SDCC '11: Todd McFarlane Shares His Thoughts On The DC Relaunch

"I'll bet against it. And here's why: I think it's a fool's game, I'm not on board, I think it's a fool's game what they're doing. They've got 52 titles that they're launching #1, I'm down with that idea. Right? I get it, right. To do it all in one month is the fallacy there. As a businessman, one of the things I try to do before I get headstrong on something is to look at historical data that will basically back up my position. I'm trying to figure out what record company, what car company, what TV show, what theatre, what ice cream parlor, put out 52 new products in the same month and expected the consumer to upgrade all 52 of them. If the answer is -- and I'd be curious to talk to DC -- if they said, 'No, no, no, we don't expect all of them to necessarily bump up," then it seems like a missed opportunity. So I understand the Top 8, 9, 10 book -- Greg Capullo, who did "Spawn," is doing "Batman," one of the more anticipated ones. But if I'm somebody who is writing, pencilling, inking the 47th book? My question would be, how are you getting the word out that my book is also gonna be a #1? How are you promoting the 47th one? It doesn't seem like there's room to get it there. And then the problem is, if you don't get a spike in the sales, it seems like a missed opportunity.

Here's what I would have done at DC (and they're not asking me): I would have taken the 52 and put out six or seven new #1s each month and spread it for seven, eight, nine months, and then you would have had people talking about those new books for half a year to a year. You could stretch it out for a year! And then, after a year, then let Marvel have the megaphone. But you could have done this, and instead you blew your whole entire wad. So now, here are your two problems: one, [say] I'm a retailer. I don't even know if they talked to any retailers."