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DC should just call itself “Bloodlines Comics” to better reflect where its priorities are (spoiler: stuck in 1993).

Survivors’ Club and Last Gang in Town ended last week.

Slash & Burn, by virtue of Vertigo’s lowest-selling title for April 2016, ended that month.

Seriously — are trade sales of Doctor Fate what keeps that book going? Paul — come back to the Legion!

I’m curious why Midnighter and Martian Manhunter, both great books that are being cancelled, are being kicked to the curb while Doctor Fate, selling worse than both of those, is apparently continuing post Rebirth? Makes no sense. Maybe you’re right, Steve, and it’s trades sell well?

RE: Green Lantern: Edge of Oblivion – I am still for about the 3rd month wondering why the numbers for GL: Lost Army are not included in the past counts.

As for Bloodlines, I remain convinced that DC has to do things with titles every once in a while for some reason in the family of trademarks/copyrights. There are too many times when older names get thrown out for no reason. Like “Star-Spangled Comics featuring G.I.Zombie” – why not just “G.I.Zombie”?

I don’t think even Dave Gibbons, who generally seems to be pretty chill about Watchmen, would go along with this. That’s probably why they didn’t ask him. They didn’t think they’d get his blessing and didn’t care if he opposed it.

I wonder if they’re going to actually use the Watchmen characters, perhaps instead using some of the storytelling motifs and using the Charlton characters they were based on….

*Note – I have only read Rebirth #1 at this stage so don’t beat me up because I haven’t read a DC comic in years. :-)

Either DC knew he’d say no, or they don’t care what he thinks. Says it all really.

All you fanboys happy about defending ‘Before Watchmen’ now, are you?

Since Dave Gibbons doesn’t own the Watchmen characters, There isn’t any necessity to ask his blessing or permission. It would have been a courtesy, but entertainment conglomerates are not usually big on courtesy. Does anyone seriously think that it would have stopped Geoff Johns and DC from going in this direction if they’d asked and Mr. Gibbons had told them it was a bad idea and nothing he could endorse? If it’s not something that readers can get behind, then those readers needn’t buy it. Those who don’t have a problem with it: enjoy what could turn out to be a pretty good story.

Gibbons has style.

Not his characters. Who gives a flying fruck.

I’m with Sean and Skottie. Who gives a shit about creators? We like comics. Comics are put out by corporate executives and lawyers who make contracts and sell merchandise. Writers and artists just think up ideas and write them down and draw them. Big deal! Comics readers are into contracts and legal ownership and plastic toys made in Indonesia. The creative people don’t matter!.

Does Dave Gibbons own the characters? If the answer is “no,” and they were products of “work for hire” and belong to DC, why would DC check with him first? Grow up.

[…] Well, in an interview during MCM London Comic Con recently, several reporters asked Gibbons about the fact that Dr. Manhattan was going to be a part of the actual DC Universe, and an adversary at that. He then told the reporters “no comment,” and when a follow-up question asked if DC had even sent him an email about using Dr. Manhattan, he replied, “No, they didn’t.” Time to make some calls, DC. You already have one Watchmen co-creator hating on you…you don’t want two. [Comics Beat] […]

Kevin, I agree completely! The legacy of a literary classic shouldn’t be decided by the people who made it! It should be decided by the people who took over the jobs of other people who came out ahead in a legal negotiation twenty-five years ago! That’s why we’re all still reading the J.B. Lippincott Company’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Random House’s Ulysses. It’s why J.K. Rowling has never been consulted in the use and exploitation of that Harry Potter bloke! The business of comics is exactly the way it should be!

Alex,
Janin is continuing with the series. He was named as part of the rotating art team with Finch when the series was first announced a few months ago.

Having not read any of the New 52 Superman, I actually enjoyed Superman: Rebirth. I found it quite moving.

How interesting! I haven’t been able to find hide or hair of that information, unfortunately. DC’s site only lists Finch in the first arc of issues and all the promo also only speaks to Finch. Do you have a source?

It was announced at WonderCon, http://comicsalliance.com/dc-rebirth-announcements-wondercon/
which was great news to me of course!

[…] TMNT 2 Hits Theaters Week Hi-C Ecto Cooler Re-released for upcoming Ghostbusters film Rogue One: a Star Wars Story Reshoots DC Comics Rebirth #1’s Out This Week […]

Having completely dropped Marvel, I have high hopes for Rebirth. I was only buying Batman and Justice League a few months ago. I’m a Superman fan so I liked his issue. I didn’t particularly like the Green Lanterns book so it’s 3 likes and 1 meh for me.

Well, that sucks. Abnett was a good writer of Marvel’s cosmic stuff.

Well its not like he was getting any good projects for Marvel’s cosmic stuff and his latest stuff (Guardians of Infinity) feels a bit like those two miniseries after Thanos Imperative – Dan just going thru motions.

Guardians of Infinity and the latest Hercules series have been pretty bad. Hercules is the first comic in a long time I’ve quit reading mid-issue. (Some god of technology showed up and he spoke like a text message and that was the last straw.)

