DC's 2015 Event: CONVERGENCE

[Panthro]

I really need to pick up Multiversity, it seems so freakin awesome.

I've been meaning to pick up Multiversity as well, having heard good things about it.

 

[luis4u]

Flashpoint: The Original Convergence



http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/02/14/original-plans-flashpoint-convergence/


At DC’s retailer roadshow at Orlando yesterday, the assembled crowd were told a story about the original plans for the 2011 Flashpoint event from DC Comics.
The event from 2011 saw the DC Universe reality change, Age Of Apocalypse style, and the DC books replaced by twisted parallel dimensional versions, before the New 52 relaunch that soft rebooted DC continuity.
Originally, Flashpoint was supposed to do what Convergence is doing now, becoming a holding place, a band aid, for books during the originally planned move of DC Comics from New York to Burbank, which was then delayed until 2015. At the end of Flashpoint, the books were originally going to continue as normal without the reboot, and Multiversity was intended to be born from Final Crisis.
But obviously, things change. But they told the crowd that Convergence is the culmination of everything DC has had planned and on the table from the New York era.
And DC will be reborn in Burbank.

 

[luis4u]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/02/14/convergence-week-week-explained-retailers-dc-comics/

These Convergence mini-series will be collected into eight 10-issue trade paperbacks, themed week by week…

 

[luis4u]

CONVERGENCE: ACTION COMICS #2
Written by JUSTIN GRAY
Art by CLAUDE ST-AUBIN and SEAN PARSONS
Cover by AMANDA CONNER
Variant cover designed by CHIP KIDD
On sale MAY 27 • 40 pg, FC, 2 of 2, $3.99 US • RATED T

STARRING HEROES FROM CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS! Will Superman and Power Girl meet their demise at the hands of Red Son Wonder Woman?
This extra-sized issue includes a sneak peek at what’s coming up in the DC Universe!

CONVERGENCE: DETECTIVE COMICS #2
Written by LEN WEIN
Art by DENYS COWAN and BILL SIENKIEWICZ
Cover by BILL SIENKIEWICZ
Variant cover designed by CHIP KIDD
On sale MAY 27 • 40 pg, FC, 2 of 2, $3.99 US • RATED T

STARRING HEROES FROM CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS! Helena Wayne and Dick Grayson attempt to keep Bruce Wayne’s memory alive as they come to blows with the powerful Superman Red Son characters!
This extra-sized issue includes a sneak peek at what’s coming up in the DC Universe!

 

[Hunter Rider]

I love this piece of art.

 

[titansupes]

It's very pretty indeed.

 

[The Sage]

The Superman from "Red Son" is in Convergence? Wow.

 

[-Arya-]

^ Yup, Convergence is a story spanning the entire Multiverse.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I've never heard of this Red Son storyline til now. Sounds interesting, and only 3 issues.

 

[luis4u]

I've never heard of this Red Son storyline til now. Sounds interesting, and only 3 issues.

Red son is a pretty good book


some of my favorite elseworld costumes.

 

[titansupes]

Red Son is amazing.

 

[PLRXV]

Red Son is pretty damn good but the thing I hate about Elseworlds story is that there's little to no chance of a live-action adaptation. I wouldn't mind an animated one

 

[Gee]

Rucka on Convergence, Renee, Kate and Why He’s Back at DC
http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/112175264946/rucka-on-convergence-renee-kate-and-why-hes

Q. Greg its been almost 5 years since you left DC Comics and wrote Renee Montoya and now you’re writing her again - how did that happen?

Dan called and offered me the job. It’s kinda that simple. I mean, the longer version of the conversation was that Dan prefaced the offer saying something like I was the first person he thought of for the book, and he wanted to offer it to me even though he fully expected I would say no. I gave it a little thought, and I said — half-jokingly — that I’d do it if Cully would draw it. Dan responded by saying that he’d call Cully.

Glad to know he is open to write more for DC. C'mon DiDio, make it happen! I'd be all over a Question/Batwoman team-up miniseries. Hell, he can even take Wonder Woman from the Finches.

 

[Rocketman]

Not too interested in this.

One thing I suddenly realized in regards to low comic sales, the constant rebooting of universes, the retconning, the desperation for new readers and fresh starts, the convoluted canons... maybe it's because there are too many comics every month. Maybe it's not about having as much variety as possible, but about not overwhelming people with 52 different titles. Do we really NEED 52 titles? Imagine if DC had 12 titles each per month. A fan could very well get EVERY comic and be a fan of EVERYTHING, with zero financial burden.

Is it really so insane for DC to produce 12 titles per month?

Justice League
Batman
Superman
Wonder Woman
The Flash
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Cyborg
Shazam
Green Arrow
Martian Manhunter

Boom. There you go. Hell, you could push it to 20 titles per month and you'd still have plenty of exposure for countless characters. Batman doesn't need 10 titles. Superman doesn't need 5 titles.

