Many months ago, DC Comics launched an app. It was a subscription service that would have a catalogue of older DC TV shows, digital comics, and new productions like Titans and Swamp Thing.
Being the DC fanboy that I am, I paid for the subscription right away. But honestly... I was unimpressed.
The new shows really did not appeal to me. I didn't understand the super dark tone of Titans, especially in how they portray Dick Grayson. The older shows were interesting, but sampling them did not reignite nostalgia the way I wanted. And their catalogue of digital comics seemed sparse and ti was difficult to navigate.
To tell the truth, after a few weeks, I forgot I paid for a subscription.
Cut to the current lockdown.
Now I am on the app daily.
For me, the biggest improvement has been their comic book catalogue. During the lockdown, I began to re-visit the entire Geoff Johns run of Green Lantern. This included all of the ancillary stories in Blackest Night and Brightest Day. I have all of the comics bagged and boarded in my collection. But there is such a convenience to having the entire storyline available in the app. The navigation is much smoother and easier to read. Not only that, but with the app on the TV, I can read comics from my television. The app allows you to go through the comic panel by panel, which gives it a nice sequential tension to the stories. They even have access to some stories that have come out only in the last few months like Doomsday Clock and Batman: White Knight.
Another wonderful re-discovery is the show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. I was in high school when the show came out and I was so happy that the focus was on the interpersonal relationships between the leads. Watching it again, there are many things that do not hold up. But looking at it as a product of its day, much can be forgiven. What makes this especially fun is that my wife had never seen the series before and it is all brand new to her. The show is basically a rom-com dressed up in a super hero costume. And that is when the show works best. When it focuses on the super-heroics, it really shows its age. Years later I read the comic Mary Jane written by the great Sean McKeever. It was a comic focused on the high school drama of Mary Jane Watson where Spider-Man was only in the background. That comic blew me away because it showed me that compelling characters could be a bigger draw to me than explosive action. And that is what my wife and I are seeing with this show.
But the happiest thing for me is now that they have expanded their comic library. There are a lot of classic storylines I have read throughout my life. Now that they are up there, I have been able to read them with my wife. Trying to go through something as complex as No Man's Land would have been difficult to do together. But now it can be a shared experience. Not only has my wife loved them, but there is now a greater joy in the stories for me because they are shared with someone I love.
Even though things are hopefully going to loosen up soon, if you are someone who would get several hours of enjoyment from everything this app has to offer, it is a good investment.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have return to that comic book universe that I love so much.
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