I assume that this Exclusive contract means like always “do not work for Marvel” and that Abnett will continue his 2000AD work.

“Yes, I read it as a pissing contest between two executives.”

“I’m not the only one who read it that way. Earlier today, I was talking to someone”

Wow, since two people have the same tin-foil-hat-wearing opinion, that must mean it’s true. And people wonder why comic readers are relentlessly mocked.

I read I and thought it was terrible. There’s way too much exposition and the assumption the reader cares about any of these characters..It’s just a big mess with a terrible shock-for-shock’s sake twist at the end.,

DC has just given up on attracting new readers. This book could never be recommended to a new reader wanting to check out the DC universe. Only the most die hard DC fans could begin to grasp what is going on in this issue. I guess DC is just content with trying to get back the old readers who are aging quickly. Other publishers will have to pick up the slack in order to keep our industry vibrant and growing……

I have to say, it may not be new reader friendly, but with the mess that the New 52 had become, I don’t think short of a complete reboot that there was anyway to fix this without acknowledging how messed up this had become. The one thing I like about Geoff Johns’s writing is that he is one of us, a comic reader. He writes the types of stories that he would want to read. I’ve very rarely been disappointed with a book from him.

I thought Rebirth was an excellent step in the right direction. I’m not sure that there is much open warfare amongst Didio and Johns as this article let on. Didio and Jim Lee for that matter, can’t argue with the fact that they messed up. Sales are at or below Pre-New 52 levels. Clearly they had done something horrifically wrong. Johns stepped up to right the ship.

Rebirth itself was very much an honest self critique of the state of DC Comics. We had a Superman that has no joy. An Oliver Queen with no Dinah. No Wally West, one of the best legacy heroes of all time. I feel like Johns is bringing back a lot of what fans were complaining about and what does he get? More complaining. It’s clear that Johns is going to be taking a more active role in cinema, but he said he spent a lot of time going over the concepts of all of the Rebirth books. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think Bob Harras is going to be at DC much longer at this rate. The way Johns described what he was doing is what an EiC does. I couldn’t think of anyone better to do that job than Geoff Johns. Hopefully DC sticks the landing this time.

Watching all the People Who Talk Loudly About Comics On The Internet pissing and moaning about DC publishing a comic saying exactly the same things that they’ve been saying for the last 25 fucking years has been *hilarious*.

Geoff Johns writes comics for people who are heavily invested in DC’s comics. It’s impenetrable for anyone else. I’m a comic nerd as much as the next person and was totally lost during most of the comic. All I knew were the bits he stole from Alan Moore, which kinda proves everything Moore ever said about DC correct.

I think there’s too much analysis in the “WHATS IT ALL MEAN?” rather than an actual examination of writing and art. I thought the writing was solid and the art was STELLAR. More comics in this vein would be a pro.

I also feel like its difficult to understand if you are trying to understand all of the past continuity. If you read the words its pretty clearly laid out that an evil force has been infecting the dc universe. Its when you try to apply a larger narrative of dc publishiñ that things get wonky. (also should who edited the comic be weighed in light of the review?)

The idea that Rebirth is an extended dig at Dan Didio never even occurred to me. Considering how bad a reading of Watchmen it puts forth, I saw it more as a dig at Alan Moore. I mean, if the New 52 was the “new life” Dr. Manhattan went off to create, but all he really did was grab the DC characters and twist their lives around… Isn’t that just a meta-fictional version of the fanboy argument that all Moore does is warp other people’s characters?

That Didio argument’s pretty entertaining, though. So thanks for that.

Amen to that, R.D. It certainly is a funny time to be alive.

The more serious they try to make Batman and Superman’s costumes, the sillier they look.

Nothing says “stuck in the past” to me like people hung up on wanting to bring back briefs. But then, I’ve also always been a “no cape” person even before The Incredibles.

Is it sad that today’s superhero fan can make exception for superpowers but can’t get past the red undies or a cape?

‘Realism’ is a fickle thing.

I think it’s still worth noting that Golden Age superheroes wore trunks over tights like acrobats or circus performers. Not wearing the trunks would be… very revealing for a man. I guess we’re now so far from Superman’s original cultural context that most people are incapable of seeing his old costume as anything but “underwear on the outside.”

For what it’s worth, I think Derenick’s turnaround here looks a lot better than the cover by Janin released previously. Maybe it’s just that he used a lot more ink for shading, so the overall impression isn’t such a blue onesie.

I agree with Tim. Whenever anyone tries to “fix” Superman, they tend to break him even more.

Superman, to me, is a cartoon character, and changing his costume so drastically is kind of like getting rid of Bugs Bunny’s ears. Bugs has had many designs over the years but nobody has ditched the ears.

Superman is an old-fashioned character – he’s the guy superheroes are named after! – so his costume should have an old-hat feel. And Kate it’s not about being “hung up” on it – the red trunks aren’t going to make me read the lousy Super-books either way. But the traditional costume had a very simple red-blue-yellow rhythm that worked well and endured for decades, and tinkering with it, uh, has *not* resulted in any kind of successful, enduring looks.

