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DC have announced a new comic book series based on the Mattel’s DC Super Friends toys. These are a line of blocky, smiling, simpler action figures targeted at the younger kid audience. So far so great, except that at WW Chicago Jann Jones announced that they were cancelling the Justice League Unlimited comic book to make way for this new title. Now can anybody else spot the logical disconnect in cancelling a title aimed at 8-12 year olds and replacing it with a title aimed at 4-6 year olds?
The Justice League Unlimited series was very strange. The cartoon itself could get very dark at times and seemed to be aimed at an older audience. However, it was often the younger kids who got the most caught up in the fantastic characters. On the other hand the comic book took exactly the same character designs and aimed its stories solely at the 8-12 market, deliberately stripping out the tension and darker themes. It was a very good book, but often seemed to lack the sparkle of the cartoon.
A lot of adult comics fans read JLU in preference to the normal Justice League book and reaction from them to the switch hasn’t been entirely positive (judging from the comments on the Newsarama announcement thread). Conversely Mattel (the producers of the Super Friends toys) seem committed to continuing the increasingly obscure JLU toys. Pity DC didn’t share they faith in the brand.
The main Justice League of America title is also changing hands with Brad Meltzer giving way to Dwayne McDuffie. I suppose there could be method in DC’s madness: cancel the JLU comic book with the hope that the writer of the original JLU cartoon will pitch the normal JLA title at the right level to soak up the refugees.
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