DC milks its cash cow Batman to the last drop

**Rich Johnston** · 03-22-2021, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by km_sus

Glad to see that everyone is taking their information from the headline and assuming the worst without any further research. But anything to shit on DC huh?

From what I can see, the price is only going up on titles like Batman and Joker for their variant covers. Their main covers still have the $4.99 price tags. If you want to criticise DC's price point then that's your prerogative (I actually agree btw), but misinformation without a credible evidence is something we should all be against.

Also, you're getting your information from Bleeding Cool and some Youtube outrage grifter? Cmon man.

Bleeding Cool states that this price point is for Batman and Joker. Reproduces the solicitation listing, and adds the page from the catalogue. So why wouldn't you get your info from BC, we're getting our info from DC.

**Rich Johnston** · 03-22-2021, 06:10 PM

Given that it's the same for The Joker in May and June? Some typo.

**Rich Johnston** · 03-22-2021, 06:11 PM

Originally Posted by Pohzee

Didn't we already establish that it was likely a typo in the solicits and that the titles will remain $4.99 give that that's what's printed on the cover?

Given that it's the same for The Joker in May and June? Some typo.

**MajorHoy** · 03-22-2021, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by Rich Johnston

Given that it's the same for The Joker in May and June? Some typo.

Originally Posted by Rich Johnston

Given that it's the same for The Joker in May and June? Some typo.

Echo . . .
echo . . .
echo . . .
echo . . .
echo . . .

**skyvolt2000** · 03-23-2021, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by Nite-Wing

Stop publishing Batman for a year or two lets who will take the top spot at DC or even make up that giant dip in revenue across all the comic shops, publisher arms, etc

People love to talk about Batman's dominance at DC but I have yet to see anyone bring up a solution to this problem outside of grumbling on the internet about DC not focusing attention on less successful characters which of course is not good business

Well it's hard to offer a solution when you have a market that takes issues with certain demographics being leads or even creatives in comics books.

As for being less successful-funny how many of those folks can find an audience OUTSIDE of the direct market. Like Raven, Nubia, Aqualad and Beast Boy.

Super Hero sales are DOWN even with Batman being SHOVED in our faces.

It's NOT bad business to invest in less successful characters. No one is asking for 50 Blue Beetle books. They just want ONE.

All these guys on shows and movies and a REFUSAL to do anything with them using the excuse "movies and tv shows don't bring in readers".

I guess EVERY OTHER COMPANY did not get that memo.

Flooding the market with Batman and ignoring everyone else only allows your competition to sneak in and steal readers.

So when Star Girl gets a show-there is very LITTLE material to toss out or John Stewart's 50th anniversary book is filled with crap-because very little was done with them.

Meanwhile Ms Marvel, Moon Girl, Miles, Luke Cage, Panther, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye and so on have PLENTY to toss out.

**Nite-Wing** · 03-24-2021, 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by skyvolt2000

Well it's hard to offer a solution when you have a market that takes issues with certain demographics being leads or even creatives in comics books.

As for being less successful-funny how many of those folks can find an audience OUTSIDE of the direct market. Like Raven, Nubia, Aqualad and Beast Boy.

Super Hero sales are DOWN even with Batman being SHOVED in our faces.

It's NOT bad business to invest in less successful characters. No one is asking for 50 Blue Beetle books. They just want ONE.

All these guys on shows and movies and a REFUSAL to do anything with them using the excuse "movies and tv shows don't bring in readers".

I guess EVERY OTHER COMPANY did not get that memo.

Flooding the market with Batman and ignoring everyone else only allows your competition to sneak in and steal readers.

So when Star Girl gets a show-there is very LITTLE material to toss out or John Stewart's 50th anniversary book is filled with crap-because very little was done with them.

Meanwhile Ms Marvel, Moon Girl, Miles, Luke Cage, Panther, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye and so on have PLENTY to toss out.

Black Lightning has a show its ending but 4 seasons is better than the 2 Luke cage got
All the popular MCU shows on disney plus are only going for 1 season as setup for more movies.
DC is doing something similar with HBO Max for lesser characters which is of course not good enough for some posters
Let's stop the DC vs Marvel comparisons

Those characters that you claim are successful outside of comics again do not touch or even come close to Batman's revenue
DC, Warnermedia, etc operate on Return on Investment especially since the AT&T acquisition all those firings at DC happened to lower the investment into a medium that isn't giving as much of a profit vs the money spent on producing said medium. When Bigger characters generate a lot of money that gives DC the room to focus on a Jonah Hex or a Blue Beetle you want one book for these characters and when the sales don't amount to much that tells DC that the market does not support these characters.
Look at Marvel with Captain Marvel or Iron Man. Billion Dollar movies and becoming the face of the MCU have done next to nothing for their comic sales.
The comic book market is notoriously weighed against new characters and towards speculation

The lesser known characters in DC's catalog will not approach Batman's revenue generation and the people who keep championing the state of the comics industry under the Bat's dominance will of course be remiss to imagine the state it would be in without Batman there to prop up DC at all. This argument isn't changing. The only way it will change is if other characters begin to pull their weight for DC and lift up sales

You can get a return on investment by focusing on lesser known characters in a more critical medium sometimes maybe you'll get lucky but the string of cancelled books in comics tells of the volatility in the market and the medium centered around superheroes no comment on creator owned works

**Gaius** · 03-24-2021, 07:42 AM

Y'all still got like 800 different Bat-titles to choose from at varying degrees of prices.

**Timothy Hunter** · 03-24-2021, 08:11 AM

I wonder what bat milk tastes like.

**zvrk** · 03-24-2021, 08:14 AM

Sweet sweet Bat-milk

81fa2571c96bf886687ca19a26c237a5.jpg

**MajorHoy** · 03-24-2021, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by zvrk

Sweet sweet Bat-milk

**zvrk** · 03-24-2021, 08:48 AM

Don't play with my heart like that. That's a spoof, right?? It's not an actual comic?

**MajorHoy** · 03-24-2021, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by zvrk

Don't play with my heart like that. That's a spoof, right?? It's not an actual comic?

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/and-...w-and-robin-1/

**zvrk** · 03-24-2021, 08:59 AM

**superduperman** · 03-24-2021, 03:37 PM

What starts with Batman, doesn't usually stop with Batman. They'll do this with others if they can. Superman has his own show and books like Red & Blue are already at the $6.00 price point. So, yeah, if this is going to be an ongoing thing, expect it to trickle down to everyone else eventually. WW EO vol. 3 is $30 compared to the $25 the previous volumes were. Limited series are one thing but an ongoing? I don't see anyone paying that much.

**brandnewfan** · 03-25-2021, 05:27 AM

IF this is true, it's the death of monthly comics.

Imagine spending $6 or more for a 30-40 page single issue. $12 for two of those each month. Then $3-5 for however many other books you want every month. It's no longer a fun hobby but instead it's quickly becoming a hefty bill.

I dropped DC a while ago, because the quality of their product began to sink. No way I'd ever even consider coming back with these prices.

Thread: DC milks its cash cow Batman to the last drop

Thread Tools

Display

Posting Permissions