CBR Videos:

DC Comics – The New 52 Creators On Pleasing New & Current Fans Alike

CBR TV asked DC Comics’ New 52 creators Dan DiDio, Kyle Higgins, Scott Lobdell, Brian Buccellato, Sterling Gates, Adam Glass, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Bernard Chang and Mike Costa about their approaches towards pleasing old school fans while making their titles easily accessible to newcomers.

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  • David Fullam

    Lee-Satan. Didio-Damien. Everyone else at DC-Devils, Incubi, Sucubi. I would tell them all to rot in hell, but they beat me to it.

    • Jlyric1

      shut the fuck up

      • BeYou

        Why, just because his opinion differs from yours?

        • Nirobob

          No cause hes a fking dumbass

          • David Fullam

            And I love you too!

          • Vaggie

            idiot

      • David Fullam

        Make me 12 year old.

    • guest

      If you have a problem with them, state it, rather than just calling everyone who works at a company Hellspawn. What you did makes people side against you, not with you.

      • David Fullam

        Thanks anonymous poster who couldn’t be bothered to use his real name.

  • http://twitter.com/Aqluro alex minor

    Why do we pretend new people are buying these comics?n

    • nik

      I didn’t read DC comics until this month and I picked up 17 issues.u00a0 Next month I’ll be back for 13.u00a0 That’s a success for DC in my book.

      • BeYou

        I’ve been buying 40+ DC titles per month for decades.u00a0 This month I bought 10, next month I’ll be buying 5.u00a0 That’s a spectacular failure for DC in my book.

        • Actfvr12

          sorryu00a0 , youu00a0 are in the minority , my local store has been opening at midnight , and did so again tonight , and again it was packed, obviously the midnight will not continue but even if DC picks up a 1/4 u00a0of these people for the full year, sales will still be way up , on the bottom titles alone , my local store went from titles selling 3 copiesu00a0a month , to all 52 titles selling 100+ a month

      • Matthew Lane

        An i was reading 9 books a month from dc, now i’m down to maybe 3… An a lot of people are with me… So tell me do you think your personal sales figures make up for those of us who dropped books on mass?nnI’m thinking not.

        • Actvfr12

          sorry in my group of friends alone people went from buying 0 to buying anywhere from 5 to all 52. I went from buying 0 to buying all 52 and will continue to do so

          • Matthew Lane

            Mate, you don’t have any friends & even if you did, you are suffering from a form of cognitive bias known as observation bias. You are observing something & your observations are only backing up your preconceptions because you are looking only for the factors that back up those preconceptions.nnThe fact is that there are more people at the end of month 1 saying, “yeah i’m not interested in any of these new books, so i’m dropping [insert number of titles here],” then saying “wowser, i’m interested in this issue 1 & plan to continue to collecting it long term.”nnThis reboot will jump the numbers for a month, maybe 2 & then the numbers will start to fall. 6 months from now the majority of these books will be on the cancellation chopping block.

          • Dan Tyson

            Sorry man, I don’t know you, and you may be a bloody saint, but I simply DO NOT BELIEVE YOU when you say you bought all 52 and will continue to do so. Please. How much money do you have to spend on these books? Support DC, but do it honestly.nnBut if you’re telling the truth, you need to either a) go easier on your Mom’s pocketbook — she works hard for her money, you know? or b) invest in RRSPs or something, because that issue of Hawk & Dove you’re apparently drooling over isn’t going to score you any points in life, with anyone, anywhere.

    • Rob

      Why do you pretend nobody is when retailers are telling a different story. u00a0Why don;t you go back to your parent’s basement with your pile of Marvel comics and pleasure yourself.

      • Matthew Lane

        Because retailers aren’t. What DC has done to generate hype is insidious. They’ve kept the overrun print numbers really REALLY low, so that they can create artifical scarcity in there product line. This artifical scarcity then gooses the numbers & increases sales, but only for a single month. Comic book fans then all rush out & purchase anything they think they may like on the basis that “its not going to be there tomorrow,” even when it clearly will be.nnThere is a reason why DC’s top books are “selling out” of the first prinintg while also at the same time selling significantly less then individual issues of marvels Civil War (a title with only a single printing, which didn’t sell out)nnIf i were a betting man, it’d say that within 6 months much if not all of this endeavour will have failed. & DC’s numbers will more then likely be lower overall then they were this time last year.

        • Actfvr12

          sorry , you are simply wrong , it is time to get a life , sales are way way up and for good reason , good comics triumph over a few people complaining about how things were

          • Matthew Lane

            Except sales aren’t “UP,” they are just higher then what they have been recently for DC. An sales being UP is actually a negative thing if said UP is not sustainable… DC reboot numbers unfortunately are not sustainable. 6 months many of the books we have been given as part of the reboot will be cancelled… The first to go will be iVampire closely followed by Man of War.nnMy personaly preferences has nothing to do with my views on why this sales model is not sustainable… My predictions are based on a proper understanding of the print industry in general & comic buying trends in specific.nnAs for getting a life, the only people who need to get a life more then the people you tell to get a life, is the person whose telling them to get a life.

