DC Universe relaunch in September 2011

[TNPredsFan]

From The Source:

Both digital and print editions of DC’s comics will have parity pricing for the first four weeks of release; thereafter, the digital titles drop in price down to our standard 1.99 digital price point. Oversized issues, including JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, will start at $3.99 and drop to $2.99 after four weeks.

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/02 ... ital-copy/

[BobBretall]

Parity pricing ($2.99) and then down to $1.99 a month later (unless you want to buy both print & digital).....

A physical comic via DCBS is cheaper than even the "1 month later" digital price. Given that pretty much any decent LCS gives SOME kind of discount, digital (for the 1st 4 weeks) costs MORE than a physical copy.

Seems like this is mostly compelling to people who really don't like print and want to move to digital for various reasons (storage, convenience, etc.)

I'm also pretty sure this pricing model is not going to help bring in any new customers.

Of course, pricing alone would not bring in new customers, it has to be innovative marketing to drive demand coupled by pricing that is not a barrier to new customers. This pricing model seems like a barrier to entry to me.

[Wood]

The pricing is pretty much exactly as I thought it would be. Parity at "day and date" to appease LCS owners and maintain the allure of paying for the timeliness of serialized entertainment, and then quickly down to a price that they believe will attract a broader audience.

[BobBretall]

The pricing is pretty much exactly as I thought it would be. Parity at "day and date" to appease LCS owners and maintain the allure of paying for the timeliness of serialized entertainment, and then quickly down to a price that they believe will attract a broader audience.

You are wise in the ways of predicting business people's moves, Jason.

I'm going to predict now that the "price that they believe will attract a broader audience" will not attract any decent sized additional audience.

[BobBretall]

Wow! Tom Brevoort is being uncharacteristically un-douchey about this:

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/20 ... der-of-dc/

[Reader comment:] DC Comics just made it 100% certain I’ll never pick up another book anytime soon. I hope I never have to see such a desperate move from Marvel. Rebooting/Revamping the DC line since the first crisis has only led to terrible things. Make mine Marvel!

[Brevoort:] I’m happy you feel that way, but I don’t really agree. At this point, doing something massive like this is the smartest thing that DC can do in order to try to capture a large audience and get them to check out their books.


[Reader question:] How do you feel about what looks to be the end of DC comics?

[Brevoort:] This is hardly the end of DC Comics. It’s just a change–the same kind of change that DC’s gone through three or four times in the last three decades. It’s all good–and might help to reinvigorate both their line and the industry as a whole.

[torchsong]

Not impressed with the tiered pricing. $3 is too much for a new digital comic and $2 is too much for a month-old digital comic.

As far as using that to attract a new audience, they're up against someone who'll spend that $3 on an app for their iPad vs. buying a book they'll read for 10 minutes.

Gonna stick with good ol' dead wood versions of books until they stop making them, it seems.

[Danscomics]

DC has delivered new information to retailers. I will include the full text below but the stand out pieces for me are:

Digital Pricing:

Sorry Bob but pricing will be cover price for the first 4 weeks and then reduced by $1 after that (so $2.99 goes to $1.99 and $3.99 to $2.99)

Returnability:

They are actually going to offer retailers the abillity to return titles as long as they meet some fairly simple criteria. This is going to last at least for 3 months, it will be interesting to see if it sticks.

To our comics retail partners,

With The New DCU - the September launch of our 52 #1s - we have created an event
that we believe will generate unprecedented buzz, and, more importantly,
unprecedented sales results for you. This is a shock to the system, no question,
but we have the quality stories and the unrivaled sales/marketing support and the
increased public attention to help you best absorb that shock and profit from it.