Could maybe Jim Lee not design the new costumes on any iconic characters? Seriously, they just look cheesy as hell.

I can believe a man can fly before I can believe a man in American society would wear the trunks. It’s not about science, it’s about what the trunks look like to an observer. Arguably, he could have one of those frilly Victorian collars, since what he wears apparently doesn’t matter, right?

“Arguably, he could have one of those frilly Victorian collars, since what he wears apparently doesn’t matter, right?”

It does matter. He’s an icon. What he wears is practically synonymous with who he is. More people wear Superman merchandise than have ever read a comic book.

If red underoos don’t look realistic, then don’t fucking draw him in a realistic style. Pretty simple.

Red boots
Red boots
Red boots

DC has the trinity up front and center I see.

It’s awesome that the crew that led DC off a cliff (by going back to the 90’s when the industry crashed) is going to rescue the company. There’s no real solution, since completely overhauling the editorial staff is next to impossible, but someone in editorial should have lost their job by now. Maybe Warners just wants yes men?

Or maybe making successful corporate super-hero comics is a hard job that comes with some failures sometimes, but you stand a better chance of success with experienced people in the important positions?

eh, It seems more likely that whatever gains they make with Rebirth it will be half as successful as the last one and twice as quickly diminished.

Especially with the accelerated publication schedule.

But yes, experienced people, important positions and all that.

Well, you’d better start hating it now, because who knows if you’ll get another chance when it actually comes out?

looks much stronger than the initial new52 pool of creators. let’s hope for the best.

Looks stronger than the initial new 52? Except for bringing in Rucka, it’s the same gang of idiots.

PRE-FLASHPOINT SUPERMAN IS SUPERMAN!!!!!

Hey, Scott Lobdell is down to one book a month now. That alone is a victory. Maybe Harras will finally have to not give him any more writing assignments after he runs Red Hood further into the ground.

Overall I like Snyder, King, Jurgens and Seeley staying on the Batverse side of things and it feels like the books will just organically grow into the new status quo for some reason. Otherwise until I see some real descriptions of concepts behind the titles not really overly interested in any of these titles just based on a marketing burst.

And so we have Barbara Gordon still as Batgirl. So much for the hopes of a return to the old continuity.

Can’t say I’m blown away by the old-new mismash going on above, but I can see a couple of books I’m definitely picking up and a couple more I’ll keep an eye on. That’s more interest than I was able to scrape up for Marvel post-Secret Wars.

Also, how the hell did DC managed to score Christopher Priest on Deathstroke?! That’s amazing.

Comics are synonymous with habits. For those of us who’ve been away, it might just be easier to maintain the habit than go out of the way to look in on DC’s characters again. Especially since such irrevocable damage has been done to them.

That includes the travesty of the cinematic universe.

More for everyone else, I guess. :)

Yep, I sure do remember Tom King, Christopher Priest, Hope Larson, Gene Luen Yang, Simon Oliver, Phil Jimenez, and Dan Abnett’s total of 0 comics in the New 52 launch.

Yes, many of these writers are *now* writing DCU books (though not Larson, Priest, Oliver, or Jimenez, let alone relatively new writers like Percy, Semper, or the Bensons) but there’s a lot of people with titles coming out this summer that weren’t at DC post-Flashpoint.

Sorry to see SECRET SIX, BATGIRL OF BURNSIDE, and DOCTOR FATE go (along with the promised second PREZ series, most likely), but turnover is inevitable. Sigh.

PRIEST! HOLY CRAP!!!

“The comic is written by Geoff Johns (Justice League) with art from Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern: Rebirth), Ivan Reis (Aquaman), Gary Frank (Batman: Earth One) and Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman) ”

Doesn’t sound like a fresh start to me….

Superman kills someone. Oh, wait, they already did that in Injustice.
A lone wolf goes on a mass-shooting spree, killing a supporting character.
(Cue the “purple skins” scene from Green Lantern #76.)

Meh. I’m not sure DC can go in another direction with hype like this. The real news is the creative assignments. Admittedly, this big one shot doesn’t sound particularly new or different to me, either. Fingers crossed, and for cryin out loud, let’s see who the creators are already!

It’s Geoff Johns, so I’m gonna take a wild guess and assume someone gets an arm ripped off.

It seems there will be some sort of amalgam of past continuity in DC’s “Rebirth”. With that in mind, I’ve jotted down the top ten possibilities on what that “controversial scene” might be:

#10 – Superman uses his magical eye vision from Superman IV and builds a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

#9 – Bruce Wayne finally comes out of the closet and wears his Rainbow Batman costume from the 1950’s.

#8 – Wonder Woman brings her Lasso of Truth out of mothballs and uses it on candidates in the Presidential debates (all fail.)

#7 – Mighty Isis is detained by airport security for, well — being called Mighty Isis.

#6 – The Vigilante becomes a right-wing radio talk show host.

