Well, they’re going to do it. DC is the first of the two major comic book publishers to break the taboo: DC Comics is going Day-and-Date on their entire renumbered comic book line.
Until this point, DC and Marvel have only gotten their feet wet with offering a smattering of book available for download on the day they are available in your local comic shop. The major fear: a negative effect on retailers.
It’s comic book retailers who have helped the industry to flourish since the 80’s by making a wider range of comic books and related merchandise available to readers for so many years. But comic book sales have been sliding—the economy hasn’t helped—and the industry could use a boost.
So how long does a publisher wait? With comic book piracy a genuine concern, it’s time to consider making comic books more available to people who would be willing to pay for them. I’m not dense—I don’t believe making comic books available electronically will end piracy, I just believe that if the books were available for immediate purchase, an opportunity is created to sell something to a consumer whose only prior choice to own it was to steal it.
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| The million dollar question is what DC's decision to go Day-and-Date across their line will ultimately mean to publishers. |
If you have heard the last few episodes of our podcast, we have spent a good deal of time discussing some of the creative problems DC has had with their line of books. But it doesn’t end there. It’s also their editorial and publication choices. We’ll have to wait and see how focused their books become under the guidance of the new creative teams, but their choice to enhance their publishing options tells me that DC does not just believe slapping a new cape on Superman and renumbering his comic book is enough to make a significant, long-lasting impact.
And what does this mean for the retailer? That is the million dollar question. Because nobody knows. DC hasn’t announced a price point yet. I’m going to guess that a Day-and-Date digital book will cost the same amount as the one in your comic shop. I’ll bet you think that sucks. Well ask the guy who lives 200 miles from the closest retailer and has been ordering his books through the mail what he thinks.
In the end, this is all a business. If we want to continue reading our comic books for a long time, it will only help if the publishers do whatever they can to get their goods into the hands of as many consumers as possible.
"Having the ability to give people access to these comics with one button click means we're going to get a lot of new readers,” DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee told USA Today. "We're allowing people who have never bought a comic book in their lives to download them on portable media devices and take a look."
Lastly, if this seems at all like a condemnation of my local comic shop then I haven’t done my job. Because there’s nothing I enjoy more than leaving my desk for an hour on Wednesdays to drive down to my local comic shop to chat it up with my Wednesday Warriors and pick up a stack of fantastic stories. The following is the complete letter that went to retailers today from Bob Wayne, DC Comics' Senior Vice President of Sales:
A LETTER ON THE DC UNIVERSE AND SEPTEMBER 2011
To our comics retail partners,
In the time I’ve worked at DC Comics, I’ve witnessed any number of industry defining moments. But today, I bring you what is perhaps the biggest news to date.
Many of you have heard rumors that DC Comics has been working on a big publishing initiative for later this year. This is indeed an historic time for us as, come this September, we are relaunching the entire DC Universe line of comic books with all new first issues. 52 of them to be exact.
In addition, the new #1s will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character’s legend – but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph.
This epic event will kick off on Wednesday, August 31st with the debut of a brand new JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, which pairs Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, together for the first time. (Yes, this is the same week as FLASHPOINT #5.)
We think our current fans will be excited by this evolution, and that it will make jumping into the story extremely accessible to first-time readers – giving them a chance to discover DC’s characters and stories.
We are positioning ourselves to tell the most innovative stories with our characters to allow fans to see them from a new angle. We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling.
Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once.
Dan DiDio, Bob Harras and Eddie Berganza have been working diligently to pull together some of the best creative teams in the industry. Over 50 new costumes will debut in September, many updated and designed by artist Jim Lee, ensuring that the updated images appeal to the current generation of readers.
The publication of JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 will also launch digital day-and-date for all ongoing superhero comic book titles – an industry first.
On Wednesday, June 1st, this initiative is expected to be announced in a nationwide feature article, and we’re hopeful the news will be picked up by media outlets around the world. Throughout the month we’ll reveal more details of our plans with articles in both the mainstream and comics press and on June 13th the Diamond catalog solicitations for all of the September titles will be released, followed by the June 29th street date of the print version of Previews.
DC Comics will support this initiative with an innovative mix of publicity, promotional efforts and retailer incentives designed to maximize your opportunity to increase your DC sales. We will discuss additional details of these incentives when we get closer to solicitation later in June.
We’ll be updating you more through email as September nears. But today, I hope your share our enthusiasm for this historic news!
Sincerely,
Bob Wayne
SVP, Sales
DC Entertainment
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