There are not that many things that I can be certain about in life. One things I can be certain about though? People like to have their expectations met. Nobody goes into anything hoping for the worst. I didn't go into the NBA playoffs going, "Damn, I hope the Grizzlies lose this year." Nobody wants to see a trailer for a movie that's portrayed as a comedy and then go see it and have it turn out to be some art house drama about a prostitute and her last client. The same thing goes with false advertising in comics and it is far from not being cool. And I'm sad to say both of my examples are DC based.
The first guilty comic in this regard was JT Krul's run on Green Arrow. This came at the end of issue 2 during the....the...the little captions on the last page of comics saying something like "Next: Wolverine shaves. Plus, Northstar heats a taco". For example. The one I'm talking about came at the end of Green Arrow #2. It said "Next issue: The Final Showdown With Rush. Plus.... BLACK CANARY!" I read this and went, "HELL YEAH". So, I read issue 3. A few times. There was no sign of Dinah. I've kept up with the series (Waiting for issue 10 and debating on dropping) and STILL no sign of Dinah. Why give me hope and then never have her show up, JT!?!?! WHY!??! That just sucks. But, that is by no means the worst offender in the new 52 with false advertising.
Very recently (last month), lead Batman writer and all around cool guy (He responds to fans on twitter! Go say hi) Scott Snyder led the way with the large Night Of Owls crossover that encompassed almost all the Bat family comics. Time for me to get on my soap box: one of the worst things (aside from Stephanie Brown getting scrubbed from existence and, according to Kyle Higgins, going to Ireland [?]) about the New 52 was Tim Drake not getting his own solo series. Sure, there's Teen Titans, which isn't bad. I just think that he deserves his own series. But that's not what I'm bitching about. That could be an entire different blog post.
So, Red Robin doesn't have his own series. But when Alfred put out the call for help from the rest of the Batfamily during the Night Of Owls, Tim was seen responding along with the others. Follow this logic with me? Nightwing follows Dick. Batwing, Batgirl, and Catwoman follow their respective namesakes. Batman and Robin follows Damian. Red Hood And The Outlaws follows Jason Todd around Gotham while Detective Comics and Batman followed Bruce on two different missions. So, that left Batman: The Dark Knight. I hadn't picked up a single issue of this comic before Night of Owls and probably won't be touching it again. Here's why.
The cover depicts Red Robin in battle with a Talon while Bruce watches. Not going to lie, this is a pretty fantastic cover. This came out at the end of the month and was one of the last Night Of Owls comics to come out. I went to the store, excited to see how my favorite (and the best) Robin fared against these nigh immortal assassins from The Court. How'd he do? I have no idea. Despite what the cover depicts, Tim was in one panel of the comic and had no lines. This comic was more about the owl telling his story and then rehashing a fight we'd already seen in Batman. It was ENTIRELY pointless. I can't believe wasted 2.99 on it.
I bought that comic to finally see my favorite member of the Batfamily in a real situation outside of the Titans in the New 52. It didn't happen and I am far from satisfied. Tim should have had a role in the Night Of Owls. Instead, he was used as a cheap marketing tool to sell a book that I've heard isn't that great to his cult following of fans. And that sucks.
Like all false advertising sucks. Morale of the story, writers? Stop it. Or you will suck too.
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