#5 – The Red Lanterns are discovered to be running a brothel in Amsterdam.

#4 – The Teen Titans are shut down by Child Protective Services,

#3 – A supporting female character from past continuity is NOT revived for the sole purpose of being raped, beaten or shot in the spine.

#2 – In order to complete All Star Batman and Robin — Rip Hunter, the Infinite Man, Clock King, Tick Tock Tyler The Hour-man, Chronos and the Time Trapper lock Jim Lee and Frank Miller into the Legion of Super-Heroes time bubble — give them all the time in the world — and they still can’t finish it.

And finally — the #1 possible “controversial scene” will be —

The Flash’s Mopee is blamed for the New 52.

A return to the pre-flashpoint DCU would be nice. keep what worked from Nu52, but incorporate it into the previous canon. And just bring back the old costumes for characters like Superman. going tacticool LINESLINESLINES and no underwear was cool at first, but it’s gotten old.

They’re going to show us that Uncle Ben is alive and served as an assassin for the Soviet Union.

He’s gonna kill Bruce Wayne, because he is a failure and needs a legacy. Douche.

I know – Max Lord will shoot Blue Beetle in the head.

No wait – Wonder Woman will strangle Max Lord with her magic lasso.

Oh I’ve got it – how about having Dr Light turn out to be a rapist?

Or maybe they can have Superboy beat the Golden Age Superman to death with his bare hands.

I guess to be fair to DC – they were selling a lot more books back when they were pulling cynical stunts like that than they are now, so I can see why they would be looking to recapture the “magic.”

I was very excited for DC Rebirth – it gives me Hope – which I haven’t had since… 2010? I haven’t been excited by a DC Comics announcement since 2010.

But then Dan says something abominably stupid like this. I’m still excited and hopeful, but less so than before this asinine comment.

Let’s hope it doesn’t involve any rape or dismemberment! but the track record suggests otherwise… ugh. :(

I wonder…
What if DC offered a discount to retailers…

Order the same amount of copies for the first six issues of a title (which would be a complete story arc, ready for bundling), and DC will add a higher discount.

AND… DC will also set variant ratios lower for these “subscribers”… maybe 1:20 instead of 1:25.

There was no messaging compliance agreement. Feel free to ask me directly next time — I’m always available and willing to talk!

On Prez: Looks like there will be a second miniseries after all, in September:
https://twitter.com/Manruss/status/700488890986070016?s=09

The all-at-once approach was the biggest missed opportunity of the New 52. When I first heard the sketchiest outline of that initiative, I thought it was brilliant… because I misunderstood what they were doing.

What I thought they were doing – and they should have done – was to roll out those 52 new #1’s one per week, for a year: Action Comics #1 the first week, Detective Comics #1 the second week, Sensation #1 the third week, and so on. This would give the new DCU a chance to grow slowly, more like the original did in its early years, starting with Supes, Bats, and Wondy as the founders. At this rate, readers could afford the time and money to pick up every single new series (or at least the ones that looked interesting to them), and give them a try. It would also be more manageable for editorial, compared to trying (unsuccessfully) to build an entire universe in a few months (in secret).

Meanwhile, for the sake of cashflow and customer retention, they would continue publishing the old series, but end one of them per week. A few would have to come to a hasty conclusion, but others would have anywhere from 2 to 12 months to tell one last story featuring the old-version characters, with all the stops pulled out. Think Crisis but without the crossover series. These would be the “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow”s of the current generation, and every fan who cared about the characters would want to stick around for them… and hopefully get drawn into the new DCU that they see dawning on the racks alongside them.

For retailers it would be less of a crapshoot ordering the new titles, because by the time the first dozen were out, they’d have actual sales history to base their orders on. And if DC was to market the new universe properly to new readers (for a change), retailers would have a year in which they’d have both old customers and new customers coming into their shops, each with something written for them. Some of the old-timers would probably leave when the last of “their” series ended (inevitable with a reboot), but – if the new creators did their job right launching the new series – not most of them, and not nearly as many as they would gain over a year of organically building a new universe and a new/renewed audience for them.

At least that’s how it all played out in my head, before I found out that The New 52 meant 52 #1’s all shipping the same month, and my heart sank.

P.S. I’m willing to move to L.A. to oversee this plan. ;)

Once creative teams are announced, that will be that. I can’t think of a better selling point than creative teams to retailers. Knowing WHAT you’re selling makes hand selling work.

The problem I had as a reader that with only a few exceptions, Lemire’s Green Arrow and Snyder’s Superheavy, none of these stories would have had much of a problem at all being adapted to the Pre-Flashpoint DC Universe. Instead of feeling like stories were adding, it felt much more like things were being taken away. My favorite character, J’onn J’onzz was no longer a founding member of the Justice League. Wally West is not the same character. It was baffling that a company that had spent decades telling me to invest in something and then pretty much irrevocably altered it without so much as trying to look like they care.

