DC to relaunch with 52 #1's

[Jared Katooie]

Bring back Dial H!

[Colin YNWA]

Sure me and DC still hand out... a little but when Animal Man finishes we'll be down to three regular titles, with nothing so far scheduled to push that up and one of those 3 toying with being canned.

Well actually I said that then I saw the announcement of 'Justice League United' and it just might sway me. I like a lot of what Jeff Lemire writes. I love Mike McKone's art, a very under-rated artist to my mind and its got a nice line-up... oh and Animal Man. I'm a sucker for Buddy AND his family. So I guess we'll have to see where Animal Man 29 leave him. It could go many ways and assuming his family is with him, in Canada apparently, they probably won't get much face time... but.

If its Buddy mopping and astranged from Ellen and the kids (kid) or worth then I'm not so sure this will be for me. I'm also not sure I want to try to engage with a comic that may well be tangled up in all the main DC stuff as I'm sure this will be. That said more than any title DC has announced lately this one is at least tempting me.

[Colin YNWA]

Well the fact that this is a necropost seems very fitting. At the start of this thread I was all excitement and intrigue as DC started its new intuitive and fair to say its been a success, if that success has caveats.

After all the launch really helped the market as a whole and even if 2014 has been the first year of fall back we still have a market that's well above where we were three years ago - though of course the strength of the Independents has a part to play. Marvel have really upped their game too and come back strong as well. The big caveat then is that after three years of good times it seems fair to say that DC is pretty much back were it started, very much the second string and with worrying bottom end sales and the move to Burbank certainly suggests some rocky times are ahead. Still almost three years of success is not to be sniffed at.

Anyway all of which blathering leads me to the reason for this post. Yeah just as DC's success has withered on the vine so has my love for what they have done. I don't bemoan that it wasn't meant for me, it was designed to bring new people in and that's a good thing. I have all of my old comics to wallow in happily (currently reading Chuck Dixon's Nightwing and what fun it is). But yeah at the start of all this some three years ago I planned to get 18 titles, well up on the number before, it turned into a peak of 20 and then the rot set in. The titles I enjoyed got cancelled, or the creative changes took me off titles. Some didn't work so well and I found it to be a good time to shift away from being a fan of the soap opera of a shared universe to experimenting elsewhere and once again spreading my comic reading wings and moved towards the Independents. The titles from DC I collected fell by half as was my aim to diversify my reading, the thing is they didn't stop falling from there.

Then yesterday came the news that after a fantastic 105 issue run Jonah Hex will finally bit the bullet with issue 34 of All Star Western. Now I come here not to wail and nash my teeth (though I'm sure there will be some if that at some point) that such a fantastic title is finally going - after all DC has given it a great run and much more that Marvel would have I suspect. Rather I come her mark what this might mean. There is a very real possibility, though its not certain yet, that I might get to a point where I've slipped from that peak of 20 issues to... getting no regular DC titles (I exclude Vertigo from this which is having a little resonance with me, I'm strictly talking DC Universe here). GASP!

At the moment I get Batman, Wonder Woman, I'm trying Justice League United and the aforementioned Jonah Hex (All Star Western - whatever). Of those we now know Jonah is gone. Wonder Woman will be too when the current creative time leaves around issue 36 as the new team holds on interest to me (and I suspect won't last we'll see). Batman is really, really trying my patience at the moment and may well be for the chop and Justice League United has a lot of work to do to get past by 3 issue trial period as I was far from impressed with the first issue (0 as it goes).

So yeah interesting to look back at this thread and see how the Nu52 has helped me change as a comic reader. Its no bad thing but I will be a little sad if we do get to a month when I have no DC in my pull list. Silly though that is!

[Theblazeuk]

They are cancelling All Star Western???

I have to say I think the writers saw it coming. The story suddenly jumped back to the proper time and his plucky companion instantly snuffed it with little fanfare - bit of a joke after Booster Gold warned her "You won't survive in the old west, you're not prepared" in the previous issue. Gave the impression of something being cut short so they could get on with a "The adventures continue...." style ending to the series.

Aquaman and Wonder Woman are still very good, the former in a nicely familiar way - superheroics rather than the mythology of the latter. However I am not keen on the crossover that seems to be hinted at in the last page of the former that I read (The Old Gods are returning!). Crossovers are the death-knell of fun in the NuDCU.

However on the other hand I can't get back into Marvel outside of ASM and I thought Superior ended with a whimper after a strong start.

