Manic Monday--Crisis Of Infinite Kamandis!!

Thanks to the legendary DC Implosion, we were deprived of this:

And that was no exaggerations about "a thousand Kamandis on a thousand worlds," as an invisible omnipotent voice lectures The Last Boy On Earth about the nature of the pre-Crisis multiverse:

The story would go on to reveal that Kamandi was somehow "the pivotal point of infinities uncountable":

The series would have gone on to show that Kamandi was a multiversal counterpart of Jed, the kid who was always hanging around with Kirby's Sandman. And heaven knows where Jack C. Harris was heading with this "pivotal point of the whole damned multiverse" business.

So, thanks for nothing, DC Implosion.

OK, this one is complicated. This story was planned for the never-published Kamandi #60 (would have been 1978). It was printed in the little-seen Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2 (1978). As reprinted in Kamandi Challenge Special #1 (2017), where these scans were taken from. Phew!

Ask The Answer Manic Monday #5--And You Thought Skip Weeks Were Bad!!

To all of you who were dismayed by the small number of DC books out last week: it could have been worse:

Wow.

Apparently, in the wake of the DC Implosion, DC changed to a twice a month distribution schedule, instead of weekly?

I mean, wow. I never noticed--I was a Marvel Zombie at the time, so as long as my books came out, I very well might never have noticed.

Then again, it couldn't have lasted too long...I'm sure DC soon realized that it was folly to not have anything for the newsstands every other week, when Marvel et al were only too glad to fill those spots. And the direct market was in its formative stages, and would demand weekly product to keep the customers streaming in.

So skip week? Bah!! Back in my day, DC had 2 (or 3!) skip weeks every month--and we liked it!!

Answer Man column from Action Comics #502 (1979)

To Kill Or To Fix?

From a "Publishorial" by Jenette Kahn in The Witching Hour #74 (1977), an interesting discussion of the decision whether or not to cancel low-selling books:



["[T]ruly a sincere one?" How many books was DC putting out for "insincere" reasons?]


Ironically, this was printed just a few months before the infamous DC Implosion.

Still, a lot of food for thought here. Do publishers still go through this process when making these decisions? Is there thought given to whether a creative team is "committed," or whether their talents could be better used elsewhere? Are books canned because they somehow "diminish the prestige" of the publisher?

Keep these in mind when, 8 months from now (?), some of the casualties begin to be announced in the New 52...

Finally:

Oh, how quaint. Not just one distributor for comic books? Enough for a whole association--and that just for one region?? Oh, you crazy 1970s...

Ask The Answer Manic Monday #10--History Repeating Itself?

Ah, what heady days these are...50+ new #1s and/or new features, a major publicity push, excitement about revitalizing the comics industry...

Oh, wait, you thought I was talking about DC's 2011 "New 52?" No, no, I was talking about 1978s much ballyhooed "DC Explosion!" Look, Bob Rozakis, DC's very own Answer Man, devoted an entire page to it in Superboy & The Legion Of Super-Heroes #243 (1978):

Click to embiggen, so you can see the sheer exuberance of DC's sure-to-succeed plans!!

Of course, just a few months later, the suits put a kibosh on this, and we had the infamous DC Implosion, wherein 30-odd books were cancelled, and 10 planned new books and features never saw the light of day. But that could never happen today, right?

Anyway, after the bubble burst, the poor Answer Man got downright testy with all of the people writing in to ask about the fates of their favorite characters. These are all from the same Answer Man column in Superboy & The Legion Of Super-Heroes #248 (1979):






Ouch. I can imagine it wasn't a happy time to be working at DC. At least Rozakis didn't have to answer questions at conventions, or online forums, or snarky blogs.

But, again, that could never happen today, could it...?

DC Punts

OK, so everything I wrote earlier today is irrelevant. Sorry. Timing is everything.

The facts: DC will be re-numbering all DC Universe titles starting with #1 in September. Please note, Justice League #1 will debut on August 31, so as I predicted, Flashpoint #5 will NOT be the only release that day. I win that one, at least.

In a USA Today article, Dan DiDio declares

We looked at what was going on in the marketplace and felt we really want to inject new life in our characters and line...This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today's audience.

CBR reports that in a letter to retailers, DC VP of Sales Bob Wayne said the massive reboot:

will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character's legend -- but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph. Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once.

Let me translate. DC's co-Publisher and Senior VP of Sales are out and out telling you that their current stories are NOT being told for today's audience, the the current DC Universe is not modern and not diverse, that the marketplace has said that the comics they publish need new life.

Has there ever been a more thorough admission of failure? "People don't like the comics we're publishing, they're not at all relevant, so we're going to start over." As if the comics that were allegedly lifeless and and irrelevant and not being told for today's audience were somehow being published by elves or fairies, and not by the exact same people making this announcement. The new product will be much better than the old product!! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Oh, yeah, and new costumes:

In the 70s we had the DC Explosion, followed by the DC Implosion. Well, now we've got the DC Punt. "We have seen the enemy, he is us, and we're shifting the whole line to Ultimate DC."

Obviously, more to follow.

Weeding The Garden

A couple of weeks ago, I pondered how DC was going to be able to pull off 15--yes, fifteen--Flashpoint miniseries and "several" one-shots. I was worried about flooding the market, and I was curious where they'd find the talent to produce that much extra material.

Well, one of the shoes has dropped. As the May solicits reveal, DC seems to be clearing away a lot of the deadwood, clearing the decks, as it were, to make room for Flashpoint-a-palooza.

May will see the final issues of Batman And The Outsiders, Doom Patrol, Freedom Fighters, R.E.B.E.L.S, and JSA All-Stars.

It's not exactly the DC Implosion, but 5 cancelled mags is a lot for one month. Given the timing, it's hard not to jump to the conclusion that DC is freeing up resources and clearing rack space for the summer's 50+ issue Flashpoint power dump.

The question is, are they done yet? Or will more titles be on the chopping block in June?