new look, kind of. nice.

Love the new format. It looks awesome, Steve. As to the rant: I can only hope "no."

First off, digging the new look.

Second, I'm sure there are people that are only following Superman now because Geoff Johns is connected to the character. Some will drop off when Geoff leaves and the others will have become emotionally invested in the characters and will want to stay on. It will then become the responsiblity of the writer after him to hold on to those people.

Great topic, Steve. I'm afraid I'm one of those guys who follows writers, instead of characters. I'll always like Superman, but when someone writes him poorly, I stop reading. I don't think it's detrimental to Superman, especially since he's such an important and prominent character. It's just my way of saying, "I don't like how this writer portrays Superman."

That said, even good writers can mess up a character sometimes. If a creator I usually like shows up and does a bad job with Superman, I'm not going to stick with the comic.

EDIT: By the way, I think the new comic-inspired look for the Speeding Bulletin is great! As is the bigger screen and higher-quality resolution.

Great job Steve!

For me its a combination of character and writer. There are writers whose presence on a book can make it much more likely that I'll buy it. But, there are also a few characters that I follow pretty faithfully (though if it's a really bad run Im much more likely to wait for the trade). And then there are characters that I just can't stand, no matter who is writing them.

Most people I know who are into comics make their decisions in roughly the same way. I think it's only natural for writers to have a big impact on people's buying choices. If I see Geoff Johns' name on a book, I know there is a very good chance I'll enjoy it and get my money's worth out of my purchase. OTOH, there are writers whose style I just can't stand, and I know that I won't be able to enjoy a book by them even if my favorite characters are in it.