If they’d just kept making episodes of Swamp Thing, they’d still be around.
Well, coming as a surprise to pretty much nobody, the DC Universe streaming service is going comics-only starting next year. The name is changing to “DC Universe Infinite,” though not so infinite that it’ll continue supporting Amazon devices, Roku, XBox, or Apple TV. Which is a shame, as I liked reading comics on my big-screen television, and I suppose there are some clunky workarounds, but it’s not the same.
The DCU original TV shows are moving over to the still-not-competitively-priced-for-the-streaming-market HBO Max, with announcements of new seasons for Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn, and the previously-announced new season of Young Justice. The press release also says “key DC classics” will also make the move, so I don’t know if that means all of the Batman animated series, the ’90s Flash, or the remastered ’70s Shazam! will pop up there or not. And I imagine that DC Daily archive of episodes isn’t going to make the transition, but I suppose a number of those will live on over at YouTube.
“Yes yes yes, but what does this all mean for you, Michael Ricardo Anatoly Sterling?” I can hear you all desperately asking. Well, my initial reaction was to go ahead and click the “cancel subscription” button DC Universe helpfully provided in its email to me informing me of this coming change. And I thought long and hard about sighing heavily and subscribing to HBO Max.
But ultimately…I think I’m going to stay on. I do have an iPad which I primarily use only to read comics on DC Universe, which is how I read most of the Hitman run while waiting in the jury duty waiting room a while back. And currently I’m going through a bunch of Golden Age Superman stories. There’s plenty more on there I want to check out besides, so I think I can continue to get my money’s worth out of the service.
As to HBO Max…I understand there’s a commercial-supported free version coming, but I figure it’s going to have limited content like the free version of the Peacock streaming service (which only gives you partial seasons of programs, stuff like that). I’ll wait and see, and also wait if there’s going to be a price drop anytime soon. DC Universe hasn’t been shy about throwing discounted special offers, and I expect that’ll continue into the future, so I’ll just wait and see how all that shakes out over the next several months.
Worse comes to worse, I can just wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray releases of any of that new material showing up on the service and just borrow the discs from Netflix. Yes, I’m the guy still getting physical discs from Netflix, like a savage.
I will say DC going comics-only got me thinking about Marvel’s long-running online comics library, as I’d at least like to read all the Hulks that came out before ’83 (when I started reading the thing) but I I’m going to hold on that thought for the time being. Maybe once I get through the teetering stacks of books I already have waiting for me.
So, sorry to see DC Universe go, and I’m at least willing to try out the new iteration of the service. I mean, look, they have to add the Silver Age Metal Men to the service eventually.
I don’t know what you mean. Silver was never one of the Metal Men.
I took them up on the HBO offer just to watch Lovecraft Country, which is really good. I agree that the pricing is crazy and I’m not likely to continue after the promo period ends.
It’s funny – I actually subscribed to DCU in the first place for the comics and consider all of the TV stuff to be a bonus. We finished off the Legion cartoon last week and I’m up to speed on Doom Patrol so I guess I’ll switch to DVDs as Season 3 comes out. I really want them to add more older stuff to the comics side – there are real gaps in the 1970s and early-80s selection that I want to see filled in (more of that Bronze Age Superman stuff that nobody but me wants, please!)
And Honestly I don’t know what they are thinking with HBO Max – it’s price is insane compared to other services and I can’t even watch it on my tv without casting it from a laptop or something. And even the low promo price for being a DCU subscriber only lasts until my annual DCU membership renewal (though if it was a permanent $5/month add-on to the now Crisis of Infinite DCU service I’d be in the mood to consider it more I guess).
Wrong, Turan! Silver was a Metal Man for one issue(MM #31), along with Cobalt, Osmium, Zinc, Gallium and Iridium. As you might guess, they were meant to be a “B-Team”; it didn’t work out.
There was also a female silver robot in Brave & Bold #55, named Agantha. Great design by Ramona Fradon.
Marvel’s Essentials line was great for that sort of thing.
I was able to read every Incredible Hulk story prior to Bill Mantlo’s run, which is the point where I started to collect issues of the series.
You’re actually able to read comics on DC Universe? I’ve never been able to find anything that wasn’t on the promoted screen, which is all Dark Death Metal Knight Returns. I so miss the days when Comixology wasn’t owned by Amazon and I could search & buy in my iPad…
If the DC Universe app were still going to be supported on the Kindle Fire I’d probably lean towards keeping it (and I’m forever grateful to them for giving me something to keep me entertained while I was home out of work and no new comics were coming out) but now my only option to use it would be on my lap top which is just too clunky to read comics on. I do love the content HBO Max has, but I already have the Watchmen TV show on Blu ray and there’s nothing else on there I feel I HAVE to see, at least not until Doom Patrol season 3 is out.