          • Dan Tyson

            I guess you only started reading comics from 1995 forward, because I don’t see anything new here.u00a0nThe way things were’ are the way things ARE…but if it’s all refreshing to you, then fantastic — DC has succeeded, even if it didn’t take a whole hell of a lot of effort.nnIf I sound bitter, I am — only because this was an opportunity for DC to ACTUALLY do something ‘new’ — instead, they catered to the fanboys, and it bothers me when a the fanboys in question pretend that some sort of revolution is going on. The same dwindling comic book fans are buying a few more books, just like they ALWAYS do when some comic event gets some hype. There are no new readers. The fate of DC is still in the hands of regular comic book fans, and that, from an economic viewpoint, is baaaaaad news.

    • Nirobob

      I’ve just started buying them

    • Mscherzer

      Its speculators. You know sell-outs. Variant covers and resell them on E-Bay at profit. Its the 90′s all over again (almost)

      • Matthew Lane

        *slap*nndon’t even joke about the rebirth of the speculators market… It almost killed the entire american comic industry when it inevitably collapsed under its own weight in the late 90′s

    • Gregory

      I’m new, I bought 35 titles last month and will be 30 #2′s this month… this is absolutely awesome for me as a returning reader…nnWhat I do find funny is how the reviews by the current comic book fans are so harsh on these books but being a returning fan from 15 odd years ago, I am absolutely loving most of what DC is doing with these titles.nnMassive win for DC in my opinion. PS I only buy digital as I couldn’t be bothered to go to a seedy comic book store so the entire concept works for me :)

  • Melissa

    Where the hell is Judd Winick? Has he dropped off the face of the earth? I’d love to hear what he has to say about writing that last panel in Catwoman. In other words WTF was he thinking?nn

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1676468548 Pixie Solanas

      He was thinking that it’s about time that Selina got to ride the Bat-coaster.u00a0 Why so uptight?

  • Anonymous

    Lot of new readers in my LCS. Lots of new TYPES of readers.

    • BeYou

      That’s a success for DC’s marketing department.u00a0 Whether or not those new readers stick around will be a referendum on the job DC’s editorial department has done.

  • Rob

    There are several people here that either love Marvel or hate DC to the point where they hate to see DC succeed. u00a0They’re too stupid to see that this is a good thing for the entire industry. u00a0New people come into the store to buy some of the new DC, and they also pick up some Marvels, Dynamite, IDW, Dark Horse, or others. u00a0Why do some people have the mentality that it’s not enough for you to succeed, everyone else must fail. u00a0Get a life you morons. u00a0Personally I love many of the Marvel characters and I’m sure they are putting out some very enjoyable books, but management at Marvel has turned me off several times over the years by their actions and I choose not to buy their books because of it. u00a0But I’m not going to sit here and say their characters suck or their books suck, or their creative teams suck because that would be disingenuous. u00a0The same people spouting that crap would be first in line if the same creative team showed up to do a book at Marvel. u00a0Whenever someone pops up and says “all the books suck”, “everyone hates them”, etc, you’re just showing yourself to be a talking head with nothing worth listening to,

  • Anonymous

    Scott Lobdell is still a funny dude and i love his interviews.nu00a0

  • Mscherzer

    “Pleasing current fans”. How about pleasing old school/classic/golden age fans? Thats a mistruth so horrible true its not even funny.

  • Gdkeen

    Eh, as a marvel reader, dc got me buying more of their books for a few months. I’ll be back down to just snyder’s batman soon enough.nnThese writers, some of them, sounded pretty defensive :)

  • Gdkeen

    I don’t want to be a part of Adam Glass’ “our generation.” Please don’t say that, Adam.

  • Fish

    They should give a really really good reason why they’re charging 2.99/3.99 for digital comicsu00a0

    • Serpico71

      Because these companies are not ready to put themselves out of business as piblishers just yet. u00a0Retailers are pressuring them to keep customers in-store, thus keep a high price for new comics. u00a0there are plenty of 99 cent comics available, just not the brand new ones. u00a0And soon they will discount down. u00a0Or you can pirate them for nothing.. u00a0Is that a really good reason? u00a0Cause, as a retailer, its good to me

  • Serpico71

    DC has everyone talking about comics and new people are coming into my store and setting up hold boxes. u00a0Marvel now will give us something bigger, and they can ride the wave of DC’s successful stimulus actions. u00a0DC52 has so many options, regular customers are adding on average 3-4 previously dropped titles and 3-5 titles previously unsolicited, mostly WS and the Dark Line, but the Edge has been strong, Aquaman an Animal Man huge hits. u00a0Say what you want, DC has knocked this right out of the ball park. u00a0Even the excitement for my customers about the #2′s is tangible.

  • tarheelblue

    I went from 0 to 23, and I am only dropping Batgirl, Supergirl, Wonderwoman, and Legion Lost. u00a0And that was more to do with budget than not liking them. Just had to draw a line somewhere. I was big xmen fan in the 80′s had the original Dark Phoenix storyline and everything but today there are just so many xtitles it makes my headspin. u00a0DC got it right, I can jump back in and not wonder if I am missing some part of the puzzle by not buying random book x. The characters are in transition, they are not static, they are not gonna be the same character in one year’s time. You are not supposed to like every aspect, they are not perfect and they are not on a perfect road. The plot sophistication will come, just enjoy the bold brush strokes taken on these great characters. If nothing else, the art on Batwing is worth buying the book.