As a follow-up to my first letter, we wanted to provide some immediate specifics on
September:

CONTENT
We know that you want more details on the creative teams and their title-by-title
assignments for the launch. . (And by the way, let me just reiterate this point:
this is the launch of the New DCU. It is not a "reboot." I think you will soon
discover why that is.) We will send you an e-mail with more creative details next
week, as a teaser in advance of the solicitation copy for Previews going live on the
13th. Once solicit copy is released, we will be sending you a short introductory
video, starring our creators and our content. We will also be taking this act on
the road, for a series of retailer meetings in markets including New York,
Dallas/Fort Worth, Baltimore, Chicago, and Los Angeles, during the days leading up
to the release of the physical Previews catalog. Stay tuned for more details, and
send us a note to make sure you're on the invite list.

DIGITAL
To clarify from my last note, we will be at "price-parity" for same-day digital. No
DC digital comic will be cheaper than its physical counterpart at launch. Same-day
(a.k.a. "Day/ Date") parity pricing is for the first four weeks of release;
thereafter, the digital titles will follow our standard pricing, with $2.99 comics
dropping in price to $1.99, $3.99 comics dropping in price to $2.99, and so forth.
Keep in mind that our goal with our 52 new #1s will be to ensure that the physical
comic book is more compelling than ever!

Additionally, we will be offering you an additional special "combo pack" for Justice
League. This is a Diamond-exclusive $4.99 physical polybagged JUSTICE LEAGUE comic
which will contain a redemption code for a digital copy on the inside cover. So
consumers will have three main ways to read Justice League beginning August 31st -
$3.99 physical, the $4.99 combo pack, and $3.99 digital. As mentioned above, after
four weeks the digital-only price drops to $2.99, per our standard price for
oversized digital titles.

INCENTIVES
For optimal sales impact, each of our 52 titles will have one of three distinct
incentives:

a) Variants
For variants, we chose our core iconic titles, the ones that you tell us your
consumers want most. And of course, we sought out those titles with the most
compelling visuals. At a minimum, this variant plan will be offered for September,
October, and November. We will be offering variants on five different titles, with
at least one each week.

· 1:25 variant
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 - 8/31 in-store. This cover will have a 1:25 ordering incentive.

· Weekly targeted variant
FLASH #1 - 9/28 in-store. Retailers may order at FOC up to as many copies of the
FLASH #1 variant as were ordered at FOC of their lowest-ordered DCU title for the
9/28 in-store week. (This is an example; each week will feature a title with a
variant following this incentive pattern.)


b) Deep Discounting
For deeper discounts, we chose to spotlight potential break-out titles which can
help you focus your staff and your customers. Books that have a compelling creator,
an obvious jumping-on point for your readers, etc. We will be offering an
additional 15% discount on six different titles for orders placed by FOC,
effectively giving you a 50% to 72% discount spread, instead of our normal 35% to
57% spread. At a minimum, this deep discounting will be offered for September,
October, and November. The lead title is WONDER WOMAN with five others that will be
announced next week.


c) Returnability
We are backing up our commitment to you and this launch, by putting our copies where
are mouths are. We will be offering 100% Returnability on all of the remaining 41
titles. Returnability across the rest of the 52 allows the breadth of these titles
to get their fair chance with your consumers. This comes with a qualifier - your
total post-FOC September orders in dollars for DC periodicals must be 125% or more
of your May post-FOC orders for DC periodicals.
As with prior returnable programs, qualifying retailers will be required to return
stripped covers from the returnable issues along with an affidavit of destruction to
Diamond Comic Distributors at a date to be named later. Retailers will then be
issued credit for each copy, minus 10% of the cover price. At a minimum, this
returnability program will be offered for September, October, and November.

[stardog]

Just getting back to the relaunch itself, I'm excited. I'm a longtime DC fan with a lot invested in the characters and stories. I guess I would prefer that they just work on improving the books and franchises that need it (Superman, JLA and JSA) and not renumber everything, but I do understand the need to do something beyond that. Something bigger. I also understand that as much as I love titles like Secret Six, Batgirl, Zatanna and Thunder Agents, can they really continue at the current sales numbers? I do have questions whether this will work, as you'll likely still have your big sellers with a lot of books struggling, but it's worth a try.

