They're Back! DC giving 3D Comic Book Covers Promotion a Second Chance

DC COMICS likes to make a splash in September with special issues and promotions.  Last year it promoted VILLAINS MONTH which featured special one-shot villain focused stories with impressive 3-D covers.  Check out this 3-D cover from the JOKER issue of last year's Villains Month promotion:

DC's bringing the 3-D covers back this September for a month long event they have titled "Futures End."  Inspired by the newly created weekly comic book series of the same name (which I have to admit I haven't read yet), each of the monthly titles in DC's New 52 lineup during September will feature a stand-alone story that leaps your favorite super hero characters into a possible future five years ahead of the current timeline.  Each of these one-shots will feature a 3-D motion cover that hints at the story within the comic book. Here are a few samples of the upcoming 3-D covers, I think they look pretty sharp:

 

Hopefully DC has learned its lesson from the mistakes it made in VILLAINS MONTH. Last September, they didn't produce enough of the 3-D covers to meet demand and many of the publications were hard to get your hands on.  Also it appears DC over-extended its staff with all these one-shots because to be honest most of the stories were pretty badly put together and a lot of the artwork was lacking in quality. It seemed as if this whole promotion was rushed into distribution beyond the capabilities of the publisher.  So while you did have a nice cover for your collection with these 3-D titles (if you could fine the books),  the pages behind the covers weren't very impressive...which was pretty disappointing with how much potential the the promotion could have been with its theme.  Come on DC, comic book fans are as interested in checking out the histories, plots, and imagery of cool villains as they are your super heroes.  After last year's experience, I initially rolled my eyes when I heard they were doing a big September promo with 3-D covers again.

Than I picked up a new weekly series by DC titled BATMAN ETERNAL.  It is a year-long weekly serial celebrating Batman's 75th anniversary and I have to say I've purchased 13 issues now enjoying every one.  The artwork has been incredible and the stories are really well scripted.  This is what I thought VILLAINS MONTH would be like and while that failed Batman Eternal has exceeded my expectations.  If you haven't read this weekly Batman comic book series (most comic books are published monthly) and you are a fan of the caped crusader you have to grab it.  I believe BATMAN ETERNAL is the best comic book series that DC currently has on the market!  It utilizes a wide array of authors and artists from across all DC's titles to be able to meet its publishing demands and yet it meshes together.  So now I have a slimmer of hope that in addition to some cool 3-D covers, FUTURES END will also have good scripts and artwork making these comics coming out in September more like BATMAN ETERNAL than VILLAINS MONTH.

THE FUTURES END comic books will be published in weekly waves throughout the month of September.  So we'll be able to see from the first week if the titles are worth the money to purchase from weeks 2 - 4.  Of course, it is all about your own interests and tastes and even if the inside content isn't the best you may want to purchase the 3-D books just to showcase their covers for a collection.  I've also been told by some comic book retailers that they are getting plenty of allocations for every issue so the limited supply and price gauging issues of VILLAINS MONTH shouldn't be a problem this year.

Whether you are a new or long-time collector these 3-D covers are a nice addition to any collection.  I'd encourage you to keep an eye out for them this fall.  If you grab one off the shelf, send me an e-mail to thegeekdaddy [at] yahoo [dot] com and let me know what you think of both the 3-D covers and the pages that fall in between.

BATMAN VERSUS SUPERMAN

The movie BATMAN VERSUS SUPERMAN which is currently filming in my hometown of Detroit released some teaser pictures today to promote the film.  Director Zach Snyder tweeted 2 images that show images of the batmobile ... and BATMAN!

This is an exciting sneak peek because it shows that the upcoming film is moving towards adapting a look and feel from the pages of the Batman comic books.  The Batmobile looks similar to the one portrayed in ink and the batsuit appears more like the "costume" illustrated in comic books versus the "body armor" look of past films.