Now then, I continued to pick up anything written by Geoff Johns and Scott Snyder, but after awhile they were the only DC comics I was picking up besides Doctor Fate. I truly feel that Harras has really damaged the trust between fans and company, much like he did while at Marvel. The books where you can tell creators were allowed freedom from editorial interference, like Lemire’s Green Arrow, Snyder on Batman, Grant Morrison, Batgirl and Geoff Johns, were the best books on the stands. I’m hoping, really hoping that Geoff Johns is the key. Everything in his address really feels like he has been in editor-in-chief for the relaunch, which means letter creators do the books how they want. DC has one more chance to stick the landing and I really hope they do.

As I see it, this is DC attempting to institute brand loyalty off the back of their upcoming films and their fairly successful television shows.

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that the only really sustainable business model at the Big Two has to come through characters taking precedent over creators per se. I think this is some of the trouble that Marvel is running into right now with All New, All Different, where just prior to that, they had nobly highlighted creators first and the properties second. But what happens when those creators head over to Image? It’s hard to expect those readers to stick around if Matt Fraction, Rick Remender or Ales Kot were your big selling points.

I personally find that less enticing, but c’est la vie.

For DC’s part, they have to secure the LCS base again first, those very customers they lost during the New 52 era and pivot off the *hopeful success* of their film franchises for new and curious readers. There’s a reason those June launch books are all Batman v Superman characters and CW stars.

I think Kyle raises some good points. As a long time reader, I know you are interested in the creators, Todd, but I wonder how important that is to the majority of DC readers/potential readers/lapsed readers and to the retailers.

I’m a believer that they need to focus on their characters and not the people who are creating them. Put Big Name A on Superman and make a big deal out of it and maybe Big Name A’s fans start reading Superman. When Big Name A leaves, so does the fan. Market to Superman fans and you have a chance at keeping the fan (as long as the comic is good, of course).

Didn’t really see it that way. They said up front that they’re announcing who the creative teams are at WonderCon. Close to home for DC Corporate and in front of more fans than retailers. It’s a month from now and all they’re doing is building hype for their books. Cut them a little slack. Not much, but a little.

Putting Geoff Johns front and center will definitely bring relief to long time readers. He’s about as close as we’ve got to an advocate at DC. If he says trust him, I have no reason not to at this point.

I agree, informed decisions about the product cannot be made without knowing the creative teams. Regarding your issue with the double shipping, books such as Amazing Spider-Man and Extraordinary X-Men have been on an accelerated shipping schedule since they started at $3.99. Ultimate Spider-Man double shipped through most of Mark Bagley’s run. I am not a huge proponent of double shipping, but if I am on a budget the $2.99 price point sounds like the better option. Again, we need to know more about the content before making any real decisions. I also hope DC thinks about the structure of their stories arcs. Everything does not need to be a 6 issue arc. Batgirl does a really good job of done-in-ones with a continuing subplot.

Since I rarely follow creators DC not announcing teams yet does not bother me. I know which properties I like from the list they presented, and I’ll decide based on both the creative teams and title descriptions.

Kyle raises some important points. As I posted in the MMW boards almost a month ago, I’m wondering if upper management (as in *really* upper management, the ones up above Johns, Lee and Didio) have the view that as long as DC editorial carries out management’s edicts, they are in fact doing their job. In other words, maybe upper management places a substantially greater emphasis on having a particular publishing strategy rather than fostering creativity and good storytelling from those folks who are actually working on the books. You need *both* to be a successful comics company. Good creatives without a publishing plan will result in underselling your product just as having a publishing plan without proper attention to creatives will result in low-selling product.

That’s a purely speculative hypothesis on my part, of course, but it might explain why so much of DC feels like they don’t really know what to do with their characters. I started buying a lot more DC during the lead-up into Infinity Crisis and was enjoying the overall DC Universe up through around Final Crisis. But after that, more and more areas of the DCU felt rudderless to me — not just with New52 and DCyou but even before the New 52 launch.

In theory, the new exclusive contracts with creators might be a signal that the pendulum will begin to swing back to something more balanced. But we’ll have to see if DC is able to give their creatives the space to do the kinds of stories that will bring in readers.

Compare this to the launch of DCYou* which had the creators front and centre in the advertising – example:
http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2015/06/30/are-you-ready-for-action-comics-greg-pak-and-aaron-kuder

*(DC probably doesn’t want to hear the phrase “compare this to DCYou”)

My suggestion:
Roll out a new title every week (if you need to maintain “52”) or month.
DC PR does everything by clockwork… one week you announce the title, one week you schedule interviews, one week you send out previews, one week you push the sales…

Make the title a miniseries, but don’t tell anyone outside the office.
Let the creative team pitch any idea, in any universe/timeline/whatever.
If sales tank after six issues, end it, solicit the trade, and see how that works.
If it does, restart the series again, and see how it continues.

Everything is completed before publication. All six issues.
If the series is strong, then you renew immediately, getting the creators rescheduled.

If it doesn’t work, you place it in the vault, and maybe someone revisits the property five years from now.

If nothing else, DC gets to test new talent, and let existing talent create something outside the restrictions of editorial.
DC gains some cred for trying new things, battling Image for innovation.

