The $4.99 Priceline is killing the customer base. There is too much media at a better value to buy especially during a recession. The events are helping with that too.
Doesn't help that DC is publishing a billion (worthless) comics every month. I feel sorry for those compulsive Batman fans who have to buy 50 comics a month.
It's why I stick with manga, my local store sell all manga for buy 2 get one free which brings the price down to almost the same as a comic per volume.
One of the reasons I stopped collecting was the price. Back in the day I'd spend about 75 bucks a week and was able to pretty much buy 90% of the product that came out. At 4 and 5 dollars a book those days are over, and the fact that most of the art is horrible and the stories seemblike they wete written by activists have turned me off. I went from a hardcore fan, to running a shop for a few years to not buying a comic in over 10 years. The industry is all but dead.
@@treek10kyou’re in the wrong place bub. And how do you know anything ? Did the almighty personally tell you this? If you don’t know, butt out and quit being presumptuous.
When it's obvious that the parent corporations don't care, the publishers don't care, and the creators don't care, you get the kind of apathy you're seeing today. Short of a seance that summoned the ghost of Jack Kirby to draw a new comic, there really isn't anything that's going to get me back into a comic shop, if I could even find one within 100 miles of where I live.
There seems too much focus on the IP and not the characters. Like Uel mentioned, there was a time when you had Blue Beetle, Firestorm, Blue Devil, Booster Gold, Black Lighting, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Adventure Comics with Aquaman, JSA, Plastic Man, teamups books like Brave and the Bold or DC Presents, Warlord, Shade, Question, Captain Atom, Creeper and others. Now, it is Bats, Detective, several other books involving Bat Nightwing, several books involving Batman Family that no one is reading, Supes, Action. There is a vast canvas of characters but DC is only focusing in one corner.
Right! I mean, there isn't even a current Teen Titans run, even though there's a popular show that has run on HBO for three seasons. The 6th volume of Titans ended in 2021. DC could have published a Legends of Tomorrow run (the only one was in 2016) and a Black Lightning run (the most recent one was 2017) to go along with the TV shows, but they didn't do that, either. They did do a new Stargirl series, but not until the TV show ended!
But what is the point of all of this? The problem is the content itself, it is trash and is not what your customers want. After fixing the content make it cheaper, accessible and easy to read. Then, when everything is right, you can think about advertising and marketing.
Easily my favorite comic channel. Quick, very direct videos that get right to the point. Often with a highly knowledgeable second banana, and they come every day.
@@AbortedEvolution "direct videos that get right to the point" - that's the best part. I tried a few channels before I settled on this one, like Perch and that Zack guy. And while they weren't bad, they took ages, literal ages, to get to the point. I get it Zack that you're proud of your lawn, but can we get to the comic books?
Exactly. Normal people could not care less about events. Normal people care about stories. Events are spectacle that tantalize insiders with endless fan service that doesn't crossover to the majority of any potential audience. Crisis on Infinite Earths was great because it addressed the meta problems with continuity and parallel universes. That should've been the solution to a decades-old problem. Instead, it became DC's business model. Oy. *forehead slap*
events just add to the whole confusion. Ok so when do I read these tie ins? Even if you fix this one. There is the whole issue with, do these tie in matter at all? Did I just spend 5 bucks on a pointless comic? Now with them pumping out events like there is no tomorrow. How is any of these events meant to matter, when you just jump from one big thing to the next. Not to forget a story you might be interested in, is put on hold, due to it having to be part of this event. Events should just be done away with and replace with the classic story arc. If it a big deal, than build it up through a logical way with classic story telling, rather than forcing a event to happen.
@@StratumPress tbh events should be natural and fall right into place and not hype up every event. Same thing can be said for movie cinematic universes, if i recall 90s superhero animated shows didnt need to establish a cinematic universe nor hype up the next team up, it just happened naturally. Like there would be a 2 part special where spiderman meets the x men or superman meets batman.
Years ago I had left Marvel not too long after Civil War. I actually liked Civil War by Millar and McNiven but the idea was that they were gonna present a new different Marvel World coming out of it. And it seemed interesting, I bought some of those books. But the ink was not even fresh that they came up with "Dark Reign", another World-changing event. Then Fear Itself. I was sick of it and left for a couple of years. I returned for "Marvel NOW" which was NOT company-wide big crossover event but a good jumping point as a reader. I really liked it, it was not confusing, easy to the follow and most of the books were good. And then came Secret War and was like NOPE that's it, over for me. No more big events.
DC and Marvel are full of rubbish writers and editors, who are more concerned with the message than the stories, to fix this you need to have the power to get rid of them and who hired them. Another problem is that writers and editors with talent and love for comics have had time to get lucrative work without DC and Marvel and it's going to be expensive to get them back. That's not to mention the damage they've done to characters that have been the mainstays of these universes for years, damage that can't be easily recovered. It would take something massive to change that ship's direction, and it might be too late since they've already hit the iceberg.
I don't believe that digital will help. I was a lapsed Marvel reader. A few years ago I bought a Marvel Unlimited digital subscription. I read a lot of back issues but I'd read them before. That was just nostalgia. I tried to get into the newer stuff but it was just a huge turn off. I lacked context for a lot of stuff and I had to spend way too much time on Wikipedia to figure things out. There wasn't enough help in the issues themselves to help me out. I also had to wade through an unbelievable amount of terrible stuff to find the odd decent story. It was all just hard work. I cancelled my subscription when I realised that I hadn't opened the app for a year. I can't imagine that DC digital would be any better.
DC’s plan is focused on bringing awareness to the *IP* not so much on getting you into a comic store. As someone who since the early 1980s used to love the Wednesday afternoon comic shop visit, those days are gone. Just like other products and services that are not focused on Amazon and digital distribution; been to a mall lately? Amazon, and streaming services provide global access and are the present and the future. Go all in or die.
? I had a few DC comics back in the '70s. Marvel had its characters but DC just had a repetitive new hero/villain wins/loses never to be seen again. Even as a 9-year-old, I thought "so what?"
Nevermind "something new". Who wants to spend 5 dollars on a comic with a nice front, just to be disappointed by low budget art inside? Maybe if they hired the same people who make the covers to do the content as well, like manga, they would actually attract readers to new stuff on just covers.
My comic shop shut themselves down. I quit going when key issues were not showing up in my pull box but were sitting on their shelf at an inflated price. So I went to TFAW and didn’t cancel my pull box. They wanted to mark my comics up so I let them take a loss.
A lot of shops will mail your comics to you, so you can still support a comic shop you like and start a pull list. The excuse that a LCS is not in my area is a lazy scapegoat in this day and age.
If DC wants to bring in fans, what is a venue that most people have with an internet connection? Streaming services. DC should have one or more major shows available on every streaming service (new shows or older syndicated shows). Then advertise new series coming out during the intermission (pop-up advertisement) of each show. For some areas nowhere near a comic shop, DC should advertise and host pop-up comic shops. Have ads showing source material runs that their upcoming shows and movies are based on. Then actually have those runs available at the time in TPB or Omnibus form that people can buy at a discount. Then have trading cards, board games, action figures, and statues sold that are inspired by their 1 or 2 big events for that year.
I went to a con in my city recently, which has multiple comic stores. I spoke to an artist doing a signing and he said "What's the deal here? We couldn't find one CGC witness for autographs". All the local stores are run by these old timers who have zero interest in engaging with actual fans. It's this insular little group. That's a huge drawback
Yeah, there is a problem with grumpy, insular comic shop owners who don't want to have a presence at Cons, because it's "too much trouble". Luckily, in most cities, there are also enthusiastic and open-minded shop owners who do set up at Cons. We have some great ones here. And then, of course, at Cons you also have all the guys who don't have any brick-and-mortars and just pop out of the woodwork to sell collectibles and dollar books, but they have no interest in new indie publishers.
