Massive Turnover at DC comics. 1 1

[Comics4All]

4 hours ago, Bird said:

spec on last issues? when are last issues? crazy times

2020 has been a hell of a year! 

[kav]

21 minutes ago, Comics4All said:

2020 has been a hell of a year! 

 

[nearmint]

Wow, only 3 pages.  I thought I’d find a 50 page thread.  From what I’m hearing, this is way worse than it seems most of you are imagining.  What happened at DC yesterday will happen at Marvel in the next few months.  Monthlies are done.  This video breaks it all down...

 

[paperheart]

33 minutes ago, nearmint said:

Wow, only 3 pages.  I thought I’d find a 50 page thread.  From what I’m hearing, this is way worse than it seems most of you are imagining.  What happened at DC yesterday will happen at Marvel in the next few months.  Monthlies are done.  This video breaks it all down...

 

Donut called this months ago

[aardvark88]

10 hours ago, paperheart said:

Donut called this months ago

Death of the floppy DC and Marvel Comics on Jan. 1, 2021? Diamond's contract to distribute DC floppy comics to UK ends Dec. 31, 2020.

[Krismusic]

On 8/11/2020 at 11:07 AM, F For Fake said:

We're definitely headed that way, but I think it's going to be much sooner than 10 years. I think it'll be under 5, and it will be exactly as you outlined: digital and tpb's for shops.

We covered a lot of the same discussion ground back when DC broke away from Diamond, but I'm still sticking with the idea that the days are numbered for floppies, we'll be getting trades in the comic shops, young adult stuff in bookstores, and that's it. DC Direct/Collectibles has been scrambling for some time now. Sideshow has been carrying a lot of DCD product, as well as producing their own licensed DC products and as you said, McFarlane has the collector action figure license (and Spin Masters has the kid-centered toys.) I'd expect Sideshow will just go ahead and assume the complete DC statue License and create everything in house. I wonder how this will affect long standing lines like the Batman Black and White Series? I guess I can kiss my beloved DC Essentials action figure line goodbye as well. I don't buy the McFarlane figures because they're ugly as sin, so it's going to be slim pickins as a DC action figure collector. OH well, I'll save some money. 

Not sure if the floppies will be gone and as that is a huge part of the industry and collecting experience. Reading digital isn’t the same as having a physical copy in hand. To have that smell and to bag and board. Also CGC would lose a ton of money without that moderne CGC slabbing and SS.. I think the big companies will push it further along as best as they can and I think floppy copies will be around for a long time. They will probably get creative again or figure out some way to keep pushing physical copies.

[Hollywood1892]

1 hour ago, aardvark88 said:

Death of the floppy DC and Marvel Comics on Jan. 1, 2021? Diamond's contract to distribute DC floppy comics to UK ends Dec. 31, 2020.

People still use floppy's?

[thunsicker]

3 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

Not sure if the floppies will be gone and as that is a huge part of the industry and collecting experience. Reading digital isn’t the same as having a physical copy in hand. To have that smell and to bag and board. Also CGC would lose a ton of money without that moderne CGC slabbing and SS.. I think the big companies will push it further along as best as they can and I think floppy copies will be around for a long time. They will probably get creative again or figure out some way to keep pushing physical copies.

I agree that going to digital/tpb's would be a loss for collectors.  I agree that going to digital/tbp's would be a loss to CGC.  What I'm not sure of is that it would be a loss to AT&T.  It certainly doesn't seem like they think it will.  Which is why, as I stated above, and as @nearmint said, I'm kind of amazed this thread isn't blowing up on a CGC Collector's board.

[bc]

6 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

Not sure if the floppies will be gone and as that is a huge part of the industry and collecting experience. Reading digital isn’t the same as having a physical copy in hand. To have that smell and to bag and board. Also CGC would lose a ton of money without that moderne CGC slabbing and SS.. I think the big companies will push it further along as best as they can and I think floppy copies will be around for a long time. They will probably get creative again or figure out some way to keep pushing physical copies.

