Simply put, Marvel and DC are awful at getting People to buy their comics. It's almost as if the biggest gate keepers in the industry are Marvel and DC themselves.
They need better distribution to book stores, get sold in cinemas and make it easier for People to step into the comics.
Zdarksy has noticed this when he found there's not many full stories of Spider-man collected for newcomers, so he restarted the What if line.
Comic sales themselves aren't bad, they are healthy at the moment, but that health needs to be stable.
The reason why Manga sells better is because it's cheaper to produce, easier to pick up and have more complete runs.
I've said this before, and it's a problem that's plagued the industry for years.
Heck, even Marvel are aware, Jemas himself was scratching his head over how Marvel can be bankrupt when they have some of the most recognisable fictional characters who are popular and loved. The problem was that Marvel simply didn't market themselves properly.
Now, a lot of DC's problems can be summed up with "Stupid business decisions".
AT&T aren't a publishing company or an entertainment company, they have no business in that market, so obviously they are going to make dumb business decisions.
The layoffs point out to a... Well, for one, there's no money floating around, but two, a restructuring in the company and a change of direction.
DC has, for the best part of a decade, been dragging behind Marvel with line wide relaunches and changes in continuity.
While Marvel have had relaunches, I feel two out of three and a half of these were successful. DC started successful with New 52 and Rebirth, but they quickly lost their way.
People keep talking about how comics are dying, and that's mostly from crappy YouTubers who spend too much time complaining about stuff they don't like instead of stuff they do like.