Maybe you get a new Sandman. Maybe you get an All-Star Superman. Maybe you get ‘Mazing Man.
Maybe you find the next Gaiman.

One advantage of just having the titles is that we can imagine any variation on the concept that we like. So obviously the Super-Sons book is going to be based on a trove of Bob Haney scripts discovered during the cross-country move.

Still – it’s a fun place to be and Ross’ BOOM party van is always fun.

Hey! That picture is of me – from a brand new baby comic book store in Oakland, CA called Cape and Cowl Comics! Thanks dudes!

When has Dennis Barger ever been at Comics PRO?

My big question (outside of creative teams, of course): Will DC really only be producing 26 issues in June?

That seems to be the case, but then again, there were no final issue notifications in the May solicits. We know Omega Men is ending at #12, because Jim Lee stated so. But what about Midnighter, or Constantine: The Hellblazer, or Justice League of America? etc…I know JLA is getting relaunched in the Fall, but what happens in the meantime?

I’m assuming all New 52 launch books end at 52 and all DC You books end at 12, but 26 sure does seem like a (very welcome) small number of comics for DC to produce.

It was stated over on CBR that they’d be printing 32 monthly (some bi-weekly) titles. A shocking drop from their 52.

I’m wondering just how much of this rebirth will be a huge dropping off point for fans. Every single title is a top tier character book now. They’re all Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman oriented. With the exception of The Titans (Cyborg, Titans, Nightwing, etc.) B and C list characters (Swamp Thing, Midnighter, Martian Manhunter, etc. all gone. Sure those aren’t big draws for many folks, but I’ve always been a niche, weird character fan. I’m just not big into the main tent pole characters. So depending on the creative teams, this might be a big reason to actually pick up fewer DC titles, not more. We shall see…

“I love this world but there’s something missing”
Quality?
Something actually worth reading?
Effort?

I was at a Cpro once, total waste of money. ‘

Love
Dennis

I got a good laugh out of Tom’s comment; he’s harsh, but I agree with the sentiment. Bring back the pre-Flashpoint continuity and tell fresh, exciting stories with those time tested versions of the characters. You might be surprised how many lapsed readers you regain as a result. I think it’s one of the main reasons as a whole Marvel is kicking DC’s ass in sales right now. Continuity.

I will never find the calls by superhero fans for more creativity in their favorite corporate-owned multimedia franchise characters to be nothing short of hilarious.

Focusing on core characters may make sense for comics sales, but if they don’t build up B- and C-list characters how will they launch their catalogue of IP into other media where the real money is?

Thank you for writing this, Heidi. It’s probably the most objective DC thing I’ve read on Comicsbeat and I mean that sincerely. It confirms where DC is going now – not for new readers like me. Long boxes says it all, don’t know anyone with one of those. It’s a good jumping off point for me. I loved DC You and the way the New 52 made DC accessible for me for the first time ever.

Isn’t he stating HIS run is ending with 12? Not necessarily that the series is ending at that point? This article makes it confusing.

ACTION COMICS #957
DETECTIVE COMICS #934

Wait… WHAT?

They’re clearly reverting to the old numbering for Action and Detective so that they can make a big deal of it when those titles hit #1000.
Also, the semi-monthly release schedule of those books will get them there within two years.

ACTION COMICS #957
DETECTIVE COMICS #934

Gah. They’ve totally turned into Joe Quesada’s Marvel comics now. ;) Ugh.

Sigh the Marvel method of dual shipping is good way for me to not want to invest my time or energy and instead just drop the few remaining DC books I do read..

Finally… I hope

“Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Phil Jimenez, and Gary Frank.”

Party like it’s 2006, DC!

A naive question:
What if a publisher launched a new title every month, instead of one big blast?
The publisher concentrates on promoting the new title, while maintaining some buzz from last month’s launch.

I don’t think that would be a sustainable model for the big two. Heck, Boom! does roughly 2-3 a month at a minimum. I honestly do like Marvel’s method – a cycle of “seasons”, like television, before tapering off, but they need to figure out a way to space out the end of one series and the start of the next to create a gap where people are champing at the bit to get what’s next.

I’ve pondered Torsten’s question too. Not necessarily for a big relaunch but for after that. In any given month, there must surely be a title that is worthy of cancellation and they could always have something on deck.

I know why they don’t – promotional dollars are more effective to use to sell multiple series rather than just one – but still, the most interesting thing about the solicits (to me anyway) is what is being cancelled and what new book(s) are coming out. I wouldn’t mind having that be something I could see every month.

@Torsten – this is without knowing the economics of the publishers, but it seems like the companies, at this point, have adapted to selling a few copies of a lot of books, and have allocated resources for staffing to meet that demand. If you staggered relaunches, I presume you’d run into the problem of having a lot of superfluous staff that you’re paying salary/benefits/etc for who are now suddenly doing a lot less work. Granted I’d be in favor of drastically reducing the number of titles published at both Marvel and DC, but I can see why if you’re Dan Didio, you’re not keen to suddenly have a bunch of workers sitting around or, on the flip side, to fire a bunch of people you probably rather like.

