“In the Core Marvel Universe, a “gritty crime story” is one
where a blind lawyer ninja dressed as the Devil fights
a massive Sumo wrestler with a cane that shoots lasers…”
“Why is the living embodiment of love something called the Predator?”
Now, I know it may be hard to believe sometimes because of all the “deaths” that occur in comics, especially right now in the DCU, but there’s not always a mandate where we sit around and say, “Who we gonna kill this time out?”
XXXXX’x death came to be simply by the organic flow of the story. I was doing my outline for the issue and suddenly I had written XXXXX sacrificing himself and {redacted]. It felt right and I called Adam [Schlagman], Eddie [Berganza] and Geoff [Johns] and they were all on board with it, so we did it. There wasn’t a “bump in sales” mind-set or a “can we get more press” attitude. Character and story drove it. That’s the big secret.
Comics Should Be Good is running a vote to see what is DC’s most iconic cover. Nominations are taking place now, but for our money, the one above will be very, very hard to beat.
But what do YOU think?
Because contemporary audiences have gotten way too much of World War II, the long-aborning Sgt. Rock movie is getting a boot to the future. Francis Lawrence (I AM LEGEND, CONSTANTINE) is set to direct.
Until now, “Rock” has retained its World War II setting, with Silver and the studio trying to make a big-budget action adventure movie that was a throwback to flicks like “The Dirty Dozen,” which feature acts of American derring-do.
But a big budget always was an obstacle and, “Inglourious Basterds” notwithstanding, period war movies have not been in vogue in Hollywood for years, unless it was a more serious contemplation of the subject like “Saving Private Ryan.” Also, American jingoism went out of style after 9/11; even this summer’s G.I. Joe movie dropped the toy’s “A Real American Hero” tagline and made the action team internationally focused.
The studio hopes moving the time period to the future solves the dilemma.
Sure, and then they can also blow away soulless robots and clones, and no one will have to feel bad about actual people getting killed, too!
If you are interested in comics history and design issues, master letterer Todd Klein has got the blog for you. And now he’s done some real archaeological digging by discovering the creator of the Batman logo seen above — which was in use until 1965.
More “Blackest Night” and more Batman make September another good month for DC Comics’ periodical business. This year’s retelling of Superman’s origin doesn’t set the charts on fire, on the other hand, despite the big-ticket creative team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank — maybe it’s time to retire the character. In other news, J. Michael Straczynski, who’s had some success recently writing the Hollywood film Changeling and Marvel’s Thor, was also meant to do something for DC in September, but I can’t seem to find it, so maybe … ah, hold it, there it is. My bad, I wasn’t scrolling fast enough.
Average DC sales remained relatively steady on balance, which for the publisher’s Vertigo and WildStorm imprints means that they sold around 10,000 units each of the comic books, give or take a few. (Vertigo: give a few; WildStorm: take a few.) Vertigo’s big periodical launch was Jeff Lemire’s post-ap-oddball-yptic Sweet Tooth, the latest new-series launch to retail for $ 1.00. At WildStorm’s comic-book department, the most noteworthy development is that they had four books below the 5K mark, two of which missed the Top 300 chart altogether. Reportedly, WildStorm’s made some lucrative wholesale deals with the video-game industry recently, to be fair, which would explain the continued existence of at least some of its titles.
See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.
—–
1 - BLACKEST NIGHT 07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8 -- 177,105 [196,066] 08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8 -- 146,092 (-17.5%) [155,512] 09/2009: Blackest Night #3 of 8 -- 140,786 (- 3.6%)
Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Blackest Night remains the best-selling comic in the North American direct market by about 30,000 units; the number-two book, Marvel’s Reborn #3, sold an estimated 108,331 units.
Blackest Night is levelling off very quickly for a high-profile miniseries, while reorders for previous issues also remain strong: Blackest Night #1 sold another 10,996 units in September, issue #2 another 9,420 and July’s Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2 also made the chart again, with an additional 4,098 copies — and there were more, see below.
As usual, I should point out that the book’s numbers — and especially the smooth drop-off — probably have a lot to do with the available variant-cover editions. For Blackest Night #1, there was a 1-for-250 edition, which means retailers needed to order 250 copies of the regular edition for every copy of the variant edition; for issue #2, there was a 1-for-200 edition; starting with #3, there are 1-for-100 editions for all remaining issues — also, all issues of Blackest Night are promoted with additional 1-for-25 variant-cover editions.
Still, even taking into account that there’s likely some distortion going on at the retail level thanks to the gimmick incentives, Blackest Night keeps performing very, very well.
