Why was DC You poorly received?

[brandnewfan]

DC You books featured art that wasn’t standard (beautiful, the kind you might find in an Image book), writing that took risks, and characters who weren’t 52 shades of Batman. What about that line made it so poorly received?

[Thomas Crown]

You just answered your own question.

[Pohzee]

I really liked the experimental ideas in new and smaller titles. Grayson, Midnighter, etc. were the freshest things coming out of DC. Even the Batgirl of Burnside had some energy for a while.

But some of it was different for the sake of being different. Bunny Batman was dumb and the fact that it carried over the whole line was also dumb.

[Vampire Savior]

I think it is really sad to say this, but I think DC YOU's biggest failing may have been not relaunching the entire line of comics with #1 issues. It likely would have done considerably better financially if that had been done.

[Flash Gordon]

Lots of readers aren't willing to try something new and exciting. They want the same.

PREZ, GRAYSON, MIDNIGHTER, BLACK CANARY, BATGIRL, ROBIN: SON OF BATMAN, THE OMEGA MEN- so much strong stuff.

THE HELLBLAZER and DOCTOR FATE were also pretty solid.

[M L A]

The entire line was brought down by the horrendous storylines and/or costumes of the main Leaguers.

Like very few care about Midnighter or Prez to begin with and older readers probably won't be enticed if their big titles are sitting right there looking really bad. (Also like Flash Gordon said, a lot of readers want the same.)

And DC had basically no goodwill with "comics news sites" at that time so a lot of newer readers didn't hear about the more diverse stuff because DC was too busy getting sh*t on for not being marvel or whatever. I remember seeing some think pieces when rebirth was announced (amidst all the people being very excited for rebirth) wondering why DC had such a bland line up of characters and had to keep telling people that yes, DC did have like 5 LGBT led titles for a few months and basically all of them sold really bad and got cancelled.

[iron chimp]

A lot of things had the look of cancellation before they even hit the shelves after the amount of books that failed during nu52. They were on a big downward slide with few hits. That and launching nu52 with emphasis on continuity and a universe to DCYou a couple of years later where it was story over continuity. It seemed like they had zero faith in what they were doing any more and it was becoming very obvious the whole thing was going to get scrapped - so very little incentive to buy into it.

History will probably be a lot kinder to DCYou as people start to discover good runs.

[Man_of_Tomorrow]

While I agree the mini series and smaller titles were good, the small following of those titles didn't leave an impact on the general conciousness of the era.

In the big titles stories like Truth in Superman, Finch' Wonder Woman, Bunn's Aquaman, Renegade Green Lantern and Gordon as Batman were unpopular so it soured the taste of the era. If for example you are a Superman fan, the first thing that goes to your mind isn't the Bizarro mini series but Biker Superman.

[Lee Stone]

I think it was too much at once, and too upfront.

With creative endeavors like this, they tend to work best one or two at a time and off to the side.

If you put it front and center and make too many changes, it scares people off.

I really liked the experimental ideas in new and smaller titles. Grayson, Midnighter, etc. were the freshest things coming out of DC. Even the Batgirl of Burnside had some energy for a while.

But some of it was different for the sake of being different. Bunny Batman was dumb and the fact that it carried over the whole line was also dumb.

Somewhere out there, Bunny Batman is teaming up with Electric Superman.

[brandnewfan]

I think these are all pretty good answers.

While I enjoy the main Leagers, I will acknowledge that the main books at the time were pretty horrendous (except Johns' Justice League).

But man oh man did I love the heck out of almost all of the other books at the time. Every book was different. It was the last time I was truly enthusiastic about DC.

Prez
The Omega Men
Midnighter
Black Canary
Bizarro
Batgirl
Starfire
Constantine: The Hellblazer
Doctor Fate
Robin: Son of Batman
Grayson
Martian Manhunter
We Are Robin

[Ascended]

I think I agree, at least generally, with everyone else.

DC was pushing hard to capitalize on the "indie vibe" success of Burnside Batgirl and their secondary books like Black Canary, Grayson, Prez, Bizarro, etc., were generally pretty good.

But the Big 6 books (except maybe Flash?) all took huge departures from the norm, and at best got extremely mixed reviews. So we ended up with a DCU that didn't look anything like the DCU.

