What a strange year for comic books huh?
On a personal note I spent the only period in my life, an entire year in fact, not picking up any DC comics at all. None. Not one since I was old enough to walk to the corner mini-mart and plunk down a buck for a comic book. Why? It was due to DICK GRAYSON'S "graduation" (if that's what you want to call it - I sure wouldn't) to taking charge of the BATMAN persona in his absence. I hated the idea and demonstrated that hatred to the publisher by voting with my wallet.
Some would say I missed out on some amazing comic book stories, I would disagree and I'm glad DICK is back as NIGHTWING. The rumors of him possibly gaining a sidekick however....
On the digital comics front both DC and DARKHORSE have embraced day & date digital release of their titles with MARVEL following suit in the new year. In the past I'd say this was a huge step in "the little guy" being able to publish comics digitally but I no longer talk that way as it doesn't mean that at all.
The big three publishers waited until a clear winner in comic book digital distribution was established and all signed up with them: COMIXOLOGY. Unfortunately when a single creator submits a comic to COMIXOLOGY they are placed at the bottom of the production pile and their comic never makes it out the door because COMIXOLOGY can make 10x more profit from a comic from the big three than a single creator. That's business. So you see digital comics on the "tablets' haven't really changed anything in regards to evening the playing field. Maybe HTML5 will though...
Oh, and R.I.P. LONGBOX DIGITAL, the supposed "iTunes" of digital comic books that never got off the ground. You sounded so cool at fist LONGBOX, to bad you blew up on the launch pad. While researching you I was introduced to a new term: vaporware....
On the life and death front we've seen the death of CAPTAIN AMERICA and the birth of a new person wearing the SPIDERMAN outfit over in MARVEL. With the relaunch of the DC Universe there is an unlimited potential for characters that may as well be dead who we know nothing about post-relaunch such as fan favorites TED KORD, DONNA TROY, and STEPHANIE BROWN who have no official place in the new DCU as of yet while BARBARA GORDON has received a re-birth of sorts as BATGIRL.
On the cinematic front there's been a wide swing in comic book movies released with huge flops such as GREEN HORNET and GREEN LANTERN (both movies failing to capture the true nature of the characters they are based upon), predictable successes in CAPTAIN AMERICA and XMEN FIRST CLASS (both nailing the characters they are based on) , and movies that could have gone either way such as COWBOYS and ALIENS.