(more…)
Via the Vertigo blog, news of a new vampire series, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, written by well-regarded horror writer Scott Snyder with art by rising star Rafael Albuquerque, and stories written by one Stephen King.
The new ongoing series, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, will introduce readers to a new breed of vampire—a more muscular and vicious species of vampire with distinctly American characteristics. The series’ first story arc, to be told over the course of five issues, will feature two different stories, one written by Snyder, the other by King.
Snyder’s storyline is one of decadence and deception and Jazz Age glamour. Pearl is an ambitious modern woman with starlet dreams. She frequents Hollywood’s speakeasies and dance-halls searching for her first big break, only to find something far more sinister waiting for her.
King’s story provides the origin of the very first American vampire: Skinner Sweet, a bank robbing, murdering cowboy of the 1880s. Skinner is stronger and faster than previous vampires; he has rattlesnake fangs and is powered by…. the sun?
Following the conclusion of the first story arc, Snyder and Albuquerque will trace Skinner’s bloodline through various decades of American history.
The Daily Beast has some more art, some of the origin story of the project:
When American Vampire was in the early stages of being greenlit, the editors at Vertigo asked Snyder if he knew anyone that would be willing to give a blurb to the project. Snyder had maintained a friendship with Stephen King after King had written a blurb for Voodoo Heart, so he sent King what he had so far of the series.
“He came back saying he loved it and he’d actually be willing to do a few issues at some point if we wanted him to,” Snyder says. “I went back to Vertigo and pretty much made sure that they were gonna take it regardless. It was really important to me that they weren’t going to take it because Steve was involved, because I’m the one who has to carry the series beyond Steve.”
Remember how for years and years everyone said “If we could only advertise comic books on TV, everything would be solved!” Well, as announced on Vertigo’s Graphic Content blog, Vertigo is doing just that with a TV spot for their initial Crime Line releases that is currently running on BBC America. You can view the spot here.
What with advertising on cable TV being, in some places, very, very affordable, this is indeed a bold move into mainstream marketing for books with a mainstream appeal.
We don’t have it in front of us, but Vertigo is also participating in some sponsorship opportunities with some New Yorker magazine events (the imprint ran some print ads a few weeks back.) so they are clearly trying to get the word out about the Crime Line in as many places where regular crime/mystery readers would be found as possible. (You could say that the ID Channel, home of crime, mystery and forensic programming, would also be a good channel for the message, but given crime line author Ian Rankin’s big following in the UK, BBC America makes sense as well.)
In the spirit of superhero fashion shoots, here’s one by Thierry Le Gouès, which includes model Ali Stephens and a guy in a Batman costume, which ran in the magazine, French Revue de Modes.
Thanks to Jim D. for the link.
Meanwhile, the NY Times reports on a superhero-themes line of clothing going on sale at Bloomingdale’s stores around the country.
The fun begins on Wednesday with a “New York Nights” cocktail bash at Bloomingdale’s around the country, including the Men’s Store at the flagship on 59th street and Third Avenue in Manhattan. Be there from 6 to 8 p.m. to whet your whistle and see the merch, which includes everything from t-shirts, socks and scarves to tote bags, wallets, ties and cuff links (thankfully, no leotards). The gear will be available through the holiday season.
By Mark Coale
Sure, we published our first issue in [cough] years and it was great to see old friends and discuss not being able to watch either the England or US matches with FMB, but can anything really top finding this book in a 50-cent bin?
So great for all the wrong reasons.
The Vertigo blog offers some art from JOE THE BARBARIAN by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy and announces the miniseries has been expanded to eight issues.
Morrison describes the story as “Home Alone meets Lord of the Rings.”
We’re pretty sure Jeff Robinov likes that.
August was another fairly strong month for DC Comics’ periodical output, mainly thanks to the continued success of the Green Lantern and Batman franchises. With Blackest Night #2, Batman and Robin #3, Green Lantern #45 and Blackest Night: Batman #1, the publisher again managed to place four of its DC Universe titles in the Top 10. DC’s mainstream superhero line also saw superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski’s arrival with the four-part event Red Circle, the start of Geoff Johns’ Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes revamp in Adventure Comics #1 and the company’s latest attempt at a Doom Patrol series.
Vertigo’s average periodical sales remained down in their usual orbit around 11,000 units in August, which isn’t surprising, given the lack of new launches or other special events. Instead, the imprint’s focus was on the debut of the Vertigo Crime line of comics novels. The two inaugural releases were off to a decent start and both made the Top 10 of Diamond’s Graphic Novels chart: Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos’ Filthy Rich claimed the No. 5 spot, selling an estimated 5,371. Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera’s Dark Entries charted at No. 8, with 4,330 units.
