ALL-STAR BATMAN #10 recall
Well, it looks like the slow news day may be ending, as DC is requesting that this week’s shipment of ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #10 not be put on shelves. This morning, a Diamond advisory went out:
***** SHIPPING ADVISORY: DC COMICS’ ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #10
Dear Diamond Customer:
Please be advised that copies of DC Comics’ ALL-STAR BATMAN & ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #10 (FEB080203-4D) may be included in your September 10 shipment.
At DC’s request, please do not place this book out for sale to your customers. Instead, please destroy any copies that you receive. You will be credited for these copies on your September 17 invoice.
Diamond apologizes for any inconvenience this creates for you or your customers. If you have additional questions, please contact your Diamond Customer Service Representative. Thank you.
DC has had problems with already-printed books being deemed unsuitable for distribution before. Notably, a story by Kyle Baker in which a baby crawled into a microwave forced a run of an “Elseworlds” special to be destroyed, and concerns over a Victorian ad for Marvel Douche caused the run of LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN #5 to go into the hopper. It’s more unusual for a comic to be shipped out and recalled, although a special Best Buy edition of that LoeG that was was a gift with purchase of the DVD had to be recalled when the material was found to be a bit strong for the chain.
DC had no comment on the reasons for the return. However, sources close to DC suggested that a printing problem was probably the culprit.
While at this hour we don’t know exactly what caused the problem, it’s unlikely that all copies of the issue will be destroyed. In fact we’re guessing that if your store owner really likes you, you may just be able to get a copy.
With Diamond’s retailer summit underway out in Las Vegas, expect this to quickly become topic A on the gossip circuit.
Developing.
09/8/08 at 3:57 pm
No way this is real.
good job hiedi.
09/8/08 at 4:27 pm
A recalled comic? it becomes a true variant! Or is this a nicely camouflaged marketing strategy.
09/8/08 at 4:37 pm
Marvel Douche II — The Return of Leticia Lerner!
09/8/08 at 4:46 pm
They are already up on Ebay already.
09/8/08 at 4:59 pm
The ones up on eBay seem to be pre-controversy.
09/8/08 at 5:14 pm
[…] No se sabe cuál es el motivo de este retraso nuevo, aunque The Beat informa que podría ser por problemas de impresión y mencionó algunos ejemplos de casos anteriores. […]
09/8/08 at 5:16 pm
What’s to stop a retailer from claiming they destroyed their copies and getting that refund, while simultaneously selling those copies on ebay?
09/8/08 at 5:28 pm
Money says someone forgot to remove nipples during the inking/coloring process.
09/8/08 at 5:39 pm
I’d put money on a last minute discovery of profanity that was supposed to have been edited into symbol based faux-profanity of the #@%*!!! variety.
Something like the use of ‘asshole’ that slipped into Final Crisis.
09/8/08 at 5:43 pm
“What’s to stop a retailer from claiming they destroyed their copies and getting that refund, while simultaneously selling those copies on ebay?”
Once upon a time stores had to send back covers to prove they were destroyed. I don’t know if they still do that.
09/8/08 at 6:28 pm
This once happened to a Batman comic I did because there was a coloring error on Robin’s costume throughout the issue. It’s not a controversy, DC just doesn’t let stuff like that slide with their trademarked characters.
09/8/08 at 6:29 pm
Even coverless they’ll go for a lot.
Nothings stopping anybody from scanning them, at least.
09/8/08 at 8:18 pm
Good job, Alexa, promoting theft.
09/8/08 at 8:22 pm
@ Ed:
Unless it’s painted on a naked model!
09/8/08 at 11:00 pm
sounds like a copy I’d like to have.
09/8/08 at 11:20 pm
I find it funny that DC is more concerned with their trademarked characters costumed being colored wrong, but they have no problem with allowing profanity,graphic violence,and strong sexual innuendos in the comics featuring those same trademarked characters.
09/9/08 at 12:11 am
Considering that ASBAR seems to have no set schedule and just comes out whenever, this seems like a non-issue. One week later is still far earlier than I’d ever expect it to appear (i.e. when hell freezes over).
09/9/08 at 12:20 am
Funny, I don’t recall actually telling anyone to go sell them or scan them. Just conjecturing what people are likely to do based on past experiences in this community ~_^
09/9/08 at 1:16 am
Development:
It is the perfectly legible word “CUNT” with a (clearly not opaque enough black box over it).
