DC Villains Month... Did It Work?

... depending on who you ask, you'll get a different answer about DC Comics' "The New 52."

Superman's Bad!  I'll say he was!

Some would say, "if it wasn't broke, why fix it?" while others like the fresh approach.  Many fanboys found the New 52 confusing - some of those classic stories we grew up with happened, but not really.  Or something like that.

Personally, I think it's time to drop the "New 52" moniker.  It's been two years now.  The new design of Superman is showing up on kid's clothing.  So it's clear that it's here to stay.  And it's not new anymore.

You might remember I did a blog about three months into the New 52 praising their fresh take on Superman.  That lasted about eight or nine more months, and then I got bored of the stories.  Honestly, the only New 52 book I'm still really enjoying is Supergirl.

So DC decided to have another Villains Month... I remember "New Year's Evil" from the late 90s when we were treated to one-shots of Mr. Mxyzptlk... and this time they'd re-introduce the core villains of the DCU.  Or is it DCNew?  DC52?  Fuck it, it doesn't matter.

Of course this was a marketing ploy.  But did it work?

DC Comics offered special editions of each comic.  These came with 3D motion covers.

Meh.

puddin'

All this really did was cement all of the New 52 naysayers who claim that DC is trying to return to the 1990s era of comics.

gross...but very intriguing.

Sure, some people were grabbing those special editions because of a low print run, so they're expected to be collectible, or some bullshit like that.  I buy comics to read them.  And the best ones (Tiny Titans, Superman Family Adventures, Bone) are the titles I can read with my little girl.

So, if you go visit Adam (the dude who owns my local comic shop and kinda looks like a more awesome Jesus) and ask to see what comics I buy, you'd see:
Supergirl, Smallville, He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, and occasionally the Marvel Wizard of Oz series.

So what villains comics did I pick up this month from DC?
Cyborg Superman, Joker, Doomsday, Harley Quinn, Zod, and Joker's Daughter.

All of this was based on characters I liked (except for Joker's Daughter; the title alone intrigued me) and wanted to read a single story of.  So this month I bought six extra comics.

I'd say their marketing plan worked.  Good for them.