Looking at their chart, I don't think they know who their audience is. Also notice how nothing there says to "traditional values". Means we're gonna get the same crap.
I’ll never come back, they hate my guts and they don’t want my money. I used to budget $50 a week and usually had at least 10 titles in my box every week.
They should reboot everything at DC and rebuilding the stories for every character very carefully, so new Readers can come in and old Readers get some good storytelling again. Just my opinion.
That would require DC to actually hire skilled writers that know and care about the characters. DC would rather get bottom of the barrel, minimum wage diversity hires who only see comics as a backdoor into Netflix or Disney+.
One of the reasons I stopped reading after being a lifelong comic fan was the constant reboots. I was a kid when Crisis on Infinite Earths was released, and here we are over 30 plus years later and DC has had how many reboots? It gets old and tiresome. If I buy anything to read ,it'll have to be a trade paperback with collected stories because who the hell can follow all this jumbled continuity?
@@felixleidig8307 I am not a Fan of reboot, but they made so many bad decisions. They should do one big reboot and building it carefully from now on. A last reboot.
@@toonytube2444 well if they do then we need Alfred back...and he needs to stay at batmans site....no alfred means no heart to show bruce the right way
Until comics stop trying to preach to me, respect the source material, actually cater to the fans who want to buy the books and not the weirdos who think they need to change everything... NOT A CHANCE. Hell, at this point even if they did the things I mentioned above I still probably wouldn't go back, but that's the only chance they would have with me. Otherwise, i'm going to sit over here and laugh at the disaster they've made of something that used to be great.
The money I used to spend on comics has already been earmarked for other hobbies. My manga and anime libraries have been expanding and I'm thinking of getting into scale model building (Gunpla and other mecha models)
I've gotten into Gunpla in the last 5 years, but lately notice that HG and MG offerings are getting to be too few and far between. The Premium Bandai stuff is too expensive and not readily available enough for my tastes. Haven't bought a kit in over a year but looking forward to the 1/100 Full Mechanics Gundam Aerial from "The Witch from Mercury" show for around $45!
@@MutantGenius Since I just started, I should be fine with what's available. Just got an HG RX-78 and I'm looking to get Char's Zaku and a Gundam Mk II. I'm also looking at this nice model of the main mecha from SPT Layzner. I got a question for someone who knows about mecha merch. What's with the current state of Macross stuff? I used to collect the Yamato (who became Arcadia) figures back in the day and there was a ton to choose from. But now it seems like there is hardly any Macross toys or kits anymore. Hardly anything on Hobbylink Japan (which used to be the best place to get Japanese toys and kits)
@@fattiger6957 I think I heard that Harmony Gold, the current owner of the Robotech IP, has a clause that prevents Macross IP from being marketed in the U.S., if not everywhere outside of Japan. Don't really know too much about it or Macross, though... Although I am the proud owner of a certain Valkyrie fighter that goes by the name of Jetfire!
"After you enjoy the movie, Please go (wherever) and check out the comics that have nothing to do with the characters or stories on the screen! They are written by people who can't write, drawn by some guy from Fiver, Edited by political gender activists and teach you heroism is bad, to hate your country, ANTIFA is good, Republicans are bad and you were born in the wrong body" Can't miss with that plan!
This Lapsed Fan says: Events are fine. I like events, when they're good. AvX was good a decade ago, and Convergence had its moments. The problem for me has been that the word "event", at D.C., has come to be synonymous with "excuse to fix some things our inept writers have ruined for you", and in the process of "fixing" things, they end up further mangling the product, leading to another fix-it event, and the cycle just goes on and on. It reminds me of that scene in Jurassic Park 2, when the old man says, "We're not making the same mistakes again!", and an exasperated Jeff Goldblum replies, "No, you're making all new ones."
Ain't nuttin' bringin' us back. Who knew we'd miss the NEW52. The entertainment business has been hijacked by the woke. Though the comic book industry has fallen off hard in the past too, it bounced back, so perhaps in 10-15 years they' have success again.
I haven't bought a comic book in probably 6+ years. I used to be a weekly guy for decades. I'm buying the occasional omnibus or hardcover now. I've been looking at the monthly solicitations lately, but anything that has piqued my interest is just a six issue storyline or a maxi-series. Why should I bother shelling out the money for a monthly comic (way too high nowadays), when I can just wait for the HC? Why should I commit to anything when they aren't showing any commitment on their end? DC has a lot of mediocre to bad writers too. There are writers I won't even bother with. And a lot of their art teams aren't as good as years' past. That's one thing you could say about DC, they had a lot of quality art teams. It's not that way any longer. And who's the face of DC? Jim Lee? You see him 1-2 times a year, if that. And we never hear a word from Marie Javitz. Say what you want about Dan DiDio, sure he made some mistakes & would ruffle people's feathers from time to time, but he was always out there. Lastly, comics lost their community feeling. No more letter pages. No more forums on their web site that had fans talking with other fans or creators. Comic news sites are shells of what they used to be. DC & Marvel stopped going to a lot of the conventions, even pre-pandemic. Don't know what there is now convention-wise & what involvement they have with them. Probably very little if anything at all. When the people at the comic book companies and the creators they employ show they care about the reading public & actually embrace them once again, then maybe fans will return the gesture. But if there's nothing but apathy, then the fans will reflect that as well.
I think what Uel said is one of the key issues. People want to know that them spending money and time is going to be worth it. In the short and the long run. I know from experience that one or two big disappointments are more than enough to turn a person off to something or at the very least make them limit their involvement significantly. And yeah, retcon the King/Bendis/Taylor stuff (and a few other ones) straight down to oblivion.
I would have came back if this was done right, but it wasn't. I want to buy Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash. I want to give them my money, but shifting around woke writers isn't going to do that. I'm out before it began.
They only have to do 3 things: 1) Get a non-leftist Jim shooter type to make sure the DC universe is well structured, the writing quality is high, and the activists and bad creators are gone. 2) Lower the price. 3) Realize that their fan base is not on twitter; they're here on TH-cam watching channels like this and then rebuild trust.
I'm always impressed how companies always do these surveys and see "Ok, 3 out of 100 people said they didn't like something. Let's remove it." I mean, you got to be rather desperate if they think "We have 3% new readers to gain from this", without considering "There is 97% we might lose".
Your idea is more generous than mine I'd scale down to 10 books featuring the main characters and teams for the line with possible 1to3 mini series for two years so that you rebuild the brand and make it more approachable for new readers and I'd reluctantly allow for 1 variant cover because I'm not going to treat the customer like a cash cow. Then after a couple of years expand to five more books where you can bring in the lesser known characters. Also more mini series so that you can bring in more obscure elements. No major event for the first five years. My personal feeling is scrap everything from the new 52 forward to me that's when things went off the rails but I'd listen to arguments against that. I'd hire editors to rein in the lesser talented writers and establish a "feel" for the books.
I used to read DC digital. It was fun being able to read complete runs without having to go find issues at the store. Then they started charging a “VIP” fee. In order to read all the comics you have to pay 120 bucks a year. Basically you can read the first issue. Then every other comic in a run is locked away behind pay wall. I have had subscription mind you, just not the vip version.Fuck DC comics.
