Comics A.M. | Eight months in, New 52 isn't sales 'game-changer'

Comics A.M. | Eight months in, New 52 isn't sales 'game-changer'

DC Comics

Publishing | Eight months after the launch of DC Comics' New 52, Marc-Oliver Frisch takes a look at the reboot and concludes that it is not the 'game-changer' it was touted to be. After an initial burst of sales when the series was launched, DC's monthly numbers have settled down to about half the September sales, above the previous year's levels but best described, as Frisch puts it, as 'solid but not spectacular.' [Comiks Debris]

Digital comics | Anthony Ha looks at the success of the Pocket God comic, which is marketed alongside the game; more than 200,000 copies of the first issue have been sold, and sales for the whole series total 600,000. Dave Castelnuovo of Bolt Creative thinks the strong sales are due in part to the 99-cent cover price: 'Meanwhile, the traditional publishers don't want to undercut their print prices, so they're usually charging $2.99 or $3.99 for new issues. (Some older comics are available for considerably less.) Castelnuovo says that's 'just too expensive' for digital comics, especially when they're competing with something like Angry Birds, which offers more content for just 99 cents. And although Marvel and DC are sell digital collections, Castelnuovo argues that they should be doing more to bundle dozens or even hundreds of issues together, so that readers can 'blaze through them' the way that they will consume entire seasons of Mad Men or Game of Thrones.' [TechCrunch]

Retailing | Tacoma, Washington's Comic Book Ink is closing its doors after a 10-year run that included a benefit campaign to keep it from going under. [The Beat]

Conferences | Ryan Standfest files the most complete report yet on the Comics: Philosophy & Practice conference at the University of Chicago, which featured in-depth discussions of the medium by such comics luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Robert Crumb and Alison Bechdel. [The Comics Journal]

Stan Lee

Creators | Stan Lee talks about Comikaze, Stan's Rants and his World of Heroes YouTube channel. [MTV Geek]

Creators | Part Two of Deb Aoki's interview with Empowered creator Adam Warren focuses on his female characters ' why he finds women more interesting than men, and how he deals with specific characters. [About.com]

Creators | Paul Gravett posts the text he wrote for the Posy Simmonds retrospective at the Belgian Comic Strip Centre in Brussels; the texts and the accompanying art are an excellent introduction to the work of the creator of Tamara Drewe. [Paul Gravett]

Comics | Tom Spurgeon looks back on DC Comics' Thriller, the short-lived 1980s series created by Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden. [The Comics Reporter]

Criticism | Noah Berlatsky looks at Roy Lichtenstein's appropriation of comics art ' and other images ' in his paintings. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

• June 5, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
• Tagged: Adam Warren, Alison Bechdel, art, art spiegelman, comic books, comic retailers, comics a.m., comics industry, comics sales, Comics: Philosophy & Practice, DC Comics, DC Comics: The New 52, DC relaunch, digital comics, director market, events, fandom, Pocket God, Posy Simmonds, retailing, robert crumb, Roy Lichtenstein, Stan Lee, Tamara Drewe, thriller, video games

6 Comments

'DC's monthly numbers have settled down to about half the September sales, above the previous year's levels but best described, as Frisch puts it, as 'solid but not spectacular.''

Anyone who was around for Heroes Reborn saw this coming a mile away.

Given, good on DC for getting their numbers up, even for a little while.

Had the feeling that this New 52 would run out of gas and come back down to earth. And this time next year the powers that be will fire those who concieved this. And reboot it back to the old 52.

'Had the feeling that this New 52 would run out of gas and come back down to earth. And this time next year the powers that be will fire those who concieved this. And reboot it back to the old 52.'

First part no, second part probably.

There's no reason to fire them as New 52 was a massive success all things considered. Nobody in their right mind should have expected the sales bump to be sustainable, but the fact they were able to steal some market share for a while and get some of their lesser selling titles (Aquaman anybody) up in sales makes it a worthwhile endeavor.

That said, I have little doubt that they're re-reboot to Pre-Flashpoint continuity sooner or later for the next big sales bump.

Typical short-term 'fix' mentality.

Nu52 was a gimmick that was never necessary; hire high-profile creative teams, tell timeless stories appealing to all ages, and promote properly. Readers will come if you give them something worth reading, not books that look and feel like cancelled Wildstorm titles from 15 years ago.

Oh well, on to the next stunt (zero issues'. how original).

If DC wants to reach new readers they should do a few things: 1) give a tonne of books away to school aged kids as part of a literacy initiative, 2) non-traditional advertising for comic books (why not more tv commercials).

I still laugh out loud when DC advertises their other books in a DC book'I am reading your books'I already know what else is out there'oh, and everyone has this thing called the Internet now'so we knew about the new books months before the ad.

I seriously doubt they will go back to pre Nu52 ever again or at least anytime soon. I also don't think Nu52 was a gimmick either. Some of their roster were just too convaluted and too unwieldly to get readers interested. I have always been a Marvel guy, only reading Green Lantern before the Nu52, but I picked up at least 8 of the Nu52 and have stuck with 5 of them. The characters were more accessible and far more interesting than before.

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