DC Goes Digital and Superman Becomes a Hobo

Big day over at DC today. First, the comic company announced — and immediately rolled out — their iPhone/iPad/iPod App, which lets nerds download and read comics from DC, Wildstorm and Vertigo, at anywhere from $.99 to $2.99 (although there are a few free ones, too, like Batman: Black & White). So now the big Two both have their comics online, and we inch ever closer to the inevitable destruction of the direct market and a world where everybody gets their comics online and/or in trades, which probably bothers some of you but whatever. DC’s Source blog has more details on the launch, Robot 6 has a swell interview with Jim Lee and John Rood, and Comics Alliance has their impressions of the app itself.

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Meanwhile, Superman has decided to become a hobo. Well, technically he’s decided to walk across the Earth like Kane in Kung Fu, but we all know what that means. From the Source again:

Beginning with the city of Philadelphia, Superman will walk
across America, a journey that is expected to take most of a year. He
will pass through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada,
California, Oregon and Washington. Along the way, Superman will be
passing through real towns, real cities, real neighborhoods.

And your town, your city, your neighborhood may be among those
chosen for his historic journey. Superman will literally pass through
your town as visualized in the pages of his book.

If your town is within 50 miles of the line marking Superman’s
journey, then you are eligible to participate.

If your town is chosen, then it will become part of an issue of
the Superman comic. For over fifty years, Superman has been America’s
greatest hero, and now he is returning to those roots. The series of
issues will examine how Superman sees America, and how America sees
Superman. And for those towns selected, it will be a once in a
lifetime opportunity to be part of his historic journey.

So Superman’s going to be walking across America, and fans essentially get to vote to determine which towns he actually walks through (the contest rules are here). Enh, could be worse — we could be voting to decide whether teenage boys live or die. I tell you this, though — if Superman doesn’t walk through Metropolis, Illinois, I will fucking cut a bitch.