DC Comics 2024 News/General Discussion

[Hypo]

Not DC specific but a look at what 2023 was like for retailers: “Completely Great, a Total Pain in the Ass, and Everything In-Between”: Retailers Discuss a Year of Change in Comic Shops

[Vordan]

Not DC specific but a look at what 2023 was like for retailers: “Completely Great, a Total Pain in the Ass, and Everything In-Between”: Retailers Discuss a Year of Change in Comic Shops

DC’s Dawn of DC initiative had plenty of fans as well, even if everyone was incredibly frustrated by how the publisher’s event Knight Terrors — which replaced the entire line two months in — nuked its momentum almost immediately. Customers responded to the back-to-basics simplicity of these superhero stories, with Shazam, Superman, and Birds of Prey being standouts.

No seriously, what the hell was the plan there? Seems like Knight Terrors was a flop on every level. If it was meant to boost sales it doesn’t seem to have done that. If it was meant to give artists time to get ahead, it didn’t seem to succeed there either. The fast artists like Mora and Jimenez kept chugging along fine, but guys like Campbell are still nowhere to be seen.

House of Brainiac is the first event I’ve been interested in since Death Metal. Really hope it doesn’t get hurt by DC trotting out Zero Hour 2.

[Vordan]

Interestingly, another creator who proved to be a lightning bolt doesn’t even work in comics. It was James Gunn. The CEO of DC Studios revealed the next wave of its movies and generated heat for some shops in the process, with Trites describing that announcement as “maybe the single most effective bit of marketing in 2023.” It led to a surge of interest in collections like All-Star Superman and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. While Gunn’s Midas touch famously resulted in big sales on Amazon, comic shops reaped the benefits as well.

Thank God for Gunn, he’s the only real marketing star at DC currently. Also shows that hey, there is actually interest in his DCU.

“Batman would be an unexpected example for something that hasn’t been connecting with readers lately. The core Batman title remains a best seller, but sales for almost any Bat minis or spinoffs are down,” Trites said. “Part of that is Batman fatigue, and part of that is pricing, but when Batman facsimile reprints and classic Batman trade paperbacks are regularly outselling new Batman releases, that’s speaks more to the lack of interest in current Batman rather than a lack of interest in Batman overall.”

I’ve seen similar trends in the ICV2 charts. Batman and Tec sell fine despite complaints, same as ASM, but the side Bat minis like Brave & Bold don’t sell. Which is obviously a huge problem for DC given they are planning an Elseworld line of mostly Batbooks.

That relates to something that connects much of what didn’t work this year. There is a perception that many titles don’t have an audience or a reason to exist. That’s affecting titles of all varieties, even previous locks like Big Two events. It seems as if there’s a growing belief amongst customers that superhero events just happen, proving to be inessential rather than milestones for these universes. While Knight Terrors generated the most ire — I cannot stress to you how disliked Knight Terrors really was — it seems as if very little Marvel or DC is doing on this front is working.

The last big event that “mattered” for Marvel was Secret Wars, for DC it was Metal. The past couple of events at both companies have been terrible. There’s no buildup, ideally events should be the culmination to long running storylines like Blackest Night was. Either that or they have to actually have serious consequences like Flashpoint, Infinite Crisis, or Darkseid War. This latest crop of events have neither had the buildup nor the fallout, and there’s also been too many of them back to back.

But that issue extends to all parts of the Big Two, as the constant churn and burn of mini-series — particularly at Marvel — and endless new characters tire customers instead of exciting them. There’s a cynicism there that readers are sniffing out these days.

I think this pertains specifically to the legacy heroes. There’s too many of them, and DC backed away from 5G which has left the Future State characters feeling like vestigial limbs. Jace has disappeared since Ridley’s run ended, Andy is still a baby and also Aquaman hasn’t had a book in over a year, Jesse is never coming to Earth 0 and taking up the Flash mantle. Jo is around but irrelevant, another new GL added to a Corps already staffing more human Lanterns than it can support books for. Jon and Yara are the only two currently relevant. Jon shows up in Titans, Nightwing, and the King Super Sons backups, Yara is in King’s WW and Josie Campbell’s Amazons Attack.

The good news is, the new year is starting strong. Merkler reported that some customers who were unenthusiastic about 2023’s slate are much more excited to dig into upcoming launches like Image’s Ghost Machine imprint and DC’s Elseworlds revival. More than that, the year may already have its first big hit, with many raving about Ultimate Spider-Man #1’s sales. Higgins said the recent Marvel launch “had more customers coming in or calling (about it) than I’ve seen on a book in a while.” He wasn’t the only one.

Well hey maybe I’m wrong and the Elseworld Batbook line will achieve great success. Thank God for Ultimate Spider-Man, that book was a shot of adrenaline for this industry.

