NEW DC?

It's often claimed that the fortunes of the Big Two are on a seesaw. When Marvel is up, DC is down, and vice versa.

It makes for nice copy, but it's not really true. Certainly, one company will always seem stronger than the other, and certainly there have been times when one company has appeared to be making significant steps forward while the other is stagnating, as has seemed to be the case with the Quesada regime at Marvel. But before Quesada took over from the ousted Bob Harras, when Marvel was blighted with bankruptcy and suffering from crossover fatigue, you'd have been hard pushed to claim DC was enjoying a boom time. Indeed, DC, when Marvel was down, looked remarkably similar to DC when Marvel is up.

Which is not to say that DC never enjoys a creative or commercial surge. It was DC that brought us WATCHMEN and DKR. It was DC that uncovered that audience and parlayed that success into Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN and the Vertigo line. DC can and should rise again.

And thankfully, there is at last a sign that it actually may. After trailing in Marvel's dust for the last two years, the industry's most corporate publisher is finally mounting a response - or at least, that's how it seems judging by CSN @ Newsarama's recent interview with editorial vice-president Dan DiDio.

DiDio, a fairly recent appointment at DC, has evidently been getting the lay of the land for the last while, and is only now making his voice heard. It's a voice we've been waiting to hear from DC for a long time. In the interview, DiDio talks about recognising the importance of creators, not just characters. He talks about speeding up the approval process. He talks about bringing in new and independent creators. He talks about brand identity and improved marketing. He even talks about taking risks.

If it's not just rhetoric, then it's revolutionary stuff for DC. Not whiplash revolutionary - DC changes at a plodding pace compared to Marvel's boardroom turns on a dime - but still a positive move in a different direction. One might even call it a more... New Marvel direction.

So is DiDio DC's answer to Joe Quesada, or is a former working relationship with Jimmy Palmiotti the only thing they have in common? Well, I don't think we're about to see DC rushing to copy Marvel's every move, but that's probably for the best. DiDio recognises that DC is "very deliberate in what we do". He has to be able to marry the company's stauncher tendencies (personified in the form of the immovable publisher Paul Levitz) with some of the radicalism that's shaking up the comics mainstream under Quesada. Sometimes that balance is going lead to less than satisfactory results - DiDio's pronouncement that there will be no crossovers for the next twelve months sounds like a rather damp half-step - but the hit ratio has got to be better than it's been these past two years.

If DC can turn itself around and start reclaiming some of those top ten spots on Diamond's sales chart without Marvel suffering a simultaneous dip in fortunes, then that would surely be the best result. Of course, there are only so many marquee names to go around, so the Big Two may actually have come through on the promises they've both made to uncover and nurture some serious new talents. Otherwise, they'll just keep cannibalising each other.

ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT

No matter what, there are some people who just don't want to read grim tales about the lonely, oppressed or alienated. You can sell them all you want on the latest exquisitely rendered tales of a lost childhood or a failed romance, but even if you put the work down in front of them and make them read it, they still won't be enlightened. Some people's tastes just don't extend towards scratchy expressionism or bleak introspection. That doesn't mean it's not worth pushing those books, but it's wise to accept that some people come to comics for one thing only.

Adventure.

Adventure is, in theory, something sequential art naturally lends itself to. Adventure is about scale, pacing and big, brash ideas. Things that comics do well.

So I'll be watching the fortunes of Dark Horse's forthcoming Rocket Comics line with interest. Described in Wizard magazine as "high-concept, character-driven, action-adventure titles", the July-launching line is notable for the absence of one thing. Superheroes.

DC and Marvel have got the superhero market all sewn up, and what's more, it's sewn up in two neatly packaged little universes. I don't hold much hope for the new Image Universe when even DC can't relaunch its Wildstorm universe to much success, while Marvel had to resort to cloning its own universe in order to achieve success with the Ultimate line.

Still, 'fifth publisher' CrossGen has done a remarkable job of carving out an audience for its fantasy adventure books, and Image books like Michael Turner's FATHOM and Kurt Busiek's SHOCKROCKETS usually only floundered when their creators were too ill to maintain momentum. There is an audience willing to take a chance on non-superhero, non-'universe' adventure, probably moreso than there's any audience looking for a new universe to follow.

Dark Horse has never really tried anything like this before, so there's no way to know which way it'll go. Still, the editorial talents that gave us books like HELLBOY and ANCIENT JOE, matched with the marketing talents that have made the LONE WOLF & CUB reprints such a hot seller, should at least give Rocket a fighting chance.

Then again, it could just be a soulless exercise in creating saleable media licenses, with the comics themselves little more than afterthoughts. We live in that kind of age.

ACTION MAN

On the subject of adventure comics, I'd like to commend your attention to THE INTERMAN, a full-colour 128-page graphic novel written, illustrated and published by Jeff Parker. I was sent an advance a few months back, and it should finally reach stores this month.

THE INTERMAN is a spy thriller about a young man bred to be a super-adaptive assassin, who goes on the run when his creators decide he's too dangerous to live. It reads like the best kind of vintage Saturday afternoon TV show, with all the genre staples mixed in, including femme fatales, exotic locales, chase scenes, explosions, and even a sword fight. It's smart, compelling entertainment with a broad appeal.

It's also an amazingly accomplished piece. Jeff Parker is probably an unfamiliar name to most of you. His body of work in comics to date includes credits on a few scant issues for Caliber, DC and Malibu, plus several entries in the BIG BOOK series for Paradox. His real background is in animation and storyboarding, which explains why he's such a gifted draughtsman and fluid storyteller, with a great flair for action.

THE INTERMAN is a book that deserves some buzz, and if you don't believe me, you can check out the 'roughcut' preview at the INTERMAN site.

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

I know it's a little late, and all the tinsel's been packed away, but indulge me, please:

My eldest sister has no respect for comics. She regards me as her nerdy little brother, and she's never yet managed to get her head around the idea that I don't follow STAR TREK or DOCTOR WHO, and have no particular interest in LORD OF THE RINGS. My sister is a self-professed flash fashion mag slag. She's a media dahling, a close personal friend to TV presenters and sitcom stars. She's the mainstream, sweetie. She's far too fabulously trendy for comics.

Or so she always thought. But she got herself a new boyfriend recently, and she decided she wanted to buy him something really, truly special for Christmas. On the drive down to the family manse for the holiday season, she told me what present he'd asked for.

An original page of Eddie Campbell artwork from FROM HELL.

And she'd bought it. She'd exchanged e-mails with 'your friend through comics' Chris Staros at Top Shelf, and got hold of one of the last pages. It cost her a small fortune, and frankly, she wasn't too impressed by Campbell's art, heathen that she is. But the boyfriend loved it. He called it the best present he'd ever received.

My sister the fashionista is dating a comic geek.

I'm taking it as an omen of the year to come. It's either going to be a good year for comics, or the end of the world.

Andrew Wheeler is a London-based entertainment journalist.

This article is Ideological Freeware. The author grants permission for its reproduction and redistribution by private individuals on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice.