Shipping this week: And then there was a REALLY slow week

I was very close to simply posting an animated gif of a tumbleweed, there's just nothing here this week. As a result I decided to pick some of the crappier releases and try to make sense of their existence.

Brightest Day #7 - You're DC, you haven't had a big hit in months, maybe even years (I don't feel like pouring over years of sales records to figure out which statement is true) and finally you have a hit with Blackest Night, a HUGE hit in fact. But Blackest Night is only eight issues long, you HAVE to keep that interest, keep those numbers up so you introduce Brightest Day. And you're smart about too! You get the same writers and the same artist from Blackest Night to work on this project.

Then the first issue drops and uh... Every issue since hasn't changed much. Big head explosions in place of good dialogue and exciting plot. But to be fair this is probably the most successful book on this list.

Doom Patrol #13 - Grant Morrison is popular. Grant Morrison wrote Doom Patrol and made Doom Patrol popular. Perhaps Grant Morrison made Doom Patrol so popular that people will read it regardless of who's writing it. Understandable logic, the entire industry is built on the belief that fans prefer characters to quality. After two failed attempts DC did this version with the most popular characters with the emphasis on weird and still the fans hate it. The problem with Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol was that the fans didn't care about the characters, it was the unique reading experience that got them coming back every month. I guess DC should let this property rest indefinitely because I doubt anyone's going to be able to top Morrison's run.

Magog #12 - Magog came from the wildly popular Kingdom Come miniseries. The character was meant to represent the ultra-extreme 90s heroes popularized by Image Comics. Magog was not meant to be a flattering pastiche. Let's then move forward into the future when DC relaunches Justice Society. Apparently they think shoving anything related to Kingdom Come is the way to boost sales. Maybe it did or maybe it didn't but this eventually lead to the introduction of Magog to the standard DC universe. I guess DC thought that the best way to capitalize on Kingdom Come being successful over a decade ago was to have an ongoing series related to it. After going through all the characters they decided Magog was the man to take the reins. Oh well.

Shadowland #2 - I hated Shadowland #1 but I will admit that it's a necessary book. It's not well written or drawn and its premise is executed in a way that doesn't seem natural for the character but its intention is justified. Frank Miller did everything possible with Daredevil then years go by without anyone being able to come up with anything fresh and just when it looks like the character's going to be regulated to appearing occasionally in some meaningless miniseries Brian Michael Bendis just innovates the hell out of the character and then a painful decline. Making Daredevil a villain is all that Marvel can think to do. He's just a victim of the comic industry that will use any successful character continuously, forever, even long after that character has anything left resembling flavor.