From a creative standpoint I'm optimistic with the books they've already announced so far and the rumors that are out there. It will be great to again look forward to the Justice League every month (both books), LOVE the Wonder Woman creative team, and while I've never been a big Firestorm or Aquaman fan, I can't wait for those books with the announced creative teams. Also nice to see Mr. Terrific, not a retread, getting a shot at an ongoing. I plan on trying most of the books. Definitely this first group.

[JohnMayo]

From DC's The Source:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/06/02 ... w-justice/


Justice League: Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
Wonder Woman: Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang
Aquaman: Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis
Flash: Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul
Fury of Firestorm: Ethan Van Sciver/Gail Simone writing, art by Yildiray Cinar
Hawkman: Tony Daniel and Philip Tan
Green Arrow: JT Krul and Dan Jurgens (Maybe Dan Jurgen can make a GA title stick)
Justice League International: Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti
Mister Terrific: Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson (this is a really interesting choice of character to give a slot to)
Captain Atom: JT Krul and Freddie Williams II
DC Comics Presents: Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang doing the first story (featuring Deadman) in this title with multi-story arcs of different characters

11 down.....41 to go.....

I think that last title is DC Universe Presents, not DC Comics Presents. We also know about four others: Superman, Birds of Prey, Teen Titans and Green Lantern.

Overall, not a bad lineup so far but I hope we get a bit more variety in the rest. So far, this is very JLA heavy.

[Tom]

These retailer incentives communicate two things to me:

1) DC has a lot of confidence in this Re-launch

2) DC really considers retailers as partners, and wants to help them succeed.

As someone who is considering starting a comic shop in the future, this has me very excited. If the discounts/variants/return-ability stick, then I will be a much less nervous about starting a shop then I have been.

It will be interesting to see if this sticks, and if it does how will other publishers, big and small, respond?

[jonah]

Has DC committed to still 'holding the line at 2.99' for the time being ? I see the first JLA issue at 3.99 but at least described as Oversized. I'm hoping this is simply a way of getting the story and the rest of the DCU relaunch started big and not adopting the current Marvel model.

[Danscomics]

These retailer incentives communicate two things to me:

1) DC has a lot of confidence in this Re-launch

2) DC really considers retailers as partners, and wants to help them succeed.

The deep discount incentive is nothing new, just new to DC. Marvel has been doing those for a few months now. The variants really aren't either, although the no minimum ones are always nice for those of us who can't afford to buy 25 or more copies of a title just to get the privilege of buying 1 more copy.[/quote]

[Tom]

I didn't know Marvel did that kind of discount. Do they really go to 72%? I know the variant cover is nothing new, but it's nice to see them have a cap on the number they're going to do each month. I think the return-ability is the coolest part. Really gives the retailers the wiggle room that Hibbs was saying is missing for retailers.

[BobBretall]

Has DC committed to still 'holding the line at 2.99' for the time being ? I see the first JLA issue at 3.99 but at least described as Oversized. I'm hoping this is simply a way of getting the story and the rest of the DCU relaunch started big and not adopting the current Marvel model.

Holding the line has only ever applied to 20 page books. Oversized books have been $3.99 & more all year.

[BobBretall]

c) Returnability
We are backing up our commitment to you and this launch, by putting our copies where are mouths are. We will be offering 100% Returnability on all of the remaining 41titles. Returnability across the rest of the 52 allows the breadth of these titles to get their fair chance with your consumers. This comes with a qualifier - your total post-FOC September orders in dollars for DC periodicals must be 125% or more of your May post-FOC orders for DC periodicals.
As with prior returnable programs, qualifying retailers will be required to return stripped covers from the returnable issues along with an affidavit of destruction to Diamond Comic Distributors at a date to be named later. Retailers will then be issued credit for each copy, minus 10% of the cover price. At a minimum, this returnability program will be offered for September, October, and November.

I'm glad they are offering returnability, but retailers will have to eat 10% of cover price.