Monday, August 15, 2011

Ask The Answer Manic Monday #10--History Repeating Itself?

Ah, what heady days these are...50+ new #1s and/or new features, a major publicity push, excitement about revitalizing the comics industry...

Oh, wait, you thought I was talking about DC's 2011 "New 52?" No, no, I was talking about 1978s much ballyhooed "DC Explosion!" Look, Bob Rozakis, DC's very own Answer Man, devoted an entire page to it in Superboy & The Legion Of Super-Heroes #243 (1978):

Click to embiggen, so you can see the sheer exuberance of DC's sure-to-succeed plans!!

Of course, just a few months later, the suits put a kibosh on this, and we had the infamous DC Implosion, wherein 30-odd books were cancelled, and 10 planned new books and features never saw the light of day. But that could never happen today, right?

Anyway, after the bubble burst, the poor Answer Man got downright testy with all of the people writing in to ask about the fates of their favorite characters. These are all from the same Answer Man column in Superboy & The Legion Of Super-Heroes #248 (1979):






Ouch. I can imagine it wasn't a happy time to be working at DC. At least Rozakis didn't have to answer questions at conventions, or online forums, or snarky blogs.

But, again, that could never happen today, could it...?

2 comments:

Martin Gray said...

Aw, at least DC were trying!

Now, when are you going to dig out my Answer Man appearances? ;)

Steve W. said...

Poor old Bob.