsoever.

I swear I've typed all this out on here every 18 months for the last 13 years.

i was gonna write 'in before sic' but juuuuuuust missed it

It's only weird if you ignore his entire publishing career, where he perpetually makes decisions based on the principle that he would prefer to assume he is dealing with honorable people who won't fuck him over

― Haribo Hancock (sic), Monday, 1 January 2018 21:21

Still very strange that he was willing to assume this.

not even sure why I postulate or google search instead of calling the sic hotline tbh

Still very strange that he was willing to assume this.

maybe if you finish reading the sentence it will explain it

Still very strange

‘taste’s very strange!’

you may have noticed that alan moore is strange