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by **Zechs** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:43 pm

BlueStreak wrote:Also, I realize how stupid this bet is due to the fact that the last Batgirl #1 was released in a significantly healthier industry. Anyways, I'll still make it because I'm bored and to show that it's all in the spirit of good fun.

And in that spirit of fun why I agree to it. But you haven't told the stakes of if I lose and you win. What would you want? A name change? Avatar? A sketch? A trade? What would you want from me?

by **Eli Katz** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:51 pm

I love these columns!

by **Strict31** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:53 pm

ElijahSnowFan wrote:
I agree with this, but man...that's the kicker. Is DC/Warner Brothers clever enough to tap into those potential readers? Are there nimble enough thinkers at the top of this food chain to feed everybody else?

Networks and newspapers and magazines are part of their multimedia empire. I'm sure they can pull together a game platform if they chose -- hell, if Turok: Dinosaur Hunter can get a game, then I'm certainly not saying that Men of War can't.

But see, if it was me...I'd already HAVE "Men of War: Game of Death," ready for launch for your next generation gaming systems, complete with cool trailers on videogame websites. And that stuff would be as good as I could possibly make it.

I mean, I'd already have that stuff READY TO GO. Then you get the full impact of corporate synergy. You might be able to channel the full might and fury of the Nerd Armada. (Of which I am a proud member.)

DC/Warner Brothers...I wonder just how smooth those guys are. I just...wonder.

Some things I don't know if you're taking into account:

The market is flooded with games like that. If DC/WB got involved with the launch of an all new game franchise that was exactly like a half-dozen other, well-established franchises, two things would happen. First, it would seen (correctly) as pandering by the game media. Second, it would get crushed by Modern Warfare, battlefield, Call of Booty...I can't even keep all these FPS games straight because they're all goddamned identical to each other.

This game would have to offer something unique aside from the chance to get your entire platoon's ass whupped by a girl in star-spangled panties.

It would be a waste of money for DC to even research the idea, much less put it out as a game.

Also, you and Blue have mentioned the idea of targeting this comic to folks who play those sorts of games. If they're not already comic readers, how are they gonna compare the value of endlessly playing a multiplayer/co-op game for sixty bucks, versus a couple dozen pages of static art which costs nearly 5 bucks and is done in teenty minutes?

Games and comics are expensive, but only one keeps paying you off every time you experience it. Unless you're playing on PS3, you will never have to wait a month to pick up the story of your intrepid guy-who-shoots-shit-and-has-no-name because Capture the Flag ain't a story.

Maybe adults will have that sort of disposable income, but they're likely to already be comic readers, either past or present. Kids...not so much. They're gonna have to convince mommy and daddy to buy them both this expensive game and this expensive comic.

And if recent history is any indication, the comic is gonna lose out on that deal.

But personally, I think the new Sgt. Rock title is a stupid fucking idea. Not in principle, but in execution. The original Rock of Easy was a soldier fighting in the closest thing to a Just War that we're likely to ever see. He was doing a solid for his country and for fuckin' freedom. Literally. It's one of the few wars in history where you can say that without exaggeration.

This new Rock is a contractor working for a Private Military Company. And PMC is a politically correct term for "mercenary." And he's fighting in a conflict which is increasingly unpopular. For a paycheck. A large part of me is like fuck that guy.

Don't get me wrong; PMCs have done some good over the decades; keeping a modicum of order in zones where the law of the butcher rules. But for the most part, their activities have been highly questioned, if not outright questionable.

One is a clear-cut hero in an often dark and gritty setting. The other is a questionable protagonist in a morally ambiguous setting. There's a place for that guy, no doubt. But there's not a place for that guy if he's called Sgt. Rock of Easy Company.

Make the story. Call it something else. Like maybe the Losers. Oh wait...Or how about calling it something new entirely since it's an entirely different concept than Sgt. Rock?

by **superfictious** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:54 pm

Zechs wrote:
And in that spirit of fun why I agree to it. But you haven't told the stakes of if I lose and you win. What would you want? A name change? Avatar? A sketch? A trade? What would you want from me?

Shouldn't you actually be happy that Cass and Steph might get a chance to move on to bigger and better things? I understand why Oracle fans might be frustrated, but Barbara Gordon is the Batgirl that's most widely known. At least with Babs going back to BG, she's stepping back into her own shadow and not anyone else's.

by **BlueStreak** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:55 pm

A bet has been made and agreed upon.

Zechs wagers the first Cassie Cain Batgirl trade that the new Batgirl series will not last 25 issues.

I bet a signed and personalized copy of any trade written by one of Zechs' favorite writers (name withheld to protect the innocent) that it will.

I'll also concede the bet if sales on the new Batgirl series dip far below Steph's series after the title has stabilized (month four or five).

by **Zechs** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:58 pm

False Prophet wrote:
Shouldn't you actually be happy that Cass and Steph might get a chance to move on to bigger and better things? I understand why Oracle fans might be frustrated, but Barbara Gordon is the Batgirl that's most widely known. At least with Babs going back to BG, she's stepping back into her own shadow and not anyone else's.

Bigger and better? For Steph is back to being Spoiler. I see that as regression as well even though she's awesome in the role. Cass has outgrown Batgirl title. Not to say she should appear in it as the Blackbat or get an more deserving ongoing since she's a minority hero and female that fans would buy. With today's market that's just an utter rarity.

by **GLX** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:58 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:
I'd have preferred Nightrunner of all those Batman INC characters.

Nightrunner > Batwing.

That's a fact, Jack.

by **chap22** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:59 pm

BlueStreak wrote:AI bet a signed and personalized copy of any trade written by one of Zechs' favorite writers (name withheld to protect the innocent) that it will.

Adam Beechen, obv.

by **Zechs** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:59 pm

GLX wrote:
Nightrunner > Batwing.

That's a fact, Jack.

Nightrunner, the Blackbat, Knight & Squire. Any of them are superior then Batwing.

by **Zechs** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:00 pm

chap22 wrote:
Adam Beechen, obv.

LIKE DEVIN IS YOUR'S?!

by **GLX** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:02 pm

BlueStreak wrote:No one gives a shit about any iteration of Spider-Girl.

by **chap22** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:03 pm

Zechs wrote:
LIKE DEVIN IS YOUR'S?!

she wrote a good JLA/Titans mini, and a decent Black Widow mini. that makes the bane of my existence at least slightly more tolerable than yours.

by **GLX** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:04 pm

Zechs wrote:
Nightrunner, the Blackbat, Knight & Squire. Any of them are superior then Batwing.

You listed Black Bat after Nightrunner. Me thinks you're not as big of a fan as you profess to be.

by **Zechs** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:05 pm

GLX wrote:
You listed Black Bat after Nightrunner. Me thinks you're not as big of a fan as you profess to be.

It's #1 on people's list that be a superior title. If it was up to me I be kicking Batwing to the curb and putting in Black Bat and writing it FREE for DC.

by **Zechs** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:06 pm

chap22 wrote:she wrote a good JLA/Titans mini, and a decent Black Widow mini. that makes the bane of my existence at least slightly more tolerable than yours.

He only gave me Teen Titans: Haunted!! That's it! I can't even watch the episode and now think of Beechen as Slade as the thing that haunts me in my sleep!