While I totally agree with the joy of collecting physical books, what we see happening with newsprint & magazines is a fairly rapid decline in production and shift toward digital distribution. 

https://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/newspapers/

While I don't buy modern books, I will lament the day that the plug is finally pulled on floppies.

CGC will have to adjust, that's basic business.

-bc

[F For Fake]

14 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

Not sure if the floppies will be gone and as that is a huge part of the industry and collecting experience. Reading digital isn’t the same as having a physical copy in hand. To have that smell and to bag and board. Also CGC would lose a ton of money without that moderne CGC slabbing and SS.. I think the big companies will push it further along as best as they can and I think floppy copies will be around for a long time. They will probably get creative again or figure out some way to keep pushing physical copies.

Well, I think you're correct, there will always be SOME audience for a monthly Batman and Superman book, as long as books are published. But that's really the hang up right there. Publishing is in rough shape across all formats. In time there won't be any physical products at all, except from boutique labels. I think it's coming sooner than later, or at least I hope so. I don't buy floppies myself, and only a few trades of modern material, but I'd hate to see them all go away. I think it's more likely that DC licenses their periodical publishing out to another publisher.

[Buzzetta]

12 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

Not sure if the floppies will be gone and as that is a huge part of the industry and collecting experience. Reading digital isn’t the same as having a physical copy in hand. To have that smell and to bag and board. Also CGC would lose a ton of money without that moderne CGC slabbing and SS.. I think the big companies will push it further along as best as they can and I think floppy copies will be around for a long time. They will probably get creative again or figure out some way to keep pushing physical copies.

 

4 minutes ago, thunsicker said:

I agree that going to digital/tpb's would be a loss for collectors.  I agree that going to digital/tbp's would be a loss to CGC.  What I'm not sure of is that it would be a loss to AT&T.  It certainly doesn't seem like they think it will.  Which is why, as I stated above, and as @nearmint said, I'm kind of amazed this thread isn't blowing up on a CGC Collector's board.

Thunsicker is right.  It doesn't matter what anyone cares about the experience.  If it is profitable then the reader will adapt.   Look at the music industry.  How many people said, "NO!!! I need to have a physical CD or Record, or Tape."  The world changed.   The music companies love selling and distributing digital music.  They do not love file sharing.  However they recognize that people were ripping CDs and distributing it on their own anyway.   So by switching to digital they cut costs.  Yes, Tower Records and other music stores are gone.  However, the world changed.

Look at what is going on now?  I am not going to lie, I've kind of become used to curbside service to pick up food.  However with Covid more people have changed in how they consume items and purchase household necessities like food.  When everything closed, (I'm using make believe numbers here), say 30% of the population switched to purchasing groceries online.  How many people are going to continue to order groceries online?  Amazon Fresh was absolutely wonderful as the prices were very competitive with my local supermarket.  Whole Foods is offering free pickup and delivery... if all I have to do is pay a tip rather than sweat it out in the grocery store, I will continue to do this.

Comics are going to eventually change whether we like it or not.  It was FlyingDonut that said, digital distribution and then collected TPBs.  I now agree with him and believe that is where we are headed whether we like it or not.

Unless they crowd source comics each month  

[Krismusic]

5 minutes ago, bc said:

While I totally agree with the joy of collecting physical books, what we see happening with newsprint & magazines is a fairly rapid decline in production and shift toward digital distribution. 

https://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/newspapers/

While I don't buy modern books, I will lament the day that the plug is finally pulled on floppies.

CGC will have to adjust, that's basic business.

-bc

Yeah I get that younger people don’t really know what a newspaper is and many printed media has been pushed and phased to digital but I think comics are slightly different as many industries evolved from comics and collecting not many people collected daily newspapers. Nor has newspapers had and collect ability to them really either. I don’t buy to many moderns but reading the books online does bother me even with the ability to read panels at a time it doesn’t compare to reading a physical copy to me, but hey just my thoughts and dreams . Who knows exactly what will happen I guess only time will tell. 

