Quote Originally Posted by Myskin View Post
Yeah, you are right - I had definitely forgotten the Earth-One stuff (thankfully). Which, in addition to all of the flaws we already know, had one more, too: now that I think about it, the stories didn't actually fit a 144-page book - it was as if the writers had written 5-6 scripts with the 22-page format in mind and then these "virtual", separate issues had been collected for the release of the OGN.
And that's been a very common mistake on DC's part, which is why the majority of their efforts to enter new markets have failed. The YA stuff has done well because it *hasn't* made that mistake. They're figuring out how to operate in new markets, largely it seems by hiring people who are already in those markets. That Earth-1 effort, who was writing it? Comic book writers like Johns, JMS, and Morrison. Who's writing the YA and webtoons stuff? People who were already writing YA and webtoons stuff. It's a little concerning that DC didn't realize they needed to do this at the start, but they've figured it out now. I think.

Ok, thanks (may I have already asked you this question in this past? Should it be the case, sorry).
I think you have, but that's fine. We all need a refresher from time to time. I'm sure you've explained before how comics work out your way, and I couldn't remember either

And the history of comics in your country isn't so terribly far removed from the States. We used to have comics on newsstands and spinner racks and magazine shelves too, until the rise of the hobby shop. Then they started moving into bookstores via trade collections, then OGN's and manga, etc.

The direct market sales is in a sad situation, but it's a really great example of a market at the end of its life cycle. Units sold keep going down so cover price keeps going up...which makes sales go down so the price has to rise even more. Supply/demand can be a real bitch.

You're totally right that it's a untenable position, the hobby is a pure rip-off, financially. Five bucks for twenty pages! A manga is what, 120 pages or something? For ten-twelve bucks? A $25 blu-ray is at least a couple hours of entertainment, but $25 worth of comics is like, five issues that you'll finish in a half hour. It's a horribly expensive hobby. But the only solution is to expand readership and/or cut production costs. Getting new readers into a hobby shop isn't something DC can really do much to affect; they don't control local level advertising, they're not a big enough entertainment venue to get on the national news unless they do something wild like the New52 reboot. It's simply too niche a market, and publishers are too far removed from the ground level and customers, for things to be turned around by any single entity. Maybe if *all* the publishers got together they could work something out, somehow, but DC itself? Not likely.

And that's assuming DC would reduce their cover price even if they did reduce their expenses. I'm sure the publishing line is still making profit on comics, there's no way we're at "break even" or "loss" territory yet, but if DC did manage to reduce their bills they'd likely just keep the cover price the same and pocket that extra cash.

They *could* lower production costs by switching to a lower grade paper, stop printing in color, etc., but those things don't actually account for a huge chunk of the cover price (only about 10% I think?), their biggest expense seems to be payroll, and that only changes if they start paying people less, or they find a way to cut people out of the production chain (like getting rid of colorists and going black-and-white or making the editor/s do the lettering). DC already moved out of their big office with it's high overhead costs, and moved into a smaller spot that's cheaper to maintain (I think?). And it's not like the shop owners are going to accept a smaller slice of the cover price either, I think they get something like 40% of the cover sale? And most hobby shops struggle to pay the bills already, they're not gonna let publishers take a bigger cut.

I'm not one of those "the sky is falling and comics are seconds away from death!" fans, but I can recognize the direct market is nearing the end of its cycle. It'll stick around for years yet, assuming economic chaos doesn't pull the rug out from under them or something, but I'm pretty sure that, short of a business miracle, there's no recovering from where we're at. That's why it's so important for publishers to break into those new markets and establish footholds there before the direct market collapses.