[Leancarp900]

I think the "endless new characters tire customers instead of exciting them" line is more directed at those characters who pretty blatantly exist for speculators and to sell variant covers and are completely dropped the moment their five minutes of fame pass.

I feel Williamson does this all the time, as did Tynion back when he was writing Batman. Remember Red Canary? Miracle Molly? Ghostmaker? Clownhunter? Respawn? Yeah...

[Frontier]

To be honest I had completely forgotten Kight Terrors even happened. I think what people remember most about it is that it 99% broke the momentum for practically every book.

I think the "endless new characters tire customers instead of exciting them" line is more directed at those characters who pretty blatantly exist for speculators and to sell variant covers and are completely dropped the moment their five minutes of fame pass.

I feel Williamson does this all the time, as did Tynion back when he was writing Batman. Remember Red Canary? Miracle Molly? Ghostmaker? Clownhunter? Respawn? Yeah...

Even Punchline lost a lot of momentum even after getting her own series.

[Vordan]

I think the "endless new characters tire customers instead of exciting them" line is more directed at those characters who pretty blatantly exist for speculators and to sell variant covers and are completely dropped the moment their five minutes of fame pass.

I feel Williamson does this all the time, as did Tynion back when he was writing Batman. Remember Red Canary? Miracle Molly? Ghostmaker? Clownhunter? Respawn? Yeah...

I totally forgot about Tynion’s OCs. In fairness he definitely had a plan for them, but when he bailed they all ended up being dropped too. He outright said in his newsletter that he was trying to play the speculation market with those characters, and also because editorial kept blocking him from using characters because of 5G he had to make replacements.

[Morgoth]

It's not like Ghost Maker hasn't been given a chance, he had a solo. The same goes for Punchline.
People just don't care and they don't buy them.

[Frontier]

It's not like Ghost Maker hasn't been given a chance, he had a solo. The same goes for Punchline.
People just don't care and they don't buy them.

Well, Ghost-Maker hijacked Batman Inc. (and not very well, mind you).

[DragonPiece]

It's not like Ghost Maker hasn't been given a chance, he had a solo. The same goes for Punchline.
People just don't care and they don't buy them.

I mean, they did care and that is a raeson why ghost maker and clownhunter got the batman inc spinoff and punchline had her own miniseries. Tynion was actually a huge asset to DC, he just decided to focus on indie comics since those were selling so well.

[Garrac]

Ok, suposing DC ultimate thingy happens and they get to touch the Trinity, this is my wishlisting for the Wonder Woman team, in max to min order:

-Kelly Sue + Jimenez. I know, it's not the most original thing to ever be proposed, but, what can I say, am I right? i'd also like for it to happen on the Historia universe, but maybe that's just too much copium for the human body
-I don't care about anyone else, give me Kelly, goddamnit
-GIMME KELLY SUE

[Hypo]

Ok, suposing DC ultimate thingy happens and they get to touch the Trinity, this is my wishlisting for the Wonder Woman team, in max to min order:

-Kelly Sue + Jimenez. I know, it's not the most original thing to ever be proposed, but, what can I say, am I right? i'd also like for it to happen on the Historia universe, but maybe that's just too much copium for the human body
-I don't care about anyone else, give me Kelly, goddamnit
-GIMME KELLY SUE

I disagree, anything Kelly Sue does that's going to be constrained by continuity is going to pale in comparison to Historia, rather they go in a completely different direction.

[HsssH]

I'd rather she just did more Historia. It probably sold well enough after Gunn boosted it.

And is Detective really a good seller? Like sure, it sells better than most other books, but I think it often misses Top 50?

[Vordan]

I'd rather she just did more Historia. It probably sold well enough after Gunn boosted it.

And is Detective really a good seller? Like sure, it sells better than most other books, but I think it often misses Top 50?

It’s sometimes out of the top 25, but I’ve never seen it out of the top 50. They also signed Ram V to an exclusive, they view him as one of their big writers. Right now I think the only writers that have exclusives are V, Williamson, and Taylor

[Leancarp900]

It’s sometimes out of the top 25, but I’ve never seen it out of the top 50. They also signed Ram V to an exclusive, they view him as one of their big writers. Right now I think the only writers that have exclusives are V, Williamson, and Taylor

King is exclusive as well.

(Also, exclusive contracts are basically just a "don't sign for Marvel". They are generally still allowed to do books for other companies.)

[Vordan]

King is exclusive as well.

(Also, exclusive contracts are basically just a "don't sign for Marvel". They are generally still allowed to do books for other companies.)

Right, I forgot about King. I know but exclusives are still given to writers that the Big 2 view as “important” i.e. the kind of writers editorial trusts enough to let guide the line.