I think DC did too much all at once; the entire vibe changed and there was nothing familiar or comfortable out there. DC's intention was to have a "book for everyone" but they didn't seem to have a book for fans of classic DC. If they had launched those secondary books but kept the big names in familiar shape, I think the whole thing would've gone over a lot better than it did. If fans had a familiar and recognizable Batman, Superman, GL, etc., to fall back on, they may have been more accepting of the unusual stuff like Black Canary.

[Restingvoice]

The reason varied depending on the series

Wonder Woman wears a costume with pants is written as Diana making that decision because she's grown up now as if the pantless version was her phase as a young adult, but at the same time adding wrist blades weapon like she's a Mortal Kombat character that really doesn't fit her character.

Then came Donna returning as a warmonger because the author doesn't want to read her older appearances because she doesn't want it to influence her writing

Superman is saddled with yet another angsty story arc, this time about his identity got revealed. Even when I like Biker Superman's appearance because it has a macho sex appeal that I like, the New 52 Superman angst is really tiring.

I don't mind Bunny Batman. Gordon's not as fit as Bruce so he needs a suit and it looks cute, but the one I hate from the whole Superheavy arc isn't Gordon or Bunny Bat, but Alfred.

Throughout Superheavy arc, Alfred prevented Batman's sons to remind him that he has a family, especially a ten-year-old kid, because he prefers him with Julie and a bunch of normal orphans according to his ideal vision. That is possessive and creepy.

We Are Robin is good 99% of the time except making Alfred decided to just let random kids take over Robin's role without teaching them when he wants to keep Bruce, his son, safe. No one in the Batman family knew about this and he never takes responsibility for these untrained kids' death.

Joker's Daughter is moved to Suicide Squad and I was like Stop Trying To Make Joker's Daughter Happen!

Grayson is enjoying pretty big success but the fandom is halved by people who want Nightwing back and refuse to touch it that it only reaches regular Nightwing series number instead of higher.

Batgirl of Burnside is well received in some quarters and hated in the other because it's perceived as taking what's supposed to fit Stephanie Brown more to Barbara who's supposed to feel older, especially coming out of New 52 where Steph is deliberately erased. Dick and Babs are a teased couple but when you go from Grayson to Burnside it's like Dick got more mature while Babs got younger. The title's tone is so different than the other Bat title it also feels weird when they cross over.

Starfire series is cute at first glance and it appeals to the Teen Titans cartoon depiction so you'll enjoy it if you know nothing of the character, but it doesn't make sense compared to what's established before, and it feels like an insult as she's depicted as this naive cute sexy anime girl who doesn't know how the world works even though she's been in it for more than 5 years when she's supposed to be a badass alien princess.

All because of one page in RHATO that makes people refuse to read the series and didn't know she was so much more than a sexy alien in a skimpy swimsuit even in that series. Basically they went too much in the opposite direction, and the way she makes her too naive while also sexy makes it looks like they're replacing one fetish for another.

Black Canary's fine on its own, but some people really dislike how almost all the female characters series are turned cute because of Burnside. Starfire's cute, Batgirl's cute, Harley's cute, now Dinah's also cute.

Aquaman gave a wrong first impression by having Mera appeared to want to kill Arthur but people pretty much figured it out once they started asking if Mera has a twin sister, but then gave another blunder by having Siren seducing Arthur as Mera, therefore making another case when DC makes a woman raped a man and just moves on. DC has a history of ignoring rape when it's women on men, the most popular case being Nightwing, and since people have been talking about it for a while this makes for a bad reminder.

I remember people making a joke about Hal being a space hobo but nothing really offensive coming from the title itself and the fans.

Other series like Prez, Omega Men, Midnighter, Bizarro, Manhunter, Constantine, Fate, and Robin has great ideas and execution, but like New 52, the less familiar title doesn't get as much attention.

People were distracted by how bad the Big Three looks and it just gave the impression that DC doesn't know what they're doing and getting desperate.

[superduperman]

Well, let's see: They stripped Superman of his powers (you know, the thing that makes him Superman?) and made a chain smoking 60 year old in a robot suit Batman. That might have had something to do with it.

[9th.]

Too different

[Godlike13]

Too much, too fast.