The Red Circle

Yesterday I talked a little about DC's propensity to launch new ongoings without any "trial balloons." In the process I mentioned the two Red Circle ongoings that have been announced.

I stand by what I said about the Red Circle books. That said, I think they have been doing an excellent job creating interest in the characters. The DCU Blog has been consistently promoting them, and I think the one-shots/mini-series that's coming out is a great way to kick off and gauge interest in the characters.

I'm also loving the Daily Planet articles that they'v been using a ads. They're a very clever way to create additonal interest in the characters and their one-shots.

That said, I'm still disappointed in the decision to announce ongoings without even waiting to see how the one-shots do. I think it's a problem because, well, they've decided to run the Red Circle books in the "co-feature stable of titles." That mean each book will have a main feature (the bulk of the story) and a co-feature (a smaller back-up story).

Why decide that now? After all, they don't know which characters will be particularly well received. Right now the books are slated to be The Web/Hangman and The Shield/Inferno. But here's the problem: I've found the Web to be pretty uninteresting. Hangman, on the other hand, fascinates me. What if other readers feel the same way? What if Inferno turns out to be the breakout star of the entire Red Circle? Will they be able to rearrange things? Or will they be stuck with something that doesn't work and have to cancel it all?

This is the problem with launching ongoings without gauging interest. Maybe DC knows something I don't. Maybe they know exactly why they're organizing the Red Circle line in that way. I just wish they'd tell us what they're thinking...