More publicity woes for DC

SolitaireRose

For a while now, DC has had a softball fan question column at CBR like Marvel does. Not any more.

Now, I don't think that CBR did the right thing by bringing up a question that has been dealt with repeatedly when they have a LOT of fan questions they could go to, but for DC PR folks to stop the interview midstream and then say they won't work with CBR any more is a chump move. Marvel gets an occasional rough question in their weekly column, and Axel will just refer the people to the appropriate PR folks and move on.

The sad thing is, if this were an isolated incident, that would be one thing, but it feels like there is a new PR mess every week, fired creators going to the press to burn bridges, editorial initiatives being announced, then pulled back, then mocked (WTF month, I'm looking at you), creative team switches in the middle of a story with yet ANOTHER creative team in the actual credit when the book arrives....

Maybe it's time their hired a professional PR team.

jaydee74

Yeah, it's pretty sad indeed. I do have to put part of the blame on CBR. Like you said, they probably have enough questions to go through that they could have found a tough question that wouldn't have gotten that kind of response but you have to think that this is a kind of question is going to get asked a lot. Remember, you got C2E2 panels coming up and San Diego and New York Comic Con and DC will have panesl there and I am sure that this question will rear it's head into some of them. Yeah. Not sure what DC PR is thinking about.

DoctorDoom

That was...foolish.

jaydee74

I wish I could go to C2E2 just to attend the DC panels and hear what kinds of questions they get asked.

RedRight88

@jaydee74 It's probably the same fluff questions...For the amount of people who complain on forums, podcasts, blogs, etc...Whenever they get a chance to confront these people, they pretty much back off the vitriol.

jaydee74

@RedRight88 I sure as hell hope not. I remember when DC used to record their panels and they would put them out as podcasts for those that weren't lucky enough to attend and I remember a few questions that got boos or that the creators weren't too keen on answering or did so in their nomal way of answering a question. I guess in the end though, it's easier to ask a question under the guise of an internet name that face-to-face which is such a shame.

Brack

SolitaireRose said:

Maybe it's time their hired a professional PR team.

Or a professional editorial team so they have less of these unpleasant questions to answer in the first place.

Elsiebub

I don't have any love for Harras or DC editorial, but this seems like CBR sort of went out of their way to make things controversial and awkward.

The final question was about an incident that happened months and months and months ago. CBR not only asked it but put it in the column, at the end, even though they didn't get a response beyond "See our previous statement". It's really a cheap shot on CBR's part, I think. They could have run the questions in any order, but they decided to close out on that note. Almost like ending an interview by asking someone "So why do you beat your wife?" and then adding a footnote that the interviewee "cowardly declined to answer, and stormed out in an unprofessional manner".

I mean, CBR also asked a hamfisted question about diversity, and Bobbi Chase is like "Hello? I'm a woman. I'm right here. DC isn't the haven of misogynists you think it is."

I don't mean that CBR shouldn't ask hard-hitting questions, but after a while it just seemed like they were piling on. They ask the Orson Scott Card question AFTER having the diversity question blow up in their face? It's not like the OSC stuff just happened. It's like CBR wanted to make things uncomfortable.

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I've seen the "ask Marvel" articles over the years, whether it was Joe Q or Axel, the questions seemed a lot softer.

Then again, of course DC has been having a pretty bad year. But I'd think that CBR could have been able to find some more questions that didn't seem inherently built around the contention that DC is evil.

nweathington

DC’s legal department isn’t going to let a couple of editors talk about things that could get the company sued. Questions like those dealing with hiring and firing, descrimination, etc., all have to be run through Legal, and Legal tells Harris and Chase what they can and cannot say. It was very likely Legal’s decision—or at the very least their strong suggestion—to shut down the arrangement with CBR. And I would not be surprised if DC had not made it clear to CBR that their official statement regarding the Card issue was their final statement on the matter.

Matt

Elsiebub said:

I don't have any love for Harras or DC editorial, but this seems like CBR sort of went out of their way to make things controversial and awkward.

The final question was about an incident that happened months and months and months ago. CBR not only asked it but put it in the column, at the end, even though they didn't get a response beyond "See our previous statement". It's really a cheap shot on CBR's part, I think. They could have run the questions in any order, but they decided to close out on that note. Almost like ending an interview by asking someone "So why do you beat your wife?" and then adding a footnote that the interviewee "cowardly declined to answer, and stormed out in an unprofessional manner".

I mean, CBR also asked a hamfisted question about diversity, and Bobbi Chase is like "Hello? I'm a woman. I'm right here. DC isn't the haven of misogynists you think it is."

I don't mean that CBR shouldn't ask hard-hitting questions, but after a while it just seemed like they were piling on. They ask the Orson Scott Card question AFTER having the diversity question blow up in their face? It's not like the OSC stuff just happened. It's like CBR wanted to make things uncomfortable.

Maybe it's just me, but whenever I've seen the "ask Marvel" articles over the years, whether it was Joe Q or Axel, the questions seemed a lot softer.

Then again, of course DC has been having a pretty bad year. But I'd think that CBR could have been able to find some more questions that didn't seem inherently built around the contention that DC is evil.

I agree with you. Its like asking a question that elicits the respond you want, interpreting stats to support your claim, or omitting certain information to get the angle you want.

M

David_D

I don't know- I feel like, optics-wise, DC could have taken the high road by giving a simple "no further comment" on any uncomfortable or legally fraught matters, and then continued on to the next question.

