About DC being upset that Final Crisis was #2 to Secret Invasion. I’ve heard by about 40,000 copies. It wasn’t that long ago that if DC comic hit #2 in the listings at only 40,000 copies less than the Marvel comic in the #1 slot, DC management would have sent out for champagne, strippers and 8 foot cakes. It might not have beaten Secret Invasion, but it did beat everything else Marvel published and Secret Invasion wasn’t launched coming off Countdown. So all things considered Final Crisis hardly counts as a failure.

Nobody likes to get bad reviews, but DC’s no stranger to them and as far as I know usually doesn’t make decisions based on them.

People seem to think that because we’re politically diametric Chuck and I hate each other, but as far as I know that’s not true, and I think Chuck’s a pretty good writer. There’s no doubt he deservedly has his fans. I don’t know that he’s any more a “fan favorite” writer than, oh, Joe Casey is. I don’t know that Chuck’s name on its own merit sells books any better than mine does. That’s the mark of a “fan favorite”; someone whose NAME ALONE sells books. You know, like Frank Miller. Are there any real fan favorites these days, people whose names alone sell books? (Selling to one’s own fanbase doesn’t count unless that fanbase is big enough to buy lots and lots of copies.) I don’t pretend to be privy to why Chuck has all his DC assignments pulled but unless he was advocating the assassination of foreign dignitaries or American government officials or something along those lines I wouldn’t think politics would play any part in it. But, y’know, in the realm of work-for-hire comics, abrupt replacement of the talent happens. Hazard of the trade.

As for Jimmy… again, I like Jimmy and his work just fine. But what makes anyone think Jimmy, who’s a freelancer, would be “next in line” for anything anywhere? Why would anyone even think that if DC decided to replace Dan - which is still a pretty big If - it wouldn’t go outside the comics business again? One of Dan’s pluses as far as DC was concerned was his experience in other media and businesses, and never forget that DC views itself as a media company these days, just as Marvel does. If we’re measuring Dan’s “failure” against Marvel, pretty much no head of editorial in the last 35 years has done anything but fail by that measure. If we measure Dan’s “failure” by how angry DC readers have been about the material, failure by that standard has been familiar to DC going back at least 30 years. DC has mostly been in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation re: their readers for ages, since DC readers in particular tend to react badly to change, but if DC doesn’t do stories that “will change ____________ forEVer” they get lambasted as stagnant and retrograde, and get ignored by a wider audience. Which isn’t denying that coordination between Final Crisis and its many pre-series (some of which even contradicted each other) couldn’t have been a lot better — I’ve commented on this in my column - but a prevalent attitude at a lot of comics companies is now to shrug off complaints like that from the hardcore comics fans because if they weren’t complaining about “that” they’d find something else to complain about. While I think that attitude’s a bit on the stupid side, I wouldn’t say it’s unjustified. The core fans tend to feel a sense of entitlement because they’re the ones keeping the ship afloat, without acknowledging that they aren’t of sufficient mass, and within their own ranks no single taste is universal enough, to keep the ship afloat. If those factors were in play, it would be a different matter.

At any rate, entertaining as all this low-rent hysteria is, it’s a bit presumptive…

- Grant

After adjusting for inflation and higher costs (better page rates, incentive payments, etc) I suspect super-hero comics are less profitable than ever.

DC and Marvel are making much more from licensing (toys, movies, etc), though.

LL

Oh, those and “How soon is now?” So 3 Smiths songs.”

That second song is called “I Know It’s Over”

Truly, now Dan Didio knows how Joan of Arc felt… as the flames rose to her roman nose and her CGC-graded copy of INFINITE CRISIS #1 started to melt.

1969 - 372K @ $0.12 = $44,640
1989 - 261K @ $1.00 = $261,000
2005 - 112K @ $2.50 = $280,000

Tv Ratings are down and they continued to get worst.

CD Albums sales are down and they continued to get worst.

The problem is that ALL old Media is dying. While everything connected to internet and digital is rising. It’s a new generation and new generation what’s new things.

On a related note, I don’t think Chuck should be burned at the stake for his comments. Heck, even Morrison’s been badmouthing DC editorial. How the hell do you have continuity errors between Countdown to Final Crisis and Final Crisis? He gave them the first script a year in advance to avoid that. DC editorial seems to be run by a bunch of monkeys with ADD tossing around typewriters.

Also, most of the giant superhero/gaming shops (however well-lit or friendly) that I have been in recently shelve virtually nothing outside the long underwear genre.
And what little they do carry outside that genre is generally downplayed, stuck off to the side where it will likely go unnoticed by the average, curious visitor.
Again, it’s preaching to the choir. And the choir is dying off. The sales figures on superhero material (the so-called “mainstream”) tell a tale that simply can’t be refuted: Fewer and fewer comics are selling. Circulations on virtually every DC and Marvel title are less than half what they were just 15 years ago. Amazing Spider-man sold 372K in 1969; 261K in 1989 and a whopping 112K in 2005. That’s a drop of over 70% since 1969, and that was before the direct market even existed.
I don’t believe superhero comics are doomed. But comic shops that cater only to superhero fans probably are.
I believe people will always love comics and that comics will always be around in one form or another. But the Direct Market Titanic we’re all sailing on simply can’t endure if the downward sales trend continues.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16836

…and the result is a shellacking. Not only did SI #2 sell better than FC #1, it sold over 25% better. I believe the word is “ouch.”

Also, I’m not sure what Dan Didio’s job security has to do with the health of the genre he works in. Surely the ship keeps sailing regardless of the captain, yes?

