New Creative Teams - A How To

Last week, new creative teams debuted on Detective Comics and Uncanny X-Men. Paul Dini began his run on the Dark Knight with a single-issue story. By way of comparison, Ed Brubaker began his run on Marvel's merry mutants with part 1 of the 12 part "Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire." These two approaches worked well for each creator, but in different ways. And not everything worked.

Based on his first issue, I now know what to expect from Dini on Detective. Solid stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end all between two covers. Brubaker, working on a team book with a rotating cast, has to first establish who his players are. Rather than rush through the process, he gives us deliberate motivation for each character, and an over-encompassing purpose for the team is established. Paul over at The X-Axis reviews Uncanny X-Men far better than I can.

Based on the first issue of each new writer, you can guess at the upcoming plots: Dini will have Batman solve a crime and defeat a rogue each issue; the X-Men will go into space, fight both with and against the Shi'Ar, and win in the end at a cost. So when I say "what to expect" I mean more qualitatively than plot-wise.

At the end of Dini's first issue, we're left with a complete story to evaluate on its own merits (for a review I agree with, go read Ray at SilverBullet ). Brubaker ends his issue as part 1 of a larger story, and therefore has two choices: end on a cliffhanger (a la Y: The Last Man and Ultimate Spider-Man) or end it at a good break in the plot. Brubaker chooses the latter, and in doing so fails to excite me for the next issue.

The purpose of a first issue, be it of a new series or of a new creative team's run on an established series, is to get new readers to come back for more. Regular fans of the series will continue to buy it, but how many of the new readers will stick? I'll be buying next month's Detective, I doubt I'll be picking up next month's Uncanny X-Men. Brubaker failed to interest me enough to find out what happens next, and it's because of the type of first issue story he chose to tell. Maybe I'll wait for the trade, or maybe my interest will have waned by then. But I know I'll be buying next month's Detective, cause Paul Dini done right by me.