NOTE: The following is the text of the news summary from the Sunday, June 5th It's Komplicated webcast.
ADMIRAL ACKBAR: The comics industry is atwitter this week talking about two stories. One has attracted more attention than the other, but this is the one we feel really matters: as of September, DC Comics will be available digitally and in print every Wednesday, a practice called "day and date."
Previously, print was always considered first, because the comics industry relies heavily on the sales of individual comic books and the retailers, who have suffered and struggled while keeping the art form alive on the front lines. Never cross the retailers, that was the idea. Now? With new management at DC and them getting their teeth kicked in, market share wise, by Marvel for years and years … something had to change, right?
What's wrong with all of this? Money — it doesn't make dollars, so it doesn't make sense. Let's say you wanna buy a digital copy of, oh, Justice League #1 when it comes out in September? Four bucks. Well, at least for the first four weeks. Wanna drive to a store and buy a copy? Also four bucks. That's called "price parity." Oh, wait, you can spend five bucks for a special polybagged edition of the print comic that has its own download code inside. Really. So, a collection of pixels that doesn't require paper, ink, gas or shipping costs retails for exactly as much as a physical, resellable, collectible edition of the same story. Or, you can spend a buck more and get both. Which seems to imply that, well, digital comics are worth a buck.
However, selling them that cheap would screw over the retailers, can't do that. On the other hand, if you're new to comics and they tell you that for four bucks you can get twenty two pages of story … what the hell? That kind of sticker shock will not encourage casual digital buyers. At least you can give a physical comic book to your kid brother or a local library. Four bucks? Crazy talk. Digital comics should be at the most two bucks.
On one hand, DC has stepped up to be part of the future and bring comics to whoever wants them the second they're available. On the other hand, they're clinging to last century's ideas about pricing and business logic. Sadly, this is what comics are about — close but no cigar. Oh, and how long is the Mouse House of Ideas gonna let that "only big publisher to go day and date digital" thing stand? Just curious.
[Source: Comics Worth Reading]
BROTHERS GONNA WORK IT OUT: The second part of the story is that DC is using the Flashpoint event to reboot everything. Ev. Ry. Thing. They're talking about 52 new #1 issues with series starting from scratch, almost in an Ultimate fashion. Mm. Maybe shouldn't have said that. Anyhoo, one of these new series is — brace yourselves — about a Black man. Mister Terrific, the third smartest man on DC's mainstream earth — and apparently the smartest non-White person in the world — is getting a solo series. Ready for something even weirder? Written by a Black man. Seriously! Eric Wallace, people, who brought Deathstroke's Titans to the market. What will he have going on? Will this herald a new day for Black voices in creative? Who can say? Just kidding, we sent him an interview request Friday, we'll see if we can get him on the show. However, as of September, he could be the only Black writer on a monthly big publisher comic. Worth noting.
[Source: Geekweek]
PAST AND PRESENT COLLIDE: Did you know only one athlete who's been on the cover of the Madden games has been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame? It's true. Electronic Arts decided that this was a great time to add a Hall of Fame edition to Madden NFL 12 with a bronze embossed cover, an autographed trading card and a "Madden Ultimate Team Platinum Pack" which seemingly gives you access to the Madden NFL Ultimate Team, "a combination of 13 NFL Hall of Famers and former Madden NFL cover athletes, including: Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice, Rod Woodson, Eddie George, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Ray Lewis, Shaun Alexander, Vince Young, Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu and Drew Brees. All cards feature ratings from each player's most productive season in the NFL and are fully renewable with contract extensions, which is sure to make them some of the most sought after cards in Ultimate Team history." Gotta catch 'em all.
IT ALL STARTED WITH A BIG BANG: The next story freaks us out for a variety of reasons. First of all, they've done not just one but two desktop models of the Big Bang. That doesn't seem safe. Yet they're doing it, and … well, they're finding out some crazy stuff. The latest results of these madcap experiments show that — now, get ready, everybody — time travel might be possible. I won't say the name of the University of St. Andrews professor, because it's hard to repeat. Anyway, he says the work of two University of Maryland guys is a bunch of hooey and that making a loop in space with "metamaterials" that move light. In any case, it's a bunch of super smart people disagreeing with each other about very complex, very small things and none of it adds up to a TARDIS or a time-traveling phone booth because had that happened, the time travelers would have come back to this point to see time travel start. Unless they're already here. Best not to think about it.
[Source: Wired]
ACTIVISION ARMED ROBBERY: Call of Duty is awesome. People like playing it, they like shooting, they like the mayhem. As they should. However, game makers Activision pissed off lots of fans with their announcement that Call of Duty Elite would have some features that require a premium subscription. Wired noted that this was the first premium service for a standard retail game. Some gamers see it as an attempt to charge an additional fee for features that are often available in online multiplayer games for free, such as social networking groups and detailed tracking of in-game statistics. There's a FAQ from the company, their social media rep's all over Twitter trying to calm people down … it's a mess. We'll stay on top of this story to see whether the money's worth it or Activision is on that ooh-wee.
KICK IN THE DOOR WAVIN' THE .44: Ever been gaming online and get really mad at somebody? So mad that you spoofed their number, called the cops, pretended that there was a murder suicide and got the SWAT team to invade? Yeah, like you read about. This all really happened in Oregon, because one guy wouldn't give another some in game content. We all love games, but come on, that's a little too much, doncha think? Whoa.
[Source: The Consumerist]
YAY, (YOUNG ADULT) LITERATURE: One of the Elders of the Soul Review Board, David Walker, has a young adult novel out called Darius Logan: Super Justice Force. He's just posted a free preview of the first 25 chapters, and the book's available on Nook, Kindle and CreateSpace.
[Source: Darius Logan, Super Justice Force]