Last week while at work, I passed the time by mulling over what I’d do if by some chance I was put in charge of DC Comics. Coincidentally, Dan Didio, co-Publisher of DC Comics parted ways with the company that same day.
It’s a past-time of comic book retailers, collectors, and just regular ol’ readers to stand around their local comic book shop bitching about discussing the state of the comic book industry and what the Big Two publishers (DC and Marvel) have going on in their respective worlds. Rising costs, not enough “good” books, pulling too many sales stunts, too many books per month, and lack of consistency and direction are the frequent fliers in these conversations. A teensy thought I had (couldn’t even tell you what it was now) snowballed into a full blown revamp of the DC Comics publishing line inside my head. So, for those of you who didn’t bail out of this post after the first sentence, let’s dive in.
I took DC Comics’ April 2020 Solicitations (a set of promo images and accompanying text sent to retailers to use as a guide for their ordering purposes) and used that as a starting point. I wanted to focus on the main publishing line, so anything outside of that does really matter for the purposes of this scenario.
At the heart of DC Comics, in my opinion, should always be the concept of legacy. However, it seems those in charge don’t necessarily agree. Having a decades-long publishing history means, at times, things get confusing. The average person doesn’t know there have been multiple Flashes or Robins, for example. So, in 2011, DC rebooted their entire line and restarted each series at #1 giving new readers a clean place to jump into storylines and to learn about characters from the ground-up. DC dubbed this venture The New 52 (due to producing that many new series). My instinct, if I were put in charge, would be to do almost the opposite. DC Comics is the oldest comic book publisher and, every month, puts out the two longest running books in history. The company’s 85-year history was at the forefront of my mind during this thought experiment. A few moves have already been made to acknowledge this history when Action Comics and Detective Comics were returned to their original numbering in 2016. This allowed for the run-up to #1000 of each series. Recently, DC announced they’d be doing the same to honor the legacy of both Wonder Woman and The Flash by producing a landmark #750th issue of each series, but that it would be temporary. They later announced both series would stick with the legacy numbering going forward.
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| What I tweeted DC Comics... |
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| What they announced a week later. |
Also, in 2020, a number of characters are celebrating their 80th anniversaries. The Flash (on top of hitting #750 issues), Robin, Green Lantern, The Joker, Catwoman, and Lex Luthor all hit 80-years-old this year. DC will be putting out special anniversary issues for several of these characters. And at $10 each with extra covers paying homage to every decade the character has appeared in, no less… Normally this would fall under the “stunt” category I mentioned earlier, but in this instance, it gets a pass. How often does one get to celebrate their 80th anniversary, anyway? (Once, after 80 years, I suppose…) That’s as good as a segue as I can come up with, so if you’ve still stuck with me, let’s look at what DC’s publishing line would look like in September 2020 if I were running the show.
Straight out of the gate, I’d cancel several series. Low sales numbers are the main driving force, but more important is streamlining the publishing line to reduce the actual physical number of books put out each month. The titles getting the axe would be: Batman & the Outsiders, Batman Beyond, Catwoman, Hawkman, Justice League Dark, Justice League Odyssey, Red Hood: Outlaw, Shazam!, Supergirl (actually already cancelled by DC), and The Terrifics. These ten books consistently see low sales numbers and several have been plagued with delays in release.
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| There's a precedent for this... DC did something similar in the 70s. |
Secondly, I’d push for more “one and done” stories. The goal here is to increase sales and readership? Having every issue be part of a multi-part story discourages someone from picking up a random issue from the shelf on a whim. I’ll admit, I’m not an avid reader of The Flash, but the upcoming #750th issue is a good place to start. I know that because I’m not new to comics and can see that it’s designed as a place to “jump onto” the series. Now, I’m not suggesting every issue needs to be a single story. If a writer has a multi-part story that’s compelling and new and adds to that character’s mythos, that’s great. But, for the most part, someone should be able to walk in off the street, pick up an issue of a series, and read it without being completely lost.
There are a number of series I’d leave completely alone. Strange Adventures, Legion of Superheroes, Suicide Squad, and Young Justice would all go untouched in any way, shape, or form.
For a large number of books, I’d simply have them follow the trend of returning to legacy numbering. Aquaman, Batgirl, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn, Nightwing, Superman, and Teen Titans would all return to their original numbering.
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| Imagine a set of variant covers for Harley Quinn depicting what she would have looked like in the 1940s to 80s. It's the exact kind of parody up Harley's alley. |
DC has several comics on a “double-shipping” schedule, meaning two issues are released each month. Batman, The Flash, Justice League of America, and Wonder Woman would reduce from being two, 32 page issues a month at $3.99 to one, 40 page issue per month at $4.99. Those additional eight pages could be used for more story per issue or (my preference) for a “back-up feature” for a less prominent character. What better way to get exposure for a character like Elongated Man than giving him a short story at the end of each issue of The Flash?
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| Wonder Woman used to regularly feature Huntress in a backup feature |
There is one current series that I’d like to see re-titled. Batman/Superman is a team-up series featuring those two characters. I realize the name recognition is important, but in a visual medium, if the cover has those two characters on it, does it have to be named that, too? Instead, I would rebrand the book as World’s Finest Comics, a continuation of the team-up series featuring Batman and Superman that ran from 1941 to 1986.
