Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: comicspro, wednesday
Comic Shop Owners Applaud DC Comics Return To Wednesday On-Sale Date
DC Comics has told comic shop owners and employees that they will be moving back to comic books going on sale on Wednesdays.
Article Summary
- DC Comics announces a return to releasing new comics on Wednesdays, starting July.
- The move garners applause at ComicsPro, reversing the Tuesday sale date set during the pandemic.
- Comic shops embrace the classic 'Wednesday Warrior' tradition for weekly comic releases.
- DC’s shift aligns with traditional New Comics Wednesday, bolstering the long-standing practice.
At the ComicsPro retailer summit in Pittsburgh, DC Comics has told the assembled comic book shop owners and employees that they will be moving back from comic books going on sale on Tuesdays, to Wednesdays. The change will take place in July, according to DC reps at the show. The announcement got a standing ovation from the assembled retailers.
New comics used to be sold on Wednesday as standard. It generated the term Wednesday Warrior for people who wanted to get their comics as soon as possible. When DC Comics kicked off the New 52 in 2011, it was accompanied by new trading practices, negotiated by then-DC Comics VP Sales and former retailer Bob Wayne, with Diamond Comic Distributors. Diamond would deliver comic books on Tuesdays or before, for sale on Wednesday. Stores caught breaking that street date would lose that early delivery privilege.
As a result of pandemic distributor shutdowns, DC Comics dropped Diamond for Lunar Distribution and moved their on-sale date to Tuesdays to match bookstore distribution dates. And many retailers started getting those comic books the previous week. But everyone else stuck to the Wednesday date, even the likes of Image Comics, who were also now being distributed exclusively by Lunar.
While DC Comics' on-sale date now matched bookstores for trade paperbacks and graphic novels, DC was criticised for breaking the New Comics Wednesday mentality and brand that had been established. Some comic stores refused to sell new DC comics titles on Tuesday, others felt they had no choice if they had local competition. But now the big change has now changed right back again. Wouldn't it be nice if they had a new series of Wednesday Comics to accompany it?
In the meantime, stay tuned to our ongoing coverage of ComicsPRO 2024 with this handy tag.