CBR: CCI LIVE: DC's Friday New 52 Panel

[CBR News]

DC Comics' second New 52 panel at Comic-Con International is now underway. Grant Morrison, Jim Lee, Bob Harris, and more join co-publisher Dan DiDio to discuss the September relaunch. CBR has live updates from 11:15-12:15 PST.


Full article here.

[Jabare]

okay........I'm waiting to hear something interesting

[Raye]

"We hear the phrase all the time 'event fatigue,'" DiDio said, "which we equate with bad storytelling." He said that his concern was not "the people that scream 'I'm gonna quit [comics],' but the people who just walk away." These silent former fans—"they lost interest"—are most responsible for the drop in sales, DiDio suggested.

That is totally me. I was a Marvel fan, but the CONSTANT 'events' and crossovers just wore me out and I dropped everything. I heard that as part of the relaunch after Flashpoint was over there would be less crossovers and events and that was actually a big selling point with me.

[Sabrewulf]

You know I can get with the Superman thing. For a flagship character he was kind of dull personality wise. Although that being said, i always felt that Superman was more about the stories told around him than the charachter himself. I think All Star really captured that.

What doesnt sit well with me is the rest. It wasn't broke so why fix it. The reason for poor sales on Teen Titants and JSA were crappy creative teams pure and simple.

I don't think throwing away years of reader investment in Teen Titans history and putting yet another crappy creative team on the book is the way forward.

It feels like DC are quite literally sacrificing the long time reader for the sake of a Heroes Reborn style relaunch for a non existent new reader.

People who didn't buy Geoff Johns Teen Titans when it was launched aren't going to come along and buy a crappy 90's style relaunch.

If they wanted to get this right Sterling Gates should have had a shot at Teen Titans with a hot fresh new artist to give the book more of modern feel without giving the characters costume styles from what is deemed the worst decade of comics.

It shouls also have been a continuation but with the first arc being fresh and not bogged down in continuity. Because even the relaunch will be non new reader friendly within a year if that kind of thing bothers people.

But for god sake. In the age of wikipedia and google there's no excuse for dumbing things down for new readers. Plus if all back issues are made available digitally then readers have access to the issues they want to catch up on and we can go back to editors footnotes. With the website offering up the download free or charged of the issue in question.

This just hasnt been thought through at all and they aren't embracing the digital age to its fullest at all.

[Sabrewulf]

Does anyone remember the notes at the back of Avengers Forever. Upon and issues release there should be a page just like that on the website witht he adress being advertised in the book. The web page could then offer links to the relevant issues needed to understand any backstory and offer them for download for free to inspire the reader to get mroe invested int eh chracters history. With that investment will become a decrease in drop off sales from new readers.

[Raye]

But for god sake. In the age of wikipedia and google there's no excuse for dumbing things down for new readers. Plus if all back issues are made available digitally then readers have access to the issues they want to catch up on and we can go back to editors footnotes. With the website offering up the download free or charged of the issue in question.

I was with you until this. Reboot or no, I don't think it should be a requirement to use something like Wikipedia to follow a story. ever. By all means, have stories continue from one to another, but if it's written in such a way that REQUIRES knowledge of events that happened more than a couple arcs ago, it's bad writing.

[Anxy]

That is totally me. I was a Marvel fan, but the CONSTANT 'events' and crossovers just wore me out and I dropped everything. I heard that as part of the relaunch after Flashpoint was over there would be less crossovers and events and that was actually a big selling point with me.

My reaction was the opposite. I feel like DCnU is the logical evolution of event projects, where the entire line of comics becomes one big moneygrabbing event. I appreciate the totality of it because it gives me a clean jumping-off point, which saves money and gives me the opportunity to check out a few more titles from other publishers I might not otherwise feel like I could afford to take a chance on.

[shingi70]

"One of the most interesting discussions we had was over Batgirl, Barbara Gordon," DiDio said, saying that they saw her as early 20s, but many writers saw her as mid-to-late '30s.

Really so you deage her anyway.

[Sabrewulf]

I was with you until this. Reboot or no, I don't think it should be a requirement to use something like Wikipedia to follow a story. ever. By all means, have stories continue from one to another, but if it's written in such a way that REQUIRES knowledge of events that happened more than a couple arcs ago, it's bad writing.

No its not at all. That kind of history is what has kept readers loyal for all these years despite price hikes and bad writing. They lvoe the characters. The characters story. All of it. What you want is the Marvel mentality of every six issue arc written as a movie treatmen afraid to reference anything more than a year or so back because they think people just want movie of the week in comic book form.

Comic books aren't movies. It's a whole different media form that allows for many decades of story to play a part.

When I started reading comic they were full of editors notes referencing back issues. Some were old and I never went out and bought them. Still I enjoyed the story because it was well written and the reference was explained in panel. Now its even easier to find out about those references and yet Marvel and DC still feel the need to spend whole pages of someone walking across a room saying nothing as opposed building up the chracters through use of their history. People are dropping off because they are bored.

Comics aren't movies. You can't treat them as movies because when movies are doing superheores on such a grand scale and to such grand aeffect fro the price of two comic books you are going to lose out. Comics need to go back to being utilised to maximise on story potential available that works best in that medium and the only way you are going to get new readers on boeard when tv and movies are doing comic books better than comic books are is to drop the price. That is what it comes down to.

[shingi70]

JSA? Berganza: "You will see Karen Starr and Mr. Terrific."

ALL you power girl fans can have a breathe of relief.

Chance of continuing Smallville in comics, a la Batman Beyond? Harras: "That's a great idea."

Please I hope this happens.

[Thad]

DiDio said his initial thought with the relaunch was, "we're going to do all #1s, except for 'Action' and 'Detective.'" But he ultimately decided "nobody's going to take you seriously if you don't do 'Action' and 'Detective,'" as this would send the message that things would eventually revert.

Yeah, good thing nobody thinks that now.

[The Cool Thatguy]

DiDio then spoke about characters' ages, noting that characters had aged through the years, gaining families, having multigenerational stories, etc. He said he wanted to return characters to a younger, more exciting age.

What an impressively limited mindset

[gwangung]

What doesnt sit well with me is the rest. It wasn't broke so why fix it.

I most vehemently disagree with that.

Comic book sales IS broken--sales are going down universally on all titles. Something is being done about that.

[Sabrewulf]

I most vehemently disagree with that.

Comic book sales IS broken--sales are going down universally on all titles. Something is being done about that.

They are missing the point as to why comic book sales are down and it's not down to the chracters or their history. It's down to price, bad pacing and bad creative teams. Basically value for money.

Ive been buying comics for myself for over 20 years now. I used to buy everythign now I get a handful fo books. The reason for that is that the don't get the enjoyment I expect from the price im paying for them. Like I said the pacing is slow, the writing often weak and the rich tapestry of history is ignored for the sake of chasing the new reader which never surfaces. Why did it work in the 80s and not now?

Because back then they just told the ebst stories they could and didn't worry about trying to find a reason for drop in sales whils refusing to acknowledge the two things that are to blame, quality and price.

[gwangung]

They are missing the point as to why comic book sales are down and it's not down to the chracters or their history. It's down to price, bad pacing and bad creative teams. Basically value for money.

No. Sales are down because of distribution. You can't grow sales very well when you constantly whittle away at outlets to sell.

Content is a distant second to that.