All DC Titles Made Returnable For Retailers 1 1

[Cat]

As Of DC Universe Infinite Ultra (stupid name) all DC comics are now returnable for the retailer. Bleeding Cool posted an article by a retailer about this, and his perspective is interesting. He states he'll be ordering more DC and cutting back on Marvel, and he wonders whether it will ultimately mean DC comics become rarer as back issues dry up due to them simply being returned to the distributor. It's definitely something to ponder in a world where people tend to wait for the tpb. 

What do you think? 

Here's the article for reference: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/comic-store-in-your-future-dc-returnability-a-game-changer/

[Aman619]

well, it says its only til the end of 2022 so not a drastic change in ordering.  I don't buy new comics anymore, but are stores carefully ordering so few copies that they sell out, meaning that having more on hand (at no cost if they fail to sell) will give retailers more income?  Don't 90% of comics buyers get to the store in the first few days each week and come away with all the regular issues they wanted, if they aren't in fact having them pulled by the store?  I suppose if LCS could start ordering copies of ALL DC titles now, maybe readers might sample new titles?  From my experience, I don't think so, right?  There's already far too many each week to buy them all so ignoring most titles you aren't collecting is easy.

But any sales gimmick they can come up with to keep the ship sailing onward is good

[ADAMANTIUM]

Bleeding cool is sometimes strenuous to pull up on a phone, so I didn't click the link, but what happens to the comics.once back at DC?

Are they destroyed? Archived? Does it necessarily mean less available in the end?

[Sigur Ros]

On 10/24/2022 at 7:00 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Bleeding cool is sometimes strenuous to pull up on a phone, so I didn't click the link, but what happens to the comics.once back at DC?

Are they destroyed? Archived? Does it necessarily mean less available in the end?

As punishment, the writers are forced to read them. 

All of them.

[Cat]

On 10/24/2022 at 3:15 PM, Aman619 said:

well, it says its only til the end of 2022 so not a drastic change in ordering.  I don't buy new comics anymore, but are stores carefully ordering so few copies that they sell out, meaning that having more on hand (at no cost if they fail to sell) will give retailers more income?  Don't 90% of comics buyers get to the store in the first few days each week and come away with all the regular issues they wanted, if they aren't in fact having them pulled by the store?  I suppose if LCS could start ordering copies of ALL DC titles now, maybe readers might sample new titles?  From my experience, I don't think so, right?  There's already far too many each week to buy them all so ignoring most titles you aren't collecting is easy.

But any sales gimmick they can come up with to keep the ship sailing onward is good

I missed it saying only till the end of 2022. Are you sure on that? The way this guy was talking it sounded permanent. 

[Sigur Ros]

On 10/24/2022 at 7:44 AM, Cat said:

I missed it saying only till the end of 2022. Are you sure on that? The way this guy was talking it sounded permanent. 

Link

That's Bleeding Cool though so who knows if it's accurate.

[Cat]

On 10/24/2022 at 10:06 PM, Sigur Ros said:

Link

That's Bleeding Cool though so who knows if it's accurate.

Thanks for that. The article makes no sense if it's only for a month. Gah! 

[Tnexus]

In other news, every DC periodical between 10/11/22 and 12/31/22 is conventiently also getting a 1:50 or greater ratio variant.

[CAHokie]

On 10/24/2022 at 8:07 AM, Cat said:

Thanks for that. The article makes no sense if it's only for a month. Gah! 

Would people over ordering inflate sales numbers before the year’s end and returns conveniently not revise them? Lol   

[Cat]

On 10/25/2022 at 1:47 AM, CAHokie said:

Would people over ordering inflate sales numbers before the year’s end and returns conveniently not revise them? Lol   

I believe Comichron automatically takes off a set percentage of their sales estimated for returnable titles for this very reason.

[universal soldier]

On 10/24/2022 at 1:15 AM, Aman619 said:

I don't buy new comics anymore, but are stores carefully ordering so few copies that they sell out, meaning that having more on hand (at no cost if they fail to sell) will give retailers more income?