‘I maintain that the bulk of the titles in the DC You launch were exactly what the company needed to help diversify their line, but produced and marketed at the exact wrong time to have any kind of positive impact. ‘

Gotta love it , the hip internet crowd for years have been saying books arent selling due to lack of diversity, when they’re given diverse books and they flop they come up with all sorts of excuses.

I think a lot of your ideas for the relaunch is spot-on. But, like yourself, I doubt they will happen.
And what’s with Vertigo? The numbers for their last “offensive” have been depressingly low (and in most cases rightly so). So is the idea of having a non-superhero-line quasi-dead soon?

Well davebean, I’d actually give a good hard look at the wider industry and the kinds of books that are having success there. DC is woefully behind the curve on diversifying their line, and stumbled out of the gate with a myriad of poor marketing practices. It’s hard to succeed when you’re so hell bent on putting more bullets into your foot, even if you have the best of intensions.

I really loved Marvels double shipping policy in the 80’s (maybe only one or two years?), they double shipped the top titles in the summer. I was thrilled, but not burnt out, and I really anticipated it, since it was fun to read X-Men outside on a sunny day.

Sad news! I followed the book, and was GLAD that Kory had had some happiness in her life! What DC needs to do is return to the classic design of Kory, massive auburn curls, and solid green eyes – and re-establish her with the classic New Teen Titans!

In their own super-group, of course….

Can I campaign for a Jimmy Olsen series by Palmiotti/Conner?

Arf, what a letdown. Super french talent Elsa Charretier just became its new penciller. Well, now DC has an opportunity to give the Legion to her!

[…] Palmiotti and Conner recently discussed DC’s decision to cancel this story, and apparently they had only been hired to take on these 12 issues. They are just ending things where they were always supposed to. This will still give us a full 12 issue run of Starfire by this brilliant team, to which they have just added the great penciller Elsa Charretier. I was so excited to see what this team would do with such a beautiful and talented character. This title is ending just as a reported big re-launch is supposed to take place in the DC comic universe. There is little information as to the nature of this “rebirth” but who’s to say that won’t include another Starfire solo book, or at least her return to the Teen Titans. I’m curious to see what DC has planed for our Tamareanian princess in the future. Would you want to see Starfire in a book of her own or team up with the Titans once again? What do you think of this decision to cancel a fairly successful book with a strong female lead character? […]

I Want The Present Starfire Comic Series To Continue With All The Same Characters.

Really? Starfire is one of the very few titles from DC in my store that is almost stable and actually sells. The incompetence at DC continues to astound!

Step 1) Modernize distribution so that data flows bottom up across the vertical from store to publisher and back to store
Step 2) Publishers realize that their audience is now the readers, not the stores, which means reworking their advertising/marketing
Step 3) Actually use the data from step 1 to help with step 2
Step 4) Profit

From the data I see Loot Create (all the geek boxes) provide no long term lift, there’s a next issue crash. The digital redemptions from the boxes I’m told is worse.

Walmart is horrible, best the industry stay away. They leave nothing but damage in everything they touch.

Reboots have become the crack cocaine of the comic book industry. When you have to relaunch your entire line every few years, something is wrong. Namely, the people in charge don’t know what they’re doing.

A. Make comics affordable. Go old school and do cheaper print runs on cheaper stock. Drop the price to 3 bucks or less.
B. Sell through Walmart and other mass market retailers. Sell them anywhere a retailer wants to put them on display.
C. Stop it with the endless variant covers. It does nothing to grow your market beyond the die hard fans.
D. Wipe the collectible mind set from your brain-this is for everyone: the artists, the writers, the publishers and the retailers. That is THEE WORST freaking thing to infect the entire industry.
E. Stop trying to impress the other publishers and start publishing stories that people want to read.
F. Remember how old you were when you started reading comics and publish more stories for the next gen readers.

Catwoman getting a new creative team due to low sales, and immediately losing ~30% of sales seems like some weird karma thing. I assume it’ll be cancelled at Rebirth.

Man, those are some ugly numbers on some of these books. The trend towards a 20% loss without a freely order variant is pretty distressing also. Really hope DC can turn this around….

I always feel weird, asking myself who are those people buying comics only for their cover? Are they aliens? What do they do with it? Do they eat food? Do they ever read the comics they purchased?

This might be more work than you want to do, but, damn, I’m starting to itch for asterixes next to books with FOVs so that you cn glance at the list and understand the context….

I wish you hadn’t written all of that nuts pre-speculation — it was really unfocused and almost certainly wrong in many many ways.

-B

“I always feel weird, asking myself who are those people buying comics only for their cover?”

It’s more likely that some people are buying more than one copy.

