The Late, Great Anthology Title

[Air Wave]

I really, really miss anthologies. There's just something so comic booky about them. I suppose it's because they have to be so expensive in order to get enough pages.

I'm wondering what ideas anyone has for certain titles and what they might look like. Let's assume a $4.99 price for 40 story pages. For me, I'm figuring three stories roughly broken down at 20 pages, 13 pages and 7 pages. With leads and backups ongoing or rotating as their popularity warrants. Here's my wishlist:

ADVENTURE COMICS--as one of DC's original titles I think it's a shame it doesn't currently exist. I'd have this be a traditional superhero title. I think some obvious candidates for inclusion right now are the Legion of Superheroes, Hawkman & Hawkgirl and the Atom, all of which are currently not in their own books (and should be).

HOUSE OF MYSTERY--this would be for the magic/supernatural/otherworldly-type characters. I might start off with Zatanna, Swamp Thing & Deadman.

STRANGE ADVENTURES--for more cosmic/sci-fi features. This would be a good place for Adam Strange, a character I'd love to see more focus on and this titles was his former home. And maybe since they're about to be homeless: Omega Men and Lobo.

As you can see I'm also a fan of the classic title. Thoughts about these titles? Any of your own?

[Flash Gordon]

I love the idea! I think if something could be done in the vein of WEDNESDAY COMICS, on a bit better paper, to try out new concepts or fresh takes on older stuff it would be a cool way to see what people take to.

Rad avatar, btw. I love Air Wave ha.

[Lee Stone]

I love the idea! I think if something could be done in the vein of WEDNESDAY COMICS, on a bit better paper, to try out new concepts or fresh takes on older stuff it would be a cool way to see what people take to.

Rad avatar, btw. I love Air Wave ha.

I loved Wednesday Comics.
Too bad a sequel never materialized.
It and Solo were both great ideas by Mark Chiarello. Unfortunately, both would have fared better at a company like Fantagraphics or Dark Horse where expectations aren't as high and artistic efforts in comics are more appreciated.

As for my ideas...
I would do 100 page anthilogies for 7.99.

DETECTIVE COMICS
Batman by Snyder and Capullo
Harley Quinn
Nightwing
Batgirl
Batman and Robin

ACTION COMICS
Superman by Geoff Johns and Lopresti.
Supergirl
Superboy
Legion of Super-Heroes
Superman, second story by lesser known creators

ALL-STAR COMICS
Justice League by Geoff Johns and Fabok
Justice Society
Aquaman
Teen Titans
Justice League Unlimited, basically any other League- Dark, United, America, International

ADVENTURE COMICS
Green Lantern
Flash
Green Arrow
Hawkman
Green Lantern Corps focusing on John, Kyle and Guy

SENSATION COMICS
Wonder Woman
Huntress
Power Girl
Vixen
Wonder Woman

WORLD'S FINEST COMICS
Batman/Superman
Red Tornado
Cyborg
Atom
Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman

DC COMICS PRESENTS
Superman team-ups
Firestorm
Captain Atom
Suicide Squad
Batman team-ups

DC COMICS SHOWCASE
Shazam!
Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz)
Dibney Detective Agency (Ralph and Sue)
Doom Patrol
Superfriends (Super Buddies)

TANGENT COMICS
Swamp Thing
Zatanna
Constantine
Books of Magic
Shadowpact

[Air Wave]

OK so after looking at that poll about cancelled titles I think Lobo may need to go away for awhile...but Omega Men definitely has a place in STRANGE ADVENTURES. Just need a third series. And maybe there's a place for Spectre in HOUSE OF MYSTERY with Gotham By Midnight being cancelled.

[Air Wave]

I would do 100 page anthilogies for 7.99.

I'm all for it if they would sell.

[Air Wave]

Rad avatar, btw. I love Air Wave ha.

Air Wave is obviously the best choice to lead EVERY title lol.

[Cipher]

I loved Wednesday Comics.
Too bad a sequel never materialized.
It and Solo were both great ideas by Mark Chiarello. Unfortunately, both would have fared better at a company like Fantagraphics or Dark Horse where expectations aren't as high and artistic efforts in comics are more appreciated.

As for my ideas...
I would do 100 page anthilogies for 7.99.

(snip)

This is the future of comics. You could even raise the price point a bit. More intuitive, more exciting, and, I'd think, actually has a chance in hell of selling in non-direct markets (gas stations, airports, anywhere with a magazine stand). Of course, continue collected editions of individual titles. I really feel like it'll be a race to this model for the big two.

[Lee Stone]

This is the future of comics. You could even raise the price point a bit. More intuitive, more exciting, and, I'd think, actually has a chance in hell of selling in non-direct markets (gas stations, airports, anywhere with a magazine stand). Of course, continue collected editions of individual titles. I really feel like it'll be a race to this model for the big two.

I agree.
Other things:

1. The format would increase visibility of lesser known characters.
2. The format would be more appealing to bookstores and mass market retailers.
3. They could release the indivual chapters same-day digitally to guage the popularity of each individual piece, and drop a feature to add another in future issues.
4. They could possibly release them bi-monthly to extend shelf life, and also appeal more to mass market retailers, much like Archie often does their digests.
5. They could still do TPBs that collect the more popular features.