For WildStorm, August was another nail in the coffin. The imprint’s average periodical sales crashed to 7,977 units, the second-lowest level in the imprint’s history. Red Herring, a new creator-owned limited series by David Tischman and Philip Bond, debuted with estimated sales below 6,000 units.
See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.
—–
1 - BLACKEST NIGHT 07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8 -- 177,105 [185,070] 08/2009: Blackest Night #2 of 8 -- 146,092 (-17.5%)
DC’s big-event series of the year grabs the top spot on the August chart, with a solid distance of 20,000 units to Marvel’s Captain America: Reborn #2. Not bad for what’s essentially a Green Lantern spin-off.
This is a smooth second-issue drop-off for a book selling above 150K, certainly, but once again, the observation comes with a disclaimer. As you recall, sales of Blackest Night #1 were boosted through a 1-for-250 variant-cover edition, which required retailers to order 250 copies of the regular comic for every variant edition.
Unlike Batman and Robin #2, however, Blackest Night #2 was promoted through a 1-for-200 variant edition, and there will be 1-for-100 editions for subsequent issues (all in addition to the usual 1-for-25 variants, of course). So, while the real drop-off is probably somewhat less pronounced than it was for Batman and Robin, bear in mind that sales of Blackest Night #2 are still more distorted by gimmicks than those of Batman and Robin #2 were, back in July.
None of which is to say that Blackest Night is not a great success, of course. The first issue sold another 7,965 units in August, and there are reorders for various crossover books, as well. All three issues of July’s biweekly miniseries Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps appeared on the chart again in August, selling between 4,000 and 5,000 units; Green Lantern #43 and #44 posted reorders of 3,577 and 4,536, respectively.
That’s a fairly reliable sign that Blackest Night and its tie-ins aren’t just clogging up store shelves.
(more…)
July brought the expected boost for DC Comics’ periodical business. Largely thanks to Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night series and its various spin-off and tie-in books, the average DC Comics and DC Universe periodical sales increased significantly, to their highest levels in almost two years. The weekly Wednesday Comics, DC’s other big launch in July, debuted with much more modest figures: Wednesday Comics #1 charted at No. 36, with estimated sales well below 50,000 units.
Average periodical sales of the Vertigo and WildStorm imprints remained at their usual levels, with just above 11,000 and 8,000 units, respectively, and no trend reversals in sight. Notably, Vertigo published another $ 1.00 loss-leader with Greek Street #1, but failed to match the sales of its predecessor, The Unwritten #1. At WildStorm, Free Realms debuted, but the first issue of a twelve-part series based on a role-playing game missed the chart altogether, evidently.
See below for the analysis, and please consider the small print at the end of the column. Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com’s estimates can be found here.
—–
2 - BLACKEST NIGHT 07/2009: Blackest Night #1 of 8 -- 177,105
At this stage, given the encouraging sales of both Green Lantern series over the last year, it doesn’t come as a great surprise that Blackest Night is a sales juggernaut. The book beats June’s Batman and Robin #1 by about 8,500 units and is only 16,000 units behind July’s top book, Marvel’s Reborn #1, which was massively hyped.
Like Batman and Robin #1, Blackest Night #1 was promoted not just with the usual 1-for-25 variant-cover edition, but also with a more limited 1-for-250 cover edition. (For the uninitiated, this means that retailers had to order 250 copies of the regular comic to be able to order one limited edition.) This could mean that the figure we see is massively inflated, which would result in a large second-issue drop, but it doesn’t seem like this happened with Batman and Robin #2 — see below.
Even as Diane Nelson arrives for some quality time at the DC offices this week, over the weekend people were asking the Big Questions. Graeme McMillan ponders the nuclear/Diamond option:
(One worry outside of Warners taking a stronger hand in DC’s creative decisions – and perhaps a more important worry to the comic book industry as a whole – is that DC Comics still has an option to purchase Diamond Distributors, which has been the case since the implosion of the comic market in the mid-1990s. Diamond, now essentially a monopoly in terms of distribution to comic book stores internationally, is the speciality comic book market; whereas before Levitz was said to be the moral voice stopping any such sale from taking place, without Levitz and with Warners looking to make DC Entertainment a profitable company, what’s to stop DC from buying Diamond now – especially as doing so would allow them to control the distribution of Marvel Comics?)
The Beat says: Warners has shown very little inclination to own distribution companies in recent years, having divested from Time Warner Cable, AOL, and Warner Books, their existing distribution company (now owned by Hachette). So, buying a specialty magazine distributor would be…a daring move.
