DC's Dan DiDio Out as Co-Publisher

[Lee]

But this tinkering nonstop with continuity isn't healthy for the DCU, in my opinion, and I personally don't find it makes for captivating reading.

I agree. Unfortunately, they've tinkered with continuity so much in recent years that it's come to the point where it's collapsed in on itself and whole characters no longer make sense or fit the narrative (Conner Kent, Donna Troy, Wally West etc.).

It would be to DC's benefit to establish the new timeline, establish how the major characters and stories fit into DC lore, then stick to it and not tinker any further.

[DragonPiece]

So apparently there are already plans in the works to undo some of Didio's edicts:

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/02...popular_mobile

Hard to have any opinion since we don't know the specifics of what's being changed.

[kurenai24]

I do have to say that it's funny that the part that most fans are here for (i.e the timeline) is the part that's being tinkered with already and the part that most fans here don't care for or want (i.e 5G) is going full steam ahead.

Technically the timeline and 5G are two halves of a whole idea/plan that effect each other (one more so than the other) but it's funny that one particular halve that is favored could fall by the waste side in it's full potential.

But I don't really have an opinion on the timeline changes since not enough information about the specifics are out but also, b/c the only thing I care about is how old everyone will be when 5G hits and if we'll get books set in different generations.

[Vakanai]

I do have to say that it's funny that the part that most fans are here for (i.e the timeline) is the part that's being tinkered with already and the part that most fans here don't care for or want (i.e 5G) is going full steam ahead.

Technically the timeline and 5G are two halves of a whole idea/plan that effect each other (one more so than the other) but it's funny that one particular halve that is favored could fall by the waste side in it's full potential.

But I don't really have an opinion on the timeline changes since not enough information about the specifics are out but also, b/c the only thing I care about is how old everyone will be when 5G hits and if we'll get books set in different generations.

Are most fans really here for the timeline? Is there official numbers here, or just something you think you've noticed from some fans on this forum?

For the record I'm not into DC for the timeline, I'm here for the characters and some good stories. Hell, half my books aren't even in continuity.

[Lvenger]

Jim Lee said at his personal spotlight panel at C2E2 that he will be the sole publisher of DC comics now: https://www.newsarama.com/49243-did-...ot-rumors.html

Speaking at his personal spotlight panel during C2E2 2020, Lee told the audience "There's continually new things going on, and I look at being sole publisher now and the team I'm working with. Much more in trenches now than ever before."

"We've been with Warner Bros. for decades," Lee elaborated. "The actual strategy for DC is to put publishing at center of what we do. It's the engine of all the movies, TV, cartoons, we do. And so its my intent going forward as the Publisher, to lean into the collective years of my team."

Lee also seemingly but vaguely addressed rumors about Marvel acquiring DC publishing, which have made their way into some internet rumors circles of late, shooting down any chance of this.

"To address some of the stuff that is out there, there's rumors... speculation," Lee explained. "I wouldn't put any credence into it. DC has been around for 85 years, and we'll be around for another 85 years. I hope to be doing this panel in 85 years."

Lee also spoke about the chances DC's impending 5G initiative would constitute yet another reboot, saying that's not in the cards.

"It's hard to talk about things we haven't announced. Intention not to do a line-wide reboot," Lee clarified. "Our focus in talking to editorial team is to continue what we've done best: Character-driven stories, pairing right creators on right characters, and developing characters that are inclusive and diverse."

[kilderkin]

5G is a perfect example of creators being bankrupt of ideas and blaming the characters for poor sales.

There is a place for diverse characters in comics. But I don't know of many current fans that want to see someone other than Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne as Superman and Batman, respectively.

Then again, maybe that makes those current fans part of the bigger problem with the industry as a whole...?

