InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I create myself."

arbre_rieur (arbre_rieur) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-07-11 17:07:00

Entry tags:

char: supergirl/kara zor-el, char: will magnus, char: wonder woman/diana of themyscira, creator: amanda conner, creator: ben caldwell, creator: dan didio, creator: jimmy palmiotti, creator: jose luis garcia-lopez, group: metal men, title: wednesday comics

Wednesday Comics #1
Warning: As those of you who've picked up an issue of Wednesday Comics know, these pages are HUGE. Those with slower connections should keep that in mind.

First panel of the third row on the Metal Man page, does anyone recognize the guy in gray with a brimmed hat? He looks way too conspicuous to just be a background extra.

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arbre_rieur
2009-07-12 09:34 pm UTC (link)

"Top creators doing work on whatever they wanted."

Except that many top creators turned doing an issue because of how harsh the restriction on "whatever they wanted" turned out to be: Each issue had to have at least one story involving a DC character, and each issue had to be 48 pages in total, regardless of whether the creator wanted to do more or less. I believe there were also nudity restrictions. Apparently, that's DiDio's laughable definition of creative freedom. As usual, DiDio and his buddies managed to take a good idea and ruin it.

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	kingrockwell 2009-07-12 10:03 pm UTC (link)
	I could see having the story about a DC character thing, that was kind of the point of the series. The rest of it is a silly thing to restrict. (Reply to this) (Parent)

statham1986
2009-07-13 08:03 am UTC (link)

No, that's not ruining a good idea, that's just good business sense. How else do you market such a series unless you give it a set of parameters to conform to? The page count in particular adheres to the price point which would have to be solidified for each issue as to allow stores to buy the book.

The idea that it's 'laughable' to have a mainstream publisher publish a book by top creators with the mandate that one story at least must feature one of their characters? Hardly laughable. Why would DC publish this through their mainline output if it didn't feature their characters? The idea of Solo was top creators working on DC characters - If they weren't, why would the likes of Allred go to them in the first place?

And nudity restrictions are nothing - The book generally tried to appeal to a largely all-ages audience.

So it's not 'laughably' destroying a good idea, and I hardly find the restrictions 'harsh' as an artist myself - It's just business sense and having to work in a corporate environment.

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	arbre_rieur 2009-07-13 08:22 am UTC (link)
	Normally, I'd agree with you, but this series was explicitly touted as a place where artists would get total creative freedom. It seems backhanded for DiDio to entice creators with such bait, only to then shatter their illusions and say, 'no, you won't be able to do this, this, and this.' (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

statham1986
2009-07-13 08:45 am UTC (link)

At the same time, I believe that the artists had to know that, working on a book for mainstream DC Comics, there would be certain parameters they'd have to follow.

If they were genuinely interested in not doing something involving DC characters and in a different format - Then they'd go to IDW or somewhere similar, who have a great history of giving artists fantastic books to display their work in, especially with Ashley Wood spearheading Sparrow and Swallow.

So I don't think creators going to investigate Solo were as oblivious as you suggest. You don't go to DC Comics to check out the idea of working on a prestige-style book and think you'd be doing entirely your own thing.

As it is, this just seems like another case of tarring Didio with the 'STUPID and RUBBISH' brush, whereas I guarantee if anyone else were in his place, people would revile them, too.

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