DC Comics played with a format change this week that had a lot of readers put out: half-page ads that ran under half-sized story pages. Such disruption definitely directs readers' attention to the ads, but such attention isn't always a good thing, especially when the ads are simply amateurish-looking plugs for Twix candy bars, with cute little meta jokes about left and right facing pages. Format changes can sometimes mean new opportunities, but DC writers and artists weren't too happy about being asked to sync their content to Twix. The ads ran under content that included an exploding head (hardly an appetizing lead-in) or what seemed to be gentle mockery of the ads: https://twitter.com/gregislands/status/605123365473513472 At least at present, the backlash doesn't seem to have troubled DC or Mars, the candy company that makes Twix. When asked whether he would pursue such deals in the future, co-publisher Dan Didio gave an answer that was not a no and Mars had some interesting comments that indicate it went for DC Comics specifically because it feels DC no longer appeals to children.
T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.