Fans are never the problem as far as a products success goes, if it's good and it's whats wanted, it will sell

Fans don't have to like anything, they aren't patrons for a charity, if the product is what they want , they will go for it

Thete are some who say that fans who love nostalgia are a problem, unless your brand new to something, that's what every fan loves

If you are new, nostalgia probably caused stuff to survive long enough for you to find it

The idea that fans who love older style or classic or whatever product are a problem is imo a bit ridiculous, if they are buying it how is that a problem

A company wants to spread it's wings with its products, good for them, market it well and those nostalgic fans can go for it, that's why characters like nightwing and Wally are so well liked, they were new at one point too and were marketed right

If you don't wanna bring those fans with you that's ok, let's hope you can afford too, I hope you can, let's hope you can find a product that new people will give a try,

Bit at some point all fans, become nostalgic, because the companies have prayed on that for decades, in every consumer industry to some extent,

They pay the bills, at least in part

Simple truth, comics are not good value for money as far as entertainment goes,

Find ways to bring down the costs

Dropping sequences of continuity won't help, most readers I feel stay because they want to see what happens next, but not every few months, they'll move on by then

Bigger books, maybe anthologies of the same group of heroes at a better value but hight price could work

My lcs sells out of the 100 pagers every month, good value, higher price point

Bigger books, higher price, better value, done stories each time holding continuity

If the stories don't show the window to the world each week or month people will quickly stop caring, in the end stand alone graphics rarely become huge sellers cause they stop being relevant, with some notable exceptions

They do need to change, expand the exposure, make they cheaper do kids will buy in, coz few kids are giving up the current cover price for a quick read compared to hours of digital content

Make digital cheaper for older books, get new stuff purchasable as a subscription for groups of titles or all titles, cheaper than print, coz it should be

Stop screwing around with sequences of books so new fans can go back a chase up the old easy enough

Get trades out quickly

Keep characters to their most famous versions to keep strong product identity

Build new characters with books designed to build exposure, like all Star books or team up books

Expand your range of characters and who they appeal too in the same way, build a fan base then build the characters own book

More than anything get price down or content up to compete better with cheaper products (if you don't want all your fans to be those who have paying jobs ) so younger readers will buy in with their much more limited incomes

The main reason comic fans are older, coz they have the relative money to spend on these relatively expensive products compared to most kids, who either can't afford them, or can get cheaper alternatives (including you tube channels doing little short of full read throughs )

I feel

[achilles]

Fans are never the problem as far as a products success goes, if it's good and it's whats wanted, it will sell

Fans don't have to like anything, they aren't patrons for a charity, if the product is what they want , they will go for it

Thete are some who say that fans who love nostalgia are a problem, unless your brand new to something, that's what every fan loves

If you are new, nostalgia probably caused stuff to survive long enough for you to find it

The idea that fans who love older style or classic or whatever product are a problem is imo a bit ridiculous, if they are buying it how is that a problem

A company wants to spread it's wings with its products, good for them, market it well and those nostalgic fans can go for it, that's why characters like nightwing and Wally are so well liked, they were new at one point too and were marketed right

If you don't wanna bring those fans with you that's ok, let's hope you can afford too, I hope you can, let's hope you can find a product that new people will give a try,

Bit at some point all fans, become nostalgic, because the companies have prayed on that for decades, in every consumer industry to some extent,

They pay the bills, at least in part

Simple truth, comics are not good value for money as far as entertainment goes,

Find ways to bring down the costs

Dropping sequences of continuity won't help, most readers I feel stay because they want to see what happens next, but not every few months, they'll move on by then

Bigger books, maybe anthologies of the same group of heroes at a better value but hight price could work

My lcs sells out of the 100 pagers every month, good value, higher price point

Bigger books, higher price, better value, done stories each time holding continuity

If the stories don't show the window to the world each week or month people will quickly stop caring, in the end stand alone graphics rarely become huge sellers cause they stop being relevant, with some notable exceptions

They do need to change, expand the exposure, make they cheaper do kids will buy in, coz few kids are giving up the current cover price for a quick read compared to hours of digital content

Make digital cheaper for older books, get new stuff purchasable as a subscription for groups of titles or all titles, cheaper than print, coz it should be

Stop screwing around with sequences of books so new fans can go back a chase up the old easy enough

Get trades out quickly

Keep characters to their most famous versions to keep strong product identity

Build new characters with books designed to build exposure, like all Star books or team up books

Expand your range of characters and who they appeal too in the same way, build a fan base then build the characters own book

More than anything get price down or content up to compete better with cheaper products (if you don't want all your fans to be those who have paying jobs ) so younger readers will buy in with their much more limited incomes

The main reason comic fans are older, coz they have the relative money to spend on these relatively expensive products compared to most kids, who either can't afford them, or can get cheaper alternatives (including you tube channels doing little short of full read throughs )

I feel

Shrewd observations.

