Out of My Mind: Calling Out DC Comics
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- Published on Monday, 20 June 2011 04:07
- Written by Kevin
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From the very beginning I have been one of the bigger defenders of the DC Comics reboot. That does not mean I am one of the biggest fans of the decision, but I have found myself defending this reboot more than bashing it. I have been giving DC a lot of credit for going for such a risky move. However, there is one thing that continues to pop up whenever one of the big names from DC begins talking about one topic. That same topic was brought up again in this past weekend during DC’s Retailer Roadshow.
What is this big thing that is bothering me? DC is not being honest about how current continuity matters to the reboot. Every other day someone at DC will say what they are doing is a reboot and then saying there is still a lot being kept from current continuity. The biggest criminal of this has been Dan Didio and from what has been reported from the DC Retailer Roadshow they continue to do this.
This does not only upset me as a fan, but also as someone that actually loves going to my local comic book shop. The owner of my shop is awesome. However, because of how DC has handled the reboot it has made me hesitant to buy DC books. I can honestly say that out of the 10 DC comics that I was buying before I dropped half of them because of this reboot. Not only that, I have decided to not buy any of the trade paperbacks and hardcovers from DC that I was going to buy over the next few months. That is more than $80 a month I am not spending at my local comic book shop.
That $80 a week by itself does not seem like such a loss to DC. However, after to other friends, customers of my LCS and people on Twitter, I am not the only person doing this. There are plenty of fans that are also slashing the number of DC products that they were going to buy. The aggregate loss of sales for owners of comic book shops increases.
Why is this happening? Because the local comic shops do not know how to tell their customers if what they are buying matters anymore since they do not know if it will be wiped out or kept.
This only further angers me because, as it was reported on Bleeding Cool, both Bob Wayne and Dan Didio got mad at their retailers for saying that if they are losing customers it is because they are not doing their jobs. Now I do not know if this is true since I was no present at the meeting, but this just brings to mind that it is not the retailer’s fault that they are losing money on people dropping books.
This falls on DC for not being honest with both the customers and retailers. DC has currently left everyone high and dry and that is their faults. Whether it is the big three in Dan Didio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns or their marketing team, everyone is at fault here. They have not given retailers much to tell their customers in order for them to still pay for the current product DC is putting out.
Right now they are losing money that they use to pay their bills each month with the revenue they get from how many comics, trade paperbacks and hardcovers customers like myself buy each month.
Now, as I said in the last Revolution Roundtable, I fully expect DC not to give any in-depth details until San Diego Comic-Con where they will have the big stage to steal the thunder from not only Marvel but the whole entertainment industry attending the event. But after all this, one month for details to be spoken about the reboot feel very far away.
If DC wants to keep customers happy they have to bring us into the loop of what is going on more than they have. Not only for us but for retailers who still have to sell the current comics that we do not know if they matter in the new DCU. Maybe DC should take a page out of Lebron James book and hold their own press conference before then for all the big media outlets to shed light on the current situation.
What do you think about how DC and Warner Bros. have handled the relaunch/reboot of the DCU? Let us know by commenting below.