That’s too bad about the Batgirl film. If they were going to follow the Year One story it could have been really good, as that was one of the better miniseries DC’s done in a long time.

That’s a bummer. I just borrowed a couple of the “Batman: Brave & The Bold” DVDs from the library and while both of my kids enjoyed the episodes, my daughter kept asking, “When are they going to have a girl superhero?” Having a daughter really does make me view issues of gender inequity in entertainment much differently.

WB seems to be reading its sales figures poorly. The Wonder Woman movie was (IMHO) pretty awful, so the fact that it wound up selling as well as New Frontier over the long term should tell them that there’s an audience that’s willing to seek out a movie with a strong female lead. The solution should be to make better movies with female leads, not stop making movies starring female leads.

Wonder Woman was middling. It was better than Doomsday — and I don’t know if that one sold better because it was Superman or because it was the first Timm work in awhile.

At least she’s still open for ensemble shows — she was much better in New Frontier than her solo outing anyway. (In general I would agree that new stories are better than adaptations, but New Frontier is an exception; it’s the best of the direct-to-video releases.

Nice to get a little common sense on The Judas Contract, though. That was my reaction when it was announced: “They just did that. Like two years ago.”

Course, that brings me dangerously close to a “Why did they cancel Teen Titans?” rant, which at least fits the topic of broad executive stupidity. Why is there a Logan’s Run rule that every children’s show has to end after five years regardless of how well it’s actually doing? Titans went from running literally half-a-dozen times a day to cancelled, more or less overnight.

Timm’s said before that a Wonder Woman series is a no-go because 8-year-old boys won’t buy Wonder Woman toys. (I remember that when I was a kid, She-Ra got around this by integrating her villains into the He-Man toy line.) Stinks, because I’d watch any series with Timm’s name on it (though if I were to pick one franchise with unexplored series potential, it’d be Green Lantern Corps).

Incidentally:

“We were actually working on something a couple years ago that was planned to have an R Rating. It was a very popular book, I’m not allowed to say what it was, but it was before Watchmen came out.”

…so this is the kind of people we’re talking about: people who think The Dark Knight Returns would be a failure. Yeah, just no reasoning with guys like that.

“That’s not to say it won’t ever happen, I’m sure at some point it is a possibility.”

Like, say, when the big marketing push for Batman 3 hits…

Timm’s said before that a Wonder Woman series is a no-go because 8-year-old boys won’t buy Wonder Woman toys.

Arrrgggghh! What about 8-year-old girls? Like John, I’ve got a daughter, and it always blows my mind that DC doesn’t do more to promote Wonder Woman to young girls.

As I’ve said before over here, girls buy tons of princess stuff, and Wonder Woman is a princess.

In the link to Lauren Montgomery’s blog, she mentions a Batgirl: Year One motion comic, which is available at Amazon. Might have to check it out.

On the one hand – movie executives are stupid and the idea that “no one wants to see female superheroes” is being extrapolated from “sales on the direct to DVD Wonder Woman movie were low” makes me want to kick someone’s ass.

On the other hand – this does mean that we’re going to avoid a few more crappy DC Direct-to-DVD animated movies that only serve to get my hopes up and then dash them on the rocks of mediocrity (or worse).

Really, the place where I want to see animation pick up more female superheroes is on the stuff aimed at kids anyway. These “aimed at adults” direct-to-DVD movies have been soooo disappointing, I think precisely because they’re aiming them at adults rather than aiming them at intelligent kids with a winks and nods towards the adult viewers (like most of DC’s animation in the 90s managed to do). Same mistake the comics have been making for a few decades.

Wonder Woman probably sold poorly because it was hard to find. I could not find it anywhere.

Really, the place where I want to see animation pick up more female superheroes is on the stuff aimed at kids anyway. These “aimed at adults” direct-to-DVD movies have been soooo disappointing, I think precisely because they’re aiming them at adults rather than aiming them at intelligent kids with a winks and nods towards the adult viewers (like most of DC’s animation in the 90s managed to do). Same mistake the comics have been making for a few decades.

A well-meaning buddy sent my kids the Green Lantern and Superman & Batman: Public Enemies DVDs, and there is nothing weirder than having to tell your super-jazzed children that a superhero DVD isn’t for kids.

holy crap!

i had the exact same problem — i draw comics, so my 3 year old girls love watching superhero cartoons. my wife grabbed the public enemies DVD thinking “superman and batman! what could go wrong?”
then a man ripped his face off to reveal glowing green eyes in a robotic skull. that was fun to explain to the kiddies.

(in fairness, my wife didn’t look at the big age warning on the package, so it’s not like it’s WB’s fault. but it would be nice to show my kids superhero cartoons that weren’t made in the 1940s. and also, anything involving a cartoon princess that ISN’T disney would be nice, for once.)

Whatever happened to “if at first you don’t succeed”, “keep hammering”, or “snowball effect.” All of it is wasted if TPTB just quit. The live/CGI Green Lantern film next year would benefit from a sequel and, given the unlikelihood of a WW live action film anytime soon, a sequel to the animated film makes all the sense in the world as far as building on her exposure.

For what it’s worth, I’ve started a petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Batman22/petition.html

Chad Says:

“Timm’s said before that a Wonder Woman series is a no-go because 8-year-old boys won’t buy Wonder Woman toys.

“Arrrgggghh! What about 8-year-old girls? Like John, I’ve got a daughter, and it always blows my mind that DC doesn’t do more to promote Wonder Woman to young girls.

“As I’ve said before over here, girls buy tons of princess stuff, and Wonder Woman is a princess…”

Chad Says:

“…A well-meaning buddy sent my kids the Green Lantern and Superman & Batman: Public Enemies DVDs, and there is nothing weirder than having to tell your super-jazzed children that a superhero DVD isn’t for kids.”

ben c Says:

“holy crap!

“i had the exact same problem — i draw comics, so my 3 year old girls love watching superhero cartoons. my wife grabbed the public enemies DVD thinking ‘superman and batman! what could go wrong?’

“then a man ripped his face off to reveal glowing green eyes in a robotic skull. that was fun to explain to the kiddies.

“(in fairness, my wife didn’t look at the big age warning on the package, so it’s not like it’s WB’s fault…”

Hmm.

Is the problem with the gender disaprity in advertising DC marketing these brands too little to 8-year-old girls or too much to 8-year-old boys…?

[...] homepage is reporting will be the cover for Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, due out September 28. As expected, Warner is sticking with the big brand-name properties now, focusing on well-known characters. [...]

The reason Wonder Woman did not sell, was the art. The person drawing her, did a terrible job.
With the new “awful” costume, you can bury sales.

Simple formula:
Art sells the cover. Story sells the comic.
Hot muscular amazon in tiny costume fighting evil.

Sexy visuals appeal to the male buyers.
Strong dialog appeals to the female buyers.
Wonder Woman is a gold mine, if done right.

[...] this movie. If you’re disappointed about how DC and Warner have been treating some of their lead women lately, check this out for an [...]