Possible major changes coming from DC Comics

[skyvolt2000]

Ok how bout just do your top 50 characters and cut it off there?

Okay who decides the top 50?

Because I would suspect some folks's top 50 do not include POC, LGBTQ & women not named Diana, Selina, Harley or Kara.

What is the criteria? Sales? floppies? number of issues? outside media?
Which would not be fair because so many never got shots or got shots RUINED by editors and Dan.

If you try to use comic sales-you could end up with a mess as some books don't sell well everywhere.
If you try to judge via tv shows-Cyborg STRUGGLED to hold a book that got outsold in EVERY form by Moon Girl.

If you did trade sales-your most successful POC was Duke Thomas (at least on Amazon) followed by Jessica & Simon's book.
Speaking of Jessica & Simon-how big would that war of fans be with Green Lantern?

The issue at both is this need for an ongoing when a mini of 3-5 will do just FINE.

Do we really need a Naomi book every month? NO. So they are doing 6 issues now and next year start again.
You could pick 50 guys and do that. We could all agree 3 issues starring say Conner Kent? 6 starring Booster Gold? A one shot with say Fake Wally West?

Guy Gardner needs 1 issue to have 50 solo issues-a one shot would do that.

And retailers keep ordering them Marvel just collected Angel Punisher, one of the most maligned books in its history, Why???

They do that because FANS keep BUYING them. You can't cry about variants if SOMEONE is WILLING to buy them.
I know one store where if Marvel or DC puts out a new series with variants for issue 1-they are assured of a SELLOUT. EVERY TIME. It could be Moon Girl loves Riri Williams #1-have 6 variants-they SELL OUT.

Same with these events-that War of Realms MESS at Marvel in May-don't be shocked if all 100+ issues do well. I would NEVER buy all that mess but there are guys who will.

[skyvolt2000]

Problem may be also related to whether all those "complaints" are from people who may understand the situations they're complaining about (it's easy to complain about how much a company charges for a comic book, but how many of those complaints are from people who understand all the costs that are part of producing the final product?) and whether "anonymous" complaints that flow across the internet sites would also be quite as severe in real-life, face-to-face discussions with the people from the comic book companies?

Let's face it, the internet has unfortunately lowered the standards for discussing topics in general, either through anonymity or through all the false information floating around that seemingly becomes "legit" when enough people seem to repeat it.

Well as we have seen with one group-most of those members have not bothered to read a comic let alone the comic they are crying about in the first place.

Yet they feel entitled to join the conversation because the book being attack features SOMEONE they don't feel should have a book or even be in the book.

And no matter how much evidence or facts you show they can't be changed.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

The main problem with the Direct Market is not DC, it's Marvel flooding the market.

DC perhaps can be accused of flooding the market with Batman material, but Batman's solos and minis tend to be well-received, at least.

Marvel's stock-in-trade since at least the 1950s has been to flood the market, but that was more forgivable then when they were hanging on by a thread. They've been the number 1 publisher more often than not since the early 1970s and their tactics since then have a more predatory undercurrent because now its the number 1 publisher that does them.

However, the direct market goes for it. Every gimmick Marvel uses like crazy algorithms to increase orders to qualify for variant covers to shipping free copies of certain titles during the Alonso-era takes consumer dollars away from other areas of the market.

It's hard to fault Marvel, though. They have to do what's right for their company and for its shareholders. If fans and retailers respond to Marvel's tactics, then Marvel has no incentive to change.

DC's cutback might be partially designed to egg on Marvel to do a likewise cutback, but I think it will just lead to an increase in the Marvel glut.

[Kon93]

So are we gonna end up with ongoing for all the iconic characters and the rest team books for every other character the fans love and or believe needs to be represented?

[Frontier]

The main problem with the Direct Market is not DC, it's Marvel flooding the market.

DC perhaps can be accused of flooding the market with Batman material, but Batman's solos and minis tend to be well-received, at least.

Marvel's stock-in-trade since at least the 1950s has been to flood the market, but that was more forgivable then when they were hanging on by a thread. They've been the number 1 publisher more often than not since the early 1970s and their tactics since then have a more predatory undercurrent because now its the number 1 publisher that does them.

However, the direct market goes for it. Every gimmick Marvel uses like crazy algorithms to increase orders to qualify for variant covers to shipping free copies of certain titles during the Alonso-era takes consumer dollars away from other areas of the market.

It's hard to fault Marvel, though. They have to do what's right for their company and for its shareholders. If fans and retailers respond to Marvel's tactics, then Marvel has no incentive to change.

DC's cutback might be partially designed to egg on Marvel to do a likewise cutback, but I think it will just lead to an increase in the Marvel glut.

Have you seen how many War of the Realms tie-in's they have coming out ?

[protege]

The main problem with the Direct Market is not DC, it's Marvel flooding the market.

DC perhaps can be accused of flooding the market with Batman material, but Batman's solos and minis tend to be well-received, at least.

Marvel's stock-in-trade since at least the 1950s has been to flood the market, but that was more forgivable then when they were hanging on by a thread. They've been the number 1 publisher more often than not since the early 1970s and their tactics since then have a more predatory undercurrent because now its the number 1 publisher that does them.