09/9/08 at 1:17 am
(sorry for the double post)
Development:
It is the perfectly legible word “CUNT” with a (clearly not opaque enough) black box over it.
09/9/08 at 2:05 am
UGh, what a tease. now I HAVE to own it!
09/9/08 at 7:42 am
Why are they even using language like that in a comic? Don’t they realize that comics are for kids?????
09/9/08 at 8:49 am
Frank Miller has apparantly forgotten that Batman does not live in Sin City.
09/9/08 at 8:58 am
Paul Levitz must be spinning in his grave.
09/9/08 at 10:03 am
Something like this demands a screen shot.
09/9/08 at 10:18 am
Maybe it’s CLINT.
Going to see a FLICK.
Or maybe not.
09/9/08 at 10:41 am
I’d heard it’s because Batman has his balls hanging out of his shorts for five consecutive pages just to make Superman uneasy.
09/9/08 at 1:10 pm
Maybe it’s the return of the Marvel Douche!
09/9/08 at 3:24 pm
If it’s a supposed hero using that word then Miller shouldn’t be allowed near anyone else’s property ever again.
09/9/08 at 3:50 pm
It’s not just the c-word that didn’t get completely blacked out. Shithead, ass, and fuck are also legible.
09/9/08 at 3:54 pm
[…] Tough Love Tuesday Breaking News: Insufficient Censorship Posted by Chris Eckert 5 minutes ago We interupt our regularly scheduled nitpicking about proper grammar and usage to bring you <a href=”this’” DESIGNTIMESP=28244>http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/09/08/things-may-be-getting-more-interesting/”>this breaking story</a>: […]
09/9/08 at 4:02 pm
All of the curse words are censored, it’s just that the censor bars are insufficiently opaque.
And if it’s any consolation Baal, the person who uses “the c-word” is a Bad Guy.
09/9/08 at 4:17 pm
And I have to wonder why they would even print the profanity at all. Why not the traditional symbols or even just put a black box over an empty space? The method they chose was just asking for trouble.
Oh, and it is nice that Miller has gone so gonzo that he would have the GDBatman use THAT word…
09/9/08 at 6:55 pm
Only Johnny DC books are ever for kids. The last kid I saw in a comic book store was me in 1993 and I was buying a Spawn comic. Food for thought.
Censorship sucks.
09/9/08 at 7:07 pm
[…] Retailing Issues: The Rush To Ship * the comics business news and analysis site ICv2.com has re-opened the issue of early shipping for comics products, with about a half-dozen retailers weighing in on that original piece. I’m not sure this particular discussion is specifically interesting in any way, but the general failure of the Direct Market to get past its policy of a mad scramble to put product on the shelf by sending it to stores day of, essentially giving them no opportunity to plan for what’s come and what didn’t, remains endlessly fascinating to me. It’s basically a market that bases a fundamental part of its business on the widespread and nearly absolute expectation that a significant number of its retailers will routinely cheat a potentially better system and that even with pretty much a single distributor no one is willing to enforce a change in the way things are done. Imagine a movie system or a world of television where we weren’t always sure what movies would open or what TV shows would be on until two days before or even day of. I’m likely to receive criticism for saying so, but this has always been one of those things, like the publishers not taking that last step to have a disciplined and rational release of material across the weeks of a month or retailers again not willing to participate in some industry-wide advocacy that might lead to a competitive store in their area, that makes it hard to feel bad when a system loses sales to on-line or different brick-and-mortar retail avenues. * here’s yet another semi-baffling issue unless you spend enough time in comics to become accustomed to this sort of thing: rumors abound that a naughty word in the crazy-ass All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder series may have led to that book being recalled. Something seems not quite right about this story, and while I think it’s funny more than tragic that DC occasionally recalls comics either post-printing or later in the distribution process, it’s always a little alarming when someone on the airplane develops a nosebleed. Anyway, while I haven’t a clue as to what it would be, I wouldn’t be surprised if something additionally weird was going on here — if nothing else, it seems pretty late in the process for DC to notice something goofy considering how early other such incidents were caught. To the wider point, one has to think a more rational way of releasing material to market would better insulate retailers against losing such and such comic on such and such week. Although it’s not like the title in question ever came out regularly enough to inspire a recurring sense of consumer expectation. […]
09/9/08 at 7:30 pm
“By the spirits of my XXXXX parents, I will avenge their XXXXXXXXX deaths by spending the rest of my life XXXXing all criminals… Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious XXXXXXXXXX, so my XXXXX XXXXXX disguise must be able to strike terror into their XXXXXXX hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, XXXXXXXXXXX, terrible… A… A… A XXXXXing bat!”