My LCS orders at or barely above their sub list so it can be tough to get copies of books not on your pull. Good practice these days as you can't depend on foot traffic driving your sales any more. I'll have to ask them if this changes how they look at DC for the rest of 2022.

[Robot Man]

Maybe this means there will be a glut of new DCs with the cover titles cut off floating around.

Might make me want to read some of them again…

[Math Teacher]

I thought this was going to be a sales thread where all the books were remaindered. Silly me. 

[Aman619]

I gather that these will be returnable I imagine to DCs distributor, but logos won't get cut off I wouldn't think as these are not going to newstands as in the decades old arrangement for returns.  I get the inference that DC will direct the distributor (or whoever they are sent to) and just resell the returned copies somewhere for what ever they can get -- if only to offset the costs in taking them back from stores.  Or just toss em if there's no money in it for them.

But to be sure we'd need to read the "Direct Sales" agreements now in 2022.  Back in 1977, Retailers bought and OWNED all comics delivered under the original "direct sales" arrangement.

[ttfitz]

On 10/24/2022 at 11:42 AM, Tnexus said:

In other news, every DC periodical between 10/11/22 and 12/31/22 is conventiently also getting a 1:50 or greater ratio variant.

Interesting thought. Looking at DC solicitations, here's the titles with 1:50 incentive variants:

August solicitations:

BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS GILDED CITY #1

BATMAN INCORPORATED  #1

BATMAN ONE BAD DAY PENGUIN #1

BATMAN SUPERMAN WORLDS FINEST #8

BATMAN VS ROBIN #2

DARK CRISIS WORLDS WITHOUT A JUSTICE LEAGUE GREEN ARROW #1

DC MECH #4

DCEASED WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS #3

DEATH OF SUPERMAN 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1

DETECTIVE COMICS #1065

FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #2

GCPD THE BLUE WALL #1

GHOST PLANET

HARLEY QUINN #23

HARLEY QUINN THE ANIMATED SERIES LEGION OF BATS #1

PUNCHLINE THE GOTHAM GAME #1

RIDDLER YEAR ONE #1

TIM DRAKE ROBIN #2

WONDER WOMAN #792

Sept solicitations:

BATMAN #129

BATMAN #130

BATMAN & THE JOKER THE DEADLY DUO #1

BATMAN & THE JOKER THE DEADLY DUO #2

BATMAN ONE BAD DAY MR FREEZE #1

BATMAN SUPERMAN WORLDS FINEST #9

BATMAN VS ROBIN #3

BLUE BEETLE GRADUATION DAY #1

DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #6

DARK CRISIS WORLDS WITHOUT A JUSTICE LEAGUE BATMAN #1

DC MECH

DCEASED WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS #4

DCEASED WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS #5

DETECTIVE COMICS #1066

FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #3

HARLEY QUINN #24

JOHN STEWART THE EMERALD KNIGHT #1

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1

NEW GOLDEN AGE #1

POISON IVY #6

PUNCHLINE THE GOTHAM GAME #2

STARGIRL THE LOST CHILDREN #1

TIM DRAKE ROBIN #3

WILDCATS #1 WILDSTORM 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1

October: BATMAN INCORPORATED  #3 BATMAN ONE BAD DAY CATWOMAN #1 BATMAN SPAWN #1 BATMAN SUPERMAN WORLDS FINEST #10 BATMAN VS ROBIN #4 CATWOMAN #50 DANGER STREET #1 DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 DC MECH #6 DCEASED WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS #6 DETECTIVE COMICS #1067 FLASH #790 HARLEY QUINN #25 HARLEY QUINN UNCOVERED #1 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #2 NIGHTWING #99 POISON IVY #8 PUNCHLINE THE GOTHAM GAME #3 RIDDLER YEAR ONE #2 SANDMAN UNIVERSE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #1 TIM DRAKE ROBIN #4 WILDCATS #2 That's a pretty hefty list of items that are excluded.