However, the direct market goes for it. Every gimmick Marvel uses like crazy algorithms to increase orders to qualify for variant covers to shipping free copies of certain titles during the Alonso-era takes consumer dollars away from other areas of the market.

It's hard to fault Marvel, though. They have to do what's right for their company and for its shareholders. If fans and retailers respond to Marvel's tactics, then Marvel has no incentive to change.

DC's cutback might be partially designed to egg on Marvel to do a likewise cutback, but I think it will just lead to an increase in the Marvel glut.

Ironically, dc’s desire to cut back is making me want to drop their books entirely, leaving more room for marvel.

[md62]

So are we gonna end up with ongoing for all the iconic characters and the rest team books for every other character the fans love and or believe needs to be represented?

I said a few years ago we would be left with a handful of franchise books from DC (Superman, Batman, Justice League) and Marvel (Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men). Similar to what DC is trying right now in the Wal Mart market.

[MajorHoy]

Ironically, dc’s desire to cut back is making me want to drop their books entirely . . .

I started to feel that way even before any plans to cut back further than they already have.

[kingaliencracker]

I'm really not bothered by Didio's comments to retailers. As the saying goes, gripe up - not down. Fans gripe to each other and retailers, retailers gripe to the publishers.

As far as the cutback in titles, as I stated repeatedly and will keep stating...the floppy version of comic books and the Direct Market model is a dying industry. The quicker fans realize this, the faster we can determine the best method to keep the medium alive, either as a whole or for you individually.

[Punjabi_Hitman]

The main problem with the Direct Market is not DC, it's Marvel flooding the market.

DC perhaps can be accused of flooding the market with Batman material, but Batman's solos and minis tend to be well-received, at least.

Marvel's stock-in-trade since at least the 1950s has been to flood the market, but that was more forgivable then when they were hanging on by a thread. They've been the number 1 publisher more often than not since the early 1970s and their tactics since then have a more predatory undercurrent because now its the number 1 publisher that does them.

However, the direct market goes for it. Every gimmick Marvel uses like crazy algorithms to increase orders to qualify for variant covers to shipping free copies of certain titles during the Alonso-era takes consumer dollars away from other areas of the market.

It's hard to fault Marvel, though. They have to do what's right for their company and for its shareholders. If fans and retailers respond to Marvel's tactics, then Marvel has no incentive to change.

DC's cutback might be partially designed to egg on Marvel to do a likewise cutback, but I think it will just lead to an increase in the Marvel glut.

Have u seen the May Solicitations? Lol

[Lee Stone]

The flooding of the market has been happening since the rise of the Direct Market and Indies in the '80s and '90s. And DC and Marvel both are guilty of it.
With comic shops having more shelf space than the spinner rack at the gas stations, it was a race between the two to stake their claim.

Meanwhile, the success of the Indies must have made DC and Marvel think retailers had too much money and shelf space left over, as they kept adding more titles.

[Ascended]

Well, I didn't put any faith in these New22 rumors. Looks like I got a bit of egg on my face. I could see how they might decide to do it but I didn't think they would pull the trigger. Of course, I said the same thing about rebooting back in 2011, so I guess DC is more.....daring.....than I give them credit for.

So are we gonna end up with ongoing for all the iconic characters and the rest team books for every other character the fans love and or believe needs to be represented?

Well, they said that this new limit doesn't include imprints or mini's or anything other than mainstream ongoings. So stuff like Young Animal, Vertigo, Wonder, WildStorm, New Age, would all be "safe" as would mini's like Mister Miracle or Martian Manhunter. That's actually a whole lot of DC's output these days.

So I don't think we'll actually be losing as much as it might have first seemed. We'll still be losing stuff, but not nearly as much as people originally thought.

If I had to guess.....we'll end up with about nine League related books; 'Tec, Bats, Action, Supes, WW, Flash, Lantern, Aquaman, Justice League. Harley's a given as well. Then they'll probably run the Squad and some variation on the Titans. That's a dozen books, about half of the total. The other half will be legacy (Batgirl? Jimmy Olsen?) and B-titles (Arrow? Hawkman?), likely with a bunch of team titles (Outsiders? JSA? Birds of Prey?) to squeeze as many characters into the lineup as possible. Probably a secondary League book too.

The lineup will almost certainly be Bat heavy.

My biggest concern is that characters with strong ties to team books will lose their solo's and only see print in a team title. Actually, my only real serious concern here is Nightwing. Didio's been cruel to that character and this might be a great chance for him to try and finish the book off.

[Flash Gordon]

Whelp I guess I can say goodbye to HAWKMAN, and my hopes of a MERA: QUEEN OF ATLANTIS ongoing.

[kingaliencracker]

Whelp I guess I can say goodbye to HAWKMAN, and my hopes of a MERA: QUEEN OF ATLANTIS ongoing.

Let's be honest, with books like Hawkman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, etc., aren't we expecting them to be canceled sooner or later anyway, considering all of them have had their books canceled multiple times due to poor sales?

[tenlong]

I love that dc has lowered their quantity of comics, which I feel makes them a little more higher quality. Marvel should learn from this, since more doesn't always mean better.