CBR: Tilting at Windmills - Sep 22, 2011

[CBR News]

Brian Hibbs examines the DC relaunch now that the first 3 weeks of New 52 titles have arrived, focusing on reigniting reader interest and problems with the current business model.


Full article here.

[NormanB]

Fantastic read as always Brian.

Of the books I've sampled, I've enjoyed them all. I'm a big GL guy and am glad for the expansion of that universe as of late.

[nexus77]

My kudos to DC's marketing team for successfully creating a level of interest that is somewhat akin to something like a new Harry Potter book being released, and doing it widely across an entire line of 52 titles.

The Diane Nelson Effect?

[Ultraist]

There isn't a single issue of The DC New 52 that has interested me. Action Comics almost interested me. Detective Comics and Batman almost interested me. Honestly, I was curious to flip through all of them. But not a single one had me interested enough to buy it.

But the folks at my local comic shop have echoed what has been said here about this level of intense consumer interest.

So maybe I'm just not the target audience for any of these comic books. I would have liked to have been. But I'm not.

However, if this DC stunt HAS brought people back into comic shops, then I'm hoping that it will also breath some life into all the comic books that I AM interested in. Maybe it'll put some extra cash into the pockets of the comic store owners that will let them experiment a little more with independent comic books?

Let's hope so!

[rpriske]

The only thing I have witnessed that was bigger was the Death of Superman... but that was just for the one issue and its lasting impact was negligible.

[psykomyko]

It's always worth reading Hibbs' retail experiences and insights.
I'm hearing that other retailers aren't seeing nearly the same demand on some recent titles, though: instead of Day One sellouts, some books aren't having much sell-through at all - which makes the idea of DC announcing non-returnable 2nd printings across the board seem strange. I wrote up more thoughts about this, with a link to this Tilting column: http://wp.me/p1Hi9G-7l

[EarthNu]

Brian Hibbs said:
"Turns out, once again, Internet punditry was generally wrong: the "rest of the world" doesn't automatically want digital over print"

I believe this to be a seriously flawed statement/argument.

It wpuld be much more accurate to say that the world doesn't want digital comics they don't own over print.

Music singles wouldn't be selling a million+ copies digitally on major hits, if you didn't actually own the copy either.

I believe the amount activity in torrent and file share sites, over the past three weeks shows there is more than enough demand for digital copies on these nuDC issues. Once DC wakes up and clues in tht people won't pay good money for something they don't own and could lose access to if these server sites ever close, the digital numbers will be there.

Course, by then it could be too late as the launch will be well over...

So please, don't say people do not want digital... be ause tht is wrong, they do.

[hebitudinous]

LOL I'm amazed at the people who claim that the majority of people prefer digital comics over print without a shred of real evidence to support it. No matter how many contortions, caveats and disclaimers you throw into the mix, modern comics are better experienced in print. That may change, one day, but it ain't today. (And LCS everywhere sigh in relief.)

But Mr Hibbs ... OK, I'm really glad to hear you've always believed in the potential of the reboot (despite your massive hedging over on savagecritic.com). But do you really, really believe that a more focused 26 could have had the same effect as 52 titles with disparate styles and approaches?

If every one of the 52 titles were as single-minded as some claim, perhaps you'd be right. But as far as I can tell, the misogynistic nature of "Catwoman" and "Red Hood" are limited to those titles, while another brand of women empowerment is on display in "Wonder Woman" and "Birds of Prey", and another brand entirely in "Tiny Titans".

As you say, most readers are smart enough to NOT buy all 52 titles indiscriminately. I would like to hope readers who are also parents are smart enough to know that "Tiny Titans" is appropriate for their young 'uns and know enough from the cover NOT to buy "Wonder Woman", "Catwoman" or "Red Hood" for their impressionable eight year-old.

I'm really glad to read his suggestions and advice on how to make the best from the relaunch. Here's hoping that we can look forward to more helpful suggestions in the future.

[Ultraist]

LOL I'm amazed at the people who claim that the majority of people prefer digital comics over print without a shred of real evidence to support it.

Ditto. I have no idea what other people prefer, but personally, I can't see myself ever paying money for a digital comic (unless it was purely a donation to support and recompensate an artist whose work I enjoy - but normally I would opt to purchase a hard copy to do so).

I wonder how many of those Justice League #1 digital polybagged comics DC sold?

[Maidman]

Ok, According to Mr. hibs, I better add the books I want to my pull list before the second issues roll out or risk them selling out.

My LCS has been really good so far. The only sell out has been WONDER WOMAN! Other books are in low supply, but I got mine.

[MNM]

So please, don't say people do not want digital... be ause tht is wrong, they do.

Of music maybe, not comics.

[Kevin Street]

It might be different in twenty-five years when iPads and the like have been ubiquitous for a while, but yeah, it seems that today's audience really does prefer paper. And thank goodness for that.

[Paul McEnery]

It might be different in twenty-five years when iPads and the like have been ubiquitous for a while, but yeah, it seems that today's audience really does prefer paper. And thank goodness for that.

At that price they do.

Oh, and iPads etc will be ubiquituous by about this time two years hence, if not sooner.

[rpi]

LOL I'm amazed at the people who claim that the majority of people prefer digital comics over print without a shred of real evidence to support it. No matter how many contortions, caveats and disclaimers you throw into the mix, modern comics are better experienced in print. That may change, one day, but it ain't today. (And LCS everywhere sigh in relief.)

Who has ever said that a majority of people want digital copies over print? I have not seen anyone say that. Simple logic suggests that there aren't enough people out there with tablets to make digital comics something a majority of the world comics population wants. I just find it interesting that Mr. Hibbs said some remarkably snarky things in response to people saying they preferred digital copies over going to their local comic store, when obviously LCSs are fine as long as the comic makers produce a product readers want. Now in his article everything is milk and honey.

[chrisjuricich]

Yeah, I mean seriously, who really knows what people want out there...digital or print? I don't, I can only speak for myself. While I regularly read books digitally on my iPad, given that I work regularly in a comic book store, my need for digital copies to keep up any jonesing I might have for my favorite characters is moot.

So--every week I read the comics I want to...for free.

And as I don't give a tinker's damn about their collectivity, owning the individual issues doesn't matter to me...but having access does. Were I not ensconced as I am in an LCS benefits situation, I frankly would have to say that with the current pricing for print, I'd be disinclined to buy floppies. Given that I'm disinclined to pay full price for the eventual TPBs, I might wait for the book to appear in a used bookstore (out of the blue on Craigslist I just bought all 13 volumes of 100 Bullets for $40).

Would I pay $2.99 for a digital comic book reading opportunity? Or a month later at $1.99? Mmm...no--not even tempting. Would I spend an hour or two trying to figure out how to download all this digital funny books for free from some pirate bit torrent site? Meh. Probably not.

Why? It's not all that compelling to me in the first place! When it comes to comics, I'm still on the print side of the coin...at least in terms of TPBs.