DC Comics has announced a decision to renumber the entire DC Universe line of comic books and release 52 first issues beginning Aug. 31.
In addition, DC plans to launch day-and-date digital publishing for all these ongoing titles, making it the first publisher to release all of its superhero comic book titles digitally the same day as in print.
Under the direction of editors Bob Harras and Eddie Berganza, storylines will be re-imagined. With the leadership of Mark Chiarello and Jim Lee, logos and costumes will be tweaked and updated.
Justice League issue 1 will be the first reboot to be released, with the other 51 following over a five-week period.
Future information on other titles will be available at http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/.
The big question that comes out of this event is what this means for the direct market, i.e. comic book shops. Comic shops are and have always been a niche market with many of them surviving on the slimmest of profit margins. DC’s day-and-date initiative could potentially cut significant amounts from an already dwindling revenue stream. When these shops are already struggling any loss of revenue or customer traffic could be huge.
DC editor Bob Harris has made references to a program of retailer initiatives that will seek to shield shops from the possible financial hit, but there’s been no real explanation of what these initiatives will entail.
This entire affair is supposedly designed to help attract new readers, which I certainly applaud. The industry is in dire need of them. The comic book fanbase has been steadily eroding since the speculator-fueled boom of the ’90s and without a serious effort to expand the market comic books are a dying breed. I don’t know if this is necessarily the way to go about it. Either way, I hope DC is serious about taking care of the retail shops. Those shops have stood as a bulwark between the diminishing market and publishers for years and years now. I’d be extremely disappointed if DC just tosses them under the bus now, just to make a buck and try to reclaim some market share.
The big question that comes out of this event is what this means for the direct market, i.e. comic book shops. Comic shops are and have always been a niche market with many of them surviving on the slimmest of profit margins. DC’s day-and-date initiative could potentially cut significant amounts from an already dwindling revenue stream. When these shops are already struggling any loss of revenue or customer traffic could be huge.
DC editor Bob Harris has made references to a program of retailer initiatives that will seek to shield shops from the possible financial hit, but there’s been no real explanation of what these initiatives will entail.
This entire affair is supposedly designed to help attract new readers, which I certainly applaud. The industry is in dire need of them. The comic book fanbase has been steadily eroding since the speculator-fueled boom of the ’90s and without a serious effort to expand the market comic books are a dying breed. I don’t know if this is necessarily the way to go about it. Either way, I hope DC is serious about taking care of the retail shops. Those shops have stood as a bulwark between the diminishing market and publishers for years and years now. I’d be extremely disappointed if DC just tosses them under the bus now, just to make a buck and try to reclaim some market share.