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| Imagine this, but with a retro World's Finest Comics logo. |
These next two ideas are a little iffy from a business standpoint. I approached this whole thing with the thought “these ideas have to be financially viable. So far, I’ve cut revenue by reducing the number of books shipped each month by 14. But that was, in my opinion, trimming the fat. Now, let’s bulk up by launching (or, technically, relaunching) four series:
The Brave and the Bold originally ran from 1955 to 1983. While it originally served as an anthology title featuring lesser known characters DC owned, it shifted to a book that featured new characters. The Suicide Squad, Hawkman, and a team called the Justice League all first appeared in the pages of The Brave and the Bold. For the majority of its run, however, the book served as an avenue to tell Batman team-up stories, which is exactly how I’d use it in 2020. Just like with the back-up features I proposed earlier, this would be a great way to get exposure for characters readers might not typically try.
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| The "new look" of and Green Arrow first appeared in Brave and the Bold |
DC Comics Presents originally ran from 1978 to 1986. It had the same format as The Brave and the Bold, but rather than Batman teaming up with another hero, DC Comics Presents featured Superman and heroes from across the DC universe. Again, I’d keep the format and use the Man of Steel as a gateway to introduce lesser known characters.
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| The New Teen Titans first appeared in this issue of DC Comics Presents. |
Sensation Comics. While Batman has Detective Comics, and Superman has Action Comics, it's only right that Wonder Woman has a second book every month. I would, however, like to see there be something special to this book. To honor Wonder Woman’s history, I would set Sensation Comics #1 in the 1940s and use the book to tell the origins of not only the character, but to the universe as a whole. Each story arc would detail a decade of history (#1-3 in the forties, #7-9 in the sixties, #13-15 in the eighties, etc.) and pay homage to the DC universe.
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| A Sensation Comics #1 homage by Phil Jimenez |
Showcase. This one is a little more ambitious. Originally running from 1956-1970, Showcase was the book that debuted new characters and concepts to gauge reader interest in an ongoing series. My relaunch of the series would not be a place to test out characters, but to test out talent. The series would be assigned a veteran writer and artist tasked with working with two rookie writers and two rookie artists. Each issue would be one, self-contained story, and reader response would help guide the future of the series. This would be a great way to cultivate talent while also producing tangible results in terms of sales and reader feedback.
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| Showcase #4 (first appearance of the Silver Age Flash) homage by LucianoVecchio. |
My final change to DC’s publishing line features the two most important books in the line. Action Comics and Detective Comics. These two series would adopt the classic DC 100-Page Super Spectacular format and feature not only Batman and Superman, but characters from cancelled series as well. Supergirl would find a new home in Action Comics. Catwoman would feature in Detective Comics. With 100 pages a month, there’s plenty of real estate to see the stories of the residents of Gotham and Metropolis unfold. This begs the question, though, how much would these books cost each month. If a 32-page comic is $3.99 and a 40-pager is $4.99, that breaks down to roughly $0.12½ per page. Am I expecting people to pay $12.50 for each of these issues every month? Of course not. So what’s the solution? Newsprint. Comics switched from the type of paper that you’d expect from a newspaper in the late-90s/early-00s to a glossier paper. The gloss does help with making art stand out and color pop from the page, I will admit, but in the interest of getting more comics on the shelves without being cost-prohibitive, newsprint is the way to go. I don’t know the actual production cost for using newsprint, but say it cuts cost by half, each 100-Page Super Spectacular could have a $6.99 price tag and be beneficial to reader and publisher.
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| Detective Comics has used the 100-Page Super Spectacular format before... |
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| ...so has Action Comics. |
So, the final list would look something like this:
DC COMICS SEPTEMBER 2020
ACTION COMICS #1027
AQUAMAN #337
BATGIRL #206
BATMAN #871
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1
DC COMICS PRESENTS #1
DETECTIVE COMICS #1027
THE FLASH #757
GREEN LANTERN #562
HARLEY QUINN #145
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #662
LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #11
NIGHTWING #266
SENSATION COMICS #1
SHOWCASE #1
STRANGE ADVENTURES #7
SUICIDE SQUAD #10
SUPERMAN #844
TEEN TITANS #285
WONDER WOMAN #759
WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #355
YOUNG JUSTICE #20
I would make these changes slowly over the course of six months, let current mini-series complete their runs, and use this as the status quo for the foreseeable future. I realize everyone’s taste is a little different, but based on a lot of the conversations I’ve had while standing around a comic book shop on a Wednesday afternoon or over a few beers, I think a lot of these changes are right in line with what most long-time readers would want to see.
But what about new readers? Sure, I’ve put things in place to try to keep them reading, but how do you hook them? How do you even get them into a comic book store in the first place? Use the movies. It seems, mostly, comics are used to promote movies, but why can’t it be both? Several months ago, I went to see Shazam! and, at the door, they handed me a reprint issue of a series from a few years before. Now, I had already read it, but I can imagine there were a number of people who read that and loved it. But it was an older series and, thus, not currently ongoing. In June of this year, Wonder Woman 1984 hits theatres. What if the newest issue of the Wonder Woman comic series was given out at the door?
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| Me at the Shazam! premeire; April 2019 |
A different approach to the same concept would actually get moviegoers inside a comic shop. Comic book retailers could run a buy one, get one free promotion or offer a discount of some sort if you showed a ticket stub from a movie on opening weekend. It would not only get people who are jazzed from the movie to capitalize on that momentum and go buy some comics, but it would also give a way for retailers to clear out some back stock from recent months. Savvy retailers could push the discount and sell bundles of, say, the last six months of a series at a discount to readers eager to devour more content around the character they just saw on screen.
Would these changes impact sales and revenue in a positive way? Who knows. What I do know is that with the leadership changes on their way at DC Comics, some changes are bound to be made. My hope is that those changes are made with history, legacy, and most importantly, readers, in mind.
Thanks for reading,
Josh
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