DC Comics 2024 News/General Discussion

[HsssH]

We don't have good numbers to compare, but so far everything hints at New 52 and Rebirth Flash selling significantly better than Spurier and Adams runs.

It's not about room, it's about sales. If their current characters sold millions of comics we wouldn't be getting "all-new, all-different" versions as much as we do.

Johns created Simon and Jessica when GL franchise still had like 4-5 monthlies.

[Mantis-Ray]

We don't have good numbers to compare, but so far everything hints at New 52 and Rebirth Flash selling significantly better than Spurier and Adams runs.



Johns created Simon and Jessica when GL franchise still had like 4-5 monthlies.

I feel like inflation doesn't help there.

When Flash Rebirth started issues sold for 2.99/3 dollars but at some point in the run the price increased by a dollar and now the Flash books since cost 3.99/4 dollars.

And thats still cheaper than whats going on with Batman. Batman Rebirth #1 2.99$ but now of the current run each issue costs 5 bucks a pop with no major addition to the books length to the main story beyond 10 page back-ups of varying quality.

[HsssH]

Sure, but same could be said about all publishers, no? So why, for example, Flash is hurt more by increasing prices than other books?

It is possible that lower prices meant that people simply bought more comics. And with higher prices they are still buying their Batman, Spawn and Spider-Man, but figured that they can live without Flash and it has nothing to do with Barry/Wally or quality of the book.

[Reddead]

We don't have good numbers to compare, but so far everything hints at New 52 and Rebirth Flash selling significantly better than Spurier and Adams runs.

Flash during New 52 and Rebirth was heavily boosted by the popularity of the CW show. Especially around 2016-17 when iirc it was DC's second best-selling book after Batman.

I'm not sure a Barry book released today would do much better than Wally's. Probably around the same tbh.

[Digifiend]

Hard disagree - her solo series is a handful of months away from hitting 25 issues, in the modern day that is eons of a new ongoing. Doesn't happen if people are only interested in her as a supporting character.

Helps that the writer is G Willow Wilson. Her Ms. Marvel was expected to only be a mini too, but that run also lasted several years (albeit with a new #1 in the middle due to a linewide relaunch).

Yeah, that's the bummer of it. And I love Wally. I love all of the Flashes, almost equally. But it sucks to have one movie bombing cause DC to abandon a classic character (especially when that character had a pretty popular TV series in the recent past). Im not against Wally getting the next movie or the main comic, either, but I want Barry to still get some love and attention, not just be shoved aside for corporate synergy. Especially since we all know that it isn't the Barry Allen character that caused the movie to bomb.

Yeah, it was combination of his actor being a villain in real life and the fact we already knew it's continuity was ending.

I wonder how different things would've been had they relaunched with Wally rather than keep the book going when the transition happened.

Yeah, should've launched a new #1 when Adams took over. A lot of people didn't even know Wally had taken over the book.

[Bruce Wayne]

Yeah, should've launched a new #1 when Adams took over. A lot of people didn't even know Wally had taken over the book.

If anything it also demonstrates, they have no budget for advertising these books, which is no surprise given the COVID era cuts at DC due to WB's acquisition by AT&T and later Discovery.

[RogueWhistler]

Infinite Frontier in general avoided "unnecessary" new #1s, most continuing series came back after Future State with their previous numbering.

[Mai Zen]

If anything it also demonstrates, they have no budget for advertising these books, which is no surprise given the COVID era cuts at DC due to WB's acquisition by AT&T and later Discovery.

I do wonder if aggressive advertising in Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok is enough. Like I mean it's basically free with wide range of reach

[Refrax5]

It's not about room, it's about sales. If their current characters sold millions of comics we wouldn't be getting "all-new, all-different" versions as much as we do.

In terms of the "totally alien Superman" it's possible the series will be about him learning humanity, rather than take it for granted with his upbringing with the Kents. It was done really well by JMS in "Supreme Power" where Hyperion was really sympathetic, but there was tension from not knowing if he'd ultimately use his power for good or ill. It's not the most original idea, but if done well can be very compelling nonetheless.

Well, yeah, but most of the legacy characters don't sell huge either. Hal Jordan and John Stewart are still probably the most popular Lanterns, regardless of how many new ones they try to create. There's a ton of Flashes already, but I doubt any besides Wally or Barry could hold down a series for long (and I say this as somebody who years for the era where Impulse had his own ongoing).

I think stuff like the both the original Ultimate Universe and the new one show that it's not that you need a million new characters, just fresh and accessible takes on the characters you already have. There's a reason these characters have lasted this long and been loved through multiple mediums.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying I'm against diversity or new characters. I think that's important. I just feel like these endless variants feel like a corporation throwing all these various things at the wall lazily and hoping to get a bankable IP out of it.

