Stunt Casting: If Bill Willingham Had Tried Harder, Maybe McCain Would Have Won

This is the fourth, and thank God, final installment of the Factual's look at DCU Decisions.  You can read Nina Stone's take on the first issue here, an interview with Nancy Stone on the second issue here, and we talked about the third with Sarah Engelman.  For the fourth issue, Katie Doran, an account executive at a New York advertising firm, took a break from her regular schedule of getting copiously drunk and firing people over trifles. 

Katie Doran:  Are people just going to make fun of me?

The Factual Opinion:  Don't worry.  Nobody actually reads these.

Doran:  I bet people just read it to get a kick.

TFO:  Actually, this comic doesn't sell anywhere near enough to have any fans, so you're not going to upset anyone.

Doran:  But I thought it was a DC comic?

TFO:  Yeah.  It's a DC comic.  It probably won't even sell twenty thousand copies.

Doran:  Even with the election?

TFO:  Yeah.  This thing didn't work at all.  By most accounts, it was a pretty miserable seller.  What kind of experience do you have with comic books?

Doran:  None really.  I think when I was younger I read some, just because I had brothers.  But recently I haven't been involved in reading anyway.  It's not on my list of...

TFO:  Things you would do.  Would you say your experience with DCU Decisions changed that?  Did you sit back and say "Wow, this is what I was missing!"

Doran:  No, but it was interesting and quick.  I don't think I'll be joining on and reading comic books regularly.  Maybe if I'm propositioned with interviews I would do it again.

TFO:  Do you remember what it was your brothers read?

Doran:  They read Disney comics.  It was Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge.  They also read some super-heroes like Superman and....Spider-Man?  I don't really remember what super-heroes they read.  I didn't read those, because I was an innocent young child.

TFO:  What was your initial reaction to this--this being the final issue of this little mini-series--were you able to keep up?  Did you find it confusing?

Doran:  Well, I didn't really get the background of Jericho.  I got that he was jumping into people's bodies, that was evident.  I guess the last one would've helped to keep up with that part, to know what was going on.  The rest though was pretty current, happening now.  I understood it.

TFO:  What did you think of the art?

Doran:  I guess it's similar to most comic books.  Maybe it's a little more "enhanced?"  It looked like they tried to make it look three dimensional.  That made it more interesting.

TFO:  How would you react if I told you that, even from the standpoint of "bad super-hero comic art," that this is pretty abysmal?

Doran:  Well, I'm not a "savvy comic book reader" now am I?

TFO:  No-

Doran:  See, I'm thinking of what I read when I was little!

TFO:  I know-

Doran:  That was twenty years ago!  I have nothing to compare it too!  If you want to show me something more recent-

TFO:  No, I just think it's interesting-

Doran:  I have nothing to compare this too.

TFO:  No, that's what I mean.  It's interesting to me, coming from a perspective of actually having seen something better, that this art doesn't really work.  There's no real perspective here, proportions of people's faces don't match up with any consistency--this picture looks like a flat drawing of a plate, but it's a guy's face.  But would a non-comics person pick up on that?  Would they care?  Let's talk more about what you thought about what you read.

Doran:  Well, it's a little more interesting with the election is tomorrow.  It's "of the time."  Not being a comic book reader on a regular basis, it was better to read something that's kind of about something I'm actually interested in.  It was really quick to read--maybe that's because I'm not hanging on every word.  When you gave it to me, it didn't feel super-thick, but it felt like "God, really?  I'm going to do this whole thing at work?"  Some of the pages looked like--a lot.  But it went by really quickly.  I don't know.  I guess it's entertaining?

TFO:  But you're not sure.

Doran:  Ha, well--if I saw it on the table I guess I'd pick it up and read it.  But I wasn't pained to read it.

TFO:  Would you saw it was more entertaining, or less entertaining, then watching a movie trailer on the internet?

Doran:  Less entertaining.

TFO:  I just watched the James Bond trailer on the internet and I would say that's astronomically more entertaining then this.

Doran:  And that has music.