[kilderkin]

Jamal Ingel-who has worked at DC on and off since he was 17 years old pointed out on his Twitter-DC brings in about 5 billion a year from everything from comics, toys and other stuff. At most to run DC is about $10 million a year.

Why pull the plug when it's making you money in some form?



Easy STOP with event derailing books for a cheap sales boost. You want to have Supergirl be in Death Metal-FINE do her like Marvel did Miles in Ultimate Carnage-he had his own 3 part mini. His book got left alone.

Then cut down on variants. Do I need 47 variants for Wonder Woman's milestone issue? You want to make those special? Let folks do a Final Order Cutoff at stores for the cover that they want.

If you are going after kids-UNDERSTAND and make it CLEAR to those 40 years olds (especially the gators and doomsayers)-we are going to use folks YOU don't care for. Get over it.
With Moon Girl, Riri & Shuri running around-there is ZERO excuse for Vixen & Bumblebee to be collecting dust. They need to be out there with Naomi & Jo. Along with Thunder & Lighting from Black Lightning show.
The market for black boy lead books is OPEN for whoever wants it. Miles & Panther are taking it-Dc can't wait on Static-Luke, BL, Duke, Cyborg and John need to be out there.

The money is there is you know where to look.

In my experience very few of my age group seem to care negativity if new characters are made, and used, most of us grew up getting to meet and like new characters, if anything we've been doing it for years, replacement does bother, there is that, but very rarely is that actually needed, companies do it to get a new character a boost of an older ones back, that doesn't sit well, it's never going too, the companies are gonna need to get over that, coz it's just tough, there's plenty room for both

I do find it interesting that I see a lot of posts aimed at the forty year olds as a problem (this isn't aimed at you specifically by the way)

Strangely I find that counter logical, we've (us forty year olds) have been reading for a long time, seen more changes, met more new characters, seen more retcons than a lot, and we're still here

The idea that makes us a problem, garbage

Are some of that group vocal about about not wanting change, sure, but that's a small insignificant number, people are gonna need to blame someone else

If a new character is good, and marketed to its audience correctly, it will do well, Kamala and miles proved this, Wally and dick a raven and Harley proved this

This forty bashing I'm seeing, it's just grasping at straws to try and place blame and deflect product failure from lack of good product placement,

You wanna attract new readers with a new character, don't push them in established books with established readerships, pop them somewhere else like you tube channels aimed at the market you wanna teach, I e never seen DC or marvel sponsor a video on say comic pop, caped Joel, professor thorgi, or whatever, that would not cost that much, in fact many channels would love to day they'd don't that and do it cheap

But no, they put amethyst in the back of batman, instead of spending a few bucks on some video clip sponsorship

[kingaliencracker]

So apparently there are already plans in the works to undo some of Didio's edicts:

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/02...popular_mobile

Again, I don't know of many fans who wanted to see Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Diana Prince replaced. It just seemed like such a "bite nose to spite face" reaction. Further, if you're not depicting the new characters in the adapted media, which DC/Warner Media wasn't, then what on Earth would be the point? All you'd do is alienate the current fan base with the fans you're trying to bring in having no interest since what's in the comics isn't matching up with what they just saw on television or at the theater.

[kilderkin]

Again, I don't know of many fans who wanted to see Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Diana Prince replaced. It just seemed like such a "bite nose to spite face" reaction. Further, if you're not depicting the new characters in the adapted media, which DC/Warner Media wasn't, then what on Earth would be the point? All you'd do is alienate the current fan base with the fans you're trying to bring in having no interest since what's in the comics isn't matching up with what they just saw on television or at the theater.