They have good taste. This was evident in many of the choices for creative teams when Marvel Knights started and continues to this day. It’s a no brainer that the superstars will deliver the good, but it takes a keen mind to pick out people like Jason Aaron and put them on Ghost Rider or give Paul Cornell a Captain Britain title. Palmiotti’s time at Marvel Knight’s shows that and I’m assuming he’s had some input into who his artists on Jonah Hex have been.

Mark Waid’s a good choice too, but I’d pick him solely on the basis of the fact that he’s such an expert in the form and knows how to tell a good story. I don’t really have a sense for if he’s got great taste, but you’d have to assume so based on his comics work.

I think Dan Didio has done a decent job for the past several years. I also think he has made a few decisions that in hindsight, were bad:

1. One Year Later was a great opportunity that was not taken. It was a chance for a “soft reboot” for the whole line that was almost totally not promoted or coordinated. This was something that should have made everyone want to read more DC.

2. Countdown. While I really enjoyed many of the related titles (Countdown to Adventure and Countdown to Mystery especially), the core series changed directions too many times, killing any chance that it would be meaningful, or even make sense. Most of the titles branded with Countdown had NOTHING to do with the Countdown series.

3. Not doing any real major crossovers. While some of the smaller “big events” were VERY well handled (The Sinestro Corps War, Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul), Infinite Crisis had a few, and Countdown wasn’t a crossover, it was more of a brand, looking at my Marvel numbers, a majority of super-hero readers actually WANT every title to be impacted by big events. the only issue of Irredeemable Ant-Man I sold more than 4 copies of was the World War Hulk tie-in, and I sold about 7 times a normal issue. People who read Universes of titles now EXPECT them to be heavily interconnected. They want to read the meta-story, not just the individual stories. While bloggers (and some other store owners) talk about “event fatigue”, I have a higher percentage of people picking up ALL the Secret Invasion crossovers or all of the Final Crisis minis than I had for World War Hulk. Some people are tired of it, but most are not.

It’s not too late to save the DC ship, nor do I think it’s sinking, for that matter. It’s just that Marvel’s ship is floating SO high on the water right now, that DC’s LOOKS LIKE it’s taking on water.

Gotta go, I have a store to run…

The vast majority are NOT “poorly organized and mostly uninviting establishments” or “fetishistic, closed-clique geek dens that few mothers would feel comfortable taking their children in.”

While there are still many elements of many shops that are remnants from the old days when that WAS the norm, a majority of comic stores I have seen are coming closer and closer to looking like the professional, clean, neat, organized, and well-lit mass-market stores like Waldenbooks or Sam Goody than ever before. There still are some “Android’s Dungeon”s around, but many are gradually transforming into a better breed of store. The ones that aren’t are slowly being replaced by better stores.

One of the great things about the CBIA is that many stores, when it’s their turn on Diamond’s website, actively seek out criticism and suggestions from their fellow retailers. I know that for my store, while I started out far ahead of the curve in relation to the stores around me, I am aware of many other things I can do to improve my store thanks to being able to see what other stores have done. I know that other stores in my market have also started to improve their stores, and they are all better than they were 2 years ago.

Comics retailing has had the bar raised by some terrific retailers around the country, and many of us are striving to reach for that bar.

An incoming EIC would be in a good position to make a clean break and send the signal that DC is now doing Something Else. The classic strategy here is to de-emphasise the big continuity-shaking events, and focus for a while on saying “Look at the awesome creative team who are taking over this title.” That’s what Quesada and Jemas did for the first couple of years that they were in charge, and it worked very well for them.

And while I agree a lot with what Marcus says, I intended my comments to be more in line with Scott. It doesn’t matter who takes over for DiDio; at this point, it’s changing the captain on the Titanic.

“Hey, I’d love for it to be this guy who’d never take the job in a million years!”

“You’re stupid. It should be this guy who’s inability to properly manage his own schedule arsed the relaunch of a whole universe! He’d totally be better at that sort of thing if you gave him the top job!”

“You’re high. It should be that guy who seems to have contempt for all things commercial and capitalist, because he’d definitely take over the top spot from Marvel.”

Keith Giffen

Grant Morrison

Alan Moore ; )
(sweet, sweet revenge)

I think Mr. Dixon should be applauded for having the courage and bravery needed to be so brutally honest. Hey, the truth hurts that’s why so many prefer living in a delusion.

Mr. Dixon also should not be penalized in any way for saying what 97% of the comic buying public has been saying for over 5 years.

Not that anyone at DC has been listening since Dan Didio always said, “Online readers don’t matter.”

I guess talented, intelligent writers don’t matter either so Mr. Dixon should feel very proud to be dismissed. His work clearly was unfitting with the rest of the amatuer, fan fic drivel known as DC’s product output.

There IS a Secret Invasion going on but it’s not at Marvel, its at DC. It’s an Invasion of the Amateurs and this one began 6 or 7 years ago. It’s being promoted by DC as The Great Disaster and they should know since they’ve been digging their own graves. It’s also known as the Day Evil Won and in this instance, with the abrupt dismissal of Chuck Dixon, it did.

Okay, I think this thread has officially died.

Oh, those and “How soon is now?” So 3 Smiths songs.

How wodnerful and hilarious would it be for Plamotti to wind up there at DC with Quesada in the Marvel role? Ha.

Mark Waid would be amazing, but I think that ship sailed. I heard it made a Boom as it headed to the horizon.