It saddens me to say cause comics were important to me in my teenage years but DC and Marvel couldn't bankrupt soon enough as far as i'm concerned. They failed at managing their IP and ruined their characters for me. Let's get rid of this woke garbage once and for all and make room for new stories, new characters, by new, independant writers that actually care about comics and just want to tell good stories and not preach to their audience. Mangas are great but i still believe american comics have something different to bring to the table. And it's coming from me, someone in France, who also read european "bande dessinée" which is also different from comics and manga. Each has it's style, it's tropes, it's strong and weak points, each brings something different and enjoyable. But DC and Marvel, they killed the joy for me. Give me something new in comic book form, i'm craving for it.
comics are running out of time if it isn't already lost to get my kids into western comics, they need to figure out how to get a generation removed from the hardcore fans. How do comics get what will become my grandkids into comics? Comics can't do things the way that they have always done things, they will be speaking to a new generation while holding onto hardcore fans. It's a tightrope but one that is needed. I'd love to talk to my kids about comics but we talk more about anime and manga.
"No more LGBT12345 crap" Anyone who disagrees is sacked. Did you see the latest Robin FFS! Just cut the cancer out NO-ONE wants this crap digital or floppy. Might get an actual story then instead of this constant rainbow dregs. We need the Saudis to buy them at this rate....
@@garycannon4644 The new Tim Drake Robin is yet ANOTHER gay romance book from DC. The "writing" looks like it's been done by someone who is only allowed crayons for their own safety, truly subterranean levels below bad fan fiction; the "artwork" must be done by someone who hates the reader; and given the number of stinking commies in today's comic book industry this quite possibly be a blow against the evil capitalists who pay for the book. Its not even like its on that old school paper where you could crumple it up and wipe your ass with. It's f%£kin appalling don't even download for free its mental malware
Yeah it’s changing, changing to manga. DC can o what ever crap idea unless they clear house get people that like writing comics and want to tell good stories those that left ain’t going back.
Tom King's harassment of Asians like artist Jae Lee and actor Dean Cain, killed my interest in anything he touched. (I'm an Asian-American who liked American comics IN ADDITION TO manga, but Marvel and DC Comics' recent antics have killed my desire to continue buying their products.)
@@missmeme3946 Dean Cain twitted a joke about masks causing brain damage, early into the COVID-19 pandemic- admittedly a tasteless one, but King then twitted as if Cain was responsible for personally killing people. It should be noted Cain WORE A MASK in the photo accompanying his Twitter post.
@longtsun I saw the tweets the mask joke wasn't a big deal to attack dean cain tom king attacked him before when dean cain said something about the American way
Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y!!!! Better writers and artists telling better stories that actually make sense and are going somewhere. In all of the books damnit! Make it worth my time to read your book. The only DC I'm reading is World's Finest. I gave JSA a shot, but I got thrown quickly. I'd love to read a Firestorm monthly. C'mon DC, get your shit together!
There is no reason for a writer to do the best stories than can for Marvel or DC. We've all seen the pennies they get from movies and and toys and such. For artists it has just gotten easier and easier to get foreign talent at cheap prices. Paying more for artists at those companies is absolutely pointless.
I hate the add-ons that's cut into the Thinking Critical videos. The videos are way better & natural when its 100% pure, unadulterated Wes & plus guest when needed. The goofy cheezy outsourced video bites spliced in or background scenery cheapens the videos.
I got a feeling I know the answer to this but does DC and Marvel still have a subscription service for floppy's ? Since I doubt they do anymore maybe, just maybe they should think about bringing it back. Except make it for long running titles a tiered system that would appeal to regular fans and to speculator: basic tier once every few month one might randomly get a variant cover for that title, tier two a more expensive level every three months you're guaranteed a variant, tier three more expensive but very three months or so you get not one book but a copy of every variant cover for that title for that month, and lastly the most expensive every month you get every variant cover for that title delivered to your home and for a set monthly price. And the best part for comic companies, subscription are non returnable. Even comic shops can benefit since only the fourth tier is guaranteed every month, and a smart shop owner might just subscribe to the fourth tier get their guarantee variant and not worry about about buying a bunch of copies of a title that may or may not be returnable. And even casual readers are more likely to stick with it if all they have to do is get it out of their mailbox, if it has a good story they may be tempted to pick up tie-ins at the comic store. Just something I've been thinking about.
They both still have subscription services (you can find links on each of their sites under their respective "comics" tabs). You get the books at a discount, but usually only the A cover is available (with no annuals or specials) and they don't have everything. Plus they're pretty up-front about telling you some amount of damage is likely since they ship the books with a thin piece of cardboard and wrapped in celophane, which is why I haven't done it. A premium subscription tier would have to figure out shipping. Right now shipping is folded into the cost (which makes it worth it if you don't have an LCS nearby), but to guarantee your books would reach you in NM condition they'd have to put more material and effort into doing it, which means you'd probably not end up saving much more money than if you bought it off the shelf. But if LCSs start closing at a high rate, and they really want to keep publishing physical floppies without breaking into another distribution channel? You could see them put more effort into something like this. (Pretty unlikely, but I guess it could happen.)
@@benevolentremnant2949 huh, thanks I figured with so many series being canceled after only a few issues that DC and Marvel would have just scraped the service cause it would be a major headache to maintain.
I am a gen z kid but I read the ultimate series then moved on to some vertigo titles like the sandman and shade the changing man and reading modern comics makes me pull my hair in confusion and frustration seeing lazy storytellers I hope we learn from our mistakes
tbh events should be natural and fall right into place and not hype up every event. Same thing can be said for movie cinematic universes, if i recall 90s superhero animated shows didnt need to establish a cinematic universe nor hype up the next team up, it just happened naturally. Like there would be a 2 part special where spiderman meets the x men or superman meets batman. Tbh vertigo is always great.
It's insane that the superhero movies don't have hype reels before the movies to drive traffic to their online comic services. That's stuff that people can sign up for on their phones, on the spot, while they're sitting there. You got them on the hook. They're high on hype. They'll fork up the dough. As for me, i'm jumping off the DC bus as soon as there's a clean break in Batman. But as long as i'm collecting Bat books, I always end up getting some other stuff. When I dropped Spider-Man, I ended up kicking Marvel all together. It was wonderful. DC should be doing more two-in-one team up books like the Batman & Superman they're doing now. People love that stuff. I absolutely hate the cardstock covers. You get a bend or a ding, it's there forever. You can't press em flat again. Almost every cardstock cover i've ever bought shows up damaged. They release variant covers I absolutely love and I don't buy them cause I don't want the stupid cardstock. Unless it's got a sexy Catwoman on it.
DC, in their infinite wisdom, just started putting end cards for comics at the end of their movie trailers this year (2023 for Flash, Blue Beetle, Shazam). They could have been doing it all along!
NEW52 was my startingpoint as a comicbook-collector. I dont like that they have so many reboots since NEW52. But I love these characters so much so I always come back and hope for the Best.
@@egonnn244 the reason truly liked the new age of heroes was because they might look and act like some what marvel characters would look but have different attributes to them which is good!
Do you think a person that is conservative and or Christian could get a job at marvel or dc? These companies have become completely partisan and not by creative people by activists top to bottom.
Boat was missed during the movie run-up to endgame and DC movies by not patterning the books after the movies /characters and doing some side stories and filling in the missing blanks type of books. Now we have this current phase of movies that are disjointed and "synergy" probably wouldn't help now...and the books themselves are bad.. Lose-lose. If anything, since there are fewer movies out DC, has the better chance if turning it around but it's all on them....sand they don't appear to be up to the task.
