Missing the boat on this one, I know. Honestly, I’m not a big DC person and the universe reboot doesn’t affect me in any way, shape or form because, well, Batman Beyond is staying where it is as far as I know. Personally, I think it’s a ballsy move and hope it works out, though am going to say now that all they need to do to reset the universe is let that one murder Flashpoint is preventing happen and the whole thing will probably fall back into place. Because major universe upheaval? Yeah, I doubt it will stick. Should be in interesting experiment, though.
Still, I am now thinking about what I would have done in their shoes. The market is dwindling and they’re trying to push for digital in some vain hope that it will change everything. They’re risking a lot of money on this venture and they’re completely unsure of the return. Could I have done any better?
Well, maybe. But I’m a little different from an executive that grew up in the industry. Here’s how I would have played this game.
At a few conventions, take in writing and art samples from the (presumably) thousands of people looking for their big break. These people who would kill to work for DC, just to get their name out there. Pick the promising ones out of them and give them a call. These will be the people writing the new universe under the DC title, but there is a catch. The new universe is going to be digital only, collected later in dead tree format later depending on the numbers they can draw in. They will be paid exclusively in royalties gained from the digital sales and they can put DC on their resume.
In short, here’s the main points:
- All new artists and writers, bringing fresh blood and ideas about the universe to the table,
- All digital to start, because the new demographic probably isn’t visiting the same brick and mortar shops as the old ones
- Royalties only, meaning that the artists and writers only earn based on what they sell and DC won’t be losing money on taking a chance on new people
- Leaving the established universe alone for the brick and mortar stores, so the old fans don’t get pissed and the comic shops don’t feel like they’re competing against the online market
- If the sales do go well and the digital comics make it to print, they can push digital fans into the brick and mortar stores to buy trades
This is all idealism, mind you. There’s a lot of assumption and wishful thinking going into this. Still, given what little I know about this, it’s how I would have played it.
And I’m thinking, since it’s still a couple months until the books actually launch and I had so much fun doing the Marvelification of Disney, I might take a crack at my own version of DC. Should be fun given I know next to nothing about most of the 52 titles being relaunched.
Thing is – as you yourself readily acknowledge – the plan is very idealistic. There is nothing wrong with that. But, as someone who followed Brian Hibbs and Steven Grant’s columns about comic book publishing practices, I can’t help but pick out flaws in your strategy.
All digital to start, because the new demographic probably isn’t visiting the same brick and mortar shops as the old ones
Why on Earth would DC want to do that? The point of the relaunch is to increase sales all across the board. By not selling comics in comic stores, they would be deliberately cutting their profits. There is a reason why even Marvel’s digital exclusives are usually collected sooner or later – the comics companies want to squeeze as much profit out of existing stories as possible. And while digital may indeed be the future, print market still accounts for a significant portion of the comic publishers’ sales. DC would have to be out of its mind to give that up.
Royalties only, meaning that the artists and writers only earn based on what they sell and DC won’t be losing money on taking a chance on new people
Which would be completely against DC’s established business practices. Like Marvel, it pays writers and artists per page – they only earn royalties if the sales for their titles reach a certain threshold. Furthermore, right now, digital sales count toward DC creators royalties. If DC would do anything you suggest, there will be a huge outcry among the established freelancers and comic news/gossip outlets. Why would DC want to invite that?
Leaving the established universe alone for the brick and mortar stores, so the old fans don’t get pissed and the comic shops don’t feel like they’re competing against the online market
Which, again, sounds reasonable until you think about it from the publisher’s perspective. If DC does that, it would be effectively running two parallel comic lines with similar titles, which would mean that they would have to pay twice as many creators as before and they would have the digital and print titles cannibalize each others’ sales. Again, the goal is to reach as many readers as possible with each title – creating two distinct lines would do precisely the opposite.
If the sales do go well and the digital comics make it to print, they can push digital fans into the brick and mortar stores to buy trades
This just kind of confuses me. If you mean comic book stores, then I am not really sure how printing comics will “push” the readers anywhere. In my experience, comic book stores tend to be pretty out-of-the way and not that readily visible unless you’re specifically looking for them (it’s almost like they’re under some kind of cloaking spell). Mass market book store chains like Barnes and Noble (and shambling remains of Borders) have visibility, but their selection is not always extensive, so readers would not necessarily be able to find what they’re looking for.
As webcomics showed, if the free comic is popular enough, people would be willing to pay for a print version, so there is definitely merit in publishing printed editions. But why would readers seek out bookstores if they can just order them online? I mean, it could drive them to look at said titles in bookstores, but that doesn’t have to be the case.
True on all counts, though there is one point that I will clarify, because I didn’t state it well enough.
All digital to start, because the new demographic probably isn’t visiting the same brick and mortar shops as the old ones
What I meant was just the rebooted comics. The ones that were all paper and have always been paper, those one stay as paper and get digital versions if DC so decides. I just meant that the reboot would be in paper, since it would save on the printing costs that I assume is a part of why they didn’t just start up a second line (Such as Marvel’s Ultimate’s line) instead of rebooting the whole thing.
I don’t see how the digital and print titles would cannibalize one another’s sales, though. The reboot is supposed to be targeting their new readers in their new demographic (I’m going to ignore that their new demographic seems to be pretty much the same as their old demogrpahic0 which supposedly don’t already read them, so these people wouldn’t be buying the print titles anyway. And the people buying the print titles have nothing stopping them from buying the digital ones.
Other than that, it’s idealistic. It’s an idea, but it seems not one that would be viable for an established company.
I just meant that the reboot would be in paper, since it would save on the printing costs
Which might make sense if DC wanted an entry-point line that would attract new readers. However, the information we have available indicates that DC wants to increase sales all across the board, by attracting new readers, existing fans and lapsed readers. Creating a separate line would take away from that.
I don’t see how the digital and print titles would cannibalize one another’s sales, though.
Perhaps I should elaborate. Right now, DC is publishing two comic book titles that feature Superman – Action Comics and Superman. While some Superman fans would buy one or another, but most of them would buy both. Now, let’s say that DC releases a digital-only Superman title. Some fans would be happy to buy all three, but many will not be able to afford all three, so they would have to choose which ones they prefer to buy. In effect, DC would be losing sales because fans have too many titles to buy.
Something similar has been observed with Wolverine-related titles, Deadpool titles, etc. Granted, we’re talking about titles that are mainly print-based, but as you rightfully noted, there is nothing to prevent fans of printed comics from buying digital comics, so I don’t see why the effect wouldn’t apply to all-digital titles.
Now, granted, they might be able to get away with this for Superman and Batman – two of the most archetypical superheroes in American comic books (if not superhero comics in general). But would it work with, say, Aquaman? Or lower-profile Batman/Superman related characters such as Nightwing and Power Girl.
I see your points. I wouldn’t try for across the board sales personally, just because if you’re going after a new demographic and trying to keep your old demographic happy you’re more likely to make the old fans mad and you’re already taking a risk at getting new ones. But, this is me and not DC.
And yeah, Aquaman is doomed if it goes by DC’s traditional payment methods for their creators. It’s a shame they can’t change their methodologies for their digital comics, but you’re right that they are far too big to do anything but what they’re doing now.