I guess this post makes it Thursday comics...

July 9, 2009 5:25 PM

Wednesday Comics, DC's spectacular new oversize anthology featuring characters from Batman to Adam Strange and Kamandi in one page installments of serialized stories, launched yesterday to much acclaim from the internet. USA Today will be reprinting the Superman story for the duration of the comics 12 week run.
posted by Artw (30 comments total)

You know you've been ( watching the Discovery Channel | reading MetaFilter ) too long when it says Adam Strange and you read Adam Savage. An Alan Moore Batman/Mythbusters crossover, though, I would totally read.
posted by jeffkramer at 5:33 PM on July 9 [1 favorite]

Mythbusters in the Batcave. I'm sure Savage would love to get his hands on some of those wonderful toys.
posted by rokusan at 5:51 PM on July 9

Batman is dead! Long live the Batman!
posted by Bageena at 5:57 PM on July 9 [1 favorite]

Great idea, by the way, but four bucks for sixteen pages is a bit much, no?
posted by rokusan at 5:58 PM on July 9

I have the first issue right here beside my keyboard waiting to be read. The folks at the DC Comics blog The Source are soliciting pictures of people reading the first issue. Here's the first round.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:01 PM on July 9

Great idea, by the way, but four bucks for sixteen pages is a bit much, no?

To print this as a pamphlet, it'd take up 64 pages, and there's only one advertisement in the whole thing. IMHO, a really good deal.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 6:14 PM on July 9

Oh, cool! I read it last night!

Pros:
I liked Gaiman & Allred, but then, I like Madman's style.
There are multiple stories with gorillas.
The pages are BIG.

Cons:
Some of the stories are off to a slow start.
The different palettes can clash next to each other.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:34 PM on July 9

Woot! The fifth picture down in MegoSteve's third link is of the son of one of my customers in front of our Mechanicsburg, PA store! Too cool!

Oh, and WEDNESDAY COMICS #1 is just plain awesome and beautiful.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 6:36 PM on July 9

Hey! My roommate just bought this today, and was chattering excitedly about how great it is! Neat!
posted by Greg Nog at 7:30 PM on July 9

Certainly a better deal than the massive failure that was Action Comics Weekly.

(Christ, I can't believe that was twenty years ago.)
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:35 PM on July 9

Will this be the innovation that solves the problem of declining sales of comic books? No. Is it awesome? Yes. Will I add it to my pull list? Absolutely. Good job, DC.

It's wonderful to read comics on that big big page, and it does kindle fond memories of Sunday funnies.

The Green Lantern story was meh, but it's just the beginning and I read it after reading GL #43, which might be the single best comic I've read this year.

But:

"Aw heck! I knew Sapp's fondness her giant clams would get her into trouble. She was hoping for the mother of all pearl necklaces and now she's trapped!"

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
NEIL.
GAIMAN?
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:02 PM on July 9

Oops. "Sapph", rather
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:03 PM on July 9

Certainly a better deal than the massive failure that was Action Comics Weekly.
(Christ, I can't believe that was twenty years ago.)
posted by Lentrohamsanin

I wouldn't call a nearly year-long weekly series a "massive failure". ACW sold pretty well at our store back then. But there weren't a lot of great things to come out of it though.

On the other hand, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (6+ years) actually produced a bit of really good stuff.

But anyway, WEDNESDAY COMICS is just a 12-week series, in a "Sunday Newspaper Funnies" format, so kinda apples-n-oranges type of thing here.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 8:04 PM on July 9

But:
"Aw heck! I knew Sapp's fondness her giant clams would get her into trouble. She was hoping for the mother of all pearl necklaces and now she's trapped!"

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
NEIL.
GAIMAN?
posted by BitterOldPunk

Ever read one of Ramona Fradon's METAMORPHO comics from the '60s? He is after all, the "Fab Freak of 1000-and-1 Changes", so that sounds about right.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 8:07 PM on July 9

But did the Metal Men always used to be so groovy?
posted by Artw at 8:24 PM on July 9

Hey, as long as we're talking weeklies, did anyone read Trinity? Was it any good?
posted by graventy at 8:44 PM on July 9

Hey, as long as we're talking weeklies, did anyone read Trinity? Was it any good?

