When DC Comics announced its digital-first DC2 line earlier this year, they also announced that the first comic to use that format would be Batman ’66. And indeed, the first three issues were done DC2 style, but as a glance at their comiXology page will show, the next six issues are not (DC gathers three digital-first comics into a single issue for print, so the covers are uniform across each arc).
As Batman ’66 writer Jeff Parker explains in this interview, the reason is simple: The DC2 stories take a lot longer to put together: “They won’t all be enhanced because it’s a labor intensive process and we’d blow all our deadlines if we did every one that way.” The DC2 storytelling style, like Mark Waid’s Thrillbent, involves a lot of extra pages: Most of the page may stay the same, but with a swipe the background might change color or a new panel or word balloon might appear. That adds up to a lot of extra work for the creators.
I checked in with Brandi Phillips of DC to see when we would see more DC2-style storytelling. She said, “There is no set schedule for when a chapter features DC2, it depends on the story and the artist.” The next issue of Batman ’66 to feature the DC2 storytelling will be released on September 9, and, she assured me, “there are more in the pipeline.”
A former book editor and newspaper reporter, Brigid Alverson started MangaBlog to keep track of her daughters¹ reading habits and now covers comics and graphic novels for Comic Book Resources , School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Comics World, Robot 6, and MTV Geek. She also edits the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. Brigid was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards. Send her an email to wordballoons@gmail.com
