Rumours and news about DC Titles: 2022 edition

[Frontier]

Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel was successful only because her TPBs sold well. People waited for issues to be collected in volumes. They didn't buy the issues separately as longtime readers/comic fans do.

From what I remember, her issue-by-issue sales tanked because of Civil War II.

[Robotman]

Bluntly despite the campaigning on Twitter, sales starring “diverse” leads tend to be soft unless you’re Miles Morales (and Jon & Jace seem to be doing ok). In other words unless you can piggyback off of the power of having a major brand to back up your legacy, diversity isn’t bringing in new people. You’d think having a billion dollar movie would up your sales a bit, but as you say Arthur himself hasn’t sold all that great, and Jackson sells even worse. Really sucks because I’m digging the Icon reboot, but the Milestone books are only selling in the 10k range at best. Just aren’t enough people showing up for these books. Meanwhile Marvel is pumping out 80s and 90s nostalgia books that seem to be selling well, much to the dismay of some.

Nostalgia sells because older generations are the ones reading comics. Monthly books generally aren’t going to be collected by teens or young adult because they’re too damn expensive and there’s too much competition from other more accessible media. A young person with a part time job can’t afford to buy a stack of comics every week.

As far as the diversity initiatives not generating comics sales, I don’t think that’s the point of creating these new characters. Comic books are now just IP farms for larger media. If books featuring Jon Kent, Kamala Khan, and Jaime Reyes don’t sell well, the studios still has brand new POC and LGBTQ characters for tv and movies.

Weren’t there rumors that the 5G idea came down from the WB suits who wanted a new generation of marketable characters?

[MajorHoy]

And here I was pleasantly surprised that Flashpoint Beyond was going to be released from first to last issue in just 2 - 3 months....

I guess just having Geoff Johns' name attached to a project delays the release of issues from when they were originally solicited.

[Vordan]

Nostalgia sells because older generations are the ones reading comics. Monthly books generally aren’t going to be collected by teens or young adult because they’re too damn expensive and there’s too much competition from other more accessible media. A young person with a part time job can’t afford to buy a stack of comics every week.

As far as the diversity initiatives not generating comics sales, I don’t think that’s the point of creating these new characters. Comic books are now just IP farms for larger media. If books featuring Jon Kent, Kamala Khan, and Jaime Reyes don’t sell well, the studios still has brand new POC and LGBTQ characters for tv and movies.

Weren’t there rumors that the 5G idea came down from the WB suits who wanted a new generation of marketable characters?

I agree! These characters will live on and likely find greater success in outside media adaptions (and yes that’s why WB wanted 5G). Ms. Marvel can’t hold an ongoing but will likely be a hit on Disney+. Blue Beetle can’t hold an ongoing or even get a mini, but fingers crossed his movie will be a hit. Where does that leave the comics though is what I’m wondering? If the “diversity” wave is subsiding just like the XXTREME wave from the 90s did, what do the Big 2 do with these characters and what comes next I wonder?

[Robanker]

I agree! These characters will live on and likely find greater success in outside media adaptions (and yes that’s why WB wanted 5G). Ms. Marvel can’t hold an ongoing but will likely be a hit on Disney+. Blue Beetle can’t hold an ongoing or even get a mini, but fingers crossed his movie will be a hit. Where does that leave the comics though is what I’m wondering? If the “diversity” wave is subsiding just like the XXTREME wave from the 90s did, what do the Big 2 do with these characters and what comes next I wonder?

Tune in for "Redundancy Crisis," where all legacies fight for the mantle in a no-holds barred battle to the death.

Bimonthly. 3 double sized issues, twelve variants each. Coming to DC' Bat Label in 2024.

[Vordan]

Working on the cover of our new book today!

About halfway done with the book right now and I cannot stress to you enough how excited I am for it. My absolute lifelong dream book with a @TomKingTK script that’s genuinely better than I could have ever imagined for it!

https://twitter.com/mitchgerads/stat...311186447?s=21

Guess we’ll soon find out if my hunch about their next book was right.

[Veni]

I agree! These characters will live on and likely find greater success in outside media adaptions (and yes that’s why WB wanted 5G). Ms. Marvel can’t hold an ongoing but will likely be a hit on Disney+. Blue Beetle can’t hold an ongoing or even get a mini, but fingers crossed his movie will be a hit. Where does that leave the comics though is what I’m wondering? If the “diversity” wave is subsiding just like the XXTREME wave from the 90s did, what do the Big 2 do with these characters and what comes next I wonder?

Speaking of diverse characters, there is a Milestone animated movie in the works. If they plan to use diverse characters, then it will be from Milestone instead of 5G. Milestone after all is its own universe. They could potentially start a media franchise ( tv shows, movies, animated movies/series etc). I much prefer Milestone than 5G.

[DragonPiece]

https://twitter.com/mitchgerads/stat...311186447?s=21

Guess we’ll soon find out if my hunch about their next book was right.

What was your hunch?

[HsssH]

Aquamen being a flop is disappointing but people haven’t been digging what Thomas and Brown have been doing going off of the sales, so it’s not really a surprise.

I got the imperssion that only people who liked it was the crowd who tends to like everything with "diversity" attached to the book.

At this point Aquaman franchise is probably a good example of how to ruin a hot property.

[Johnny]

I got the imperssion that only people who liked it was the crowd who tends to like everything with "diversity" attached to the book.

At this point Aquaman franchise is probably a good example of how to ruin a hot property.

Almost like DC has a tendency to do that.

[Coco Loco]

I got the imperssion that only people who liked it was the crowd who tends to like everything with "diversity" attached to the book.

At this point Aquaman franchise is probably a good example of how to ruin a hot property.

I’m still finishing up the two miniseries but have been enjoying both. Really like the art on Black Manta - reminds me of McDonnell’s Suicide Squad work from the 80’s. AquaJackson’s book has had more uneven art, but there’s been no shortage of good stuff. Jackson’s character design is very eye-popping - it jumps off the page much the same way that Arthur’s classic look does. Neither book is earth-shattering or anything, but I’ve enjoyed both. (Also digging Deep Targets.)

[Frontier]

I got the imperssion that only people who liked it was the crowd who tends to like everything with "diversity" attached to the book.

At this point Aquaman franchise is probably a good example of how to ruin a hot property.

I wonder where the tipping point was.

Bunn's editorially mandated failure of a run?

I feel like Abnett's run had stable sales and a lot of eyeballs when Sejic started drawing it (even if people were so tired of Corum Rath and "Arthur loses the throne" for the umpteenth time).

KSD's seemed like it was enjoyed critically, but not commercially.

[Digifiend]

Everyone points at how successful Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel is, but despite getting a Disney+ show she can't seem to hold an ongoing anymore.

Either solo or team. Champions was cancelled too, and doesn't appear to be coming back any time soon.

This isn't a good time to be a fan of teenage superheroes, considering that neither of the big two have a teen team book ongoing now (since the current Teen Titans series ends in two issues).

[Alpha]

What was your hunch?

So I think that Tom King and Mitch Gerads might be working on a Superman book together. Around the 26 minute mark (this is part 2 of a 2 part interview by the way), King is asked about his next project with Gerads. He starts saying “this is a Super-“ before stopping himself. Then he goes on to say that unlike previous books he’s done with Gerads, this is going to be a major book with a lot of eyes on it.

This I guess

[Vordan]

What was your hunch?

That their next book would be a Superman book. It was guess based on King’s last interview on WB. If you go back a couple of pages you can see my reasoning.

Edit: Yeah Alpha found it.