If DC wants to get readers to comeback here is an idea how about actually hiring writers with talent that want disrespect there fans. How about stop virtue signaling and keep politics out of it.
They need better writers and need to get rid of the ppl who Hate the characters and fan base. Marvel and dc been taken over by idiots who just wanted to push their own agenda instead of what fans want
The ONLY thing thats ever getting me back to comics is a return to pre "upgades". Go back to regular paper, regular inks, and $1.50 prices. Otherwise Im out for good. $5 a book, they can eat me. Ps, cut the crap with digital. No one wants that garbage.
@Shade Draws - SinR Studios you want digital, adult collectors dont. I dont give AF what you want or manga. I want tangible books. And guess what,digital doesnt do shite for shops, which is all I care about.
@@joeyr.cannoli "Adult collectors" lol Eff the collectors. The collectors and speculators are what got DC and Marvel into this mess. As for digital comics: everyone has a phone. Digital comics are therefore accessible to BILLIONS of people who could eventually--stay with me--GO TO COMIC BOOK SHOPS. But without free and easy exposure to the medium to raise interest and attention, nobody is going to a specialty nerd bodega to buy superhero pamphlets. Nobody. This is why DC and Marvel are dying. It's a dead business model from the 20th century operating in the 21st century.
The first things that American comics publishers need to do is get a muzzle on their writers. Stop dogging fans and driving them away. By letting these writers and artists run rampant calling fans ists and phobes needs to stop if they want to stay employed.
For bringing back the lapsed fans, the first thing for me to return would be to get rid of all the woke crap and all the editors and creators that did them. Then spend money and bring back stars from when I was buying those comics.
*No* events! One per decade, period! And even then only if you have a knock-out, amazing story. (Good luck with that!) Events and the abuse of crossovers has been one of the arrows riddling the body of the comic book industry.
No JLA standalone- let it be the crossover title once every 2 years. Let the storyline build I'm the titles where the team will be drawn from - Make the JLA a big deal not the degraded daily alien threat team that it now is
Want readers, new, casual, lapsed, or die-hard? Tell good stories! Stop the never-ending event cycles. Stop selling personal agendas as stories. Stop thinking every comics reader thinks the same way or wants the same thing. People are unique and enjoy a variety of genres. Personally I enjoy the JSA and Jonah Hex and Swamp Thing as well as the more mainstream heroes. And finally, if you're going to bring back the infinite earths, bring back the real infinite earths, not the New 52 or later versions. There are plenty of earths out there for the various Earth-2, Earth-3, Earth-4, etc. variants that have been published without taking away the original designations. (Sorry! That last one is a very personal gripe. 😆)
We first need to get the characters back to what they were. Woke DC is hot garbage and a damaged brand. If we don't fix the core, we can't fix the rest.
Was the Heroes in Crisis not an editorial mandate? Because that screams HoC. And he's had some great books since then, people tend to get stuck in just disliking an author for bad prior work. His Batman run... Catwoman marriage and Alfred dying were also editorial mandates, these creatives are freelancers. There needs to be more scrutiny aimed at the editorial teams more than anything. Plus Didio was responsible for the idea of Jon Kent age up (you can see the birthing of the idea even in the Oz Effect storyline) and even though I very disliked Bendis' superman, he was doing what higher ups wanted him to do. Didio was also pushing 5G and all the ramifications of that we are still seeing today even though writers are getting blamed for it. They scrapped entire storylines and had to get some money back from it which was Future State, Next Batman (blegggh), etc. I think they are finally spinning out of it a bit with some of the titles coming out, though DC has always had some great stuff that gets overlooked despite some justified hate it gets, I'd rather see people talk about these good books and not necessarily get too far into how much everything sucks cause that's not contributing to anything but negative vibes. The bad stuff will also filter out ala Tim Drake book (though Riley Rossmo being thrown in the pot with Fitzmartin kinda ticks me off as he's a legitimately talented and stylized artist)
If DC thinks they're going to recapture fans with events...sheesh. Most people love comics for the characters, and modern events aren't character-driven. The anthology approach they took with Lazarus Planet (jumping around to a lot of random characters, some new) is par for the course. Nobody really develops or changes. And even if they get new powers or something, it feels cheap and contrived, and we know most of it won't matter in a year. (A lot of these ideas sound ok, but it's all in how they implement them--and most are vague. "Advertising!" "Social media!" "Displays!" These things have been tried. What's different _this_ time?)
I honestly think it's to late to save the industry as it is, they had their chance with the movie releases and they blew it. They've lost the younger generations to manga and video games it'll take a miracle to gain their attention back, so all thats left is the old people that will dwindle over time until the industry collapses and replaced with something else.
DC: "What will we do to get Fans back?"
Me: "Respecting the costumer first?"
DC: "No... NEW EVENTS!"
Me: *Closing door sound*
The $4.99 Priceline is killing the customer base. There is too much media at a better value to buy especially during a recession. The events are helping with that too.
Doesn't help that DC is publishing a billion (worthless) comics every month. I feel sorry for those compulsive Batman fans who have to buy 50 comics a month.
I thought they changed the definition of recession so there wouldn't be one 🤔
first thing I would do if I ran things is get the price back to 2.50 across the board.
It's why I stick with manga, my local store sell all manga for buy 2 get one free which brings the price down to almost the same as a comic per volume.
One of the reasons I stopped collecting was the price. Back in the day I'd spend about 75 bucks a week and was able to pretty much buy 90% of the product that came out. At 4 and 5 dollars a book those days are over, and the fact that most of the art is horrible and the stories seemblike they wete written by activists have turned me off. I went from a hardcore fan, to running a shop for a few years to not buying a comic in over 10 years. The industry is all but dead.
Readers aren't coming back. They're stuck with speculators.
The comic book industry is being held together by divorced dentists with a lot of disposable income
@@treek10kyou’re in the wrong place bub. And how do you know anything ? Did the almighty personally tell you this?
If you don’t know, butt out and quit being presumptuous.
@@cicolasnage5684 The ol' "divorced dentist" voting block that everyone is trying to court.
@@StratumPress You have A bot.
@@savagedarksider2147 I am a bot.
If dc wants readers to come back they can start by hiring writers who will respect their characters and source material
Fact
Exactly 💯!
Nah man, that's crazy talk. Hiring people who hate comic book fans is how you bring back readers
When it's obvious that the parent corporations don't care, the publishers don't care, and the creators don't care, you get the kind of apathy you're seeing today. Short of a seance that summoned the ghost of Jack Kirby to draw a new comic, there really isn't anything that's going to get me back into a comic shop, if I could even find one within 100 miles of where I live.
There seems too much focus on the IP and not the characters. Like Uel mentioned, there was a time when you had Blue Beetle, Firestorm, Blue Devil, Booster Gold, Black Lighting, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Adventure Comics with Aquaman, JSA, Plastic Man, teamups books like Brave and the Bold or DC Presents, Warlord, Shade, Question, Captain Atom, Creeper and others. Now, it is Bats, Detective, several other books involving Bat Nightwing, several books involving Batman Family that no one is reading, Supes, Action. There is a vast canvas of characters but DC is only focusing in one corner.
Right! I mean, there isn't even a current Teen Titans run, even though there's a popular show that has run on HBO for three seasons. The 6th volume of Titans ended in 2021. DC could have published a Legends of Tomorrow run (the only one was in 2016) and a Black Lightning run (the most recent one was 2017) to go along with the TV shows, but they didn't do that, either. They did do a new Stargirl series, but not until the TV show ended!
But what is the point of all of this? The problem is the content itself, it is trash and is not what your customers want. After fixing the content make it cheaper, accessible and easy to read. Then, when everything is right, you can think about advertising and marketing.