§ ICv2 interviews Nelson and Paul Levitz on their press tour, and asks what people are really wondering about:
We assume the headquarters of DC Entertainment will be in the Los Angeles area. Are there any plans to consolidate, to move publishing to California?Nelson: Our focus is going to be figuring out how we integrate DC Comics and DC Entertainment into Warner Bros. and we’re going to spend a lot of time with Paul’s guidance and my thoughts understanding the business and how we do that best for the future, so there really aren’t any plans to do any of the specific things you just asked.
Nelson is also questioned about the Direct Market:
Nelson: This is an area that first of all, admittedly, I have a lot more to learn about. I also am very aware that in my colleague Paul I have someone who understands that channel better than almost anyone. My focus is going to necessarily need to be how do we protect the core business and by extension the retailers who are the foundation of that, while also looking to build and grow the business for the future. I certainly appreciate the cultural and business value that those stores, their owners, and their customers provide for this whole business. And what that looks like for the future is going to take a whole lot of conversation with lots of people, not the least of whom is Paul.
Supplementary: for old Paul Levitz fanzine materials. Scott Edelman is your go-to guy. But Tom Mason wins the humor award.
Following Philip Tan’s run on BATMAN & ROBIN, frequent Grant Morrison collaborator Cameron Stewart takes over the art, The Source reports.
Technorati Tags: Batman wins
UPDATE: This interview with Nelson by Sharon Waxman at The Wrap addresses a few of those pressing issues and establishes that Nelson is not a comics fan “by nature.”
So: a girl running a comic book operation? Isn’t this a young, male-centric market?
I prefer to be known as an executive rather than a girl. It’s not gone without comment in the blogosphere. But I have to tell you, I’ve been really encouraged by the commentary in comic book world.
But I’m the first one to admit, I’m not by my nature a comic fan. It’s not what I’m bringing to the party. We have so many experts who will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment. What I bring to the party is a skill at moving properties and brands through Time Warner as a company.
There’s a new pitcher in this ballgame and DC Kremlinologists must learn all new signs and sigils.
New DC Entertainment Prexy Diane Nelson — or Jenette 2.0 as a few wags are calling her — did the newssite rounds yesterday, in tandem with outgoing Paul Levitz. We know all Kremlinologists will be combing these stories for details…let’s take a look!
Jonah Weiland and Andy Khouri chat things up at Comic Book Resources and get the overall look at the assets — content!
Jonah Weiland: Diane, what do you see as DC Comics’ greatest strengths and assets today?
Nelson: It’s a reflection, I believe, or at least it’s consistent with what Warner Bros. has cared about and stood for, that we are a talent-friendly company and are a place that values creators. I think the depth and breadth of the DC library and all of its imprints give us a real advantage over any competitor, however you define them. This isn’t just about the biggest or most well-known properties — those will clearly be a part of our initiative — but it can equally be about much lesser known properties that we incubate and build throughout the company, and it can be and should be about the acquisitions of new properties and characters. We are a content company and we’ll be even more focused on that in the future and that’s on a Warner Bros. and Time Warner level. I think recognizing the value of what our creators have created in this library and treating them carefully for the long term is the single greatest thing we have to work with here.
This next quote recalls many of the Bob Iger reassurances of the past few days:
Initially, over the first six months, it’s going to be about learning and listening and looking carefully at the DC Comics organization, which, again, remains a foundation of what DC Entertainment will be. So, DC Comics as a publishing company will remain intact.
Further on, Nelson talks about digital and motion comics. The general impression is that her mandate is to exploit more and more IP over more and more platforms — in other words, the search for the D.W. Griffith of motion comics may well be on.
Vaneta Rogers at Newsarama covers much the same ground but adds a name check for Minx:
Nelson said that among the things that will be focused upon will be how DC’s characters can be utilized in feature films, acknowledging that among them will be Superman and Wonder Woman.
“Of course they’re priorities,” she said. “But we’ll equally be looking at other properties and stories that can be incubated. It may start in digital, it may start in television, it could end up being video games. There could be casual games that come out of properties that come from Minx.
“That’s going to be the fun of it is making sure we look at all facets of the prism, and making sure we don’t just look at it as a linear… ‘here’s theatrical, now what do we spin off of that’ thing,” she said. “That’s not our goal. That’s a piece of the puzzle.
Initial impressions: the emphasis on creators and their importance is heartening. Surely the person who negotiated the interests of J.K. Rowling understands the importance of the sole creator and inspiration, without which big corporations just turn out things like Loonatics. At the same time, the lack of mentions of the phrase “comic books” in most of the answers is troubling. Given Disney’s lack of interest in periodicals and Nelson’s seeming interest in things other than comic books, many comic shop owners must have tossed and turned quite a bit last night.
