Double shipping stopping next year

[Eto]

So
2x Batman -> Batman & Batman/Catwoman
2x Flash -> Flash & Wally West comic (?)
2x Justice League -> Justice League & ? (maybe JSA?)
2x Detective Comics -> Detective Comics & ? (maybe a new Batwoman title, or a Robin comic starring the four main Robins, or a title about the whole batfamily)
2x Wonder Woman -> Wonder Woman & ?

I have always wanted a comic starring Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian. It'd be awesome.

[Eto]

This was bound to, but I'm still sad.
Anyways, provided that we'll get consistent art and better stories, I'm all for it.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Anyways, provided that we'll get consistent are and better stories, I'm all for it.

Too bad there's no guarantee that will happen.

Even DC's current once-a-month titles can be . . . lacking.

[Eto]

Too bad there's no guarantee that will happen.

Even DC's current once-a-month titles can be . . . lacking.

Very true.

*cough* Bendis Superman/AC for example *cough*

I just want to be optimistic.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I just want to be optimistic.

"Optimistic" as opposed to "realistic"?

[BatmanJones]

"Optimistic" as opposed to "realistic"?

Almost nobody self-identifies as a pessimist. Almost all pessimists self-identify as realists.

[kevink31593]

Would this place action and 'tec at same numbering?

If Detective Comics continues shipping twice a month thru December 2019, then switches to once a month in January, then yes both Action Comics and Detective Comics will be at the same numbering. On a Comic Book Collecting Facebook group that I'm a member of, I posted the following back on March 28th.

Sorry if this is too long, but I’ve been analyzing the numbering history of Action Comics and Detective Comics. Detective Comics #1 released in March 1937, and Action Comics #1 released 15 months later in June 1938. However, in the modern era, Detective has fallen behind Action in numbering, and I was interested in learning when this came to be. (I’m 36, and I’ve been collecting for about 26 years.)

*** Edit to original post: I used to assume Action pulled ahead of Detective with Action Comics Weekly in the late 80s. Actually, it happened over a decade earlier in the 70s. ***

By January 1970, Detective’s lead over Action had dropped to 11 issues; Action was at #384 and Detective was at #395. Detective Comics kept this 11 issue lead until April ‘73 when Action #423 and Detective #434 came out.

Then, Detective started coming out every other month, while Action continued releasing monthly. By March ‘75, Detective had lost its lead, and both series were at equal numbering with issue #445. Detective went monthly again, and both series remained at equal numbering until issue #466 in Dec ‘76.

Action Comics took the lead with Action #468 releasing in Feb ‘77 alongside Detective #467. For the remainder of the decade, Action remained consistently monthly, and Detective had a more erratic schedule. By December 1979, Detective was at #487, 15 issues behind Action #502.

Without going into too much detail about the 80s, 90s, 2000s, New 52, Rebirth, etc., Action Comics obviously still has the lead. (I will remind of the fact that both series started coming out twice a month in 2016.) When Action #1,000 came out 11 months ago, Detective was up to #979 then. Detective #1,000 finally came out yesterday.

But now is when it gets interesting again. Action skipped a couple months after #1,000 came out last year, then with #1,001 Action went back to once a month while Detective continued at twice a month. Detective only came out once this month for #1,000, but Detective will be back to twice a month next month while Action continues monthly.

The newest solicited books for release in June 2019 (Aug ’19 cover date) are Action #1,012 and Detective #1,005 and #1,006. If the current release schedules remain in place thru the end of this year, both series will release #1,018 by December 2019 (Feb ’20 cover date). This makes me wonder if DC is waiting until then to drop Detective back to monthly, so both series can continue at equal numbering. Or will DC keep up Detective’s twice a month schedule for a while longer, and allow Detective to take the lead over Action Comics again for the first time since early 1975?

[Comic-Reader Lad]

That doesn't really matter because DC still has to pay for the production of two Flash books for one month. It's not like they pay for the production of one comic book and get two.

The current double shipping formula does allow for them to complete stories quicker, though I feel the overall quality and consistency of the artwork in the comics is hurt because of it.

Double shipping absolutely DOES matter to the bottom line.

First, double shipping adds additional profits to each fiscal year.

Second, double shipping increases DC's market share. With the double shipping gone, a few hundred thousand comic books will be removed from DC's monthly market share.

DC's market share has already decreased to half of Marvel's in the April 2019 sales charts because DC had already scaled back on titles.

Now, as I said in the April 2019 sales thread, DC's average per-title sales are a bit higher than Marvel's because Marvel cranks out a lot of low-selling titles that drag down its average sales.

However, market share is important, so there has to be a happy medium between having good average sales and a good market share. Dropping all the low selling titles that clutter up the production line is good, but canceling mid-to-high selling titles like Flash & Detective's 2nd monthly copy only hurts the bottom line and market share, which is bad.

Hopefully, DC will have stuff in the pipeline that will wow the comics buying public and make up for the shortfall caused by the return to monthly shipping, but the best laid plans of mice and DiDios have often gone awry.

[Sam]

Thats the problem.
If you look for example at the Batman books before rebirth you will see that, the secondary books (including TEC) sold usually much less than the main book.
While double shipping seemed not really to reduce the sales numbers of the main books that much.