[Professor Bear]

Good idea to take stock, Colin, as for some reason it still surprises me when I think about how long it's actually been since DC started this line-wide experiment.  I didn't have quite as many books as you, but most were cancelled out from under me - The Movement, Sword of Sorcery, Green Team - seemingly without ever finding their feet, while others seemed to cruise by on brand recognition (Batman) or were telling stories that you wouldn't give a fig about if they weren't attached to such iconic characters (Action Comics).  I have lately been getting into the digital stuff, though, as Jeff Parker's Batman '66 is really good fun and Smallville Season Ten is consistently one of the most clumsy, ham-fisted and terrible things that could happen to me that week - so they're both indistinguishable from the tv shows.

After all the launch really helped the market as a whole and even if 2014 has been the first year of fall back we still have a market that's well above where we were three years ago - though of course the strength of the Independents has a part to play.

Despite Diamond's best efforts to bury smaller companies because they they have smaller pre-order numbers, the indy market has been the only section of North American comics to see expansion (some suggesting that as much as 50 percent of new readers are buying The Walking Dead alone), the only bumps for the Big Two coming from pre-orders on variant and gimmick issues, and pre-orders are not sales - far from it (DC do deserve the credit for this boost, all the same, as the dismantling of their Vertigo imprint drove creators to take projects like Sex Criminals and Saga to Image).  Retailers are merely pre-ordering more titles to get specific variants, and it's worth noting that when DC offered their hologram covers without needing to order another twenty issues of a comic first, they couldn't actually meet retailer demand.
Basically, it takes months to get accurate sales data on comics, and while there are more unsold comics from the Big Two on shelves than there were five years ago, there are not necessarily more comics being bought.

The big caveat then is that after three years of good times it seems fair to say that DC is pretty much back were it started, very much the second string and with worrying bottom end sales and the move to Burbank certainly suggests some rocky times are ahead. Still almost three years of success is not to be sniffed at.

Their print books are actually worse off than they were (I presume because the relaunch was a jumping-off point for a lot of old-timers among their readership that have since stayed away), but their digital arm has seen critical and commercial gains (pure coincidence that gimmick covers and Diamond have no influence over DC's digital books, I'm sure), as well as developed a reputation for regular publication, better relations with talent, and lower overheads.  The move to the West Coast is a move to the company's digital headquarters, so if anything, the move should be beneficial to the print side of things much the same as Marvel's giving more control of their print line to the editor of their critically and commercially successful Marvel Knights sub-imprint (a certain Mr Quesada) worked out good for the company in the long run.

I have all of my old comics to wallow in happily (currently reading Chuck Dixon's Nightwing and what fun it is).

His Robin title that was going at the same time as Nightwing was just as good, and I recall preferring those two to the regular Bat-titles which just seemed to lurch from one crossover to another despite supposedly being individual books with their own creative teams, stories and continuities.  I also really liked the Peter David Young Justice title that ran alongside these books as it often seemed to be sniping at them as a reminder that there was a shared universe going on but that different kinds of tales were being told all at the same time - even though I would never in a million years actually describe YJ as a good comic, it just seemed to have the right "young, dumb, harmless" attitude.

DC has given it a great run and much more that Marvel would have I suspect

A common misconception is that Marvel don't support commercially unsuccessful monthly titles, but try telling that to fans of Runaways, Marvel Adventures books or Spider-Girl (the MC2 version) - the latter especially was relaunched and rebranded several times over the course of something like 130 issues, which is good going for a book with a teenage female lead, was a spin-off of The Clone Saga, and was mired in Marvel continuity of the 70's, 80's and 90's.  As far as I can tell, when they finally for-real cancelled the book, most fans were more confused that this had actually happened than they were upset.

[Theblazeuk]

I loved Young Justice but it was just harmless FUN.

Unlike Impulse, which was genius fun with a novel eye for as well as touching drama and thrilling superheroics. The full package really.

[Colin YNWA]

I have all of my old comics to wallow in happily (currently reading Chuck Dixon's Nightwing and what fun it is).

His Robin title that was going at the same time as Nightwing was just as good...

Now hush your mouth, funnily enough I was just looking at these last night and thinking 'Well I really like Tim Drake as a character, I really like old Chuck D's take on the Bat world this has gotta be a safe bet'... but that way leads madness and yet more comics... so I guess we know it will happen in the end!