 

[Gee]

But what if someone has zero interest in any of those characters? What if someone's favourite character is Firestorm?

From your list, there's only one series with a female lead... And people complain that DC doesn't have enough books with female characters...

 

[Snow Queen]

But what if someone has zero interest in any of those characters? What if someone's favourite character is Firestorm?

From your list, there's only one series with a female lead... And people complain that DC doesn't have enough books with female characters...

Pretty sure her complaint was more about their exposure in pop culture (films, merchandise, etc...), unless I'm misreading. But I agree with everything else in your post. That'd be a too limited DCU for me and the lack of female characters in leading roles would be off-putting. Only two books would catch my eye on that list and that goes down to 0 with their current writers. I can think of a number of characters I'd rather see books of.

 

[-Arya-]

I agree. Having over 50 titles is overwhelming to be honest and that isn't even counting comics released by other publishers.

It would be more sensible to have around 15-20 quality comics every month.

 

[Rocketman]

I agree. Having over 50 titles is overwhelming to be honest and that isn't even counting comics released by other publishers.

It would be more sensible to have around 15-20 quality comics every month.

Yep.

 

[Gee]

I don't find 50+ overwhelming. If there are series you don't care, you simply don't buy them. Or you trade-wait if money is an issue. I manage between DC/Vertigo, Marvel, Image just fine every month.

Today, the comics industry is aiming towards that diversity...

 

[Snow Queen]

I don't find 50+ overwhelming. If there are series you don't care, you simply don't buy them. Or you trade-wait if money is an issue. I manage between DC/Vertigo, Marvel, Image just fine every month.

Today, the comics industry is aiming towards that diversity...

Having a large amount of options to read that are diverse in terms of protagonist, tone and style helps rather than hinders.

 

[Doc Ock]

I think having 50 titles is overwhelming, because the problem is I WANT so much of it! There is just too much I want...

 

[Cain]

I don't find 50+ overwhelming. If there are series you don't care, you simply don't buy them. Or you trade-wait if money is an issue. I manage between DC/Vertigo, Marvel, Image just fine every month.

Today, the comics industry is aiming towards that diversity...

Seriously.

People need to remember the comic book series that doesn't appeal to you may very well appeal to somebody else. They have as much a right to have a book for them on the stands as you do.

As somebody who doesn't read Batman I appreciate that as a fan of bombastic and epic stories I still have Batman & Robin to rely on for that fix. That variety keeps a customer for DC instead of it being that they end up losing them all together. It's a publishing business first and foremost.

Honestly even pre-Flashpoint I was still buying over 35 DC published titles at a time every month. Only difference is I was one of the select few who bought stuff like Jonah Hex, Booster Gold, Manhunter, Secret Six, Xombi, Power Girl, Zatanna etc. yet ironically a lot of the same people that ignored that type of diversity back then also are the ones *****ing about a "lack of diversity" today.

The same readers that ignored them all together for the typical Superman, Batman and Green Lantern diet are now crying for those type of books again. Things go in cycles. People have to vote with their dollars and they're given a great variety of choices to make that choice simpler. I thank my lucky stars that Marvel still publishes Daredevil even though I haven't read more than a handful of Marvel monthlies at a time since Civil War. I also read Bendis' X-Men book because it's become quite a guilty pleasure.

If Marvel didn't publish those books they wouldn't be getting a dime from me altogether. Variety is always good for business.

Having a large amount of options to read that are diverse in terms of protagonist, tone and style helps rather than hinders.

 

[Cain]

I think having 50 titles is overwhelming, because the problem is I WANT so much of it! There is just too much I want...

That's a problem only to an individual reader though and not the publishers. The publisher is just doing what they're supposed to be doing.

 

[-Arya-]

Perhaps to veteran readers it isn't, but for a novice comic reader like myself, it can be difficult to choose what to buy and what not to.

 

[Cain]

That's probably just because you over complicate what should be a very simple decision. Buy whatever appeals to you. Whether it's popular or not if it catches your eye feel free to enjoy.

The truth is it's really all not that hard. I know plenty of new comic book readers and that philosophy fits them just fine. They mostly stick to characters that have appealed to them in outside media.

When you think about it that's what generally happens to most of us. Even me being a veteran reader that's how I also got into collecting comic books as well. Through stuff like reruns of Batman filmation cartoons, Superman movies and the George Reeve show & Fleischer cartoons. Or the Bill Bixby Hulk show and the Adam West TV series.

Then through following those characters I got into the greater universe they were a part of throughout the years thanks to being exposed to characters of the greater DC or Marvel universe in Hulk or Batman comic books.