There seems to be some small amount of panic regarding DC’s recent sales numbers. They’re not terribly encouraging of course – 52 is their only regular, reliable hit, with most of their other top sellers shipping bi-monthly or even more sporadically.
I can’t argue with the notion that they’ve launched entirely too many books in the last year or two, most of which lack any sort of original voice. On the one hand, DC should, and probably will, look at culling the severe underperfomers. But then again, it’s not like 20,000 readers will stop buying Checkmate and sink their dollars into Justice League – odds are the people who buy Checkmate are probably sinking plenty of dollars into DC Continuity every month, anyway. And The Atom isn’t hoarding a top-notch creative team that could keep Batman at the top of the sales charts. I’m sure DC will be sorting these things out, but I can’t say I care terribly, as long as they stay the hell away from Blue Beetle.
There’s also the distinct possibility that 52 is sucking up whatever dollars fans have that might otherwise be used on new titles; maybe people can’t afford to try new books when they have to get their weekly dose of the book that’s absolutely totally essential to understanding the DC universe. But if that’s a problem, DC certainly hasn’t clued in, as they’ve lined up Countdown to take over. How that title will perform without the big guns of Morrison, Rucka, Waid, and Johns as draws remains to be seen, but I suspect DC is in for an unpleasant surprise.
DC was probably counting on the big Wildstorm revamp to bring in some cash, but that obviously hasn’t gone according to plan: The scheduling vortex that sucked in Authority and Wildcats has tainted the line to the extent that online fandom is awash in statements of “Wildstorm is a joke!” despite the fact that 5 of the 7 relaunch titles have delivered more-or-less on time. But perhaps that doesn’t really matter: Sales on the second-tier books weren’t terribly impressive to begin with, and most of them debuted with variant covers. The problem here, I think, is that mainstream, direct market fans simply aren’t interested in other superhero books; they want their Spider-Man and Batman, and aren’t going to bother with Wildstorm’s ever-so-slightly-mature line of c-list heroes unless they’re being driven by all-star creators. They’re profitable enough books for Image, but they don’t appear to meet DC’s standards.
But ultimately, I wonder if DC isn’t right where they’re meant to be. For most of my recollection, Marvel has ruled the monthly sales charts. DC got some shots in with the death of Superman, and Image had their time in the sun, but it almost always come back to Marvel.
Marvel has proven itself to be the master of The Now. They find or grab all the hot new artists, and pick up on the trends that will sell books. DC, on the other hand, has always remained largely traditional – their big properties (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) have reputations as being stodgy and cardboard, perhaps a necessary result of protecting such immensely valuable trademarks. For many years, their most notable characters were steered by good-yet-unimaginative creative teams.
But behind that stereotype lies an entirely different company. For all the talk of Marvel’s innovation and market driving, it’s DC that published Watchmen, Dark Knight, Swamp Thing, Sandman, and others. DC has far more perennial sellers than Marvel. There are few Marvel books of 20 years ago that remain relevant or popular. Miller’s Daredevil, maybe Squadron Supreme and the Claremont/Byrne X-Men.
While I have no doubt Civil War will sell plenty of copies when the TPB debuts, I can’t imagine it being an industry standard in five years, if Marvel even keeps it in print that long. Of their current crop only Daredevil, and maybe Captain America, looks like it has long-term potential. Perhaps Nextwave, but that’s probably just wishful thinking on my part. (I have no idea how Neil Gaiman’s recent Marvel projects will look in a few years) On the other hand, I can see several recent books that have a potentially long shelf life at DC: All-Star Superman, Jeff Smith’s Shazam, New Frontier, Justice, perhaps even Seven Soldiers. That’s not even getting into the Vertigo books, though who knows which of the current crop will survive. (100 Bullets is probably the best bet; I love Y, but I’m not sure how it will hold up.)
DC doesn’t always put its best foot forward, but that foot usually makes the company enough money to keep the good stuff going. Marvel may take the monthly market 10 months of the year, but DC is the company with the big Alan Moore catalogue, Vertigo, and many of the books people will point to and say “see, this is what comics can do.” For all the talk of innovation, Marvel hasn’t really done anything new since the days of Claremont & Byrne and Frank Miller, with a minor yet exciting hiccup in the post-bankruptcy years. (Milligan & Allred’s X-Force and Bendis & Gaydos’ Alias are among my favourite books ever published by anyone)
All of which is to say that in 10 years, nobody is going to care who sold more issues in February of 2007. But I’m going to look at my bookshelf, or the graphic novel section of a book store, and see who came out ahead. No matter how many times DC relaunches and cancels The Atom and Firestorm, their successes eventually speak louder than their failures. And since I’m more interested in art than publisher finances, that’s all that should really matter.