DC Flashpoint Relanch Analysis Options

[tbrotomo]

'nuff said.

[AaronSmith]

Bravo. Worth 1,000 words!

[Greg G.]

Haha flawless victory!

[Cary]

lol that's freakin hilarious!

[doombug]

In a serious note. Be sure to listen to this weeks Why I Love Comics as we delve into this very controversial announcement.

[tbrotomo]

Glad I could amuse you guys. I was very disappointed when I went to my LCS, had them pull up this post and got blank stares from them like I was crazy.

The question everyone should be asking is: Is Jim Lee and Image plant?!

[Glen Davis]

FTW!

[Gonzogoose]

This is funny, but as I stated in the article on the main site, reviled though it may be, Heroes Reborn actually increased sales initially, then evened out, but never dropped sales. So there's something to be said for it...

[Cary]

This is funny, but as I stated in the article on the main site, reviled though it may be, Heroes Reborn actually increased sales initially, then evened out, but never dropped sales. So there's something to be said for it...

What's to be said is it's desperate. This is nothing more than a transitional phase to going all digital. DC sees the writing on the wall and they're prepping themselves for the shift plain and simple.

And while Heroes Reborn didn't lower sales, at least in the short term, it didn't help them in the long term either. I'd call that a wash personally.

[Cary]

In a serious note. Be sure to listen to this weeks Why I Love Comics as we delve into this very controversial announcement.

On an even more serious note, if you have something to add to the conversation why not just add it? Not everyone can listen to this week's Why I love Comics.

[Zodar]

What's to be said is it's desperate. This is nothing more than a transitional phase to going all digital. DC sees the writing on the wall and they're prepping themselves for the shift plain and simple.

And while Heroes Reborn didn't lower sales, at least in the short term, it didn't help them in the long term either. I'd call that a wash personally.

Since readership over every single title has diminished over the years you can't use that as proof of its failure, or "wash"-ness.

The truth is Heroes Reborn did what it set out to do which was to sell comics and to get readers. And there are people still following titles today that they were first introduced to through Heroes Reborn. I'd call that long term.

But, yes, you're right, it is desperate, and Heroes Reborn was also desperate (and desperately needed, for the most part). Just about every gimick and event is a desperate attempt to sell comics. It's what they do. People are constantly shocked when these "desperate attempts" happen but they've always happened. Quality art and writing and interesting characters only goes so far, they need to actually get people to look at it and, even more importantly, buy it. And they need to go where the customers are. Just like the movie and music industires did before, they need to get onboard with the new technology. I don't like digital comics and it will be a very long time before I buy them, but it's a real market that companies need to explore before they are left behind.

[Gonzogoose]

On an even more serious note, if you have something to add to the conversation why not just add it? Not everyone can listen to this week's Why I love Comics.

Eh, we do the same kind of promotional thing for Zone 4. Teases the upcoming show and gives people a reason to listen if they care to.

As far as it being desperate, I don't know, maybe. It's a gimmick, no question about it, but it's no worse than any other gimmick, and it's not really anything they haven't done before. Maybe in a different way, but hey, if this brings new readers in I'm all for it. And for those that are fans of reading digitally, this is huge for them to release everything on day and date with print.

[Zodar]

As far as it being desperate, I don't really see that. It's a gimmick, no question about it, but it's no worse than any other gimmick, and it's not really anything they haven't done before. Maybe in a different way, but hey, if this brings new readers in I'm all for it. And for those that are fans of reading digitally, this is huge for them to release everything on day and date with print.

I'm sure if there had been a community of older readers at the time, the original Human Torch and Namor crossover would have been seen as nothing more than a desperate attempt to boost sales.

The DC Silver Age introduction of new characters using the names of old Golden Age ones. That's another good example.

Or how about the very first Crisis on Two Earths where the new and the old met?

Heck, more often than not the cover copy on old comics strikes of a desperate "look at me, look at me!" pleading.

They weren't ashamed of the fact that they wanted people to buy them.

[Gonzogoose]

I don't see that as desperate so much as promotional. It's marketing, it's sales. ALL marketing and sales has the desperate vibe to it, but that's just the nature of it, in my opinion anyway.

[Zodar]

Yeah, Brant, that's exactly what I was trying to get at. I was just, you know, being all roundabout and silly

This post has been edited by Zodar: Jun 1 2011, 12:29 PM

[tbrotomo]

What's to be said is it's desperate. This is nothing more than a transitional phase to going all digital. DC sees the writing on the wall and they're prepping themselves for the shift plain and simple.

This is pretty much all that's relevent here. The reboot is just to facilitate what Cary said. So they can say "look, our entire continuity is online, you can get every piece of content back to #1 for every title in the universe." And it makes for a way they can have new readers for perpetuity, without readers having to go out and "find" something. This is a launch of a massive digital platform more than a reboot of comics.

Bleeding Cool says that Barbara Gordon = Batgirl now, btw. I'm fricking annoyed by that part, though I get it. Bye bye Stephanie

[Zodar]

Bleeding Cool says that Barbara Gordon = Batgirl now, btw. I'm fricking annoyed by that part, though I get it. Bye bye Stephanie

Man, I hope that's just rumor.

Relaunching with #1 issues is annoying but I understand it as an attempt to get noticed and get sales, and to tie it in with the digital launch.

But wiping out history is just lazy.

I always found it ironic that while everyone was telling Hal in Zero Hour that he shouldn't restart and manipulate the timeline to do what he wanted, that was essentially what the DC writers were doing, and have done a number of times since then.

This post has been edited by Zodar: Jun 1 2011, 01:00 PM

[Cary]

I agree that wiping out history is lazy. No two ways about it. Both Marvel and DC have struggled in recent years under the supposed weight of their own continuity, when I have to wonder if there is any real truth to that struggle at all. I'm not saying they weren't struggling but that perhaps they've misidentified the source of their problem. Marvel launched the whole Ultimate line to catch new younger readers and then proceeded to basically use that as a vehicle to retell old stories. Now sure sometimes they were a bit twisted, but by and large they were rehash. DC tried something similar with the All Star line, that was alright I guess, if you dealt with the delays and sporadic storytelling. At least they had some bright moments, but so did Marvel with the first two runs of the Ultimates IMO.

They've each tried the great summer crossover as a panacea to their hemorrhage and that hasn't helped long term either. DC did the 52 series and all that madness, Marvel came back with an almost unending series of pretty much more of the same. But again, is it continuity they're really fighting against, or is it technology?

I think the bigger villain is their lack of vision with regard to changes within the industry and in technology. I also think that DC has finally realized the one truism given to us by Ricky Bobby: "If you're not first, you're last." That's really what the whole "relaunch" is about. Retailers can't scream too loudly when they're getting what...51 new #1 books to push in a single month? Meanwhile DC backdoors them with the same day digital release so they can get a good handle on solid market research. Mark my words. In six months there won't be a third of those 51 titles still being printed, but they'll still be available digitally. This is the beginning of the end of print comics folks. You're seeing it happen.

[doombug]

Yeah, I hope people enjoyed Barbara being a role model for people with handicaps for the last what? 20 years. I guess Johns really does want to put everything back to the 80's.

[Cary]

On a side note, I'm actually quite stoked that Babs is getting her cowl back. I like Stephanie a LOT as Batgirl, but my Batgirl with always be Barbara.