TFO:  If I had to say "hey Katie Doran, what's the message of DCU Decisions?  What's DCU Decisions trying to teach us?"

Doran:  Don't tell people who you are going to vote for.  Keep it on the down low.  And always write in somebody.  Oh, and if you're a super-hero, you can't vote.  Because you're not a citizen.  Didn't they say something like that?

TFO:  No, I don't think so.

Doran:  If you're a super-hero, you can't run for President.  They said something like that.

TFO:  It does feel like the message is more "Don't tell people who you are going to vote for" more so then "Go vote."  Which would've been more simple.

Doran:  Except for the "I Voted" button.  Which is a big thing now, because it makes people feel special.  I guess.  I thought it was kind of funny how that whole Green Lantern/Jericho story was at the beginning and then it just dropped off.  There was no resolution to it.  They talk about it, Jericho escapes from captivity--and then that's it.  They don't go back to it, it's just "Okay, now we talk about voting!"  Maybe I'm missing something?

TFO:  Well, there might have been something you missed but it was all the way...yes.  Way back on this last page, the DC Nation page--

Doran:  Oh.  I didn't read that.

TFO:  You don't have to.  Here, at the bottom,  "Next in DCU Decisions:  The threat is contained for now, but follow Jericho as he jumps over to the pages of Titans!"  Now, this series is actually over, but you can keep up with the character in that comic.

Doran:  No thanks.  I still have a good opinion of Superman after reading this.  But I don't understand--this is Lois Lane?  This girl he's talking to?

TFO:  Yes.

Doran:  That whole thing was...kind of funny, the way they keep subtly flirting with each other about who they're voting for.  Weird.

TFO:  They're married.

Doran:  Lois Lane and Superman are?

TFO:  Yep.

Doran:  Where's her ring?

TFO:  Is she not wearing a ring?

Doran:  I don't see it.

TFO:  Well, that's her right hand.

[We both looked through the comic for a picture of Lois Lane's left hand.]

Doran:  See!  That's her left hand.  No ring!

TFO:  Huh.  She doesn't have a wedding ring?

Doran:  That's what I focus on.  "No ring..."  Wait, when did they get married?  In the movies they aren't married.

TFO:  Well, the comics have...

Doran:  More detail?

TFO:  Eh.  Not really.  The comics just have to come up with shit for Superman and Lois Lane to do every week.  They got married--sometime in the 90's?

Doran:  In this series?

TFO:  No.  This is just a mini-series.  It's totally meaningless.  It'll never come back.  Did you know it was written by the guy from the Real World?

Doran:  Which one?

TFO:  Judd.

Doran:  Oh.  Yeah, he was on the...which one?  He was the comic guy.  He was on when they had the guy with AIDS.  The San Francisco one.

TFO:  Yes.  He's supposedly a hardcore liberal and the other guy, Bill Willingham, he's supposed to be a conservative.  They wrote it together.  They crossed party lines to write this comic.

Doran:  That's great.  I like that.

TFO:  But no one bought it.  I feel comfortable saying that, without knowing what it sold at all.

Doran:  Too bad.  Do they do other comics?

TFO:  Yes.

Doran:  Who is this--"Winick."

TFO:  That's Judd's last name.  Those are the names of the people who did it.

Doran:  Hey.  Three bucks?  That's basically buying a book!  Maybe a dollar less, but a book gets you 300 pages.  You know, I thought it was interesting what kind of advertising they had in here.  You probably don't care.

TFO:  Well, you have more experience with that.  What did you think?

Doran:  It's interesting that the comic is all about the election and voting, and then the advertisements are all about the Army and the Navy.  "The entire world is counting on you."  You're reading about super-heroes, you want to save your country, here you go.  The Navy!

TFO:  If you had to gauge the age range of this comic off these ads, what would you put it at?

Doran:  17.  18.  When you're initially looking at what you're going to do with the rest of your life.  You need something to do after you graduate high school.  What's this Twilight thing?  Vampires?

TFO:  Some series of vampire novels.  Huh, two military ads.

Doran:  I was looking at that, and then I saw this.  This is really scary looking.

