Comic vs Film : The Yeah and Meh of DC

Few days ago I wrote about how the birth of Marvel Cinematic Universe changes their comic landscape for both good and bad. This time, I'll be focusing on its main competitor; DC Comic. Hit the jump to find out how DC have changes since the release of its movie.


So before we started, how close do I am with DC Comics ? I've been following them close since Flashpoint, but similar to Marvel, I am well aware of the story happens before that (Blackest Night, Death of Superman , and all the batman stuff).

DC's films has been a bit wonky. All their Cinematic Universe movie has been polarizing at best. To me, again, I like Man of Steel, Ok with BvS, and enjoy Suicide Squad. I think I have mentioned it before that the toughest thing about making DC film is that you can't even change anything because all of their characters has been so recognizable due to the existence of other medium like cartoon and movie.

On the comic side, DC recently semi-reboot their universe with Rebirth. Rebirth seemingly has been successful with several character in particular Superman, and Wonder Woman. The recent released has finally bleed in some of the live action elements that work into the comic but we will talk about that more later.So as usual, before we rant about the Meh, lets talk the Yeah first.

The Yeah

The bleed is only for the comic that doesn't work

As usual, some of the elements that work in adaptation are brought into the comic. This is not uncommon as seen with Harley Quinn. The previous run of Green Arrow brought in Diggle and Felicity, while the recent of Supergirl reboot the whole thing to parallel with the TV show. The good thing is that they are not done in an awkward like a hair color changes within an issue (koff~StarLord~koff). Diggle and Felicity were brought in as different characters in comparison to the TV series to suit the comic storyline, and they haven't make Killer Frost a good girl despite a fan-fav in Flash. That being said, not all are done well, and I'll touch that in the meh section.

The comic universe is not tied with the live action universe

Wait a minute,... you say. Didn't I just said there's been bleed happen ? True, but it didn't tied the comic universe to maintain the live action universe status quo all the time. Superman is a husband and a father in the comic right now, and Green Arrow doesn't date Felicity in the comic. One of the reason is because they are not as knee-deep in the movie universe hence the writer has some freedom to write what they want including a punk-rock road trip Black Canary despite she is a sassy DA in the Arrow series (or a resurrected homosexual hot lady, whichever version you prefer).

Great storyline is still being made

This is the best part that to me triumph DC. You can still get some amazing story from the comic since the birth of movie universe. You have The Villain's Journey, Amazo Virus, and Darkseid War in Justice League, the whole Snyder run in Batman (I have complaint but it is still amazing), Throne of Atlantis, Forever Evil, the recent Burnside Batgirl run, and the whole pre-Convergence Earth 2 run to name a few. This is actually the benefit of freedom to write, rather than the need to weaves your way through the status quo. That being said, ...

The Meh

Some push are rather awkward.

Both the recent Supergirl and Suicide Squad run are good example for this. The whole Danver thing was immediately introduce in the Supergirl's run seems like a shove in the face and the inclusion of Rick Flagg was natural but the addition of Katana and Enchantress in the squad was out of place especially when they both already have their own team. Don;t get me start on Amanda Waller...

That constant semi-reboot 

Because they need to find a way to bleed everything in, despite they claim all to be in different universe, DC always have this constant reboot or semi-reboot. Fortunately, most of the time it works. Flashpoint semi-work because it reboots everything to the modern time and bring out new character, however Flashpoint doesn't have anything to do with the movie. Convergence didn't work at all (This was done to brought in a more Momoa's Aquaman, and brought Constantine to frontline) and the recent Rebirth work really well for me as I am reading more DC title that I should be. The problem with this is that you have stories that are good but never fully realized. Earth 2 was rushed for Convergence, and Nightwing was ended for Grayson (not complaining about this as Grayson was way better).

Some character got sideline

It is common for some character got sideline in favor for another, however with the introduction of the movie universe, some character immediately got sideline in favor for those who is or will be introduced in the movie. Shazam was axed from the Justice League in the recent run after some pretty interesting development from the previous run in favor a the line up from the movie (with the exception of Green Lantern for some reason). Hal Jordan rejoined his Corp in time for the movie but Kyle Rayner has been sideline. Patty Jenkins, Barry new love interest was removed in favor with the original one; Iris West and Justice League Dark was disbanded when Constantine got its own TV series. This is also connected to issue of the character are not allowed to grow and it is actually worst with DC as it not just that they are not allowed to grow due to movie but also due to the nostalgia, but I'm not gonna touch this for now. A post for another day.

So it come back to the question has DC Comics changes for the better or for the worst ? Well, to me it is for the better, for now. Do remember that they will not bleed in anything that doesn't work in the adaptation (koff~Olicity~koff). So we'll see what happen when the movie started to be universally love. While DC has nicely maintain the balance between comic and adaptation, that doesn't mean it is all good. The Master Race has been a pain due to delay and there is not really a book for kids in the current DC Rebirth line up post DC YOU.

So, do you agree with me ? How do you enjoy DC Comic nowadays ? Sound off your thought in the comment section. Stay tuned for more editorial post or movie review from me by following or liking COmikrew Studio right here or on Facebook. Be sure to subscribe my comic and Tapastic and finally don't forget to follow and hit me up on Twitter.