And appart from the JSA DC doesn't have that many unused franchises that could generate similarly strong sales.

Exactly. Well said.

[Aahz]

And it is not only about DC, but also about comics shops.
If DC produces less of their big sellers, shops will sell less and might have to close.
And if shops close DC will in the end also sell less, because there are less places to buy their comics.

[Vordan]

Eh mixed feelings about this. On one hand I missed the faster pace that came with having two issues every month. On the other hand that was hell on the creative teams, so maybe it’s for the best that doubleshipping ends. If we get more books out of it then I guess I’ll be ok with it.

[Vampire Savior]

Double shipping absolutely DOES matter to the bottom line.

First, double shipping adds additional profits to each fiscal year.

Second, double shipping increases DC's market share. With the double shipping gone, a few hundred thousand comic books will be removed from DC's monthly market share.

DC's market share has already decreased to half of Marvel's in the April 2019 sales charts because DC had already scaled back on titles.

Now, as I said in the April 2019 sales thread, DC's average per-title sales are a bit higher than Marvel's because Marvel cranks out a lot of low-selling titles that drag down its average sales.

However, market share is important, so there has to be a happy medium between having good average sales and a good market share. Dropping all the low selling titles that clutter up the production line is good, but canceling mid-to-high selling titles like Flash & Detective's 2nd monthly copy only hurts the bottom line and market share, which is bad.

Hopefully, DC will have stuff in the pipeline that will wow the comics buying public and make up for the shortfall caused by the return to monthly shipping, but the best laid plans of mice and DiDios have often gone awry.

Once again, this is a completely different point than what I was talking about.

The Flash selling 70,000-something copies a month with two different Flash issues isn't any boon for The Flash comic book. The Flash comic book itself isn't seeing any sales increase, except for DC pumping out more volume with it.

This has absolutely nothing to do with whatever other comics DC publishes or the viability of double shipping.

[king81992]

Sensation Comics. Could be about one of Diana's supporting cast members like Hippolyta, or one of the Wonder Girls. Batwoman makes sense as a replacement bat book, considering she has a TV show coming up. I'm definitely thinking JLA for the JL slot. Though Odyssey will probably need to be replaced by then too.

Maybe the Titans get a comic too? Then again, putting together a roster is going to be difficult with all the characters who have been, already are or will be screwed over by 2020.

[Frontier]

I think Didio has pretty much retired those two brands. DC doesn't care for JSA given how they mishandled it post-Johns. And likewise they only kept the LoSH around for Levitz.

I know there's possibly some discrepancy between Johns and Didio but with how much the return of the JSA and Legion has been touted and connected to Doomsday Clock (and Bendis keeps teasing the Legion), I have to think something is in the works.

If they launch another JL type book in January, it’ll most likely spin off from The JL-Doom War/Metal 2/whatever Snyder is building towards. Could be another JL, JLA, LOSH, JSA or something completely different.

Considering the rumor that the villains "win" the war, could be a Legion of Doom book.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Eh mixed feelings about this. On one hand I missed the faster pace that came with having two issues every month. On the other hand that was hell on the creative teams, so maybe it’s for the best that doubleshipping ends. If we get more books out of it then I guess I’ll be ok with it.

What new books will come out of the discontinuation of double-shipping? That's the million dollar question.

Double shipping started in the first place because with Rebirth, DiDio wanted to focus on the big characters and have them come out more often to lift the bottom line after the disastrous DC You initiative.

So, now that double shipping is ending, are we going to go back to having C-listers in a bunch of comics no one buys?

Or will there be NO replacements for the formerly double shipped series?

Either way, it seems DC is in yet another one of its periodic states of flux where it doesn't know how to steer the company overall.

Pockets of DC are successful, but a lot of new initiatives that are tried out just don't have any staying power. Vertigo, WildStorm, Young Animal, and Wonder Comics are all low sellers. Only Naomi #4 landed in the Top 100, so that'll likely drop out with #5. It'll be interesting to see how the return of Young Animal does, but I'm not expecting blockbuster sales.

Then, 2020 will see the loss of the extra issues of Batman, Detective, Justice League, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Of course, Batman's loss will largely be offset by Batman/Catwoman, but I suspect it won't sell in the 80-90k range that Batman does. It'll probably sell more like Detective.

So, that leaves the following shortfalls:

Batman: 85,000+ copies
Justice League: 55,000+ copies
Flash: 37,000+ copies
Wonder Woman: 35,000+ copies

So, that's over 200k copies that will be removed from DC's sales next year from comics that feature their most popular characters.

What could DC publish to replace these?

I'd guess DC will want another Batman solo, but that might not happen until 2021 after Bat/Cat is over.

If they try brand extensions of Flash and Wonder Woman, they likely won't sell nearly as much as the parent titles.

A Wally-Flash title might sell, but I can't believe DiDio would ok that given what's happened to Wally in HIC and DiDio's public statements that he's a Barry fan.

A great Legion and JSA title could easily match the sales of Flash and Wonder Woman, but that would still leave the top 2 -- Batman and Justice League to be replaced, and there's really nothing DC has that would sell at those levels except to keep on double-shipping them.