09/9/08 at 8:06 pm
If that C U Next Tuesday word is all over the issue - then maybe I should pick up extra copies for my ex-gal pal next door neighbor and pin it on her door.
~
Coat
09/9/08 at 11:18 pm
[…] Over at The Beat, Heidi notes that Diamond asked comic shops this week to destroy copies of All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #10: Dear Diamond Customer: […]
09/10/08 at 2:33 am
[…] AS: Batman and Robin is being pulped. Want to know why? Rich Johnston shows us why. […]
09/10/08 at 8:00 am
[…] As you might have heard, DC Comics has requested that retailers pulp their copies of Frank Miller, Jim Lee and Scott Williams’ All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #10. Chris Eckert has reproduced panels from an advance copy of the issue in question, which demonstrate the problem: Black “censor bars” over the numerous swear words didn’t print dark enough, allowing said words to leak through. […]
09/10/08 at 9:54 am
With the naughty words, DC should have flagged this issue for review after it came off the presses.
Also, is there a small printer which can replicate four color printing, so that errors can be found before plates or negatives are made?
09/10/08 at 10:23 am
Keep in mind these are photos. To the naked eye it’s probaly clear as a bell.
How STUPID is DC? Haven’t they been publishing comics for DECADES? Haven’t they seen one ink bleed through anotherone before? I have.
Never mind the fact even with the dialog retracted it’s still plenty offensive.
Someone please xplain the attraction of Frank “I haven’t done anything good in decades” Miller?????????
http://www.funnybookbabylon.com/2008/09/09/tough-love-tuesday-breaking-news-insufficient-censorship/#more-1230
09/10/08 at 1:46 pm
[…] ALL-STAR BATMAN #10 recall from THE BEAT […]
09/10/08 at 2:09 pm
“How STUPID is DC? Haven’t they been publishing comics for DECADES?”
The company has existed for decades. The people in companies changes. This, too, shall pass.
09/10/08 at 2:09 pm
“How STUPID is DC? Haven’t they been publishing comics for DECADES?”
The company has existed for decades. The people in companies change. This, too, shall pass.
09/10/08 at 3:45 pm
————-
Ed Brubaker:
> This once happened to a Batman comic I did because there was a coloring error on Robin’s costume throughout the issue. It’s not a controversy, DC just doesn’t let stuff like that slide with their trademarked characters.
————-
Weren’t you writing a Batbook during the period that DC dropped Detective Comics down to two-colour, leading to stuff like a purple & green Batman?
09/11/08 at 1:12 am
Frank Miller is a @#$%!
Batman Fan? Visit The Bat-Blog
http://www.bat-blog.com
Thanks, Tommy
09/15/08 at 4:15 pm
[…] In case you haven’t heard by now, All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder #10 has been recalled due to strong language that seemed to slip by the editors, interns, secretaries and janitors at DC Comics and actually make it to print last Wednesday. DC quickly put out a demand to all retailers to destroy all copies. Many retailers did not catch the mistake in time and sold the book. Over 300 have found there way on to eBay and some are going for as much as $100. Also, many retailers have not complied with the demand and you have to wonder if owners of the stores have been selling copies on eBay or other avenues under different names to make a quick buck. […]
09/24/08 at 7:05 pm
I actually got to read one of the Sep. 10th issues, somebody had posted it online and I found it while looking for a Robin comic. XD Ugh I can’t believe we waited 6 months longer than we should have (as it was supposed to have come out in March/April) granted it was profane but honestly, do people expect something different? If DC is so fussy about children getting their hands on profane language via their comics, you’d think they’d have the brains to put a warning rather than push it back for months just to have a butchered version get released on accident and ask for them to all be destroyed. I think the whole incident has just made them look stupid for not picking up a copy themselves to see what the final product had looked like. I like the series, as well as Frank Miller and Jim Lee so muh.