DC Comics 2023 News/General Discussion

[Pohzee]

Is the direct market dying because of the high pricing, or is the high pricing because the direct market is dying?

[Frontier]

Is the direct market dying because of the high pricing, or is the high pricing because the direct market is dying?

Maybe a bit of both?

[M@Bowers2014]

Maybe they need to bring back ads to comics? That could help offset printing costs and then they could lower prices.

[Vordan]

Maybe they need to bring back ads to comics? That could help offset printing costs and then they could lower prices.

Ads went away because nobody wanted to pay for ads in print media anymore. Unfortunately the Big 2 can’t really bring those back.

[dietrich]

Like Majorhoy said the comic shop owner is talking from his perspective. Ignoring changing trends, a changing world and a changing readership.

Remember when comic blogs were reporting that sales had gone up? That was correct. The comic industry experienced a historic boom in 2021 however that was due to the sales and interest in graphic novels NOT comics.


In 2021, over $1.4 billion was generated from the sales of graphic novels, representing over 70.8% of all comic book sales.
10 years ago, graphic novels accounted for only 47.7% of all comic sales.

Since the pandemic, majority of comics and GN sold were through book stores and digital sales

Over $1.16 billion of comic sales in 2021 were generated through bookstores, which presents 56.14% of total comic book revenue.
At the same time, only 33.9% of revenue came from comic book stores in 2021, accounting for $705 million in sales revenue.
Comic book sales from newsstands remain stable, standing at $35 million in 2021, unchanged from 2020.
In 2013, only 28% of all comic sales went through bookstores, while over 58% came from comic stores.
This shows that comic books became a part of bookselling mainstream and came out of the niche genre that they were up until a few years ago.

https://wordsrated.com/comic-book-sales/

Looking at the genres that GN's cover, Superhero comics are leaving money on the table not diversifying the topics they cover.

Before we go blaming the Gays and the Girls and the Ethnics it's worth noting that in the GN market DC most successful offerings by a long mile [that aren't reprints of classics] are

Primer - young readers novel focused on a young girl

The TT Garcia series - A new york bestseller series of 4 [soon to be 5] YA book series comprised of 3 people of colour and Beast Boy

Harley Quin Breaking Glass [ alongside anything that has harley and Ivy because DC lacks LGBtq content in that format.

So yes the traditional Direct market is dying but that's due to the comics industry changing. it's nothing new. Comics publishing like other industry is only able to endure due to new blood. Tomorrows readers and emerging tech dictate the way the entire industry operates.

My suggestion is DC diversify. More GN featuring a variety of characters aimed at different ages covering various genres.

As for the direct market remember newspapers?

[Last Son of Krypton]

[Last Son of Krypton]

New weekly story ‘The Joker Year One’ coming to ‘Batman’ in February 2024: https://aiptcomics.com/2023/11/16/th...man-dc-comics/

[Frontier]

New weekly story ‘The Joker Year One’ coming to ‘Batman’ in February 2024: https://aiptcomics.com/2023/11/16/th...man-dc-comics/

Something no one was really asking for, but I guess that's on-brand for Batman at this point .

[Digifiend]

The TT Garcia series - A new york bestseller series of 4 [soon to be 5] YA book series comprised of 3 people of colour and Beast Boy

Raven and Dick aren't people of colour. Starfire also looks white in that series though is of course actually an alien. The only POC is Damian.

[Veni]

Raven and Dick aren't people of colour. Starfire also looks white in that series though is of course actually an alien. The only POC is Damian.

and Cyborg ( but his book hasn't been released yet and Garcia mentioned that she wanted a black writer to write it instead of herself)

[Skytten]

Raven and Dick aren't people of colour. Starfire also looks white in that series though is of course actually an alien. The only POC is Damian.

Don't know about in the Garcia universe, but if he is Romani then he is POC.

[El_Gato]

Don't know about in the Garcia universe, but if he is Romani then he is POC.

He isn’t I believe and he’s drawn White like Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy. Thought to be fair artwork of Cyborg, Bumblebee, Blue Beetle and several others exists. Damian is also POC in that series

[CPSparkles]

Raven and Dick aren't people of colour. Starfire also looks white in that series though is of course actually an alien. The only POC is Damian.

The team is made up of Gar, Raven, Maxine [ a black girl] Damian and Dick [he's not a part of the team yet] who is Romani in comics. It's unclear what his heritage is in this series.

Isn't Raven indian? Starfire is an alien.

[jmc247]

Raven and Dick aren't people of colour. Starfire also looks white in that series though is of course actually an alien. The only POC is Damian.

Nonsense Raven has color and uh horns.

[Veni]

The team is made up of Gar, Raven, Maxine [ a black girl] Damian and Dick [he's not a part of the team yet] who is Romani in comics. It's unclear what his heritage is in this series.

Isn't Raven indian? Starfire is an alien.

Raven isn't Indian.