If you can't wait until May 6, 2016 release of BATMAN VERSUS SUPERMAN at movie theaters to get your superhero fix than you can pick up an edition of the graphic novel BATMAN/SUPERMAN:CROSS WORLD that was recently published by DC COMICS.  This graphic novel compiles issues 1-4 of the monthly comic book Batman/Superman plus throws in the Darkseid one-shot comic from DC Comics 2013 Villain's Month.  The comic book is supposed to portray the Dark Knight's first meeting with Superman in the New 52 universe.  The New 52 is the 2011 relaunch of DC Comics where its entire ongoing monthly superhero books were cancelled and 52 new series debuted that erased all of DC Comics past history and started its franchises over again from scratch.  The goal of this transformation has been to make DC's characters more modern and relatable to current times with the goal of enticing new readers.

I have to say though that I just haven't been impressed by many of the New 52 stories that I've read so far, and this includes BATMAN/SUPERMAN.  It seems the creative team at DC is just trying too hard and the stories from my perspective are too over the top trying to tie-in and merge super heroe stories with supernatural elements and sci-fi characteristics in a manner that seems forced and contrived rather than cool and creative.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: VOLUME 1 "CROSS WORLD" introduces readers to a time when Batman and Superman didn't know each other and had an adversarial relationship with a storyline that travels across the DC Multiverse.  In this story arc Batman and Superman first confront each other and than are transported to the alternate dimension of Earth 2 where they encounter different incarnations of themselves.  I just found this intradiminsional story line tied to their first meeting very confusing.  I was constantly confused over which version of the character was being portrayed, which timeline was being referred to, and essentially who was who throughout the book.  Than Wonder Woman flew into the picture on a pegasus out of the blue and I just lost interest all together in the story from the cheesiness.

One interesting aspect of of the comic book was that Earth 2 versions of the Dark Knight and The Man of Steel have been friends since they were children while in the regular universe they are just meeting each other and are adversaries as adults.  The book does a nice job of delving into this Earth 2 relationship but not enough about the regular universe version's initial meetings.  While the New 52 is supposed to up the comic books to new fans by letting them read stories without the burden of extensive back stories on the characters it seemed you really needed to know the back stories of both the regular universe and Earth 2 universe characters to stay in the plot of this story.

If you enjoy the New 52 JUSTICE LEAGUE comic books, I'd recommend picking up BATMAN/SUPERMAN but otherwise I'd give it a pass.  

On another note though, if you haven't read BATMAN ETERNAL yet I'd highly recommend you pick up that comic book. BATMAN ETERNAL is part of a year long celebration of Batman's 75th anniversary that is a weekly published book by DC COMICS.  The artwork and stories from the first 5 issues so far is exceptional. It is one of the best comic books I've read in years.  You'd think that DC that with so many issues to publish on a weekly timeline that they might cut corners but so far everything about this series has been first rate! The story involves a detective from Detroit taking a job with the Gotham PD.  On his first night on the job, Commissioner Gordon is set up and a crime boss from the past reappears to try and rebuild his empire of vice.

What is nice about BATMAN ETERNAL is that while the story has fantastical elements to it, it also has a gritty realistic approach to its story telling.  Commissioner Gordon is set-up when he allegedly shoots an unarmed man and causes a subway crash.  The villain who sets this up is a mob boss who corrupts the Mayor and Commissioner Gordon and turns the police against the Caped Crusader.  Than the mob boss turns his sights on the Penguin who has moved into power in the seedy gambling/prostitution/drug side of Gotham.  We aren't looking at alternate universes and mystical powers in this series but rather a vigilante taking on crime in a dangerous world filled with mobsters, villains with superpowers, and bad guys with high tech devices.  

Throughout the year run of this comic book it is promised that a long list of villains, sidekicks, and friends will appear in the pages of BATMAN ETERNAL.  Will we see some Batman/Superman sequences?  You'll have to pick up the issues to find out each week at your local comic book store or digital outlet. I recommend you check it out!

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary digital pdf of BATMAN/SUPERMAN VOLUME 1 "CROSS WORLD" from the publisher to review.  I was not mandated to write a positive review to receive the digital copy.  The views and opinions in this post are my own.