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Jun 07, 2010 Web Exclusive By Aaron Passman

Remember newspapers? Used to be you didn’t get your news from some fancy, new-fangled computer box; you got it on paper, and it only came once a day. And when it came on Sunday there was a lot more of it—extended sections, magazine supplements and, best of all, comics. Pages and pages of ‘em, and in full color. Sure, these days you’re mostly stuck with Marmaduke and Family Circus, but in the glory days those sheets were filled with the likes of Batman, Superman, Prince Valliant, Dick Tracy, and multitudes of other pulp heroes, their stories spreading out for weeks on end.

So rather than resign all that history to the bottom of the birdcage, in the summer of 2009 DC Comics launched Wednesday Comics, a weekly 15-page full-color comics section that ran for 12 weeks, printed on real pulp-based newsprint measuring 14-by-20 inches—approximately the size of a traditional broadsheet newspaper.

Now DC has released all 12 issues as a hardcover anthology, and although it’s a bit steep at $50 a pop (the original issues ran about $4 each), it may well be the coolest coffee table book ever. All the big name DC heroes are here, including Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Hawkman, and more, but other stars also get their due—characters like Sgt. Rock, Metamorpho, and The Metal Men, all appropriate for the era that the subject matter and the medium harkens back to.

One of the delights of Wednesday Comics is the period-specific art, as strips featuring Deadman, Metamorpho, Kamandi, and more are drawn and colored to more closely resemble 1930s - 1960s illustration styles. While some strips—including ones featuring Wonder Woman, Superman and Teen Titans—go for a more current look, it’s those with a more vintage feel that best capture the overall ethos of the project.

The anthology also includes sketches and never-before-seen one-page stories, and features writing from the likes of Brian Azzarello, Dave Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, and others.

One of the most interesting elements about Wednesday Comics is that it’s another sign that, even as newspapers are dying off at an increasing pace, there’s a growing fetishization for broadsheets and tabloids. Similar to the Wednesday Comics experiment, the latest issue of McSweeney‘s was done as a full Sunday broadsheet, more than 300 pages long, with different sections, a magazine supplement and, of course, comics.

Granted, between list prices for Wednesday Comics and the McSweeney‘s paper together you could pretty much buy yourself a subscription to an actual newspaper. Still, there’s not much like Wednesday Comics in the paper these days, so maybe you’re better off. (www.dccomics.com)

Author rating: 7/10