Co-creation: DC Comics Goes a Little Threadless

Threadless is, of course, the poster child for co-creation or, more precisley, the crowd sourcing branch of the tree. Featured in Jackie and Ben's book, Citizen Marketers, Threadless invites users to submit t-shirt designs, the community votes on them and the top contenders get produced with a customer base locked in so-to-speak.

Now DC-comics is about to launch Zuda Comics which invites users to submit comic book excerpts which may either get the green light immediately from DC/Zuda comics or they will post them for the community to vote for them. Ultimately he who has the most votes gets produced.

In some ways, this has been going on for years behind the scenes. Fanboy writers and artists submit their work and often make it through the gauntlet to work for Marvel, Dark Horse, DC and others. When we lived in NYC, my wife, Ellen, worked for Neal Adams, one of the many fathers of Batman (it's kind of like a role-reversed polygamy) and a true icon in the business. (Just ask a fanboy about Neal. they will gush).

It's about time a major publisher jumped into crowdsourcing. I am a loyal comic book reader. my current books are DMZ from Brian Wood and any Grant Morrison thing like the WE3 series. But if I could actually create a book and submit it, even if it didn't "win" publication, I would likely be an even more loyal fan.

I am guessing that they created a new brand so that they can retain the brand "specialness" of DC. Whatever gets an idea like this started, I am all for. Once they get experience with it, I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes the model for most comics publishers looking to source talent and lock-in loyalty.

And I love their logo(s).