Can superheroes save the troubled newspaper industry? No, no, they can’t. But Superman, Batman and their bosses at DC Comics can at least help provide a welcome and timely reminder of the newspaper format’s unique charms, as they do with Wednesday Comics.
The Details
The weekly, summerlong series is patterned after the Sunday funnies sections from the era between the World Wars. Each issue of Wednesday Comics comes folded into the size of a standard comic book, but unfolds into 14-by-20-inch newsprint broadsheets. Within are 15 full-page serial-adventure strips of the sort papers just don’t carry anymore.
Sure, it’s a gimmick, and it might have been just a gimmick, were the creative roster not packed with some of the best talents in comics—including writer Neil Gaiman and artists Paul Pope, Kyle Baker and Joe Kubert—and most of them producing excellent work. As is, it’s a gimmick that also happens to be one of the most daring and exciting comics being published today.
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