But the important fact will be- they each have to have an "important" character, with new stories by top talent.
People may balk the idea of anthologies, but put a first-run Snyder Batman, Johns Justice League or Jim Lee anything in it and they will buy it.

Oh... and the most important thing:
6. It would never run the risk of cancellation. Individual features would be dropped and replaced to adapt to reader interest, but the title, itself, would not be affected.

[GlennSimpson]

You would have to convince people that something "important" was going to happen in the book, though.

[Cipher]

You would have to convince people that something "important" was going to happen in the book, though.

Everything would still be serialized. It's just the Japanese model.

The brilliance is that even John Q "I liked The Dark Knight" could be convinced to impulse purchase a $12 Bat-family anthology if it were on a magazine stand (can you imagine if he were waiting for a plane?), getting him to do the most mythical thing of all -- jump into monthly comics, and even be exposed to non-A-list IPs.

Anything that lets mainstream comics move out of the direct-market model is the best thing; really the only viable thing.

An option to buy individual digital chapters sounds like a great companion to that model. Trades would still need to exist for archival purchases; again, it's a pretty easy take on the Japanese system.

[Trey Strain]

Television has the same problem. In the early days of the medium there were many great anthology shows, such as Playhouse 90, but that genre faded. People want continuing characters. If they don't get that, they lose interest.

I'm a big fan of the first 10 seasons of Gunsmoke, which were very noirish. They did stuff 60 years ago that wouldn't be allowed in today's Oprahfied world. Anyway, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes upheaval on the show and some new people were brought in to run it for the last 10 seasons. At that time no show had run so long, and star James Arness was worried that people were going to get tired of the same characters. So he sat down with producer John Mantley, and they came up with the idea of turning Gunsmoke into an anthology series, but without acknowledging doing it.

The episodes began to revolve around the guest stars, and this gave the writers new material to work with every week. Mantley said years later, "We were really doing Playhouse 90, but we didn't say that."

I think something like that could be done in a comics series. Make it an anthology by emphasizing the guest stars in each story. But don't say that that's what you're doing.

[Trey Strain]

Something you guys are not mentioning are the old titles like Journey Into Mystery, which had no recurring characters before it became a Thor title. Now that's a REAL anthology book -- one that's dedicated to a genre and nothing else.

[GreenLanternRanger]

i'd love to see DC do a modern anthology book, maybe one for the b & c list characters that can't hold a solo title.

[Factor]

I love this idea

I think Action Comics and Detective Comics should each be centered around different aspects of Metropolis and Gotham respectively. They'd have one main feature and a rotating back-up feature so different characters could be fleshed out.
I'd also launch Sensation Comis as a similar title centered on WW's world and supporting cast.
Additionally, I think the three titles the OP mentioned would be very cool to see, so I'll just echo his suggestions.

EDIT:

If I adopted the structure of three stories per issue like the OP, my series would be as follows:

ACTION COMICS:
Main feature (20 pages): Continuity-light Superman stories (a run similar to Pak's but without all the crossovers)
Second feature (13 pages): Steel's solo adventures
Third feature (7 pages): Lois Lane featuring Jimmy and the Daily Planet

DETECTIVE COMICS:
Main feature: Self-contained stories focusing on Batman's cases.
Second feature: Gotham Central
Third feature: a spotlight on the younger heroes like Spoiler, Tim and Harper Row

SENSATION COMICS:
Main feature: Wonder Woman's self-contained adventures, focus on building her rogue's gallery
Second feature: Rotating spotlight on other female heroes like Vixen
Third feature: Wonder Girl (similar to the YJ version) teaming up with Natasha Irons and Cassandra Cain

HOUSE OF MYSTERY: horror/fantasy book
Main feature: Shadowpact (Madame Xanadu assembles DCU's new protectors against supernatural forces)
Second feature: Amethyst and Frankenstein team-up adventures
Third feature: rotating spotlight on characters like Deadman, Demon Knights etc

ADVENTURE COMICS: a book focusing on the JLU and the heroes they recruit
Main feature: JLU featuring Stargirl, Alanna Strange, Animal Man, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and other guest stars
Second feature: rotating stories that focus on different superteams like the Global Guardians, the Charlton heroes etc
Third feature: self-contained spotlight on some of the heroes helping out the JLU

STRANGE ADVENTURES: cosmic book
Main feature: Omega Men
Second feature: Rotating focus on Adam Strange and other solo cosmic heroes
Third feature: Legion Academy (this would accompany an actual LOSH book)

[Lee Stone]

You would have to convince people that something "important" was going to happen in the book, though.

I think Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Scott Snyder could do that.

Even if they just started with one, featuring all three in the first issue, to test it out...

Example:

DC HEROES ALL-STARS #1
Written by various
Art by various
All new stories featuring:
Batman by Scott Snyder and Capullo!
Superman by Grant Morrison and Jim Lee!
Wonder Woman by Gail Simone and Lopresti!
Justice League by Geoff Johns and Fabok!
Shazam! by Jeff Lemire and Nicola Scott!
On sale JANUARY 20 • 96 pg, FC, 1 of 12, $7.99 US

Who wouldn't buy that?