DC Entertainment Essential Graphic Novels
and Chronology 2014
Review:
I have always preferred the DC Comics library over the Marvel library because I am more engaged with the characters that DC owns. Now being a fan boy and all that business is why I have to rate this particular collection of the chronology of the DC Essential reads pretty low. This collected work of their trades showcases an ongoing issue that I have with DC as a publisher. I agreed with their stance on the 25 essential graphic novels that should be read from their choices. That didn't bother me in the slightest, but it does bother me when you get into the section with each individual character. The "Batman" (21 titles) and "Superman" (20 titles) sections that are published and recommended are enormous in nature when compared to other characters. Their sections are much shorter. The most startling, but maybe it shouldn't have been based on the fact they won't even give her a movie, is that Wonder Woman included exactly 6 titles. This low number was similar for most of the other sections, except for Green Lantern which clocked in at around 16 titles.
Now I understand that was only a particular section of the most important books to read for the characters right now, but it was not alleviated in the slightest by the DC Comics Reading Order section either! In the DC Comics Read Order section for Batman there was an inclusion of 107 titles and for Superman 76 titles. Wonder Woman included exactly 10 titles. The Flash included 18 titles just to give some perspective on that I am not just harping on a character that I am a fan of. Another important example in my mind is that "Teen Titans" included only 8 suggested titles from their library to read.
Now I can grasp that "Superman" and "Batman" put more bread and butter on the DC Comics table, but when it is a challenge to read collected works of characters outside of these two characters it can start to explain the issue that DC has with creating key characters others are invested in. You have to have actual works with them in it in order to gain new followers. Also you have to make your characters that are not the big two stand out more as important. Maybe not putting Batman and Superman right after each other so that readers can stop reading after they get through their sections would be beneficial. Sandwich characters you want to be seen in between because at least then you know that the person had to turn the pages to get to their section meaning they may have seen something from another less popular character in the meantime. Something may catch out of the corner of the readers eye and suddenly they may become invested in a character they were not originally intending to read from. DC you need to get creative on how to showcase these other characters if you want to build a stronger house because right now this collection showcased how easily it could all tumble without putting out more trades for lesser known characters and keeping some of them in PRINT!
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