Yes. No.
posted by mightygodking at 9:01 PM on July 9 [2 favorites]

I'm reading this baby tomorrow!
posted by Kevin Street at 9:11 PM on July 9

Hey, as long as we're talking weeklies, did anyone read Trinity? Was it any good?

As MGK said.

Yes. No.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 9:31 PM on July 9

You know what really sucked? Final Crisis. I'm starting to really, really hate Grant Morrison. And why do we really, really need to go through killing off Bruce Wayne (sorry people who didn't know, but I just found out myself day before yesterday). Then, do we really need like, four new Bat titles? Do you know what this reminds me of? When DC PULLED THE SAME SHIT ON SUPERMAN. Steel, Superboy, Cyborg Superman, Mullet Superman.... *sigh* It sucked then, it sucks now.
posted by Bageena at 10:20 PM on July 9

I met the artist for the Green Lantern weekly at Stumptown. We didn't talk much about the plot, but the pages he was showing looked pretty deadly. I'm looking forward to picking this up next time I hit the comics store.

Bageena - Have you read Batman & Robin yet? I look forward to reading your retraction of your prior comment after you've gone and done so.
posted by EatTheWeak at 11:28 PM on July 9

Detective seems like it could be pretty intresting as well - but taht could just be the art swaying me.
posted by Artw at 11:47 PM on July 9

I heard a lot of bitching at the comic shop on Wednesday about how this was too expensive. But it seems like a great deal to me - it's huge, it's ambitious, there are tons of stories, etc. Plus, it's an actual event, unlike most comics "events." I'm hooked.
posted by jbickers at 4:29 AM on July 10

I'm starting to really, really hate Grant Morrison.

Grant Morrison has a five-year free goodwill pass from me for the awesomeness that was All Star Superman. He has five years to write as many Final Crisisesqe WTF-turds as he wants until I start to hate him.

And it looks like he might get an early renewal with Batman and Robin.
posted by straight at 7:42 AM on July 10

I really like the idea here. If DC could bring the price down a bit and have stacks of these sitting in grocery stores and Wal-Marts, maybe they could pull superhero comics out of the over-30 ghetto they've been sinking into the last couple decades...
posted by straight at 7:48 AM on July 10

I think I need to get this. I was just reading this review and found out this thing has Joe Kubert drawing Sgt. Rock! I mean, JOE KUBERT DRAWING SGT. ROCK! Stop the presses! I mean keep the presses going...whatever.

I like the fact the reviewer mentions the comics look just fine on the cheap newsprint paper.
posted by marxchivist at 9:05 AM on July 10

I liked #1 a lot, both on its own terms and on the "holy shit, this is a really wild physical object to have in my hands!" level. I'm a little irked that Wednesday Comics and the Morrison/Quitely Batman have gotten me to break my no-floppies policy, but it's a nice problem to have (although long term, I dunno, maybe a collected version of Wednesday Comics would be better to have for rereads. Can you imagine taking all 12 issues with you to read on a plane?).

I do have two gripes:

- Count me among the people who thought the Wonder Woman story looked great, but was kind of incomprehensible; weird layout, and the text was tough to read.

- The Sgt. Rock piece has a text box saying that it's happening on the Western front in 1943. Whoops. I guess you can fanwank it by saying they've infiltrated occupied France or something, but I don't think that's what they're aiming for. Still, good stuff.
posted by COBRA! at 9:32 AM on July 10

Paul Pope illustrates Complex Magazine photo shoot
posted by Artw at 10:50 AM on July 10

I read my copy last night and was really disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high with all the hype, but it just came off incredibly disjointed and not very readable, more frustrating than fun. It would have been better had they interspersed some short standalone strips, or gave a few of the features more than one page to develop.
posted by MegoSteve at 2:22 PM on July 10

Just finished it! Some quick impressions:

The Batman strip was pretty neat. I haven't read 100 Bullets or Broken City, so this was my first exposure to the Azzerello/Risso team, and they did a pretty good job here. We've got a mystery with genuine clues and a cliffhanger ending. Not bad for a single page!

Loved Kamandi! He's always been one of my favorite DC characters, so maybe I'm biased - but this was a great strip! Sook's art is detailed and well designed, luring the eye into each panel just like the great adventure artists of old, and Gibbons's script sets a nice, Prince Valiant style tone. Oh, and here's a prediction: the character standing behind Kamandi is Prince Tuftan. We'll find out next week!