TFO:  That's an ad for a comic called Rage of the Red Lanterns.  It's about Green Lantern villains.  Did you know who Green Lantern was before you read this?

Doran:  No.  Isn't he in Spider-Man?

TFO:  No, that's a different company.

Doran:  Who is the one in Spider-Man that Willem Dafoe plays?

TFO:  Green Goblin.

Doran:  That's who I was thinking of.  But aren't they coming out with a Superman movie that has Green Lantern in it?  No, the Green Hornet.  I heard that.  Is that with Spider-Man?

TFO:  No, the Green Hornet isn't with anybody.  It's by itself.

Doran:  Oh.  Then no, I didn't know who Green Lantern was.

TFO:  These Red Lanterns are the new Green Lantern bad guys.  Their power is to vomit on people.  They vomit acidic blood or something.

Doran:  That's completely disgusting.

TFO:  They have a kitty-cat that purrs and then vomits blood on people.  In space.

Doran:  See, stuff like that I'm not interested in.

TFO:  I don't think anybody is really interested in that.

Doran:  Hey, I didn't get this green cat thing at the beginning of the comic.

TFO:  Oh, he can make shit with his magic ring.  So he made a bunch of cats.

Doran:  I also didn't get who this chick was.  The one with the tuxedo outfit.

TFO:  She's a magician.

Doran:  It's so random.  Is she in other books?

TFO:  Yep.  That's how these work.  They just bring everybody in.

Doran:  For two frames?  Dumb.  Then Batman joins in, but then they just go away.  Weird.  I did like how Batman and Superman work together.  That was nice.

TFO:  If you do one of these again, I'll find you a copy of Batman and Superman together.

Doran:  I like them together.

TFO:  They're very close friends.  They have a couple of comics where they have sex with each other.

Doran:  I don't know if I like it that far.  I like that they are friends and they work together.

TFO:  Nina seems to like that.

Doran:  No she does not.

TFO:  Yes she does.

Doran:  Whatever.  I don't believe you.   You know, from a woman's standpoint, I thought Lois Lane was a bit of a pushover.  Although I did like that she had a high-powered job reporting.

TFO:  She's spent the entire time she's been in this comic busting her ass and working while Superman has been dicking around, it makes me think that Clark Kent isn't a very good reporter.  She hasn't had any free time to go put on a costume and fuck off.  When was he finding the time to do his job?

Doran:  His fake job.

TFO:  That he isn't any good at.

Doran:  Yeah, he's probably not filing too many stories.  I thought it was funny how the end is Lois nagging him and he keeps avoiding the question.  That was an interesting male/female relationship.  "Tell me, tell me."  "Shut up. I'm just going to fly away."  Good one.

TFO:  How do you want to close this out?

Doran:  Well, it's always good to have new experiences.  I've never read a DC comic before.  I'm not sure when the next time I'll read one will be.

TFO:  Hopefully it will be one of higher quality.

Doran:  Hopefully.

For an interesting breakdown of why DCU Decisions is a "master class in how not to publish a mini-series, check out this podcast from the guys at Funnybook Babylon.  For those of you who are sick of this series, so is the Factual, and we're just as glad to say goodbye to it as you are.

Comments

[Spitfire]

I'm glad that the Superman/Lois interatcions irritaed Katie as well. Ugh.

But I'm a little dissapointed that we didn't get the male perspective on this series. Tucker, go back to issue one and do this all over with males. And then children. And then non-English speakers. Only then will I feel we've uncovered all the intricacies of this comic.

[Tucker Stone]

Spitfire, if there's one thing the internet has plenty of already, it's dudes talking 'bout comics. Just assume that there's some idiot out there who loved it, somebody else who is mad because it "wasn't the way Hawkman would talk" and a couple other people who claim that it's an okay piece of entertainment solely because it exists.

Now, non-English speakers would be a good idea though.

[Adam]

Hey, that was a great interview, and a great interview subject. I liked how she noticed stuff like the ads and really went into detail about things she liked or didn't understand. You should bring her back.