[Krismusic]

5 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

 

Thunsicker is right.  It doesn't matter what anyone cares about the experience.  If it is profitable then the reader will adapt.   Look at the music industry.  How many people said, "NO!!! I need to have a physical CD or Record, or Tape."  The world changed.   The music companies love selling and distributing digital music.  They do not love file sharing.  However they recognize that people were ripping CDs and distributing it on their own anyway.   So by switching to digital they cut costs.  Yes, Tower Records and other music stores are gone.  However, the world changed.

Look at what is going on now?  I am not going to lie, I've kind of become used to curbside service to pick up food.  However with Covid more people have changed in how they consume items and purchase household necessities like food.  When everything closed, (I'm using make believe numbers here), say 30% of the population switched to purchasing groceries online.  How many people are going to continue to order groceries online?  Amazon Fresh was absolutely wonderful as the prices were very competitive with my local supermarket.  Whole Foods is offering free pickup and delivery... if all I have to do is pay a tip rather than sweat it out in the grocery store, I will continue to do this.

Comics are going to eventually change whether we like it or not.  It was FlyingDonut that said, digital distribution and then collected TPBs.  I now agree with him and believe that is where we are headed whether we like it or not.

Unless they crowd source comics each month  

Oh yeah I totally understand the change of many industries and the push/pull to digital formats for the comic industry. I guess it just sucks for collectors as I can’t see myself paying x amount over cover price for a digital book etc. but as I’m not that experienced or aged enough to fully grasp the change to the music industry or newspaper or magazine industry but isn’t the comic industry different than the three notes above. I didn’t think there was collectables or much incentive to collect cds or newspapers like there is with the comic industry. I see the comic industry like the coin collecting industry where there will always be a few wanting physical objects compared to digital. But I could be just wishing and hoping on a cloud  that we keep physical floppies around for awhile. I guess conventions, shops, grading companies, artists and collectors will all take a significant loss from this move to digital. 

[bc]

24 minutes ago, Krismusic said:

Oh yeah I totally understand the change of many industries and the push/pull to digital formats for the comic industry. I guess it just sucks for collectors as I can’t see myself paying x amount over cover price for a digital book etc. but as I’m not that experienced or aged enough to fully grasp the change to the music industry or newspaper or magazine industry but isn’t the comic industry different than the three notes above. I didn’t think there was collectables or much incentive to collect cds or newspapers like there is with the comic industry. I see the comic industry like the coin collecting industry where there will always be a few wanting physical objects compared to digital. But I could be just wishing and hoping on a cloud  that we keep physical floppies around for awhile. I guess conventions, shops, grading companies, artists and collectors will all take a significant loss from this move to digital. 

Will they? There is a bazillion physical comics from the past 80 years that allow collectors, artists, conventions, grading and some shops to still generate revenue. Like Buzzeta said, there may be some indie/crowdsourcing options that keep putting out floppies but it's just a matter of time imho.

And as far as the current artists, what percent of modern comics are wholly created on a computer vs the old fashioned way? If the creation of the content is going all digital, why not just skip the printing press and pump it out to the connected masses at a better profit margin and faster?

-bc

ps - don't knock us CD/Album collectors, works great when the internet goes down

[Buzzetta]

10 minutes ago, bc said:

Will they? There is a bazillion physical comics from the past 80 years that allow collectors, artists, conventions, grading and some shops to still generate revenue. Like Buzzeta said, there may be some indie/crowdsourcing options that keep putting out floppies but it's just a matter of time imho.

And as far as the current artists, what percent of modern comics are wholly created on a computer vs the old fashioned way? If the creation of the content is going all digital, why not just skip the printing press and pump it out to the connected masses at a better profit margin and faster?

-bc

ps - don't knock us CD/Album collectors, works great when the internet goes down

I've got just under 27,000 tracks saved to an external hard drive which is also backed up by the cloud... so long as there is electricity there is something playing... 

 

[piper]

14 hours ago, nearmint said:

Wow, only 3 pages.  I thought I’d find a 50 page thread.  From what I’m hearing, this is way worse than it seems most of you are imagining.  What happened at DC yesterday will happen at Marvel in the next few months.  Monthlies are done.  This video breaks it all down...

