Whatever Infantino's intentions were, under his five-year watch, DC sales tanked. 

DC sales tanked because Infantino believed, erroneously, that DC readers would support DC books despite a cover price hike. Combined with blizzards and economic problems, Infantino's gambit failed.

People should keep in mind that Infantino helped, or allowed, for many new characters which are still active today, most of which natch created by Jack Kirby. Infantino's position as art director shouldn't be called into question, since he did have some of the finest artists in the business on the best books DC had to offer. And you can personally thank Infantino for saving Batman from cancellation, given he spearheaded the Darknight Detective phase quite a bit before Adams/O'Neil, who apparently love to take credit where it's not necessarily due. Not to mention just about every superhero at DC was overhauled under Infantino's guidance, modernized, and most of those versions are physically still in place. Or at least they were, until Nu DC.

The Jack Kirby mishap was just as much Kirby's fault as Infantino's, given Kirby's Stan Lee-induced resentment to work with anyone or have anyone take credit for anything he actually did. I'm sure Infantino would have loved Kirby to become the Grand Poobah of DC, but Kirby was more interested in Being Kirby. And it's hard to say I blame Kirby for that.

I do like to imagine what a belt-loosened DC Comics would have looked like, with a Jack Kirby ready to draw Superman on-model (or DC letting him draw Superman Kirby way) while working on his Fourth World stuff, while Jim Aparo, Ernie Chan, Dick Giordano, Neal Adams, Dick Dillin, and Curt Swan carried the rest of the books. I guess aside from Neal Adams's departure and Kirby's obstinance, it sort of happened, but nobody was going to derail the Marvel juggernaut with DC's environment of stodgy imperiousness in place.

Chad Carter wrote:  Mike Norris wrote: Leave it Chad to be so quick to use one of JBs "catchphrases" that he forgets to check and see if it applies to his own post. I only have to refer to the past 26 years of irresponsible mishandling of superhero comics to justify my mindreading. Your example, Mike, would suggest an origin point for irresponsiblity, if it were true, which it's not.

. It's an example of a writer killing off a character created by another writer for non=malicious reasons.  Its not meant to be the starting point of anything and definitely not about irresponsiblity. Comic book character have been killed for decades. I've no idea when the first one happened or why. Is it irresponsible to do so? I don't know. It only really matter when its a character I like.

If what were true? My example? The reasons Thomas killed Prof X?

My impression, from what JB has said, is that mindreading is never justified.

Your mindreading says that Giffen is a "kissass". Not sure how that ties into your new "irresponsibility angle".  From the personality he projects, I cant imagine Giffen kissing anyones ass. He's seems to get carte blanche with any book he gets.

"Whatever Infantino's intentions were, under his five-year watch, DC sales tanked."

It's my understanding that DC sales, like other comics, had been falling since the Golden Age of the 1940s.  It was just that in the 1960s, Marvel came onto the scene and DC sales continued to fall while Marvel surged ahead and stayed there.

Mike

Justice League #1 was not a great comic in my opinion.

There was no mood developed. It seemed like they wanted the feeling evoked in Alan Davis' "JLA: The Nail," but simply did not pull it off.

Reading Justice League #1 prompted me to read Justice League: The Nail again. That book definitely got the mood right that the "new 52" seemed to be going for.

It's my understanding that DC sales, like other comics, had been falling since the Golden Age of the 1940s.  It was just that in the 1960s, Marvel came onto the scene and DC sales continued to fall while Marvel surged ahead and stayed there.

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Anyone rememberr what page I posted the link to that sales chart from over the years???

.

EDIT:  Found it.  Here it is:  http://enterthestory.com/comic_sales.html

Before Infantino took over, Marvel had taken the lead.  The few years he was there, they started to creep up a bit actually.

I just read a preview of Morrison's Action Comics #1 (mostly to make fun) and was shocked to discover that I did not hate it.  His description of Superman as Springsteen seemed quite silly, but I have to say, I am somewhat intrigued by this new tone.  I've never been the biggest Superman fan (loved Red Son) so I might give it a try.