The Bullpen

[deadcowaroma]

I think the main thing DC has to worry about with this relaunch is how good the books are. I read a couple more of those Flashpoint tie ins yesterday and they were some of the worst comics I've read (Legion of Doom being the absolute worst). If we get the same quality out if this relaunch, then it will be a very short sales boost indeed.

[roadsign]

I don't think there's much point debating whether this is a mistake or not. DC (and the industry in general) had to do SOMETHING. I don't anticipate this will all work out perfectly right away, but the key will be them sticking to this general forward thinking and being willing to bend in terms of the overall plan (like either giving people who buy print a free digital copy or lowering digital day and date to .99)if it DOESN'T make much of a difference, sales-wise.
The retailers may not love everything that comes out of this, but they'll just have to learn to adapt or go away.

[Farrell]

DC is going to have an EPIC FAIL if they are counting on turning around a huge portion of the current LCS customer base who is NOT buying DC comics already.

I think what DC is actually planning is for the Digital part of the relaunch to help them establish a new fan-base outside of current LCS fans who are generally averse to trying new things...

This is going to hinge on DC's ability to market this to the new audience.  I hope they are hiring an outside marketing firm that actually knows what they are doing as opposed to trying to have the existing DC marketing people handle this effort.

Absolutely.  I hope they can succeed in this but they face a lot of indifference and outright negativity.  If they can attract a decently sized new audience I think that can only help everyone in the comics industry, so all power to them. 

I would guess that most of the new titles are going to totally tank in the LCS market.  That won't be surprising at all...

Yep, that I, Vampire or whatever it's called is targeted squarely at the young adult book market, the people (mostly girls) who devour Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse and all of those other bestsellers.  If they can interest a sizable chunk of those readers they couldn't care less about Avengers fans.

Seriously, I thought that piece read like one big "glass half empty" whine that treated both fans and retailers as if they were stupid.

The tone of the part David quoted turned me off enough that I didn't want to waste time reading the entire column.  Thanks for letting me know that I wouldn't have missed anything.

[jack239]

Yes, yes we are. 

hey upside vinyl sales are up.

[BobBretall]

Yep, that I, Vampire or whatever it's called is targeted squarely at the young adult book market, the people (mostly girls) who devour Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse and all of those other bestsellers.  If they can interest a sizable chunk of those readers they couldn't care less about Avengers fans.

Here I'll need to disagree.

Vampire + LoveStory /= Twilight 

Read Undying Love from Image as an example of this theme that is not anything like Twilight.

Having read the original run of I, Vampire in House of Mystery + Josh Fialkov's other work I would be VERY surprised if he's going for the Twilight / True Blood theme.   That's not to say those people might not check this out, heck I read the Anita Blake novels which also run to this basic theme but are about as far removed from Twilight as you can get.

I'll be interviewing Josh for the next month's Previews episode & I'll make sure I address the "Twilight" comparison head-on.

BUT......your basic point is sound.   If they can interest new fans who have never set foot in an LCS before they really don't need to give a crap about the people locked into their monthly Marvel comics fixes.

[Jeppe]

Here I'll need to disagree.

Vampire + LoveStory /= Twilight 

Read Undying Love from Image as an example of this theme that is not anything like Twilight.

Having read the original run of I, Vampire in House of Mystery + Josh Fialkov's other work I would be VERY surprised if he's going for the Twilight / True Blood theme.   That's not to say those people might not check this out, heck I read the Anita Blake novels which also run to this basic theme but are about as far removed from Twilight as you can get.

I'll be interviewing Josh for the next month's Previews episode & I'll make sure I address the "Twilight" comparison head-on.

BUT......your basic point is sound.   If they can interest new fans who have never set foot in an LCS before they really don't need to give a crap about the people locked into their monthly Marvel comics fixes.

True, though I think a pretty convincing case can be made that the readers of Blake are basically the same people who read Twilight in their teens, who have now grown up and realized that sex doesn't kill you.

[Farrell]

I'll be interviewing Josh for the next month's Previews episode & I'll make sure I address the "Twilight" comparison head-on.