And that's DC's problem. They think that everything else EXCEPT the content is the problem. At least, that's the face they are showing to the public.
Reset everything to pre-Flashpoint. There are too many turds in the last decade, that you need to clean it
This is one of my favorite channels. You are better than Comic Pop,Comicatorian, and Comic Explain.
Yes.....Wes is one of the best
Those other guys are terrible. Wes is great.
Easily my favorite comic channel. Quick, very direct videos that get right to the point. Often with a highly knowledgeable second banana, and they come every day.
@@AbortedEvolution "direct videos that get right to the point" - that's the best part.
I tried a few channels before I settled on this one, like Perch and that Zack guy. And while they weren't bad, they took ages, literal ages, to get to the point.
I get it Zack that you're proud of your lawn, but can we get to the comic books?
Comics Explained is a sellout. He will eat anything DC or Marvel are gonna throw at him and call it "genius". He's like access media.
As a lapsed fan, Publishing Events definitely contributed to me going away.
Yep events that have no continuity and at end the event ment nothing.
Exactly. Normal people could not care less about events. Normal people care about stories. Events are spectacle that tantalize insiders with endless fan service that doesn't crossover to the majority of any potential audience. Crisis on Infinite Earths was great because it addressed the meta problems with continuity and parallel universes. That should've been the solution to a decades-old problem. Instead, it became DC's business model. Oy. *forehead slap*
events just add to the whole confusion. Ok so when do I read these tie ins? Even if you fix this one. There is the whole issue with, do these tie in matter at all? Did I just spend 5 bucks on a pointless comic? Now with them pumping out events like there is no tomorrow. How is any of these events meant to matter, when you just jump from one big thing to the next. Not to forget a story you might be interested in, is put on hold, due to it having to be part of this event. Events should just be done away with and replace with the classic story arc. If it a big deal, than build it up through a logical way with classic story telling, rather than forcing a event to happen.
@@StratumPress tbh events should be natural and fall right into place and not hype up every event. Same thing can be said for movie cinematic universes, if i recall 90s superhero animated shows didnt need to establish a cinematic universe nor hype up the next team up, it just happened naturally. Like there would be a 2 part special where spiderman meets the x men or superman meets batman.
Years ago I had left Marvel not too long after Civil War. I actually liked Civil War by Millar and McNiven but the idea was that they were gonna present a new different Marvel World coming out of it. And it seemed interesting, I bought some of those books. But the ink was not even fresh that they came up with "Dark Reign", another World-changing event. Then Fear Itself. I was sick of it and left for a couple of years. I returned for "Marvel NOW" which was NOT company-wide big crossover event but a good jumping point as a reader. I really liked it, it was not confusing, easy to the follow and most of the books were good. And then came Secret War and was like NOPE that's it, over for me. No more big events.
I swear to God it feels like I need a bright Vegas like neon sign that says *BRING BACK PRE FLASHPOINT CONTINUITY* and some how DC still won't get it.
I don't see "improve quality" on these lists. 🤔
DC and Marvel are full of rubbish writers and editors, who are more concerned with the message than the stories, to fix this you need to have the power to get rid of them and who hired them.
Another problem is that writers and editors with talent and love for comics have had time to get lucrative work without DC and Marvel and it's going to be expensive to get them back.
That's not to mention the damage they've done to characters that have been the mainstays of these universes for years, damage that can't be easily recovered.
It would take something massive to change that ship's direction, and it might be too late since they've already hit the iceberg.
When I was a kid I got all my comics from super market and convenience stores. My allowance could afford 2 or 3 issues.
Does anyone do 100% digital? I am finding that getting ANY comic ever you want for, well, free, has made me not want floppies at all
So with you on Blue Beetle. Blue Beetle COULD be huge. The toys alone, my goodness.
Maybe they should try lowering prices and not making total garbage?
Newsprint or nothing.
I don't believe that digital will help.
I was a lapsed Marvel reader. A few years ago I bought a Marvel Unlimited digital subscription. I read a lot of back issues but I'd read them before. That was just nostalgia.
I tried to get into the newer stuff but it was just a huge turn off. I lacked context for a lot of stuff and I had to spend way too much time on Wikipedia to figure things out. There wasn't enough help in the issues themselves to help me out. I also had to wade through an unbelievable amount of terrible stuff to find the odd decent story. It was all just hard work.
I cancelled my subscription when I realised that I hadn't opened the app for a year.
I can't imagine that DC digital would be any better.
If I were in charge of DC, I erase everything that happened after Flashpoint.
DC’s plan is focused on bringing awareness to the *IP* not so much on getting you into a comic store. As someone who since the early 1980s used to love the Wednesday afternoon comic shop visit, those days are gone. Just like other products and services that are not focused on Amazon and digital distribution; been to a mall lately? Amazon, and streaming services provide global access and are the present and the future. Go all in or die.
When I started visiting my local comic shop in 1990, new comic day was still Thursday. Sometimes I'd go in on a Saturday and browse. Fun memories.
? I had a few DC comics back in the '70s. Marvel had its characters but DC just had a repetitive new hero/villain wins/loses never to be seen again. Even as a 9-year-old, I thought "so what?"
How many people are "trying something new" at $3.99 or $4.99 an issue? I'm guessing maybe one.
Nevermind "something new". Who wants to spend 5 dollars on a comic with a nice front, just to be disappointed by low budget art inside? Maybe if they hired the same people who make the covers to do the content as well, like manga, they would actually attract readers to new stuff on just covers.
My comic shop shut themselves down. I quit going when key issues were not showing up in my pull box but were sitting on their shelf at an inflated price. So I went to TFAW and didn’t cancel my pull box. They wanted to mark my comics up so I let them take a loss.
Add classic back catalog to de DC app would be awesome as well and by that I mean Golden/Silver age issues, can you imagine how cool would that be?
It is there. That's all I read. I don't read thr modern stuff, at all.
A lot of shops will mail your comics to you, so you can still support a comic shop you like and start a pull list. The excuse that a LCS is not in my area is a lazy scapegoat in this day and age.
If DC wants to bring in fans, what is a venue that most people have with an internet connection? Streaming services. DC should have one or more major shows available on every streaming service (new shows or older syndicated shows). Then advertise new series coming out during the intermission (pop-up advertisement) of each show. For some areas nowhere near a comic shop, DC should advertise and host pop-up comic shops. Have ads showing source material runs that their upcoming shows and movies are based on. Then actually have those runs available at the time in TPB or Omnibus form that people can buy at a discount. Then have trading cards, board games, action figures, and statues sold that are inspired by their 1 or 2 big events for that year.
The trailers for comic books may sound like a joke but I've seen quite a few mangas having promotional videos
Nice editing.
I went to a con in my city recently, which has multiple comic stores. I spoke to an artist doing a signing and he said "What's the deal here? We couldn't find one CGC witness for autographs". All the local stores are run by these old timers who have zero interest in engaging with actual fans. It's this insular little group. That's a huge drawback
Yeah, there is a problem with grumpy, insular comic shop owners who don't want to have a presence at Cons, because it's "too much trouble". Luckily, in most cities, there are also enthusiastic and open-minded shop owners who do set up at Cons. We have some great ones here. And then, of course, at Cons you also have all the guys who don't have any brick-and-mortars and just pop out of the woodwork to sell collectibles and dollar books, but they have no interest in new indie publishers.
Looking at their chart, I don't think they know who their audience is. Also notice how nothing there says to "traditional values". Means we're gonna get the same crap.
