Why even bother with DC Universe??

[Lee Stone]

There are 10s of millions of pages of scanned printed media from 19th and 20th century online. The tech for this was sorted out decades ago - you just need some low paid archive workers to grind through it while yr app subscribers foot the bill. Youre not doing remastered recoloured action comics #1 on 150gsm paper, yr just grinding through pristine archive copies of stuff from 1970s upwards for yr subscribers.

Marvel have been doing it, slowly digitising their whole archive and making the app pay for it and then trading runs cheap.

DC is adding newly digitized stuff each week. Usually around 6-10 comics each week.
It's just that they have such a large backlog of stuff, and tend to focus on a few characters or titles until a run is completed, so it seems like it's taking forever. Especially if you're not interested in the currently WIP comics. Right now, Spectre is one of the focuses, with multiple comics each week for him being digitized until they're done.

Note: This week, they added-
Blackhawk (1988) #1
Batman #191
Super Friends #25
The Phantom Stranger (1969) #9
The Spectre (1987) #25
The Spectre (1967) #5
The Witching Hour #8

[Factor]

Uhm, I don't think anyone was saying DC should upload illegal scans on their own app.

[Lee Stone]

Thanks. Think I read that post too fast.
I'll edit my post. Sorry.

[NeathBlue]

They should focus on comics and make the app available internationally already.

I live in the UK and used a VPN to subscribe.
I use their website rather than their app, basically because I can’t be arsed to go through the hassle of changing my location for my Apple App Store.
Don’t get why it’s not available internationally though.

[Lee Stone]

I live in the UK and used a VPN to subscribe.
I use their website rather than their app, basically because I can’t be arsed to go through the hassle of changing my location for my Apple App Store.
Don’t get why it’s not available internationally though.

Is DC available on Comixology internationally?
If it is, I would suspect it's something to do with the rights to the tv shows and movies. It's possible that WB could have already given international rights to someone else.
That was one of the problems DC Universe had in its creation. There were no CW shows or DCEU movies (the two most familiar to modern audiences) on the app because they were contracted out elsewhere.

The app as a 'video streaming service' was doomed to fail because there was no chance they would get the CW shows (which CW currently owns the rights to and had made their own streaming contract with Netflix) and because HBO had first-run rights, the DCEU movies wouldn't make it on until after everyone's already seen them elsewhere.
And of course, Batman '66 is not on there because the deals they made to get the DVDs out there likely doesn't cover digital streaming and would probably need renegotiating.

DC marketed it as a video service, home to the best and brightest tv and movies based on their characters. But couldn't deliver on that because they didn't have rights to the content everyone was expecting to be included.
The comics, initially an 'afterthought' and included to support the video content, eventually got moved to the forefront to compensate.
And as a comic sub service, it does a lot better than it did as a video content service.
At least in my opinion.

DC Universe can continue to succeed as a 'comics sub service', but it really needs to be marketed as such.
Marketing it now as a video service wouldn't be fair.

[NeathBlue]

Is DC available on Comixology internationally?
If it is, I would suspect it's something to do with the rights to the tv shows and movies. It's possible that WB could have already given international rights to someone else.
That was one of the problems DC Universe had in its creation. There were no CW shows or DCEU movies (the two most familiar to modern audiences) on the app because they were contracted out elsewhere.
.

I’ve never used Comixology because I’ve always thought it expensive for single issues... However, I just checked and yeah DC is on it.
Interestingly, the comics you mentioned that have just become available on DC Universe, Batman 191 etc, have just become available on there also... but at £1.59 for a single issue, it reaffirmed my opinion it’s too expensive.

[Lee Stone]

I’ve never used Comixology because I’ve always thought it expensive for single issues... However, I just checked and yeah DC is on it.
Interestingly, the comics you mentioned that have just become available on DC Universe, Batman 191 etc, have just become available on there also... but at £1.59 for a single issue, it reaffirmed my opinion it’s too expensive.

DC Universe gets the same copies that DC Comics makes for Comixology, hence why the same comics get released on both at the same time.
DC Universe is really at the mercy of whatever DC Comics decides to put on Comixology.

And, yeah. Those are standard prices for back issues on Comixology.
I don't mind paying those prices compared to new releases.
But it's always better to wait for a sale.
I believe the $1.99 standard is held basically so they can have 99-cent sales.
If comics were standard 99-cents, there would be no room to mark down for a sale.

