what will it take for you to stop buying dc comics?

[silly]

i guess this question is for those who still buy the comic books on a regular basis.

i started collecting when i was a kid, and kind of stopped in college. i still check out the titles once in a while, but got just back when dc released nu 52. it was fun for a while, but lately i've found my pull list reduced to a couple of titles (the two justice league titles).

so anybody out there with the same predicament? i still enjoy reading the justice league titles, but the previous titles i collected has been discontinued, while those that remain seem to be not that interesting anymore.

i'm just referring to the books. i'm still excited for the dc movies planned. just curious what make other people drop the whole dc line.

[Old Man Ollie 1962]

Depends on the relaunch of certain titles.

[BatGlamorous]

General lack of interest.

Once CW, Midnighter, and SS get inevitably canceled sometime in the immediate future, I'll be down to just three books with no real push to buy more. Seems to be working just fine.

[Myskin]

Well, I've been buying only American Alien lately, therefore I don't know if my opinion still counts. Anyway, in 2011 I regularly bought something like 4-5 titles. Maybe more, I don't remember.

Frankly speaking, I think that once you've taken the collector thing out of the equation, it just becomes way easier. I think that the whole format DC (and Marvel) comics are published in is basically made to turn every occasional reader in a collector, even when the reader is not an avid completist. That is: few monthly pages, a constantly delayed ending, etc.

All in all, quality makes the difference. If you have better choices as far as comics are concerned, renouncing DC Comics becomes the most obvious solution.

[silly]

Depends on the relaunch of certain titles.

is there a scheduled relaunch of titles? another reboot?

[frizb]

Well, after starting out reading nearly all of the New52 to see what I liked, I am down to Batman, Detective, Flash, JL, Action and Superman. I haven't read any of them since Year One was going on. So it's been a couple of years. I was just bored with the writing. Still buying out of habit thinking I'll catch up eventually, but more than likely I'm done with them soon.

[silly]

i have great respect for the creators and their efforts. i just feel that the quality of most of the books i buy took a dive. right now, besides the 2 dc books i buy, i'm really enjoying the star wars books. really gorgeous artwork i must say.

[brandnewfan]

Lobdell as the new Batman writer would do it.

[RobinFan4880]

I am getting 'Tec, Titans Hunt, Starfire, Superman Lois and Clark, Swamp Thing and Justice League. Four of those I have only been purchasing since November.

When the New 52 started, i was buying 15 to 20 a month, gobbling floppies up like candy. Over time my pull list has retracted. It wasn't bad until this year. After Convergence, I basically dropped everything except Justice League and 'Tec. 2 comics is incredibly untenable for a guy who actually likes DC comics. This whole year has been crappy for DC.

Man, I hope 2016 is better than 2015...

[Lightning Rider]

I guess I'll answer because I stopped.

I'd followed the Flash, JLA, JSA, GA, Aquaman, and the Batman specials regularly for years. I was all excited about Flash Rebirth. The Barry retcon disappointed me but I kept reading. I liked Final Crisis. Blackest Night to me was way too event-flavored and after Rebirth I was so tired about reading changes to the rules about the way the Universe operated. I thought it was okay but was overwhelmed with all the colors and the tie-ins and whatnot. I kept following Green Lantern during the Brightest Day stuff, kept buying Flash, bought Flashpoint, liked it but was freshly annoyed by the Barry's dead mom thing. When I heard about the New 52 reboot I was annoyed, I felt like I'd been following the latest stuff for nothing, and I was sad the rich pre-Nu52 world was just going to be wiped away.

I picked up the Flash anyway to see where it was going. I was underwhelmed, always waiting for the story to be good. I started going to college and this took my mind off comics a little bit (I was still reading old graphic novels but I gave up trying to follow many new titles). Then when I bought 3 of the latest Flash comics, around the late teens, they were going to give the Rogues powers. I was annoyed. Then I saw I was missing an annual that fills in the gap between one of the issues. I told myself I'd go back and get that annual, and I just never did. I gave up. I didn't like it. They finally won (or lost, rather). The one title I thought I'd always buy, didn't feel like it was worth it. I didn't feel like the character or the legacy belonged to me anymore. And deep down, I tried to lie to myself and tell myself Barry's retcon from a pure hearted hero to another tragic character, hoping the writing would justify it. But it didn't even come close. The Flash family and history erased, the legacy stained, for nothing. So that was it. I had some sporadic retries by reading The Trench by Geoff Johns and downloading the first Justice League issues, but there was just too much.

Why is Hal a frat boy?
Why is Cyborg in the Justice League, more importantly at the expense of his Teen Titan's past?
Why does Aquaman have to have his meek public perception recognized and internalized for him to overcome it?
Where the hell is the JSA?
What on Earth have they done to Lobo?!
Who the hell is that and where's Wally?!
Did they seriously add Diggle from that soap opera depicting a blond Batman with a bow into the canon?
Superman is making out with Wonder Woman?
Is nothing sacred?

It was just too much. Everything I appreciated about the vast DC Universe was thrown in the garbage. They made it so easy for me to break off and emphatically say "Fuck the New 52". And the more I peeked at what was being done with my favorite characters the more disgusted and disappointed I was. Wally now being a walking stereotype, Gordon as a Gundam Batman, a neverending torrent of dead mom/jailed dad bullshit for Barry. Nah. You can keep that.

I still buy old stuff of course. I don't think I'll ever read all the quality DC stuff there ever was. Not anytime soon anyways.

[Outside_85]

Would be pretty hard, but the following could do it:
-focus on their strong female characters getting pregnant and staying home
-a declaration that says they've given up doing anything well save Batman, so now 75% of the production would now be focused there
-various certain members of the company being given even more power over whats being produced
-general lack of anything interesting being produced

fact is that general apathy regarding much of what DC is putting out is slowly chipping away at the number of DC comics that I buy. The next in the risk of being taken off the list is Gotham Academy and Batgirl, GA while cute doesn't really seem to be going anywhere and the novelty is wearing off, BG it's a bit of the same problem and I am not so sure I'll stick around for the pseudo-rebirth of Birds of Prey.

[Ishmael]

Raising their prices and a twice monthly publishing schedule would pretty much do it for me.

I don't mind the stories and directions they've taken for many books; in fact some of it I've really enjoyed. But I find it hard to justify the expenditure at a certain point, given how quickly the individual issues can be read. I've already dropped all my Marvel titles two years ago for the reasons mentioned. I've no problem doing the same to DC. When that happens, I'll pretty much be done with the hobby.

[failo.legendkiller]

Maybe i'll never ever stop buying DC comics

Although I've stopped buying The Flash as long as the original Wally West won't be restored and placed where he deserves.

That kind of silly things are what can make me stop buying comics (DC are the only comics i buyed, always loathe marvel).

[SmokeMonster]

If there's comes a point where there isn't a book that interests me, I guess I wouldn't be reading dc comics, new ones anyways.

What they do as a company as a whole won't affect my interest in the books I like.

[Cowtools]

For me, it'd be if they do something incredibly stupid, like trying to redo Bloodlines or something...