With all the hubbub surrounding the announcement that DC Comics is taking its superhero line to digital day and date release, Senior Vice President, Sales, Bob Wayne has stepped up to reassure comic shops that DC Entertainment is not abandoning them.
His complete letter, after the jump.
A LETTER ON THE DC UNIVERSE AND SEPTEMBER 2011
To our comics retail partners,
In the time I’ve worked at DC Comics, I’ve witnessed any number of industry defining moments. But today, I bring you what is perhaps the biggest news to date.
Many of you have heard rumors that DC Comics has been working on a big publishing initiative for later this year. This is indeed an historic time for us as, come this September, we are relaunching the entire DC Universe line of comic books with all new first issues. 52 of them to be exact.
In addition, the new #1s will introduce readers to a more modern, diverse DC Universe, with some character variations in appearance, origin and age. All stories will be grounded in each character’s legend – but will relate to real world situations, interactions, tragedy and triumph.This epic event will kick off on Wednesday, August 31st with the debut of a brand new JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, which pairs Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, together for the first time. (Yes, this is the same week as FLASHPOINT #5.)
We think our current fans will be excited by this evolution, and that it will make jumping into the story extremely accessible to first-time readers – giving them a chance to discover DC’s characters and stories.
We are positioning ourselves to tell the most innovative stories with our characters to allow fans to see them from a new angle. We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling.
Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once.
Dan DiDio, Bob Harras and Eddie Berganza have been working diligently to pull together some of the best creative teams in the industry. Over 50 new costumes will debut in September, many updated and designed by artist Jim Lee, ensuring that the updated images appeal to the current generation of readers.
The publication of JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 will also launch digital day-and-date for all ongoing superhero comic book titles – an industry first.
On Wednesday, June 1st, this initiative is expected to be announced in a nationwide feature article, and we’re hopeful the news will be picked up by media outlets around the world. Throughout the month we’ll reveal more details of our plans with articles in both the mainstream and comics press and on June 13th the Diamond catalog solicitations for all of the September titles will be released, followed by the June 29th street date of the print version of Previews.DC Comics will support this initiative with an innovative mix of publicity, promotional efforts and retailer incentives designed to maximize your opportunity to increase your DC sales. We will discuss additional details of these incentives when we get closer to solicitation later in June.
We’ll be updating you more through email as September nears. But today, I hope your share our enthusiasm for this historic news!
Sincerely,
Bob Wayne SVP, Sales DC Entertainment
9 Comments
Would love to hear a discussion on this in the next podcast. What would DC have to offer the LCS in order to show them that DC is not abandoning them? What would the LCS be looking for? Also would love to hear some ideas as to what the LCS will look like in the future if they are still around.
Big news day today …
New number ones? Here we go….
awwww, here we go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Tds8nMkks
What about Vertigo? “All ongoing SUPERHERO comic book titles”
This is the best thing I have heard in forever! This is groundbreaking for the digital world! About time someone stepped up with day and date release that sets them apart from everyone! And Johns and Lee on the JL…….I think rapture came and I have died.
I don’t mind the digital, but something has got to be done for the LCS if there is a mass migration to digital by consumers. There are lots of hypotheticals here. I hope the LCS will be able to sell what ever is needed for the digital comic. I do think the digital has the potential to drive business into the stores. The paper comic will never go away. If this is a cost savings for the company, the cost savings need to be put back into the paper comic for more quality and more pages. I am not keen on taking everything to number 1. It is kinda cheesy but I understand it.
Thank you for your time DC it was a good run.
Falling on the sword…
Somebody give me a call when DC get’s their crap back together… and bring me a “New Coke” while you’re at it! (Or, a “Pepsi Clear” will do.)
This isn’t an industry first? I’m pretty sure Image and Boom have been doing day-and-date release on all their title for months now!
Or does DC not rate anyone other than marvel as a genuine competitor? :)