DC has given it a great run and much more that Marvel would have I suspect

A common misconception is that Marvel don't support commercially unsuccessful monthly titles, but try telling that to fans of Runaways, Marvel Adventures books or Spider-Girl (the MC2 version)

Fair point. Maybe I mean DC (mainline) seems to try harder with different genera ... though I possible stand for a fall there too!

Funny you should mention the online first stuff as funnily enough just as I'm lamenting the loss of Jonah turns out DC will be releasing a Digital First Wonder Woman book by Gail Simone - RESULT!

[Frank]

Interesting read, lads, especially the information that the New 52 stunt has actually resulted in DC losing customers. I haven't read a comic industry magazine since 1995, and I haven't bought a monthly US title since 2003, so to find myself in a world where Image is the publisher who's taking creative risks and garnering critical plaudits feels like I've woken up in one of those What If ... episodes of a TV show.

[Professor Bear]

Not to denigrate Image's good work over the last few years, but I think their successes have been just as much from the market opening up to new people just as Vertigo became less appealing to creators.

[JamesC]

I'm really fed up with DC.
I guess I'm not their target audience but I think it's a real shame that out of something like 5 or 6 regular Batman titles there aren't any that are fun and accessible. I don't count 66 as it's a homage to the TV show - not that that's a bad thing but it feels as far from 'proper' Batman as the other books. The last good Batman title was Morrison and Quitley's Batman and Robin.
I can't see why we don't have a bit more variety in tone on the Bat titles.
I also can't believe that no one can make a fun, accessible, all ages Shazam comic.

I'm hoping the new creative team on Superman do a good job - it's been ages since I've read a good Superman comic.

[Colin YNWA]

Well Necropost, schmcropost I say.

Seems fitting to resurrect this just as we see off the Nu52. The 'mini' relaunch come June will see DC 'trim' their line to 48 ongoing titles in the main universe and the branding has finally gone. And so my friends Nu52 is over. One thing its taken with it is my interest in the DCU. Not in a tantrum, stormin' out, slammin' the door type way (you know the way people leave this place for 6 months), just in a slow erosion of my interest as my comic hungry eyes drifted elsewhere.

I'm never going to 'not read' DCU comics, just at the moment there's not that much that interests me. Its me, not them, I've changed.

This was re-enforced when the list of new titles coming out with the 'mini' relaunch has been confirmed today. As Bleeding Cool released the info nothing, not a thing was catching my eye. We've drifted its okay, I'm cool and they're still looking good and all, just I'm looking for...

Martian Manhunter -- W: Rob Williams, A: Ben Oliver

Really... well maybe we could meet up for a drink. You know a quick catch up. Just to see if we... well you know...

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=59090

_{Other sources of the same press releases are available.}

[Jim_Campbell]

This was re-enforced when the list of new titles coming out with the 'mini' relaunch has been confirmed today.

"Constantine: The Hellblazer"



Cheers

Jim

[Professor Bear]

There's no crossbars on those 'I's.

[Fungus]

I've treated 'Nu 52' as a byword for 'desperate relaunch'. As it goes, I should like Swamp Thing, etc. but there are so many great Image (& Chaykin, 'cos I love Chaykin) titles out there that second-rate lycra-heroes bore me beyond tears...

Wonder Woman I found sloppy, and dropped, only Batman remains on the pull. Snyder for the time being is worth keeping up with.

Would like to time-trundle into the future, maybe... 5 years? Would the tedious Big 2 be withering on the vine? With their boring movie-fodder? Ideally, Tharg's various onslaughts on the US market will have borne fruit, and the magnificent Image will have become part of the comic furniture.

[Professor Bear]

I can't believe I'm saying this given the number of times they've let me down, but... don't give up on DC just yet.
The move to California will by necessity jettison a lot of editorial staff that have been alluded to in comments from people who work at/for DC over the years as being responsible for the creative decline of the company.  It is possible that the move to California is an attempt to loosen the grip of contract-protected office staff who - according to Alan Grant - were drawn less and less from experienced editorial backgrounds and were more likely to be fortunate fanboys who found their way into their dream job and were determined to do what they wanted no matter what they were told by those above or below them.  The digital arm - which was completely separate from the goings-on at the print end of things - has proven they're capable of delivering the goods with their characters, and if that's the template of the new DC, they might end up drastically improving their comics.

Firing Scott Lobdell would possibly also help.