If you were a teenage comic book geek in the 1990s, you probably remember the slightly tentative steps that publishers like Marvel and DC took toward digital distribution of their products. Browser-based, semi-animated webcomics were a weird little ghetto within the comic book industry, a way to give some low-risk exposure to unknown writers and artists while showing that the publisher was, like, totally into the internet, you guys.
Those days are gone. Thanks to the rise of e-publishing, digital distribution of comics is suddenly a viable business model, and DC Comics is using its latest digital series, Adventures of Superman, as a showcase for a slew of A-list creators. According to IGN, the series is set to launch April 29 both on DC’s website and through the publisher’s own in-house digital comics app. The first story arc will be written by Ender’s Game author Orson Scott Card and feature art by the veteran team of Chris Sprouse and Karl Story. Next up will be a retelling of the first encounter between the Man of Steel and Lex Luthor, scripted by Jeff Parker and drawn by Chris Samnee. After that, a whole bunch of other creators will take their shot at the big, flying guy with the spitcurl. Here’s the full list of confirmed writers and artists for the series, who have quite the resumé among them:
- Dan Abnett.
- Ed Benes.
- Mitch Breitweiser.
- Giuseppe Camuncoli.
- Nathan Edmondson.
- Joshua Hale Fialkov.
- Christos Gage.
- Marc Guggenheim.
- Justin Jordan.
- Matt Kindt.
- J.T. Krul.
- Max Landis.
- Andy Lanning.
- David Lapham.
- Jeff Lemire.
- Michael Avon Oeming.
- Riley Rossmo.
- Stephen Segovia.
- Bruce Timm.
- Marcus To.
- Marv Wolfman.
Stories told in the digital comic will exist outside of the official DC Universe continuity, so if you aren’t up on the last several years of convoluted superheroics and aren’t a fan of the Nu52 reboot, don’t sweat it. These are intended to be good solid tales of men in tights, with no encyclopedic knowledge required. Plus, if you like to read actual, physical objects, the series will be getting print editions, each one collecting three issues. Samnee (whose art appears here) and Bryan Hitch will provide covers for the first collection. Half-assed flash animation and voice-overs will not be included.
Recently, continuity seems to have been less and less important, and as it is, if you’re trying to attract new readers with a digital-only comic, you’re less likely to want to keep it tied into continuity anyway. (And you still need to fix the Techcitement site so it shows my name when I post using Facebook, apparently…)
You might want to talk to the Disqus folks about that. I just checked, and we have no control over how your name is shown within the Disqus module.