DC Comics Pitch Meeting
It has reached the point where I have to occasionally be forcibly reminded that DC Comics remains in existence. I wouldn’t remember otherwise.
The movies are easier to remember, although that is decidedly a double-edged sword. Once Aquaman 2 fails the era of the Gunn-verse will properly begin.
Frankly, I’m not too certain it’s going to last all that long. Thanks to Marvel the superhero genre is on life support.
It says so much about DC’s current position that for the past two years, their most profitable film was probably Batgirl, and that was only because they took the tax write-off on it.
DC Comics itself is nothing but a source of ESG points for Warner Brother. It’s the only possible reason to keep its doors open and honestly, it’s depressing for the DC fans. We would far rather see it put quietly to sleep than continue its current run.
Six months ago I watched a Zoom conference of DC writers and it left me very depressed. I knew it would be bad but seeing it in action was so much worse. It was like listening to a high school activist writers’ group. One of them would propose a gay romance between two conically straight characters and the rest of the group would go, “Oh, that is SO amazing.” Except they weren’t being sarcastic like I would be. They actually meant it. The entire group kept repeating this… I guess I’d have to call it a process. That was only thing they could think of, turning a straight character genderqueer or trans.
Which is how you get anti-creativity pitches like Mads Visaggio’s
If you didn’t already know then you have by now guessed Mad’s little secret.
This is Mads’ title for Dark Horse, Calamity Kate. Who is a gender-queer monster hunter obvious self-insert.
Calamity Kate has been accused of plagiarizing the Alex Priest title, which is about a gender-queer monster hunter. I cannot speak to this either way because there is no way on Earth I would read either one.
Anyway, Mads was able to get a pitch meeting with DC for the Superboy character, Conner Kent.
As you can see Vissagio proposed…
… An obvious self-insert.
Trans Super… uh… boy? I mean Supergirl is a long-standing title and is currently in use. Superwoman was trademarked by National Comics when Superman was created, and various women have been Superwoman over the decades. In 2017 it was Lana Lang. The title is currently in use by an evil version of Wonder Woman. Not that it matters because the title in question was Superboy.
Not that Mads Visaggio would have cared about that. Mads was also utterly oblivious to the obvious problems with a Kryptonian transexual. I mean think about it, where does Connor go for sex reassignment surgery? He has an indestructible dick. Even breast implants aren’t possible. Granted this is a comic book world which opens the door for intergalactic super science and actual magic getting the job done. However, this would mean that Connor’s transformation to Connie would be a complete one. Right down to her chromosomes, holding forty conflicting opinions simultaneously, an ability to have five different conversations at once with the same person,* As well as the ability and intense desire to bear children. Something that I strongly suspect would horrify Mads Visaggio.
The only thing and I do mean the only thing that surprises me about this pitch, is that DC did not run with it.
*”The conversation that they’re actually having, the conversation that is specifically being avoided, the tone being applied to the overt conversation, the buried conversation that is being covered only in subtext, and finally the other person’s body language.” Women have to be married for a while before they believe it when men say “I’m not thinking about anything.”