 

She makes some valid points, but I disagree that the solution is going 100% digital.  Clearly, the trade/graphic novel/omnibus format is very strong as evidenced by her sales numbers.

[Qalyar]

Some of this was unavoidable. DC Universe was a dead property walking due to the merger. DC Direct was ... not well-positioned, and DC has already been outsourcing some of its fig production. And it's entirely possible that their new corporate overlords felt that there were simply too many layers of "local" editorial oversight and management. But that doesn't mean this is a good thing either.

I don't think DC is going to go to zero on floppy comics, at least not real soon, if for no other reasons than the media would run with it as "DC Comics cancels Batman and Superman!" (even if that's not technically accurate) and no one wants to see that. But I do think there's going to be a reckoning. I suspect that main titles for their core characters -- stuff like Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Justice League,  and Wonder Woman -- aren't going anywhere. I imagine that some of the broadly adjacent titles will go digital-only, and there will be a push to move the spinoff mini- and maxi-series (stuff like The Batman's Grave and Wonder Woman: Dead Earth) to direct-to-graphic-novel in future. Things like Plunge will also be more likely to appear as a complete graphic novel than as serialized comics (but they're not going to tell Joe Hill to pound sand). Other titles that aren't directly part of the main DC brand, stuff like Amethyst, Far Sector, The Last God... I think are in real danger.

[Krismusic]

1 hour ago, bc said:

Will they? There is a bazillion physical comics from the past 80 years that allow collectors, artists, conventions, grading and some shops to still generate revenue. Like Buzzeta said, there may be some indie/crowdsourcing options that keep putting out floppies but it's just a matter of time imho.

And as far as the current artists, what percent of modern comics are wholly created on a computer vs the old fashioned way? If the creation of the content is going all digital, why not just skip the printing press and pump it out to the connected masses at a better profit margin and faster?

-bc

ps - don't knock us CD/Album collectors, works great when the internet goes down

Yeah there will be some books to help keep the gears going but what about new artists or emerging ones they will not have as much revenue in the digital ages due to lack of signatures or commission sketches etc.. without the floppies.

are there really CD collectors?

[Krismusic]

12 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

Some of this was unavoidable. DC Universe was a dead property walking due to the merger. DC Direct was ... not well-positioned, and DC has already been outsourcing some of its fig production. And it's entirely possible that their new corporate overlords felt that there were simply too many layers of "local" editorial oversight and management. But that doesn't mean this is a good thing either.

I don't think DC is going to go to zero on floppy comics, at least not real soon, if for no other reasons than the media would run with it as "DC Comics cancels Batman and Superman!" (even if that's not technically accurate) and no one wants to see that. But I do think there's going to be a reckoning. I suspect that main titles for their core characters -- stuff like Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Justice League,  and Wonder Woman -- aren't going anywhere. I imagine that some of the broadly adjacent titles will go digital-only, and there will be a push to move the spinoff mini- and maxi-series (stuff like The Batman's Grave and Wonder Woman: Dead Earth) to direct-to-graphic-novel in future. Things like Plunge will also be more likely to appear as a complete graphic novel than as serialized comics (but they're not going to tell Joe Hill to pound sand). Other titles that aren't directly part of the main DC brand, stuff like Amethyst, Far Sector, The Last God... I think are in real danger.

I think your right. 

[EC Star&Bar]

Certainly true that newspapers and magazines continue to go digital, you could practically say at an exponential rate.  Other ominous signs abound -- Sports Illustrated in recent years changed print frequency to bi-weekly (26/year) and now, just monthly (12).  Quite a drop from weekly (and the monthlies are not all that thick).

There's a distinction though, that for many decades comic books have been considered collectibles.  And increasingly in recent years, variant cover art has driven much of collecting of new releases.  Publishers are aware that so many sales are of comics that will not be read, and realize there's a collecting crowd -- the trick is to keep it a big crowd.