Like in the 90’s? Yuk! It would be really interesting to know the proportion beetween one and the other. I do think there is probably actual readers buying multiple issues -if so, why do they prefer to buy a copy with a different cover of a comics they already pruchased instead of somethign else to read, when the current market is offering so many nice differents reading experience?. But I’m pretty sure there is also a proportion of people buying an issue only for the variant, which would explian how very low selling titles see sometimes such a big jump whenever they play the variant card. It seems that there is a core number of buyers buying variant, no matter the title, but depending on the variant subject popularity.

Contrarily to the 90’s ugly trends, current variants seem to rely solely on art, no gimmicky shenanigans, therefore rest of the shoulders of the artist’s fame and the low print run. I’d be curious to see how the back issue market treats those. Might be a decent investment, in our uncertain times. I think Bleeding Cool has some kind of column tracking that kind or bargain/profit opportunity, every now and then for hot items. Does someone know if one ever provided some kind of statistics on recent variants?

Couple things on the FOV:

I haven’t historically gotten variants, but about a year ago Discount Comic Book Service began offering a package where if you bought all of the FOV for a given month you got them at a bigger discount. Since I was getting most of the titles anyway, I started getting those. Thus I discovered a couple things.

One is that owning the variant is great an all, but there’s this bit of weirdness of having this book and not having any way to know, from the book itself, what the “real” cover looks like. I’m actually kinda happy that the coloring-book covers are just on top of the regular covers, rather than replacing them. So in that context, I can kinda see someone buying both versions, to be able to own both covers.

Also, while I don’t follow it closely, it does seem that the FOV are increasing in value. I use ComicBase, which has its own price guide-type info, and I run a little report regularly to see which books are currently valued over cover price. The FOVs generally end up on that list. So despite the fact that they are as available as the regular books, there’s still some sort of aftermarket demand.

Worth noting I am not comparing the FOV guide value to the non-FOV version of the same books, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the FOV’s that are going up.

Is that for freely orderable ones, or all variants?

Why do people buy variants? I’ve never understood it. Do they actually appreciate in value?

“45:22– What really made All-New All-Different Marvel the success that it was?”

It seems like the jury’s still out on whether ANAD was a success or not. I’ve not actually seen anyone try and prove it mathematically one way or the other but it seems the general mood is that ANAD is arriving with a thud.

For the first time since the Silver Age (when there were still many more mainstream publishers) DC & Marvel could go bust as comic publishers and the comic industry would do just fine. Graphic novels, alternative comics and the internet would continue to deliver the goods

For the first time since the Silver Age (when there were still many other mainstream publishers doing well) DC & Marvel could go bust as comic publishers and the industry would survive just fine.

With graphic novels, alternative publishers, the Image Comics partnership model and the internet there is no doubt comics would continue as entertainment and as an art form.

Is there an echo in here. If you so choose delete the first comment.

That industry would be hard to recognize. Most comics shops are operating on slim margins, and losing the weekly churn of spandex floppies would be fatal. Big cities and college towns might each have a single bookstore-style shop that could stay afloat, and maybe megacities would have a few, but that’s it. It’s conceivable that Diamond could downsize enough to keep at it, but doubtful, so any survivors would need to use book-trade distributors (whose returnability terms are not small-press-friendly).

That leaves digital delivery for single issues, and online-ordering for paperbacks. Amazon would control the lion’s share of this business, at both the distributor and retail levels (the same thing, for them). Digital delivery is growing, but it’s still a niche. The disappearance of paper monthlies would push some of that business to digital, but it would push a lot of paper-lovers to trade-waiting. However, Image creators often depend on those monthly sales to pay the rent, because it can take years after starting a project for income from paperback sales to reach them.

So, yes: there would still be an industry, and certainly an art form. But we’d lose more than just Marvel and DC if they imploded.

I tend to think the artform and industry would be in a much healthier place right now if Marvel and DC shut down in the late 70s.

Imagine the work the “class of 84” could have done if they weren’t tethered to mainstream superheroes.

84? 86?
You know what I mean.

My question:

A Multiversity Universe

Or

A Convergence Universe?

“After the DCYou proved to be a bust…” Yeah because they stuck awful creative teams on all the books, talked down to their viewership, infantilized the female characters, generally had mediocre to awful characterization and writing, and generally ignored what their readers actually wanted DC to do, which was create quality storylines with decent characterization for their established characters.

As long as DC keeps prioritizing short-term readers over creating long-term readers and keeping their existent fanbase, we’re going to keep seeing these gimmicks of the year and the majority of the reader base unhappy with the way DC is handling their books.

I wouldn’t mind going back to pre New 52 continuity, especially since they still can’t seem to keep current continuity straight anymore, but it seems like that would be a bad financial decision too, wouldn’t it? Throwing away all the money and energy spent trying to establish this new continuity? We’ll see I guess, but it’s been awhile since Didio and Lee made a decent decision so I’m not expecting much.

As i recall, GL:Rebirth was 6 issues not 8, And that was the first of 2 Rebirths: Flash: Rebirth brought back Barry Allen. Plus we have no clue if Rebirth Will be an event or more of an umbrella for the relaunch, like New 52 or All-new, all-different Marvel.