I’m majorly disappointed with DC right now. Countdown flat out bores me to tears. Amazons Attack seemed to come out of nowhere and is still murky, both in concept and execution. Why the heck hasn’t anyone attacked Hypolita directly? And what the heck is she doing back anyway?

Then there’s the normal series. Superman/Action Comics are all over the map with some great stories interrupted by shite like this Jimmy Olson snorefest. I dropped Batman/Detective Comics for the first time in 9 years because they got boring, and normally I like Morrison and thot I’d like Dini. Wonder Woman got back on schedule just in time to get tied up with the craptacular AA crossover. Flash was a disaster from Day 1. Outsiders just slid into oblivion with an unnecessary and poorly executed crossover with Checkmate, another book that seems to be loosing it’s way. And JLA is still dull - who the frell approved a two-character spotlight where they spend the ENTIRE ISSUE MOTIONLESS AND TRAPPED UNDER A BUILDING?!!!!! I did like art tho.

A few bright spots remain for me tho -
Blue Beetle is one of my favorites (yes, I know I’m 1 of only 4 people who like this book)
Justice Society and JSA: Classified still rock
Birds of Prey is still strong tho with Gail gone I’m a bit worried
GL (now that Sinestro Corp has started) and GL Corps are very solid
Brave and the Bold is pretty decent (tho #5 was the weakest so far)
Teen Titans isn’t bad but the last several issues have been sub par

Course I don’t think Marvel is all that great either. I dropped my Spider titles cuz they got all soap-opery again. Astonishing X is dragging now that it’s in space. She-Hulk, my fav usually, hasn’t been fun or funny in a while, Runaways is now in the 19th Century (I HATE OLD TIMEY ANYTHING!!!!) and Ms. Marvel has turned into The Astoundingly Uninteresting Adventures of the Amazing Avenger’s Aimless Leader.

Fell and Elephantmen are the only titles I can rely on to deliver a great story with great art each and every issue.

I agree. The long-term numbers clearly show that overall sales of the DC Universe line have vastly improved since Didio took over back in 2002. That’s an achievement. So calling for the man’s head seems premature.

Still, the company’s numbers have started to decline again over the past year, with a long chain of spectacular failures, bizarre creative decisions and lapsing sales juggernauts and nothing on the horizon to turn things around. At some point, the excuse that they’re still doing better than five years ago won’t work anymore - because so’s Marvel, and they’re still knocking it out of the park.

Maybe San Diego is going to change the perception, as Paul suggests, but I’m not holding my breath. DC seem to be stuck with their current direction for at least another year, and it’s unclear whether FINAL CRISIS is the end of the tunnel for them or the train.

“The DC books I read - Superman, Detective, Brave and the Bold, All-Star Superman, Green Lantern, the Spirit - are pretty self-contained, focusing on telling stories about the titular characters.”

I think DC would do well to use some of those books as models for their line. At present, though, they’re exceptions rather than the rule.

DC UNIVERSE
06/2003: 29,489
06/2004: 35,815
06/2005: 39,888
06/2006: 51,088 (-10.3%)
06/2007: 45,313 (- 4.2%)

Basically, sales are down from 2006, but are in keeping with where they were in 2005. Considering that 2006 was a huge year for them - Infinite Crisis, One Year Later, 52, Alex Ross’ Justice, etc.

Still, DC’s strategy is out of step: They’re cancelling solid performers like Green Arrow to reboot is as something very few ever wanted. And Countdown has been met with a wary “meh” by the market, deservedly so. Time to rethink some of these strategies for sure.

Oh, and Mr. Frisch - I love these columns, but felt this was a tad unfair:

Marvel’s recent big event books (and their tie-ins) work as self-contained reads and are built around simple concepts (”Captain America and Iron Man clash over civil liberties,” “Spider-Man unmasks,” “Captain America is shot,” “Hulk smashes everyone”).

DC’s line, in contrast, looks like a big, neverending crossover that’s about nothing but other comics and addresses no one but the hardcore fans. I imagine that’s what’s making the difference currently.