That will be interesting (the interview and bringing up that comparison.)  I wasn't so much comparing I, Vampire to Twilight as I was positing that DC is trying to bring in a similar audience.  I just used your excellent list to read the solicit and yeah, it doesn't sound too similar, but it's at least in part a love story, and the protagonist looks like a young, hot dude.  So it kinda fits.

By the way, I read and loved the first issue of Undying Love and I agree, that's nothing like Twilight (which I wouldn't read with a ten foot telescope.)

[Hassan T]

Johanna Draper Carlson hasn't had a nice thing to say about mainstream comics for as long as I can remember.
I wish she would just focus on her "comics worth reading" and stop grinding her axe.

Karma for you, Chris.

After the past couple of weeks, I am tired of the negativity from certain "critics", where there is an obvious bias.

The same people that make the comment "Direct Market is dying, there needs to by another way to sell comics" also make this comment "By DC going outside the Direct Market, they are going to hurt the Direct Market.

Or "The big two publishers only sell super-hero comics, they need more diversity" also make this comment, "these non-super-hero books are not going to sell".

It is my opinion, that we need more constructive debate in comics and not negativity. And when I say constructive, if you don't like something, make a recommendation on what the industry needs to do. By just saying something "sucks", there is no value added in the discussion.

[Hassan T]

Here I'll need to disagree.

Vampire + LoveStory /= Twilight 

Read Undying Love from Image as an example of this theme that is not anything like Twilight.

Having read the original run of I, Vampire in House of Mystery + Josh Fialkov's other work I would be VERY surprised if he's going for the Twilight / True Blood theme.   That's not to say those people might not check this out, heck I read the Anita Blake novels which also run to this basic theme but are about as far removed from Twilight as you can get.

I'll be interviewing Josh for the next month's Previews episode & I'll make sure I address the "Twilight" comparison head-on.

BUT......your basic point is sound.   If they can interest new fans who have never set foot in an LCS before they really don't need to give a crap about the people locked into their monthly Marvel comics fixes.

I think it is great that DC is trying to create a line of horror books that are "PG" or "PG 13". I think a lot of younger people would be interested in non-superhero books and by only making mature readers horror books, it reduces the potential audience. Out of all the changes DC is making, the new horror line is what I am most excited for.

[Jon O]

I'm going to try 10 of the new DC books.  That's way up from one and DC has going digital to thank.  I like the list idea so here's mine...

Justice League - Great roster of heroes, Johns and Lee sounds like an amazing team
JLI - Loved Generation Lost, Loprestri's work continues
Flash - he's the Flash
Batwoman - JH Williams III OMG
Swamp Thing - Snyder, Paquette, Francavilla are you kidding me?!
Firestorm - I like Simone's writing and I used to really love Firestorm back in the Super Friend days
Batman - Snyder and Capullo and Batman
Action - Let's see what Morrison's got, All Star was brilliant
All Star Western - I'd like to jump on the Palmiotti western bandwagon and Moritat's art is great
Hawk and Dove - Never read any Hawk and Dove, but Ditko characters drawn by Rob Liefeld sounds awesome

[thefreakytiki]

i'm getting kind of sick of people trying to point out what's wrong with this initiative.  yes, we are all aware it might not work, but is it really that difficult to try and be positive about it?

I totally agree with you L.o.D.s... Karma!


The Tiki

[Tempo House]

Honestly, I'm not even too sure DC is doing the right thing. My concern is that DC is still playing with tired and worn out characters.  If people aren't interested in Flash today, when it is written by DC's main man, why will they be interested in it in 3 months when it's written by an unknown commodity?

DC had a chance to do something new.  Instead they're going back to the same well.

That same well is their bread and butter. It's their franchise. They will rise by it, they will fall by it. They can't build a whole new line or make their peripheral characters central in a short time ... nor I imagine would they feel the need for it. Their characters are strong and distinctive enough to carry a whole line.

[Tempo House]

we who still buy comics now are the comics version of the people who buy vinyl. 

You mean CDs [raises hand]. People who buy vinyl in this day and age are the purists, they are an elite minority, kinda like people who go after out of print issues to add them to their collection.