It’s important to remember that although the announcement of some decisions were hastened by the Disney/Marvel deal, a lot of this was underway for years. For instance, we’re told the creation of DC Entertainment wasn’t going to roll out until next year — surely that was moved up to compete directly with the Marvel news. Disney and Warners have always been fiercely competitive, and the WB has long been attempting to build the same kind of dynamically synergized branding that Disney can do in its sleep. Warners’ hodgepodge of fiefdoms has long been a structural deterrent to this kind of concerted effort. From what we’re hearing, there is still a lot of work to do on that front.
The big immediate question mark: who will take over as DC’s new publisher? And what will happen to DC’s existing West Coast office, headed by Gregory Noveck? Tune in tomorrow for more shocks and surprises!
BTW, for a fairly exhaustive list of movie blogger reactions to the news, check out Christopher Campbell at Spout.
ICV2 recalled his own words in a recent interview:
It’s an incredible gig. I’ve been there a very long time. It’s way past any statistical likelihood of anyone staying doing something. So one of these days I’m not going to be doing this, whether that’s the company changing its mind or moving in another direction, or me saying, ‘guys it’s been great, it’s been a wonderful time but I’m not getting on another airplane for awhile.’ But I’ll still have been one of the luckiest guys imaginable to have gotten to play with these great toys for so long. I hope I’ll still have one foot in the comic book industry for a long time thereafter. If nothing else I get to go to a comic convention and actually have some time to attend a panel and just listen or buy some comics.
Chris Butcher gets to the point that occupied many a hot stove league conversation:
I always wondered when Warner Brothers would figure out that they owned DC Comics. Turns out? September 9th, 2009.
Brian Hibbs expresses the worries many are feeling:
Marv Wolfman recalls his friend of nearly 40 years:
If you are into comics, you already know Paul Levitz is stepping down from his position as President and Publisher of DC Comics. I’ve known Paul since he was 13 and consider him one of my closest and dearest friends. For years now, Paul has talked about retiring someday soon and returning to writing, his first love. For that reason alone I am so happy for him because I know that’s what he deeply cares about and has been wanting. As readers, we are in for some major treats.
I can also say, without fear of rebuttal by anyone who is in the know, Paul is probably the best, the smartest, the most creative and the most moral Publisher the business has ever seen. Most fans have no idea how important Paul is, not only to DC, but to the entire industry. I have often said, and mean, that without Paul there very well might not be a comics industry today. I am not speaking in hyperbole. I am being literal; I mean exactly what I wrote.
And Kurt Busiek wins with a comprehensive summation:
Paul has been at the forefront of just about every industry development of the last couple of decades, and has been key to how the industry’s shaped itself over those years. Shifting from a periodicals-only business to a strong backlist-oriented business with trade paperbacks and hardcovers, adding imprints like Vertigo, creating new opportunities for creators and for creator ownership, seeing that DC gave a fair (or at least fairer) deal to the creators who originated the concepts that turned up in DC-based movies, from Arkham Asylum and Lucius Fox to Robin’s motorcycles (yeah, because they called Chris O’Donnell’s ride the “Redbird” in one of the movies, Paul Levitz saw to it that Chuck Dixon got money) and more, Paul was an important part of a huge number of changes that DC’s seen, and that the whole industry’s seen. Some of them big changes everyone’s noticed, some of them behind-the-scenes stuff few people know about.
And some people have been impatient that Paul was cautious, and wanted him to move faster, to leap into new things instead of easing into them. But in an industry where many publishers throw money into the latest cool thing, only to find themselves overextended and floundering, Paul was always careful that growth and change should be sustainable, doing things like building a backlist of trade paperbacks slowly, so the revenue from the existing books would fuel the addition of new ones, and a large library was built over time. And often, when other publishers’ precipitous actions had made things unstable, DC Comics provided a backstop, a stability that let the comics industry ride out the rough waters and get to the next safe haven. To mix metaphors shamelessly.
Paul is one of a very few people who’ve been absolutely key in shaping the comics industry from what it was in the mid-Seventies to what it is today. Staggering changes, built slowly over time, so that DC (and the companies that adopted DC’s innovations) could build from strength to strength.
Check out this list of the top 20 grossing films of the last decade. 
Discuss. We’ll be back here tomorrow for a wrap-up of the 10 Days That Shook The Multiverse.
[Thanks to KW for the link.]
You are currently browsing the archives for the DC category.