This makes a lot of sense to me

[Restingvoice]

So apparently there are already plans in the works to undo some of Didio's edicts:

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/02...popular_mobile

"First, the dates, the specified years' timespans laid out in the DC Timeline are no longer being as tied down."
Good. That's the main problem of this new timeline. Just make a reading order or events chronology. Don't make exact date.

[Robotman]

So apparently there are already plans in the works to undo some of Didio's edicts:

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/02...popular_mobile

Good. Reeeally wasn’t a fan of Superman being 80 years old. I hope 5G just ends up being a possible future and not the actual present.

[Manakel]

You wanna attract new readers with a new character, don't push them in established books with established readerships, pop them somewhere else like you tube channels aimed at the market you wanna teach, I e never seen DC or marvel sponsor a video on say comic pop, caped Joel, professor thorgi, or whatever, that would not cost that much, in fact many channels would love to day they'd don't that and do it cheap

I'm not so sure about that. I wanted to read about superman, batman, wonder woman, etc, for a long time but couldn' find a decent entry point to the universe.
And then N52 happened, a new start and i didn't have to read about a messy continuity full of crisis, with story with vintage art (and using vintage i'm being polite) and dated dialogue (there is no way for me to read golden age, i tried, but no).

Sure there was mistake done with N52, but it has the benefit of attracting new readers, just like me. And it's something every company have to do in order to survive and grow. It will happen again, it has to. Everyone die, we will die or lose interest, and new readers will be here instead.

[iron chimp]

...

Exactly. Show up with cash and support things that appeal to you. Dont try them, pirate them, or only ever buy from back issue bin, then you never wanted them.

Good to hear Giants are popular in your shop - a good initiative by DC.

The comic shop has always been an expensive place way before DC and Marvel entered the direct market tho. As a kid i could afford 4 books from comic shop (but they would come out once every two months) as each one was about $4 to $5 in todays money once youve factored inflation in. So its just always been pricey in the LCS

[kilderkin]

I'm not so sure about that. I wanted to read about superman, batman, wonder woman, etc, for a long time but couldn' find a decent entry point to the universe.
And then N52 happened, a new start and i didn't have to read about a messy continuity full of crisis, with story with vintage art (and using vintage i'm being polite) and dated dialogue (there is no way for me to read golden age, i tried, but no).

Sure there was mistake done with N52, but it has the benefit of attracting new readers, just like me. And it's something every company have to do in order to survive and grow. It will happen again, it has to. Everyone die, we will die or lose interest, and new readers will be here instead.

I'm not sure what your not sure about, sorry, honestly, so if I do follow you

There have been entry points, two major ones in recent years like new 52 and rebirth

But even if that's the case that people think it's hard to get into, and I certainly get that, that just requires better publishing and structure, not removal or replacement

You don't get people into reading superman say, by not having that character in the book

Mostly because it's a false start, new people, tend to jump into something niche like comics because they are brought in by an outside source, like a TV show or movie, you turn up and that character isn't there, they don't tend to want to invest and stick around

But even so, the new 52 did work, old and new alike untill its own planning faltered, same for rebirth,

This doesn't require a dropping of characters or continuity, rather smarter writing and structure for entry points

Some people do like big legacy numbers, but that's easy to manage with volume indica and number subscripts like they use whenever they want to create a big event number like day ww 750

As for fans passing on, your actually making my point in a way, fans will pass, but that's always happened, and those older fans bring in younger family to those books and keep buying them even when product tends to falter

There is no time when a current fan, isn't also an older fan, once they get past a few years of reading, if we think the hobby can sustain itself on new readers every few years, nope, not gonna happen

More so, older fans tend to love completion, one of the reasons they buy stuff they say they don't like, having new entry points and actually finishing the collection of a new volume, right up many of their streets

I do appreciate what you mean about access, I've never got back in the X men because it always looks so much of a hash job, but DC's recent efforts in both cases prove older fans will go with that if the concept is well marketed and the product is strong, and indica can always be there to sustain legacy away from new reader distraction

They want new readers sure, but throwing out the mythos isn't the problem, younger people's consumer habits are different, but it's not difficult to market both, that's really just an imprint or cover and writing solution