My Thoughts on Zuda

DC is throwing away a huge opportunity with Zuda Comics, their pathetic approach to web comics. Instead of taking something that they already own and control and making it better, they are trying to horn in on the existing market for webcomics using a model that, frankly, sucks for the creators.

If DC wanted to make money with webcomics, they would 1) take the characters in their stable that can't support a regular book and 2) create new web stories that could later be collected using those existing characters. And, biff! pow! boom! they would make money on the collections, bring borderline characters back into the limelight, and allow a new generation of fans to become fans of DC comics without having to set foot in comic book stores.

Imagine a Dial H For HERO webcomic. Imagine a Chase webcomic. Imagine Stanley and His Monster as a webcomic... and after each storyline ended, a nice collection available in your local comic shop or bookstore. What's not to like? And yeah, I think characters like Aquaman, who almost can support a book, but not quite, would be perfect for the webcomic-then-collect format. So, yeah, I'm a bit disappointed that DC is going in entirely the wrong direction with the potential of the internet.

Instead of trying to expand into webcomics, they should be trying to make webcomics part of their existing universe. It would work.

I'll be very surprised if Zuda is anything more than another failure for DC. The way it's currently presented, it has little chance of being anything but an embarrassing debacle.