I’ll never come back, they hate my guts and they don’t want my money. I used to budget $50 a week and usually had at least 10 titles in my box every week.
Agreed. They told me to screw off repeatedly for years, so now I want to see them get their comeuppance.
They should reboot everything at DC and rebuilding the stories for every character very carefully, so new Readers can come in and old Readers get some good storytelling again. Just my opinion.
That would require DC to actually hire skilled writers that know and care about the characters. DC would rather get bottom of the barrel, minimum wage diversity hires who only see comics as a backdoor into Netflix or Disney+.
One of the reasons I stopped reading after being a lifelong comic fan was the constant reboots. I was a kid when Crisis on Infinite Earths was released, and here we are over 30 plus years later and DC has had how many reboots? It gets old and tiresome. If I buy anything to read ,it'll have to be a trade paperback with collected stories because who the hell can follow all this jumbled continuity?
reboot again ?.. oh god nooooo
@@felixleidig8307 I am not a Fan of reboot, but they made so many bad decisions. They should do one big reboot and building it carefully from now on. A last reboot.
@@toonytube2444 well if they do then we need Alfred back...and he needs to stay at batmans site....no alfred means no heart to show bruce the right way
I don't know, I might start with better stories.
I’m glad to see Uel! It’s good to hear a business man’s perspective.
They need a plan to bring down prices.
Yes end the taxes!
Agreed. If McFarlane can publish 4 spawn titles at $2.99 apiece with premium cover stock, why can't the Pig2 or anyone else for that matter?
@@MutantGenius that and fix his writing he's not very good!
a band aid to the missing limb. I can't believe they prescribed the very thing that's killin' them
Until comics stop trying to preach to me, respect the source material, actually cater to the fans who want to buy the books and not the weirdos who think they need to change everything... NOT A CHANCE. Hell, at this point even if they did the things I mentioned above I still probably wouldn't go back, but that's the only chance they would have with me. Otherwise, i'm going to sit over here and laugh at the disaster they've made of something that used to be great.
The money I used to spend on comics has already been earmarked for other hobbies. My manga and anime libraries have been expanding and I'm thinking of getting into scale model building (Gunpla and other mecha models)
I've gotten into Gunpla in the last 5 years, but lately notice that HG and MG offerings are getting to be too few and far between. The Premium Bandai stuff is too expensive and not readily available enough for my tastes. Haven't bought a kit in over a year but looking forward to the 1/100 Full Mechanics Gundam Aerial from "The Witch from Mercury" show for around $45!
@@MutantGenius Since I just started, I should be fine with what's available. Just got an HG RX-78 and I'm looking to get Char's Zaku and a Gundam Mk II. I'm also looking at this nice model of the main mecha from SPT Layzner.
I got a question for someone who knows about mecha merch. What's with the current state of Macross stuff? I used to collect the Yamato (who became Arcadia) figures back in the day and there was a ton to choose from. But now it seems like there is hardly any Macross toys or kits anymore. Hardly anything on Hobbylink Japan (which used to be the best place to get Japanese toys and kits)
@@fattiger6957 I think I heard that Harmony Gold, the current owner of the Robotech IP, has a clause that prevents Macross IP from being marketed in the U.S., if not everywhere outside of Japan. Don't really know too much about it or Macross, though... Although I am the proud owner of a certain Valkyrie fighter that goes by the name of Jetfire!
I'm loving this new direction with the editing
Wes, I see some folks in the comments say you’re too negative, but the reality is they’ve just gone soft. Keep up the honest conversation.
"After you enjoy the movie, Please go (wherever) and check out the comics that have nothing to do with the characters or stories on the screen! They are written by people who can't write, drawn by some guy from Fiver, Edited by political gender activists and teach you heroism is bad, to hate your country, ANTIFA is good, Republicans are bad and you were born in the wrong body"
Can't miss with that plan!
This Lapsed Fan says: Events are fine. I like events, when they're good. AvX was good a decade ago, and Convergence had its moments. The problem for me has been that the word "event", at D.C., has come to be synonymous with "excuse to fix some things our inept writers have ruined for you", and in the process of "fixing" things, they end up further mangling the product, leading to another fix-it event, and the cycle just goes on and on. It reminds me of that scene in Jurassic Park 2, when the old man says, "We're not making the same mistakes again!", and an exasperated Jeff Goldblum replies, "No, you're making all new ones."
Ain't nuttin' bringin' us back. Who knew we'd miss the NEW52. The entertainment business has been hijacked by the woke. Though the comic book industry has fallen off hard in the past too, it bounced back, so perhaps in 10-15 years they' have success again.
lol Wes you should keep the themed background for the whole video.
I haven't bought a comic book in probably 6+ years. I used to be a weekly guy for decades. I'm buying the occasional omnibus or hardcover now.
I've been looking at the monthly solicitations lately, but anything that has piqued my interest is just a six issue storyline or a maxi-series. Why should I bother shelling out the money for a monthly comic (way too high nowadays), when I can just wait for the HC? Why should I commit to anything when they aren't showing any commitment on their end?
DC has a lot of mediocre to bad writers too. There are writers I won't even bother with. And a lot of their art teams aren't as good as years' past. That's one thing you could say about DC, they had a lot of quality art teams. It's not that way any longer.
And who's the face of DC? Jim Lee? You see him 1-2 times a year, if that. And we never hear a word from Marie Javitz. Say what you want about Dan DiDio, sure he made some mistakes & would ruffle people's feathers from time to time, but he was always out there.
Lastly, comics lost their community feeling. No more letter pages. No more forums on their web site that had fans talking with other fans or creators. Comic news sites are shells of what they used to be. DC & Marvel stopped going to a lot of the conventions, even pre-pandemic. Don't know what there is now convention-wise & what involvement they have with them. Probably very little if anything at all.
When the people at the comic book companies and the creators they employ show they care about the reading public & actually embrace them once again, then maybe fans will return the gesture. But if there's nothing but apathy, then the fans will reflect that as well.
Thumbs up for the working man!
Awesome work mate
But a lot of the content is shit and many of the writers are awful. If you don't fix that issue nothing else matters.
the casual fan hates the pricing of floppies. They love getting cheap graphic novels at discount stores
I think what Uel said is one of the key issues. People want to know that them spending money and time is going to be worth it. In the short and the long run. I know from experience that one or two big disappointments are more than enough to turn a person off to something or at the very least make them limit their involvement significantly.
And yeah, retcon the King/Bendis/Taylor stuff (and a few other ones) straight down to oblivion.
I would have came back if this was done right, but it wasn't. I want to buy Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash. I want to give them my money, but shifting around woke writers isn't going to do that. I'm out before it began.
Johns should be in charge right now.
I would buy digital if it meant I could get a free paper copy from my local shop, and my local shop gets a cut of my digital purchase.
They only have to do 3 things:
1) Get a non-leftist Jim shooter type to make sure the DC universe is well structured, the writing quality is high, and the activists and bad creators are gone.
2) Lower the price.
3) Realize that their fan base is not on twitter; they're here on TH-cam watching channels like this and then rebuild trust.
All these fools gotta do is listen to Wes' youtube channel. Its free and smart consulting lmao
Good ideas are to DC and Marvel like garlic is to vampires. Good ideas repel them.
I'm always impressed how companies always do these surveys and see "Ok, 3 out of 100 people said they didn't like something. Let's remove it."
I mean, you got to be rather desperate if they think "We have 3% new readers to gain from this", without considering "There is 97% we might lose".
