Exploring the universe

Age of the Geek Column: Having run into a bit of a lull this weekend I decided to finally give DC Universe an honest go.
DC Universe is among the latest in an ever-growing market of streaming services with a monthly subscription. In this case, the service offers the unique combination of DC's live-action and animated offerings, plus access to a library of digital comic books.
The service launched last September with little fanfare, mostly because it didn't actually start releasing its flagship original content, "Titans," until mid-October. "Titans" carried the service into 2019, which has since seen the launch of more original content. So, after nine months to build up a backlog, how does DC Universe rate compared to competitors like Netflix and Hulu?
Honestly, though it claims to be your one-stop shop for everything capes and cowls, the selection is not that super. A weekend of binge watching got me up to date on the first half of "Young Justice: Outsiders" (the second half will start releasing episodes next week), the first season of the miserably bleak "Titans," a handful of episodes of much more entertainingly bleak "Doom Patrol," and the most recent DC animated movies.
Even at a slower consumption rate of a few episodes a night, it won't take long to finish off "Doom Patrol" and the available episodes of "Swamp Thing." It's perfectly conceivable that I will completely exhaust DC Universe's catalog of original content before my week-long free trial is up.
Then what?
Outside of the original content, there isn't much to sink your teeth into, particularly if you're already a longtime fan of DC's animated and television offerings. "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Justice League Unlimited" are classics, but I've already seen every episode multiple times. Meanwhile, I have no great need to sit through a viewing of "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." While Terry Hatcher and Dean Cain will always hold a special place in my nostalgia filled heart, I suspect that the mid-90s Superman show is probably better off in my memories.
DC Universe is also conspicuously lacking in contemporary DC live action properties. None of the live action movies available on the service were made after the turn of the century nor is there any sign of the various CW adaptations, which are locked behind distribution deals elsewhere. This means that Netflix may actually offer more DC television content than DC's dedicated service.
So is there a reason to stick with it?
"Young Justice" is good. Really good. So good that I know no matter how many seasons it runs it will never be enough. The show is such a well thought out adaptation of the DC universe (the setting, not the service) that there is near limitless potential for stories and I'd love to watch them all. Where was I going with this?
Oh yeah, "Young Justice" is good but is there really a need to keep a DC Universe subscription going for the next three months just to get a weekly fix? As much as I would love for "Young Justice" to be the kind of water cooler show that the whole world talks about after every episode, this isn't "Game of Thrones." I'm not particularly worried about getting spoiled in casual conversation nor will I be missing out on the social zeitgeist by waiting.
I'm all for supporting good content, but it really doesn't make any sense to pay for three months of the service when I could just as easily cancel, re-subscribe in October, and catch up on everything over the course of another weekend.
This is a calculation that viewers will have to make more often as streaming services continue to crop up to compete for our attention and, more importantly, our monthly entertainment budget.
Disney Plus is coming and it's bringing the full force of Star Wars and the MCU to the streaming service wars. Amazon Prime is investing heavily in new adaptations for "Lord of the Rings" and the "Wheel of Time" fantasy series (along with potential for a continuation of "Good Omens," a show so blasphemously delightful that an outraged Christian group sent a petition to Netflix demanding it be canceled. Yes, Netflix). Even Warner Bros. themselves may find themselves cannibalizing DC Universe when it launches later this year.
In fact, the release of WarnerMedia's streaming service may ultimately seal the fate of DC Universe. After all, it's hard to imagine that WarnerMedia will want to hamstring themselves by fracturing their super-hero offerings even further. The fact that "Swamp Thing" has already been canceled while a second season of "Doom Patrol" has yet to be confirmed is not a good sign for the future of the service.
With such steep competition it's hard to justify keeping more than two or three services active at any given time. Unless the digital comic book library is a major selling point, it's probably better to visit the DC Universe than to live there.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and can't believe he's criticizing a platform for only having four adaptations of Nightwing.

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