Characters like Miles Morales are an exception rather than the norm, you know? And it works because Spider-Man is such a huge property that there's room for both him and Peter, among others. I think with smaller properties like Flash and GL, the more of these variants you create, you're just diluting the property and splitting the fandom. I think it leads to diminishing returns after a while.

[Badou]

Which Wally would they use? There is the original Wally, but if they want to make this Wally black, which I think they will probably do, will it be the original or the new Wally? Since both have the same name, are nephews of Barry and Iris, and were Kid Flash. Because of the two Wally characters they have created this really odd situation where you might not be sure which one is which. If one of the reasons for this new line is to try and stave off copyright issues wouldn't using the new black Wally be the path they choose? Since he is much newer.

[All Star Superman]

Just so you know, I am working on followups, and having to be very careful with souirces, but I know that several examples you gave of takes and creators are not true.

Thanks for the info, Rich. I'm just sharing what I heard from a retailer and hope they're not true. Neither these rumors nor the ones shared later in this thread (from 4chan) sound like anything I want to read. I hope the truth is something far better.

Superman with no humanity is so last decade. Doesn't sound believable at all.

Yep, it's been done to death with Zack Snyder's Hobo of Steel and Injustice. As the pre-2000 creators knew and often illustrated in their stories, it's Superman's humanity that makes him super. We need a celebration of humanity's best qualities more now than ever.

Feels like I'm out of touch with DC and fandom in general. Not much interests me in current DC's output and all the "leaks" about Absolute DC sound bad to me as well. Oh well, thank god for reprints.

Same. The only thing DC has done since DiDio returned and Bendis joined in 2018 that I've enjoyed is Superman '78. Venditti is the man.

Another rumour found on Discord claiming:

-Al Ewing on Batman
-Scott Snyder on Superman
-Leah Williams on Wonder Woman

These leak wars are actually being funnier than anything, lmao

I'm not a fan of Snyder's superhero work and don't who Leah Williams is. I don't like Al Ewin's work nor care for him as a person, so I hope that's a false rumor.

[Leancarp900]

If anything it also demonstrates, they have no budget for advertising these books, which is no surprise given the COVID era cuts at DC due to WB's acquisition by AT&T and later Discovery.

It wasn't just the lack of marketing though. Not even the solicits advertised Wally's return. In fact, early marketing was actually advertising the opposite, that this could be the end of Wally's tenure as The Flash. Wally was also outright dead and turned into a villain in the Future State Flash and Teen Titans issues that immediately preceded Infinite Frontier.

Infinite Frontier Flash was put together in the last minute, presumably after Brandon Vietti (who wrote FS Flash) dropped out. Adams got the job because a DC editor asked Tim Sheridan if he knew somebody who could take over the book.

I get the feeling that the idea was to do a short run with Wally to satisfy the angry fans, with Barry returning to the book in time for his movie. Kinda like what Spider-Man Beyond was. But then Gunn announced his reboot, so due to that plus the positive reception to Adams's run they decided to keep going with Wally.

[Leancarp900]

Infinite Frontier in general avoided "unnecessary" new #1s, most continuing series came back after Future State with their previous numbering.

With Adams's Flash they didn't even bother renumbering the trades though, which is something they did for Taylor's Nightwing

(Granted, I imagine it's because trade sales for Williamson's run were decent while the trade sales for Ric Grayson were abysmal).

[Refrax5]

Which Wally would they use? There is the original Wally, but if they want to make this Wally black, which I think they will probably do, will it be the original or the new Wally? Since both have the same name, are nephews of Barry and Iris, and were Kid Flash. Because of the two Wally characters they have created this really odd situation where you might not be sure which one is which. If one of the reasons for this new line is to try and stave off copyright issues wouldn't using the new black Wally be the path they choose? Since he is much newer.

It's almost splitting hairs at this point, since the New 52 Wally was clearly intended to be a rebooted/biracial version of redheaded Wally, just like the version on the TV show was. DC switched course when people were mad about losing redheaded Wally, so they made awkward attempts to make them two distinct characters and I highly doubt they're going to bother with that in the movies. It's either going to be a black actor playing a Wally that's a hybrid of the original and the new kid OR its going to be a white actor. But either way, I'm pretty sure there's only going to be one version of Wally West in this continuity and they're not going to make a distinction between it being a raceswapped Wally or an adaptation of Wallace/Ace.

It's a weird situation, especially since they've made them wholly separate characters. It's a bad look to get rid of or ignore the black character in the franchise, but that's not the Wally that most people love who became the Flash and has all the classic stories.

[Frontier]

I just find it funny how in Absolute Power it seems like Aquaman became king of Atlantis again off-panel only to lose and have to regain the throne again to a robot version of himself.