Your idea is more generous than mine I'd scale down to 10 books featuring the main characters and teams for the line with possible 1to3 mini series for two years so that you rebuild the brand and make it more approachable for new readers and I'd reluctantly allow for 1 variant cover because I'm not going to treat the customer like a cash cow. Then after a couple of years expand to five more books where you can bring in the lesser known characters. Also more mini series so that you can bring in more obscure elements. No major event for the first five years. My personal feeling is scrap everything from the new 52 forward to me that's when things went off the rails but I'd listen to arguments against that. I'd hire editors to rein in the lesser talented writers and establish a "feel" for the books.
Love the Ted Kord Blue Beetle shirt
I used to read DC digital. It was fun being able to read complete runs without having to go find issues at the store. Then they started charging a “VIP” fee. In order to read all the comics you have to pay 120 bucks a year. Basically you can read the first issue. Then every other comic in a run is locked away behind pay wall. I have had subscription mind you, just not the vip version.Fuck DC comics.
This plan translates to: "NO PLAN!!!"
It saddens me to say cause comics were important to me in my teenage years but DC and Marvel couldn't bankrupt soon enough as far as i'm concerned. They failed at managing their IP and ruined their characters for me. Let's get rid of this woke garbage once and for all and make room for new stories, new characters, by new, independant writers that actually care about comics and just want to tell good stories and not preach to their audience. Mangas are great but i still believe american comics have something different to bring to the table. And it's coming from me, someone in France, who also read european "bande dessinée" which is also different from comics and manga. Each has it's style, it's tropes, it's strong and weak points, each brings something different and enjoyable. But DC and Marvel, they killed the joy for me. Give me something new in comic book form, i'm craving for it.
that is a depressing background.
comics are running out of time if it isn't already lost to get my kids into western comics, they need to figure out how to get a generation removed from the hardcore fans. How do comics get what will become my grandkids into comics? Comics can't do things the way that they have always done things, they will be speaking to a new generation while holding onto hardcore fans. It's a tightrope but one that is needed. I'd love to talk to my kids about comics but we talk more about anime and manga.
"No more LGBT12345 crap" Anyone who disagrees is sacked. Did you see the latest Robin FFS! Just cut the cancer out NO-ONE wants this crap digital or floppy. Might get an actual story then instead of this constant rainbow dregs. We need the Saudis to buy them at this rate....
What happened in the latest robin?
@@garycannon4644 The new Tim Drake Robin is yet ANOTHER gay romance book from DC. The "writing" looks like it's been done by someone who is only allowed crayons for their own safety, truly subterranean levels below bad fan fiction; the "artwork" must be done by someone who hates the reader; and given the number of stinking commies in today's comic book industry this quite possibly be a blow against the evil capitalists who pay for the book. Its not even like its on that old school paper where you could crumple it up and wipe your ass with. It's f%£kin appalling don't even download for free its mental malware
Yeah it’s changing, changing to manga.
DC can o what ever crap idea unless they clear house get people that like writing comics and want to tell good stories those that left ain’t going back.
Keep Tom Taylor and Stephanie Phillips away from under age characters as a starter.
Tom King's harassment of Asians like artist Jae Lee and actor Dean Cain, killed my interest in anything he touched. (I'm an Asian-American who liked American comics IN ADDITION TO manga, but Marvel and DC Comics' recent antics have killed my desire to continue buying their products.)
why he attacked dean cain?
I heard about the jae lee artist fight
@@missmeme3946 Dean Cain twitted a joke about masks causing brain damage, early into the COVID-19 pandemic- admittedly a tasteless one, but King then twitted as if Cain was responsible for personally killing people. It should be noted Cain WORE A MASK in the photo accompanying his Twitter post.
@longtsun I saw the tweets
the mask joke wasn't a big deal to attack dean cain
tom king attacked him before when dean cain said something about the American way
Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y!!!! Better writers and artists telling better stories that actually make sense and are going somewhere. In all of the books damnit! Make it worth my time to read your book. The only DC I'm reading is World's Finest. I gave JSA a shot, but I got thrown quickly. I'd love to read a Firestorm monthly.
C'mon DC, get your shit together!
There is no reason for a writer to do the best stories than can for Marvel or DC. We've all seen the pennies they get from movies and and toys and such. For artists it has just gotten easier and easier to get foreign talent at cheap prices. Paying more for artists at those companies is absolutely pointless.
Scary times
I hate the add-ons that's cut into the Thinking Critical videos. The videos are way better & natural when its 100% pure, unadulterated Wes & plus guest when needed. The goofy cheezy outsourced video bites spliced in or background scenery cheapens the videos.
The worst mistake of Marvel and DC was trying yo sell their stories in Asia and Europe, the Japonese immediately put and end to the Yankee plage.
I got a feeling I know the answer to this but does DC and Marvel still have a subscription service for floppy's ? Since I doubt they do anymore maybe, just maybe they should think about bringing it back. Except make it for long running titles a tiered system that would appeal to regular fans and to speculator: basic tier once every few month one might randomly get a variant cover for that title, tier two a more expensive level every three months you're guaranteed a variant, tier three more expensive but very three months or so you get not one book but a copy of every variant cover for that title for that month, and lastly the most expensive every month you get every variant cover for that title delivered to your home and for a set monthly price. And the best part for comic companies, subscription are non returnable. Even comic shops can benefit since only the fourth tier is guaranteed every month, and a smart shop owner might just subscribe to the fourth tier get their guarantee variant and not worry about about buying a bunch of copies of a title that may or may not be returnable. And even casual readers are more likely to stick with it if all they have to do is get it out of their mailbox, if it has a good story they may be tempted to pick up tie-ins at the comic store. Just something I've been thinking about.
They both still have subscription services (you can find links on each of their sites under their respective "comics" tabs). You get the books at a discount, but usually only the A cover is available (with no annuals or specials) and they don't have everything. Plus they're pretty up-front about telling you some amount of damage is likely since they ship the books with a thin piece of cardboard and wrapped in celophane, which is why I haven't done it.
A premium subscription tier would have to figure out shipping. Right now shipping is folded into the cost (which makes it worth it if you don't have an LCS nearby), but to guarantee your books would reach you in NM condition they'd have to put more material and effort into doing it, which means you'd probably not end up saving much more money than if you bought it off the shelf. But if LCSs start closing at a high rate, and they really want to keep publishing physical floppies without breaking into another distribution channel? You could see them put more effort into something like this. (Pretty unlikely, but I guess it could happen.)
@@benevolentremnant2949 huh, thanks I figured with so many series being canceled after only a few issues that DC and Marvel would have just scraped the service cause it would be a major headache to maintain.
Cause their comics suck now
I am a gen z kid but I read the ultimate series then moved on to some vertigo titles like the sandman and shade the changing man and reading modern comics makes me pull my hair in confusion and frustration seeing lazy storytellers I hope we learn from our mistakes
Same if anything Jim Lee just needs to get out of power and Geoff handle it!
tbh events should be natural and fall right into place and not hype up every event. Same thing can be said for movie cinematic universes, if i recall 90s superhero animated shows didnt need to establish a cinematic universe nor hype up the next team up, it just happened naturally. Like there would be a 2 part special where spiderman meets the x men or superman meets batman. Tbh vertigo is always great.
@@jmgonzales7701 give me some examples just want to see and also how do you see the new age of heroes line!
DC and Marvel are terrified of Itachi Uchiha when the manga wants to destroy with the competition they unleash his Hitman.