I think this applies to aspects of their line - Countdown, Amazons Attack, etc. (otherwise to be referred to as, “DC books I avoid”). But it’s simply not their whole line. The DC books I read - Superman, Detective, Brave and the Bold, All-Star Superman, Green Lantern, the Spirit - are pretty self-contained, focusing on telling stories about the titular characters. So it’s not line-wide. Not yet, anyways.

Anyway, keep up the great work!

You could look it another way, though. Suppose CROSSING MIDNIGHT is able to survive on the strength of its trade paperback sales. Does it do any harm to shove out a low-selling monthly version as well? It’s a bit of extra money, it helps the cashflow on the project, and it means that when the trade paperback hits the shelves you can (hopefully) point to lots of positive reviews.

The downside is that publishing a serial version has certain consequences for pacing and chapter length, and if the monthly sales are going to be trivial in comparison with the trade paperback sales, it might not be worth making that compromise. But that’s about it. ”

From a creative standpoint, it sounds like a pretty big downside - pigeonholing the creators into making creative choices that may or may not be ideal for the story.

Also, so many publishers are still stuck in the mindset that if the comic booklets don’t sell, there might not be a paperback and that’s a mindset that shouldn’t be supported or encouraged. If it’s about getting positive reviews, put it online with zuda or send out advances like real publishers do.

While both these companies have big problems juggling their continuity and keeping it in line, DC’s Countdown is a weak link I don’t like. It’s supposed to be the “backbone of the DC universe” but first off, not a lot of people are digging it, and secondly it’s confusing people and giving readers a tie-in headache that 52 did not.

As for Amazons Attack, I don’t think that a lot of people care about it, and the Wonder Woman series was behind, causing trouble for that event.

It’s just a mess.

You could look it another way, though. Suppose CROSSING MIDNIGHT is able to survive on the strength of its trade paperback sales. Does it do any harm to shove out a low-selling monthly version as well? It’s a bit of extra money, it helps the cashflow on the project, and it means that when the trade paperback hits the shelves you can (hopefully) point to lots of positive reviews.

The downside is that publishing a serial version has certain consequences for pacing and chapter length, and if the monthly sales are going to be trivial in comparison with the trade paperback sales, it might not be worth making that compromise. But that’s about it.

Amazons Attack is easy enough to sum up and understand, but the uber-crossover is a bunch of multiverse stuff that all feels clinical and unengaging. And whereas 52 had a clearly delineated point and a number of character arcs, I really have no idea where Countdown is going or is supposed to go, modestly entertaining Jimmy Olsen bits aside.

Once again, there’s an amazing difference on display in sales, about how Marvel continues, no matter the low-ranking quality of any of their books now, to maintain [relatively] big sales, World War Hulk being the main example of the moment, whereas D….

Maybe DC should not have published the book in the comic booklet format, hmm…

This is easily the most exciting story to happen since Infinite Crisis, with the possibility of massive impact on the entire DC Universe. In one issue they managed to set the scale and seriousness of the storyline. Yet they only sold about 60,000 issues.

People often complain about Marvel’s marketing tactics, but if this comic had been published by Marvel they would have had retailers and fans terrified of missing out on the issue and orders would have been significantly higher, possibly tens of thousands higher. Instead DC gets a modest hit and now readers who missed it have to wait 2 weeks for the reprint. While re-orders and reprint numbers will be big, the momentum of the initial release is weakened considerably.

Add in DC’s insistence on having several major events at once, such as Amazons Attack and Countdown, and the fan doesn’t know where his eye is supposed to be drawn. When I read the Sinsetro Corps special and got to the final pages I knew this storyline was big enough to be an event on its own. You knew what the event was about in one issue. Adding to what Marc said previously, I don’t think fans have the answers yet as to what Amazons Attack and Countdown are about.

I’d also like to laugh at all those liars who said “no I’m dropping JLA. I don’t like Meltzer’s writing.” Really, do you? Basically everyone stuck with it, and only people in double digits really dropped it.

The fact alone that the book “sold out” at the publisher is meaningless in most cases, since publishers tend to set their print runs pretty close to what retailers order. There’s been a second printing of SINESTRO CORPS SPECIAL, though, which will presumably show up on the chart at some point. I’ll comment on that when it happens.

“DC does a bunch of crossovers and people whine.
Marvel does continuous crossovers and people rejoice.”

