Massive Turnover at DC comics. 1 1

[Prince Namor]

On 8/14/2020 at 12:51 AM, Qalyar said:

I wouldn't count print comics out quite yet.

There's an art element to comic books (otherwise no one would ever have cared about variant covers), and you can't display a digital file.

Marvel or DC could create an online, direct, publish as purchased, physical variant edition for any digital comic. Charge $25 a copy, cut out everyone else and easily make up the difference. It'd be easier to do now than ever before.

On 8/14/2020 at 12:51 AM, Qalyar said:

Also, there's a lot of the comic industry from a sales standpoint that all-digital doesn't duplicate well. There's no really good way to have a secondary market for digital files without opening up other problems (like ease of piracy), and the publishers know the secondary market matters. You can't realistically do things like limited editions or retailer incentive variants in an all-digital industry either.

Why do people think that publishers care about the secondary market? In general, they've tried to destroy it for decades. They instructed Diamond to convince retailers to devote less and less space to it and concentrate on NEW comics, as that's what THEY sell. And it worked. For THEM. The average store is now a corporate model of what publishers want - almost no back issues, if ANY.

Variants were created to boost new comic sales. NOT to prop up the variant secondary market.

On 8/14/2020 at 12:51 AM, Qalyar said:

Also, people are gradually starting to realize digital only isn't always a good thing. Video games made the flaws obvious first; when a publisher stops supporting an online-required game, that game ceases to be. And there has been at least one proprietary e-reader format that was discontinued, taking libraries with it. Digital is convenient, but there is a virtue to actually owning "stuff".

Not to a whole generation of people now growing up. The idea of a CD is completely obsolete to half the world's population. I'm 57 and I haven't bought an American DVD in years, but I regularly watch movies on Netflix, Amazon and the Criterion Channel. It's just a matter of time for comics.

On 8/14/2020 at 12:51 AM, Qalyar said:

Yes, there are going to be digital-only titles. Just like there are ebook-only novels. And yes, there may be fewer monthlies overall, but the format isn't dead because DC is having problems. Not anymore than it died in the Marvel Implosion or with the collapse of the black and white indie era. Or, reaching back, with the end of Charlton or Gold Key or so forth.

DC will go digital only. It's the beginning. 

On 8/14/2020 at 12:51 AM, Qalyar said:

For the collectors side, I do expect some price stagnation. We've had a good run up on a lot of keys; that probably won't continue unabated. COVID doesn't help that. I mean, I'm not predicting a 90s indies collapse, where $100-200 books go right to the dollar box. But don't expect the next 10 years of price changes for Hulk 181 or AF15 and so forth to look like the last 10 years... The VERY top books -- Action 1, Tec 27, etc -- are now firmly the purview of the super-rich, so their future is harder to predict. Ultra luxury goods don't track general trends well.

Publishers have no interest in that market. It'll survive. There are those of us who collect that will always collect to some extent, but most of us don't buy new comics anymore anyway. Movies will continue to help grow interest in the 'origins' of the characters. New Comic Books themselves really haven't played a part in that much anyway. Most of any growth in actual New Comic BOOKS has been in GN's and TPB's.  

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, Prince Namor said:

Why do people think that publishers care about the secondary market?

By now I wouldn’t think that many do, and DC, as an example, has been quite open about it for many years.

All they are going to care about is gauging popularity there as an indicator of potential sales for their reprint books. Aside from that superficiality, the market is an irrelevance.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Ken Aldred