The Superman strip is intriguing. Nothing much has happened yet, but the art is the real star here. With Bermejo's lines and Ciardo's colours, you get a fascinating painted style that's totally different from anything else in the book. I'm really interested to see where this strip goes.

Never heard of the the creators who did the Deadman strip, but it's pretty neat. I especially like the odd angles chosen by the artist for some panels. Not sure why they had to spend so much time on Deadman's orgin, though. This is the Sunday funnies, you don't have all day. Just introduce him, show his power and set up the next chapter. The readers will fill in the rest for themselves.

Loved the Green Lantern strip! Busiek effortlessly introduces us to both the setting and a bunch of supporting characters, revealing things about Hal Jordan by the way his friends talk about him when he's not there. And the art is really good! Never heard of Quinones before, but the man has talent. In terms of sheer story, I'd say this strip is one of the most complicated and successful efforts in the book.

I want to like the Metamorpho strip, but it isn't quite there yet. The Gaiman script evokes the tone of Metamorpho's old adventures really well, and the Allred art looks good - or rather, I think it looks good, but there's some kind of blurriness that makes it hard to focus on details. I think something went wrong on the production side here (Maybe bad printing?), but when they fix that and the story gets moving a bit more I bet this one will be a real winner.

The Teen Titans strip just doesn't work. I wish it did, but that art just isn't right for a format like this. It looks awful, frankly, and this strip is unfortunately the worst of the bunch.

But man, I love the next one! Strange Adventures is great! Paul Pope is doing wonderful things here with both the art and story. He's reinvented Adam for this strip, bringing in lots of different influences, while still keeping the essential concept the same. Two highlights I especially loved: his use of perspective, and the Dejah Thoris inspired new look for Alanna. That's how she dresses for battle? Oh my.

The Supergirl strip is fun, which is what you'd expect from Amanda Conner. Her art is always a blast, and it looks as excellent as ever in this format. What I didn't expect was a cute and funny one pager from a tough guy like Jimmy Palmiotti, but he surprised me by really making this story work. I want that, indeed.

The Metal Men are just awesome. What can one say about Garcia-Lopez that hasn't already been said? He's the best there is, and his art on this strip is just phenomenal. Dan Didio does a good job on the story, too. There's a lot going on in this strip, but the creators manage to introduce seven(!) main characters and set up the action in a clear and attractive feature that's probably the best in the book.

The Wonder Woman strip doesn't work too well either, but for different reasons than the Titans one. In Wonder Woman, it's obvious that Ben Caldwell is trying to set up a long, complicated story, but in the end it's just too much for one page. Normally I appreciate getting value for the money, but there's so many panels and so much dialog here that it all gets kind of muddy and confusing. A very noble effort, but hopefully the artwork will be a bit larger and clearer in future chapters.

The Sgt. Rock feature is very clear, with wonderful Joe Kubert art, but the story is a bit sparse. (And yes, that "1943" caption should have been caught by somebody before the book went to press. Maybe it will be changed in future printings.) I did love the nine panel grid. There's some real nostalgia for you!

And then there's the Flash and Iris West. A very clever setup by Kerschel, with some neat art as well. Notice how many panels this strip has, but it doesn't feel crowded like the Wonder Woman one. Kerschel uses panel size to pace things out really well. I wonder if he'll keep up the adventure/romance strip format for next week, or will things change with each installment?

The Demon and Cat Woman is kind of a long title, but the comic strip is neat. Stelfreeze's art looks good at this size, maybe better here than it does in a smaller comic book. And as for the story... well, it's still early so we'll see. But find it kind of hard to believe that Jason Blood would make a slip like "I was too slow" after a thousand years of pretending to be mortal. Still, you have to assume that the readers have no clue who he is, so it's important to drop clues like that.

And finally, Hawkman. Very unusual strip here, with the narration being provided by a bird. But it seems to work, and you certainly learn a lot about the main character. The art looks very interesting as well.

Overall, I'd say that Wednesday Comics is a very good deal. You get fifteen comic strips printed in glorious newspaper size, with lots of cool characters and great art. Not every story is a winner, but there are more than enough winners to make the whole package an excellent reading experience.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:26 PM on July 10