1 out of 5

I appreciate whenever companies put out samplers, even though I know it’s just a bid to get us to buy, because I like that they can – when they do – give the sense that the publisher is actually interested in what they’re putting out and not so obviously doing that bidding after all.  It’s DC, so that’s going to be rarer than an indie sampler, so then there’s the other criteria by which I judge these things: do they actually make me interested, or can I see what they’re going for?  And in all those senses, this sampler fails.  To the first, want to make it not-obvious that this is pay-for-play?  Include a checklist for all the books in your series (without making it clear beyond the highlighted books – which are far fewer than the full checklist – why I should collect all those books), or, more directly obnoxious, have an ad for swag that literally says “collect all DC You Promotional items!”  Follow it up with a toy ad for DC You figures just in case I didn’t get the point.  This is 3 pages out of a slim 14 dedicated to what’s more clearly marketing over previewing, which is 21%.  I dunno what to compare that percentage to, but it don’t seem right, and really screams that it’s branding over substance.  To the next point – does it make me interested?  No.  The text write ups on the books (no page previews… presumably to drive traffic to the website, where there are previews) are bland, not servicing the “you” concept very well, and especially don’t make you feel like this is any leap forward for DC – it really still just sounds like business as usual.  Can I see what they’re going for?  …Branching off of that, not really.  The different banners – Are you ready to laugh?; Are you ready for Action? – and so on, aren’t distinct enough with the generic descriptions to back them up, and again, you really aren’t presented with much sense of how this is MY universe in any special way.  And “are you ready to hashtag this?”  Barf, guys.

The layout of the book is okay, but it’s an awful lot of white space off which the chosen images just don’t seem to pop.  And double-booking “Are you ready to laugh?” on the front and back of a page throws the flow off.

Enough DC hate for y’all?