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[Bal]

Why is DC animated so universally superior? Maybe not expecting your fanbase to slog through a century of background has something to do with it.

[Thad]

Pretty much.  TV series have the option of keeping what's good, throwing out the rest, and rearranging it so it feels more structured.  New Adventures kept the best elements of the Jason Todd story without actually ever using Jason Todd.  Spectacular Spider-Man was fucking wonderful at going right back to the beginning with the Ditko stuff but making it all fit together so it didn't look like they were just making it up as they went along.

I'm not one to issue a blanket "fuck continuity", as some writers (Busiek, Morrison) do a really wonderful job making it work for them.  But it's just one tool in a writer's chest, and there's so damn much of it that no matter what you do you're going to contradict SOMETHING.  The other day's conversation about Strange Tales is instructive -- that Wolverine wrestler story was better than any in-continuity Wolverine story I've ever read.

[TA]

It's also worth considering quantity of production.  If DC was only putting out one, maybe two comics at a time, they'd be able to put a lot more resources into each, and be a lot more picky about what scripts they run.

[Thad]

Yeah -- they'd only publish the big events that make them the most money.

[Bal]

I've never seen someone make the preponderance of canon work for them in anything outside of a limited series or similar, a la All-Star Superman. Trying to do it in a big "Crisis" style event, Marvel or DC, just ruins everything for everyone, and that's not even touching on the lead-in stories that tend to get attached to them without the mastermind's input like Death of the New Gods, which has the incredibly dubious distinction of fridging Barda of all people.

Yeah -- they'd only publish the big events that make them the most money.

I thought that's what they already did. Every book that isn't a big crossover is foreshadowing an upcoming crossover.

[Thad]

Not entirely.  You could argue that Thor: The Mighty Avenger exists because there's a movie coming out, but it's a great little book entirely insulated from continuity.  If I'm not mistaken, Jonah Hex is still plugging along despite not selling very well and having a disastrous movie tied to it.  And we've just gotten through talking about how wonderful Strange Tales is.  Zatanna exists off in its own corner of the DCU, and there are plenty of others.

[Bal]

All the stuff you listed exists in it's own little pocket of canon though. None of it is mainstream, except maybe Thor: The Mighty Avenger, which is mainstream just by virtue of being really, really fun and well written with appealing art for non-comic fans, but even it exists as sort of a "What if..." retelling of Thor's origin, which they're also doing in Thor: First Thunder for some reason.

[Thad]

And Ultimate Thor.

My point, though, is that none of those books would exist in the hypothetical situation where DC and Marvel only published a few books.  Yes, they'd be more selective about what they published -- but quality would not be their deciding factor.

Of course, you start getting into what sells at bookstores and it's a whole other world.  Which is why we still have Vertigo.

[Bal]

I'm not really arguing against your point, just saying that that's pretty much what they're already doing. You have to scrounge pretty hard to find the good stuff these days. Speaking of which, have you been reading Thor: For Asgard? It's in the MAX imprint, and is pretty damn good so far.

[Lottel]

Thor Batman is best Batman.

[Lottel]

Note: Seriously. Thor Batman would be awesome.

[Rico]

"I only have 59 seconds to pick up that Batarang before I revert to Bruce Wayne!"

[Thad]

I'm not really arguing against your point, just saying that that's pretty much what they're already doing. You have to scrounge pretty hard to find the good stuff these days.

"Pretty much" and "exactly" are rather different beasts, though.  Gaiman loves to invoke Spurgeon's Law, 90% of everything is crap, and I think it's apt here.  But there's still a pretty good little 10%.

There's always been a lot of crap on the shelves.  Even EC put out a whole lot of schlock in-between creating some of the most important and defining comics ever.

[Royal☭]

I admit, I'm considering dropping Batman & Robin once Morrison is off the book, but with news that Paul Cornell will be filling in for issues #17-19 before Peter Tomasi takes over, I probably won't.

[Romosome]

I've been reading through Streets of Gotham and it's got some very entertaining stories. There's a few forgettable issues with Huntress and Man-Bat and stuff but the majority of it has some nice little arcs.

Damian got a neat little arc with a new supporting hero, we find out what Hush is during during Bruce's absence, and there's some cute one-off stories with The Broker and The Carpenter.

I don't know if The Broker has appeared before or if this is the first time but it's like they transplanted Dethklok's manager into the DCU.

Anyway, I thought "This really feels like Batman Adventures charm" before realizing Dini's the writer on nearly all of it, so no wonder it's good, right?

[Royal☭]

Here's a good Wired interview with Grant Morrison about Batman, Inc

Morrison just has this way with words that makes it sound like Batman is the fundamentally most important thing on Earth.  He knows a lot about Batman continuity, plus he's willing to put in the research to pull ideas from all over.  I'm excited about it all.

Beyond that, I think there's some great psychedelic work in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The dialog is good; the stories are really put together well. It's a great show that should be on at 9 .p.m. in the evening somewhere. I'd much rather watch Batman: The Brave and the Bold than Glee

[Thad]

In fairness, they BOTH have singing Neil Patrick Harris.

[Büge]

[Norondor]

whatever, RIP was fucking great

YOU'RE OUT OF TOUCH, BAT-OLD-MAN

[Royal☭]

That's the Batman who fought Ra's Al Ghul living inside of Talia Al Ghul's body.  He has no leg to stand on against RIP.