DC was always my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Marvel quite a bit, but DC has always been my favored universe of heroes.
I was given a one month promotional subscription to the online service DC Universe, which gathers up a bunch of the properties by DC Comics and puts them in one rather convenient spot. That promotional subscription has expired, and here are my thoughts on the service as of my last day with DC Universe.
DC Universe includes a few of the animated movies that have been released to video the last several years as well as a few live action ones as well, though nothing recent. Live action television series include a number of older offerings, and again, nothing that is recent, but there are certainly some absolute classics. Animated series are a different category, and again, there are some classics on there.
Each of these three categories have some major holes in their collections, and I’m not just referring to the 1960’s “Batman” television series. Not everything can be available initially, and that’s understandable, so that’s not my issue. What I do want to take issue with is the fact there is no way to sort these offerings. I should be able to sort the animated series by title or chronologically. Nope, they are seemingly randomly arranged. This is particularly problematic with three different “Young Justice” series.
Then there is the comic book offerings. Recently updated with many more issues and a coming mandate to have all current issues available on the service 12 months after they hit racks. The problem, however, is that the comics are not able to be sorted in any way, making discovery difficult. Sure, you can search, but you have to know what to search for.
What I want from the comics section of DC Universe is a year by year sorting of all total comics so I can read all of DC’s offerings from the beginning.
As for one of the marquee reasons for DC Universe’s existence, the new series, I enjoyed them more than I expected. “Titans” was a good take on the iconic team, though I could have done with a lot less of the gratuitous blood, almost like it was a series designed to be a slasher film. “Doom Patrol” however, is something I could not get enough of. I have always enjoyed the Doom Patrol on the pages of DC Comics, so I certainly was hoping for the opportunity to check out the live action adaptation, and was not disappointed.
Instead of dumping a whole season at once, new episodes are available each week, which is a nice touch and gives subscribers something to look forward to as well as keeping them coming back.
Other series on the horizon include “Swamp Thing” and “Stargirl” and more.
The DC Universe encyclopedia needs a bit of work. I am not referring to its completeness, but in how the content is arranged and connected. For instance, Catwoman, who isn’t a minor character with appearances in a number of media, has a decent entry providing a look at the character’s origin, abilities, etc. but when you click on “related content” none of the character’s appearances in comics, movies or television are shown, but instead to various forum thread discussions.
I am hoping to be able to get back into DC Universe, because while I liked what I have seen, despite the various improvements that are needed, though I can’t quite justify the price tag of $7.99 a month for myself. Yet. There is a lot of promise there, and I hope to be able to see it reach its potential.
Rereading this, it seems like I’m overly critical of DC Universe. The secret weapon for the service isn’t the accessibility to the movies or television series, but the comics. Other offerings from other publishers are comparably priced, but do not offer the movies and television series. Yes, the comic offering is quite substantial in DC Universe, and I wish I had more time to explore it.