To instead terminate not only the interview midstream, but the series of interviews, at that uncomfortable moment is, to me, bad PR. It is like saying you are afraid of the questions.

To be fair, not a big deal in the scheme of things. To me the work itself is more important than people speaking about the work. But in the context of speaking about the work this seems poorly handled.

nweathington

David_D said:

I don't know- I feel like, optics-wise, DC could have taken the high road by giving a simple "no further comment" on any uncomfortable or legally fraught matters, and then continued on to the next question.

To instead terminate not only the interview midstream, but the series of interviews, at that uncomfortable moment is, to me, bad PR. It is like saying you are afraid of the questions.

To be fair, not a big deal in the scheme of things. To me the work itself is more important than people speaking about the work. But in the context of speaking about the work this seems poorly handled.

Given what’s been presented, and without knowing any behind the scenes details, I agree; it does give a bad impression. But I don’t know that the interview was cut off midstream. The last question actually starts with the word “finally,” which implies they were at the end of the questions anyway.

jaydee74

It's a shame but I wonder if before the Q&A starts if CBR is given some guidelines about dos and don'ts and whatnot but again, I don't know for sure and if CBR broke those guidelines, I could see DC not wanting to do that again. It's a shame because I like when you can get questions answered by the big two and it seems that Tom Breevort is asked all kinds of questions and does what he can to answer them. It's just unfortunate.

electric_mayhem

Matt said:

<
I agree with you. Its like asking a question that elicits the respond you want, interpreting stats to support your claim, or omitting certain information to get the angle you want.

M

a little like Dick... I mean Rick Johnson's little website, no?


if news media can't get a story right (CNN, looking at you) what hope does a comics website have?

hauberk

electric_mayhem said:

Matt said:

<
I agree with you. Its like asking a question that elicits the respond you want, interpreting stats to support your claim, or omitting certain information to get the angle you want.

M

a little like Dick... I mean Rick Johnson's little website, no?


if news media can't get a story right (CNN, looking at you) what hope does a comics website have?

QFT. Were Dick's site the last place to go for comic news, I would be back to the blissful ignorance of my pre-internet youth where it comes to comic spoilers.

SolitaireRose

I was thinking about this again last night as I was listening to Marvel's official podcast...

Marvel has letters pages again, but they also have an official podcast where they answer tweeted questions, they are starting up some YouTube shows, you have Tom Brevoort on Formspring (I think that's what it's called) answering questions, snarkily, and you have many Marvel creators who answer questions from fans on Tumblr, Formspring, etc... Marvel's also REALLY good about "Here's what is out this week, here's what is out digitally, here's what got added to Marvel Unlimited" and the like. That's not even counting the work they do with comic "news" websites.

They reach out to fans and generally use social media very well.

DC doesn't have their podcast any more (and it just had panel recording for the most part), doesn't do any of those things. They use the old 90's/early 2000's model of "Here's a press release. That's what you get." They don't even have a easy way to get a listing of their books coming out this week, and I have to get it via a 3rd party e-mail service that6 lists what Diamond says is shipping this week.

I know I keep saying it, but who is in charge of their PR department? Anyone?

It's a CROWDED market out there, and sure you can dump Batman and Justice League on the market and sell 100,000 copies, but your mid line and lower line books need a LOT of help. They are losing lower end books faster than they are replacing them and the average sales per month are dropping at an increasing rate.

I WANT DC to succeed. A bigger market means more people working which means more good comics which means more jobs for my pals who work in shops and on art and so on.

I really thought that Time Warner taking a stronger hand in the company might be a bit annoying for us fans as they move away from catering to long time fans but it would pay off in a more robust marketplace, but my perception is that we are not getting that deal. We're just getting a more insular product from people who think it's 1993 again.

Torchsong

DC is making it really difficult to be a fan (which I still am and will always be) of their stuff these days. There's SO MUCH they're doing right, but they simply will not promote it because they're too busy throwing the hype train on events and books that already have a strong sales point.

And Marvel, as you pointed out, is doing it right. They're giving the fans what they want, whereas DC seems to be giving fans what THEY think the fans want.

Screw it. I'm going back to reading manga. :)

ChrisBeckett

And now, apparently, DC has blacklisted theouthousers.com for writing pieces that make fun of DC and challenge their editorial decision. I haven't read anything on the site, but they admit in the following piece to writing in a sarcastic, humorous tone that they know could piss people off. Your mileage may vary, but once again DC looks petty and unwilling to listen to anything resembling criticism.

http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/news/121832-editorial-mandate-what-to-do-when-a-publisher-blacklists-you-3.html

chris

DoctorDoom

Thanks for posting that, Chris. Now I'm going to bookmark that site.

jaydee74

Wow. I wonder if DC also has issues with the Gutters.

DoctorDoom

jaydee74 said:

Wow. I wonder if DC also has issues with the Gutters.

Wouldn't surprise me.

Personally, I can't see how they don't have a problem with Gutters.

WetRats

DoctorDoom said:

jaydee74 said:

Wow. I wonder if DC also has issues with the Gutters.

Wouldn't surprise me.

Personally, I can't see how they don't have a problem with Gutters.

Gutters isn't a news outlet. There's nothing for DC's PR dept to "blacklist".

Torchsong

The Gutters has been fairly equal opportunity snarky as well. I think DC has just been giving them more fodder to ridicule than Marvel these days.

RedRight88

@Torchsong
Just Remember; no matter how bad things get...We will always have The Amazing Bulk :-c