[kingaliencracker]

I don't buy the "it's too expensive" or "it's too time consuming" to scan & upload excuses. People are paying either $8/month or $75/annual for the subscription that going forward will no longer feature new content. There's absolutely zero reason why it should be missing huge chunks of comic books from the bronze and post-Crisis ages when (as a prior post points out) those comic books are available on bootleg sites. And while I'm perfectly fine with the lag time between a new release and its availability on DC Universe, I'd like to point out that it only has the first 6 issues of Geoff Johns' SHAZAM! series, with #6 being released June of last year. So they're not even keeping up with newer series.

[Lee Stone]

I don't buy the "it's too expensive" or "it's too time consuming" to scan & upload excuses. People are paying either $8/month or $75/annual for the subscription that going forward will no longer feature new content. There's absolutely zero reason why it should be missing huge chunks of comic books from the bronze and post-Crisis ages when (as a prior post points out) those comic books are available on bootleg sites. And while I'm perfectly fine with the lag time between a new release and its availability on DC Universe, I'd like to point out that it only has the first 6 issues of Geoff Johns' SHAZAM! series, with #6 being released June of last year. So they're not even keeping up with newer series.

#7 didn't come out until September 25th, so you still have a bit longer to wait.

[Prime]

With HBO Max they will probably discontinue this one.

[Lee Stone]

With HBO Max they will probably discontinue this one.

I think they'll keep it going for the comics. It's still cheaper than Marvel Unlimited and covers a larger backlog.

[Jekyll]

I think the better question is why bother with DC? It’s clear if it isn’t Batman related they aren’t going to put forth effort.

[DrNewGod]

I have no problem with the app, myself...The wait for new comics is six months longer than on MU, but they use better quality files.
IIRC, Marvel doesn't use the same files they supply to Comixology like DC does.
Also, since I prefer pre-Flashpoint DC, the wait doesn't really effect me as much as others....

DC is adding newly digitized stuff each week. Usually around 6-10 comics each week...Note: This week, they added-
Blackhawk (1988) #1
Batman #191
Super Friends #25
The Phantom Stranger (1969) #9
The Spectre (1987) #25
The Spectre (1967) #5
The Witching Hour #8

I think they'll keep it going for the comics. It's still cheaper than Marvel Unlimited and covers a larger backlog.

DC still has some pretty enormous gaps in its silver and bronze age titles. I could understand this for titles like Mystery in Space, but they've got sizeable holes in the runs of their Big 3, including both Batman titles.

Still, like you, I'm largely content with the app. I just wish it had some more sorting options in its Favorites categories. I'd really like to be able to sort them by release date the the Marvel's Library function allows.

[Lee Stone]

DC still has some pretty enormous gaps in its silver and bronze age titles. I could understand this for titles like Mystery in Space, but they've got sizeable holes in the runs of their Big 3, including both Batman titles.

Still, like you, I'm largely content with the app. I just wish it had some more sorting options in its Favorites categories. I'd really like to be able to sort them by release date the the Marvel's Library function allows.

I agree, especially considering that these are the same comics they sell through Comixology.
There's people out there that would buy that stuff up.

I've held off on buying JLI digitally on Comixology because they're still missing about six issues of JLI and almost all of JLE.
And they still don't have the Annuals for the Baxter Legion on Comixology, which means they're not on DCUniverse either.

When DC was digitizing large runs, like Legion, Infinity Inc, Titans and Outsiders, they would just forget the annuals. Some of them have appeared, but a real comic reader would have thought to include them when they first digitized the full runs.

I also agree about the sorting. The website had a sort by year feature, but it goes by 'start of the series', meaning Batman would be under 1940 and JLA under 1960.

[skyvolt2000]

I agree, especially considering that these are the same comics they sell through Comixology.
There's people out there that would buy that stuff up.

I've held off on buying JLI digitally on Comixology because they're still missing about six issues of JLI and almost all of JLE.
And they still don't have the Annuals for the Baxter Legion on Comixology, which means they're not on DCUniverse either.

When DC was digitizing large runs, like Legion, Infinity Inc, Titans and Outsiders, they would just forget the annuals. Some of them have appeared, but a real comic reader would have thought to include them when they first digitized the full runs.

I also agree about the sorting. The website had a sort by year feature, but it goes by 'start of the series', meaning Batman would be under 1940 and JLA under 1960.

Wasn't Gerard Jones a writer for those books at one time?

And what about books with Milestone folks in them or characters like Bloodhound or Xero who are no longer owned by DC but thier respective creators (Priest and Stuart Moore).