DC Comics seems to have more misses lately than hits. Some of the New 52 flat-out flopped, the entire Gail Simone debacle seriously angered some fans and handing multiple books over to Rob Liefeld have all hampered the mega-publisher's grasp on some of their dedicated fans. Their latest sales initiative will probably have the same polarizing effect.
Buzzfeed reported yesterday that DC's big April event -- which will include gatefold covers on all of their books depicting a "WTF" moment -- is being labeled the undeniably gimmicky "WTF Certified". Some of the "WTF" moments that are teased include the return of some characters that have been missing, or barely seen, since the beginning of the New 52: Booster Gold, the Creeper, Pandora and Jack Kirby's New Gods.
The biggest complaint one would have with this idea is the obvious heavy-handed control by DC's editors. "Zero Month" was plagued with uninteresting stories that brought all of the momentum in many of the books grinding to a halt, which just goes to show that DC's need to interfere with their storytellers visions is just as unwelcome to the creators themselves as it is the fans. When you tell your writers to change their story to meet the criteria of a sales initiative, the flow of the story they are telling is disrupted, leaving nothing but "shock" moments that add nothing to the story. If DC wants to keep the fans happy, they need let the creators spin the yarns that they want to, not interfere every two months with a "required" story change.
DC has seen a lot of flack recently for poor editorial decisions, but can they break the mold with this one?
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