Marvel’s recent big event books (and their tie-ins) work as self-contained reads and are built around simple concepts (”Captain America and Iron Man clash over civil liberties,” “Spider-Man unmasks,” “Captain America is shot,” “Hulk smashes everyone”).

DC’s line, in contrast, looks like a big, neverending crossover that’s about nothing but other comics and addresses no one but the hardcore fans. I imagine that’s what’s making the difference currently.

Well, Alan, logically the obvious answer is that readers don’t object to crossovers as such. They just don’t like the particular crossovers that DC are doing.

And now we see the reason. Despite the desperate scheme, sales numbers for The Highwaymen don’t even crack 10,000 units, which means the book is dead on arrival by the standards of a major publisher. And presuming that at least some retailers took DC up on their scheme, initial orders must have been worse.

The Highwaymen continues the trend which Crossing Midnight, Scalped, Army@Love, as well as WildStorm’s recent lines of science fiction, fantasy and horror titles have fallen victim to: Both Vertigo and WildStorm are proving utterly incapable of launching new properties into the direct market, unless creators with a significant sales draw are involved.

It’s a worrying trend. To reverse it, I suspect more resources than the publisher seems currently willing to invest in either imprint will be required.”

Or, the publishers could wise up and try a new business model. Modern audiences just aren’t interested in the comic booklet format anymore. Moreover, serializing Graphic Novels is just a poor publishing decision that constrains the creators and apparently doesn’t even sell. The audiences for these types of books are not the kidults who drool over the latest empty spandex event.

The best selling prose novels may have multiple chapters, but those chapters aren’t sold as collect ‘em all serials. Why is that?

What the frak is wrong with people?

As for one posters mention of the ‘comparison’ to indie titles. Its not a comparision its just because they are shown at the same time. There is no implicit comparison being made.

This $ 4.99 special yields solid numbers, selling not far below the mother title (which was on a scheduled skip month in June). Then again, it’s by the same creative team, and it’s the start of a new crossover storyline running through Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps and a bunch of other titles, so the good performance doesn’t entirely come as a surprise.

DC can certainly use a modest hit, at any rate.”

Shouldn’t there be a whole mess of re-orders hitting the charts next month since the book was widely reported as a sell-out and shipped in the last week of June?

They ceased publishing The Boys, those geniuses!

I also think that using Grant Morrison’s fabled notebooks is not exactly the best plan. Nor so I think DC should be placing there bets with a limited group of writers (Waid, Morrison, Johns, Winnick). There are equally as creative folk out there that could bring a new perspective to the DC universe.

And why is no one commenting on the gross misuse of profanity in ASB&R (14 swear words in only a 9 page preview), and nudity in Batman 666? Batman is an ICON, and appeals to mass audiences, kids, adults, geriatrics. As long as there are food stuffs and clothing lines aimed at children with this character, I think DC editorial should censor its line much better. Retailers beware, you could face charges like Gordan Lee if you sell this stuff to minors.

I also think that using Grant Morrison’s fabled notebooks is not exactly the best plan. Nor so I think DC should be placing there bets with a limited group of writers (Waid, Morrison, Johns, Winnick). There are equally as creative folk out there that could bring a new perspective to the DC universe.

And why is no one commenting on the gross misuse of profanity in ASB&R (14 swear words in only a 9 page preview), and nudity in Batman 666? Batman is an ICON, and appeals to mass audiences, kids, adults, geriatrics. As long as there are food stuffs and clothing lines aimed at children with this character, I think DC editorial should censor its line much better. Retailers beware, you could face charges like Gordan Lee if you sell this stuff to minors.

I also think that using Grant Morrison’s fabled notebooks is not exactly the best plan. Nor so I think DC should be placing there bets with a limited group of writers (Waid, Morrison, Johns, Winnick). There are equally as creative folk out there that could bring a new perspective to the DC universe.

And why is no one commenting on the gross misuse of profanity in ASB&R (14 swear words in only a 9 page preview), and nudity in Batman 666? Batman is an ICON, and appeals to mass audiences, kids, adults, geriatrics. As long as there are food stuffs and clothing lines aimed at children with this character, I think DC editorial should censor itself much better. Retailers beware, you could face charges like Gordan Lee if you sell this stuff to minors.