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DC Comics To Keep Twice-Monthly Series Going Throughout 2017, Announced At MCM London Comic Con

Published Fri, 28 Oct 2016 09:41:33 -0500

Last updated Sat, 29 Oct 2016 17:43:54 -0500

DC Comics co-publisher Dan Didio along with Ski have just raised the roof at the Diamond UK Retailer Day, talking about the DC Rebirth line, Vertigo, Young Animal and Hanna-Barbera.

He also rescued my hoodie from being lost forever, but that's another story.

He had a lot to talk about. About how he knows that DC Comics can't just keep relaunching multiple times without attrition of interest. How they have doubled down on the superhero line with DC Rebirth and that the double shipping, twice-monthly will continue through 2017 – though he expects one to four titles will move to monthly status. And got the biggest cheer for the $2.99 price point, saying that he'd rather sell more comics at a lower price than fewer at a higher price.

He did have one message for those (and I felt I was being targeted a little) who sees DC's reduced title, greater shipping move as something that might kill the content diversity of the line, and asked those concerned to look to the Young Animal, Vertigo and Hanna-Barbera titles for that. Stating that media was sectionalising everything these days and this was just a reaction to the market.

He also stated that DC wasn't in competition with Marvel, but with television and film for delivering the superhero fix and that with DC Rebirth they were trying to "go back and reclaim what's ours", and to be the leaders and innovators in superhero fiction. He also pointed out that the derivative TV comics don;t sell nearly as well as the original comics line.

With Justice League Vs Suicide Squad, he talked about being determined that January should no longer be retailers' weakest month. He joked about retailer exclusive covers being a necessary evil, considering if DC could publish sealed exclusive variant covers with blank pages, to see how long it would be before anyone noticed. And said that the JLA Rebirth Specials were so named so that people would buy them.

He pointed out how Detective Comics had been outperforming expectations, and led to the new Batwoman title but that DC are trying not to burn out the Rebirth brand – which is why you haven't seen six or nine more relaunches.

And Dan Didio's favourite DC Flintsines is possibly Dan DiDio's favourite DC comic right now. But he talked about the focus of getting Supeman, Batman and Wonder Woman to sell well, that if people feel good about Superman's success, they feel good about DC. But stressed the importance of DC's other lines for finding new audiences, getting another round of applause for saying "we can't just keep selling the same stuff to the same people."

Watch for more stories from MCM London Comic Con here.

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