Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Just A Thought...

I'd been watching the steadily declining sales of Green Arrow/Black Canary, and reading something about Hawkman, along with the general discussion I've had with various folks at the store about how "resting" a character for a while can result in big sales (witness JMS's Thor, Kevin Smith's Green Arrow, etc.) and I came up with this:

Cancel the currently underperforming Brave and the Bold series, relaunch it as a new number one:

Brave and the Bold starring Green Arrow and Hawkman.

You could do the liberal/conservative road trip thing ala Green Arrow/Green Lantern with a character whose politics more easily fit into the conservative mold than Green Lantern, who always felt forced into the "establishment stiff" role in some way. You'd get two really popular characters who always seem to struggle on their own, but together, might be a pretty good pairing in terms of fanbase. Put 'em on a tour of the DC Universe, ala the Brubaker/Stewart Catwoman story. Have them re-join the Justice League when sales start fading to give it a boost. Bring in Black Canary, the Atom, Green Lantern and all their friends for one-off stories.

Ideal writer for this would be John Rogers, but he's busy with Leverage. Then there's Geoff Johns, but he's busy with writing everything else in the DC Universe. Definitely keep Winick and Willingham way the hell off of it, when they mix politics and the DCU you get the dull, plodding, borderline nonsensical "DC Decisions."

Anyway, just a thought. Not that I expect this to happen or anything, but just thought it would be kind of interesting.

5 comments:

Len N. Wallace said...

I would read the shit out of that, and pretty much everything DC is doing lately has been alienating me big time.

Jim B. said...

This is a spectacular idea. Oliver Queen is my favorite DC character, and I haven't been able to stomach his book in about five years (Year One notwithstanding).

Other writers might include Gail Simone (strong on team books with humor and frequent guest appearances), Paul Dini (mature but fun), or, what the hell, Mike Grell. And yes, keep blatant political agendas out of the book. Keep it, dare I say, fair and balanced.

On art, I'd suggest Mike Norton, or on the other side of the spectrum, Rags Morales, who we already know can draw a kick-ass Ollie and Carter.

From your blog to DC's ears... um, eyes... let it be so.

ThatNickGuy said...

I had a similar idea with two other characters:

Batwoman and Question. I mean, there's been endless talk of a Batwoman series (which is now relegated to Detective Comics) and it seems like DC is always trying to find something to do with the new Question.

So why not do the old GA/GL team-up kinda book and just have the two of them together on a regular basis?

Kaleb said...

Good pitch!

Regarding Batwoman and Question, Nick... I dug 52 but if Detective is anything like the 5 Books of Blood, I'll pass.

Looking very much forward to Stumptown and the last Kodiak novel though.

Jim B. said...

Check it out, Nick.

The two will appear in the same book, and I'll eat my hat if Rucka doesn't find a way to get these ladies together a few times while he's writing Detective.