dcuniverse.com

Fans of comic books rejoiced this past year when DC Universe announced their new streaming service. This network was designed specifically for comic book nerds and promised exclusive fan content, shows, merchandise, and much more. I'm pleased to let you know that DC Universe live up to the hype. It's everything we want in a streaming service. Although the service is still fairly new, it blows competitors out of the water. DC Universe delivers a combination of entertainment, resources, and news.

Website Design

The website design is wonderful. The color scheme is black and white with pops of color. The landing page for DC fans is a very cool experience. The website emulates everything we love about the popular brand. Navigation on DC Universe is easy and straightforward. The main menu is laid out in a clear and easy-to-find format from left to right, with options for Movies & TV, Comic Books, Community, News, Encyclopedia, and Shop. The search bar is located to the right and easily accessed. Profile settings can be found by clicking on the user name or profile photo.

Another interesting feature on the website is the Do Not Sell My Personal Information function. This allows you to decide which cookies DC Universe will allow to be stored on your computer. These cookies are necessary for the site to run, but you can choose to have them not collect any other types of information. It's a refreshing feature I would like more websites to adopt.

Content

The DC Universe website is great for its content. Actual TV and movies to stream are somewhat limited, but the site makes up for it with other means. One amazing feature is that you can read DC comic books through the website. Exclusive merchandise is also available to subscribers, and they have included an encyclopedia that is arguably the most interesting part of the site. DC is making some fun new shows! Teen Titans is filming its next season and Doom Patrol has also been praised. The show I subscribed for and enjoy the most is the animated Harley Quinn show. It's an equal mix of brilliant and hilarious, and nostalgic series have also been added to the library in the form of Batman: The Animated Series, Young Justice, the original Teen Titans, and more. Some interest-peaking movies that have been added are Constantine and Watchmen.

When I signed up for the monthly comic book subscription, I didn't expect to have so many resources at my disposal. You can search for your favorite characters or order them by genre to find something cool to read. Reading the comic is a smooth process that allows you to pinpoint exactly where you would like to land on the page or turn page by page.

One of the few disappointing features on the site is the merchandise. The website claims to have exclusive merchandise only available to subscribers. However, the number of offers like that are limited and not very worth the pricing. Most items are overpriced with poor to average quality.

On the one hand, the encyclopedia is a very handy resource! It is well-organized and easy to use. It makes catching up on your favorite characters easy. It's nice not to have to rely on a fan-made wiki for information. In the case of DC Universe, all of the material is canon and comes from some of the comic giants themselves.

Desktop & Mobile Accessibility

The videos are easy to find, and the sizing of the videos is perfect for my screen. Some areas could use improvement, but overall I am very pleased with this website. The desktop version of this streaming website is great! There are no negatives that I can think of in terms of design. There is a nice large slideshow banner at the top of the page right beneath the menu. It shows featured shows, news, and comics. Scrolling down the page is easy. The videos are easy to find, and the sizing of the videos is perfect for my screen. Some areas could use improvement, but overall I am very pleased with this website. The mobile browser version of the website is a scaled-down version of the desktop. However, the animations look nicer on the phone for some reason. Gliding down the website to view everything it has to offer is a neat experience. The top menu is slightly different, but otherwise, it is exactly the same as everything in the original place.

The mobile application is also very easy to use. Instead of a menu on the top, it utilizes a menu at the bottom. The slideshow dimensions are slightly different, but the same features are used. No issues are easily recognizable from any version of using this streaming service. Any version of DC Universe is not a problem to interact with, but my favorite was the mobile browser version.

Positives

There are many great benefits to using DC Universe. One big advantage is the price—it is usually around $7.99 per month, but if you catch a sale, it costs only $5.99 per month. That's a huge savings for the amount of content available on the site. Most other premium websites charge the same amount but don't offer as much great extra content as DC Universe does. The additional comic book material available to read on the website is a wonderful option. The comic books range from the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age all the way up to the current Rebirth volumes. After reading your favorite new comic book, check out the awesome resources the website has to offer. The encyclopedia is a very interesting feature. Learn more than ever about your favorite characters, and the two features make the subscription fee more than worth it.

The exclusive content made viewers feel like VIPs. The best part of the streaming service was video content. The video and audio quality were superb, as well. Seeing Harley Quinn and other exclusive shows were definitely what kept users coming back for more. The quality of their exclusive series was unbelievable. It was a bit of a downer that the content had been somewhat slow being produced, but since the shows were so great, I wasn't complaining.

Negatives

I don't really have much to say in regards to the negative aspects of DC Universe. If I had to be very picky about it, I would mention that the video library is small. Although there are many shows and movies to watch, there is still much from the DC Universe that is missing. Another downside to the store is their merchandise. The exclusive merchandise isn't as exclusive as they make it out to be. Even if it was, the material choices don't make for a great product. They look cheap and overpriced.

Improvements Needed

Adding more content to the digital library would be a major improvement. In terms of video content, there are a lack of shows and they are not all high quality. It is clear that DC Universe values quality over quantity, which is not a bad thing. However, quantity is slightly lacking and needs attention. One way to improve the fan experience would be to provide better exclusive merchandise only available to members. For example, hiring an artist to create a limited edition print would be a great option. Or partnering with big brands like Funko Pop or Loungefly to create exclusive pops and bags could be another interesting way to bring unique merch to life.

Summary

Overall, I think DC Universe is a great streaming service. This review is mostly positive! Finding something to complain about with this streaming service will be very difficult. The website design is excellent. DC uses the perfect combination of modern clean lines and creativity to give viewers a great site for streaming. Video playback is very smooth and toggling back and forth is also easy. I look forward to watching this streaming service grow. Clearly, it will do amazing things!