It's insane that the superhero movies don't have hype reels before the movies to drive traffic to their online comic services. That's stuff that people can sign up for on their phones, on the spot, while they're sitting there. You got them on the hook. They're high on hype. They'll fork up the dough. As for me, i'm jumping off the DC bus as soon as there's a clean break in Batman. But as long as i'm collecting Bat books, I always end up getting some other stuff. When I dropped Spider-Man, I ended up kicking Marvel all together. It was wonderful. DC should be doing more two-in-one team up books like the Batman & Superman they're doing now. People love that stuff. I absolutely hate the cardstock covers. You get a bend or a ding, it's there forever. You can't press em flat again. Almost every cardstock cover i've ever bought shows up damaged. They release variant covers I absolutely love and I don't buy them cause I don't want the stupid cardstock. Unless it's got a sexy Catwoman on it.
DC, in their infinite wisdom, just started putting end cards for comics at the end of their movie trailers this year (2023 for Flash, Blue Beetle, Shazam). They could have been doing it all along!
NEW52 was my startingpoint as a comicbook-collector. I dont like that they have so many reboots since NEW52. But I love these characters so much so I always come back and hope for the Best.
Mine was the new age of heroes and also I wish this series will come back!
New 52 was also my gateway too. Well, that and Batman Arkham Asylum. But without New 52 I doubt that I would start reading comics when I did.
@@egonnn244 the reason truly liked the new age of heroes was because they might look and act like some what marvel characters would look but have different attributes to them which is good!
Do you think a person that is conservative and or Christian could get a job at marvel or dc? These companies have become completely partisan and not by creative people by activists top to bottom.
I would love "Marvin, Wendy and Wonderdog: Public Service Announcements!"
Fire everyone and reprint everything starting from Action Comics #1 and just go in order with $2.99 price point
Boat was missed during the movie run-up to endgame and DC movies by not patterning the books after the movies /characters and doing some side stories and filling in the missing blanks type of books. Now we have this current phase of movies that are disjointed and "synergy" probably wouldn't help now...and the books themselves are bad.. Lose-lose. If anything, since there are fewer movies out DC, has the better chance if turning it around but it's all on them....sand they don't appear to be up to the task.
New books are dead.
I have seen korean web toons and digital is the way to go. As for paper, maybe just do print on demand.
If DC wants to get readers to comeback here is an idea how about actually hiring writers with talent that want disrespect there fans. How about stop virtue signaling and keep politics out of it.
They need better writers and need to get rid of the ppl who Hate the characters and fan base. Marvel and dc been taken over by idiots who just wanted to push their own agenda instead of what fans want
The ONLY thing thats ever getting me back to comics is a return to pre "upgades". Go back to regular paper, regular inks, and $1.50 prices. Otherwise Im out for good. $5 a book, they can eat me. Ps, cut the crap with digital. No one wants that garbage.
No one wants digital? What century are you in? lol Manga sells hundreds of millions of dollars in digital alone annually.
@Shade Draws - SinR Studios you want digital, adult collectors dont. I dont give AF what you want or manga. I want tangible books. And guess what,digital doesnt do shite for shops, which is all I care about.
@@joeyr.cannoli "Adult collectors" lol Eff the collectors. The collectors and speculators are what got DC and Marvel into this mess. As for digital comics: everyone has a phone. Digital comics are therefore accessible to BILLIONS of people who could eventually--stay with me--GO TO COMIC BOOK SHOPS. But without free and easy exposure to the medium to raise interest and attention, nobody is going to a specialty nerd bodega to buy superhero pamphlets. Nobody. This is why DC and Marvel are dying. It's a dead business model from the 20th century operating in the 21st century.
@Shade Draws - SinR Studios you dont respect whats come before, what laid the ground work, youre trash, and theres nothing more to say to you, child.
The first things that American comics publishers need to do is get a muzzle on their writers. Stop dogging fans and driving them away. By letting these writers and artists run rampant calling fans ists and phobes needs to stop if they want to stay employed.
DC is hopeless in nowadays. Let mangas,Image and another indies books take your place.
I would love them to bring back Metal Men and have Doc Will and Tina finally be together.
Dan Didio did a 12 issue maxi series 3 years ago or so with Shane Davis. It was very silver age-y but pretty good.
For bringing back the lapsed fans, the first thing for me to return would be to get rid of all the woke crap and all the editors and creators that did them. Then spend money and bring back stars from when I was buying those comics.
*No* events! One per decade, period! And even then only if you have a knock-out, amazing story. (Good luck with that!) Events and the abuse of crossovers has been one of the arrows riddling the body of the comic book industry.
Lol.. I was thinking every 3 to 4 years.... But he said 2 per year 😳😳😳
No JLA standalone- let it be the crossover title once every 2 years. Let the storyline build I'm the titles where the team will be drawn from - Make the JLA a big deal not the degraded daily alien threat team that it now is
Want readers, new, casual, lapsed, or die-hard? Tell good stories! Stop the never-ending event cycles. Stop selling personal agendas as stories. Stop thinking every comics reader thinks the same way or wants the same thing. People are unique and enjoy a variety of genres. Personally I enjoy the JSA and Jonah Hex and Swamp Thing as well as the more mainstream heroes. And finally, if you're going to bring back the infinite earths, bring back the real infinite earths, not the New 52 or later versions. There are plenty of earths out there for the various Earth-2, Earth-3, Earth-4, etc. variants that have been published without taking away the original designations. (Sorry! That last one is a very personal gripe. 😆)
We first need to get the characters back to what they were. Woke DC is hot garbage and a damaged brand. If we don't fix the core, we can't fix the rest.
Was the Heroes in Crisis not an editorial mandate? Because that screams HoC. And he's had some great books since then, people tend to get stuck in just disliking an author for bad prior work. His Batman run... Catwoman marriage and Alfred dying were also editorial mandates, these creatives are freelancers. There needs to be more scrutiny aimed at the editorial teams more than anything.
Plus Didio was responsible for the idea of Jon Kent age up (you can see the birthing of the idea even in the Oz Effect storyline) and even though I very disliked Bendis' superman, he was doing what higher ups wanted him to do.
Didio was also pushing 5G and all the ramifications of that we are still seeing today even though writers are getting blamed for it. They scrapped entire storylines and had to get some money back from it which was Future State, Next Batman (blegggh), etc.
I think they are finally spinning out of it a bit with some of the titles coming out, though DC has always had some great stuff that gets overlooked despite some justified hate it gets, I'd rather see people talk about these good books and not necessarily get too far into how much everything sucks cause that's not contributing to anything but negative vibes. The bad stuff will also filter out ala Tim Drake book (though Riley Rossmo being thrown in the pot with Fitzmartin kinda ticks me off as he's a legitimately talented and stylized artist)
As a lapsed fan - I won't be going back.
To many activists in control, not enough comic writers.
If DC thinks they're going to recapture fans with events...sheesh. Most people love comics for the characters, and modern events aren't character-driven. The anthology approach they took with Lazarus Planet (jumping around to a lot of random characters, some new) is par for the course. Nobody really develops or changes. And even if they get new powers or something, it feels cheap and contrived, and we know most of it won't matter in a year. (A lot of these ideas sound ok, but it's all in how they implement them--and most are vague. "Advertising!" "Social media!" "Displays!" These things have been tried. What's different _this_ time?)
Not sure why DC & Marvel don't try a $1 or $2 #1 comic.
I honestly think it's to late to save the industry as it is, they had their chance with the movie releases and they blew it.
They've lost the younger generations to manga and video games it'll take a miracle to gain their attention back, so all thats left is the old people that will dwindle over time until the industry collapses and replaced with something else.
keep the books at 2.99 and do only a few titles, also not every story has to be canon driven. stand alone stories are great too