End of an Era

I’ve just made a decision about my comic book buying habits, based on a seismic change in the industry.

For those who have not heard (which I’m guessing is most of you), DC Comics is ending a partnership with the main distribution channel, Diamond Comic Distributors. Diamond has been a monopoly in this space for 25 years, mostly due to terrible decisions made by the comic industry, which caused a vacuum that Diamond stepped into, and is not worth going into here—you can Google it.

Instead, DC is choosing to bet the farm on two new distributors, set up specifically during the COVID crisis to allow their comics to continue flowing, after Diamond wisely decided to hold off delivery on what is really an optional purchase for their customers at the time of a crisis—especially when almost all local comic shops were closed. When I say the distributors are new, they did not exist 2 months ago. Both are shell companies for existing comic book shops, meaning if you have a comic shop and want to sell DC comics, you have to buy from another shop. It’s been likened to running a regular book shop, with the only option to buy your stock from Barnes & Noble.

So, I am making the call to severely curtail my DC orders and move on to other publishers. Why am I doing a blog about this? Because I have been buying comics, week after week, since 1986—the grand majority of them being DC titles. I have over 23K comics all “bagged and boarded” in “longboxes” in my basement.

As a kid, you have to make a choice with limited allowance money. At the time (the early 70’s), Marvel was all about realism—drug addiction, racial concerns—while DC had aliens and ray guns. I wanted escape, so I chose DC. I purchased dozens of comics down at the Schuman’s Drug Store in North Canton OH (long since gone), then moved on as I got into my teens. Apart from a few exceptions, and the titles my brother bequeathed me when he left the house, that was it.

Cut to 1985, and an intern job for a state agency in Akron OH. I was bored at lunch, and a funky mall called Quaker Square was across the street, complete with a comic book shop (by this point, we had what we now call the “direct market” where you buy comics at an actual shop dedicated to them, rather than at the “Hey Kids Comics” turnstyle at the drug store). It just happened that DC”s Crisis on Infinite Earths was in full swing, and I was hooked.

By the time I graduated college, I was buying from Comics, Cards, and Collectibles in Canton OH. It was a hole in the wall, but they had what I wanted. In early 1987, I moved to Columbus, and thinking I was cool, I started buying from Monkey’s Retreat, a really funky place with lots of indie comics (as well as “comix”—look it up). It was a hassle to park in the OSU area, and after a while I moved to a long gone business which I think was called Oakland Park Comics, close to the Northland area where I lived. I know I was buying there when the Batman movie hit in 1990.

A while later, when I moved over near Sawmill, I went to Central City Comics on Bethel Road (also defunct), and was there for several years, living through “The Death of Superman” and the distribution wars that brought us to where the industry was until yesterday. Once I moved down to Grove City OH, it was too big a hassle to go all the way up there, so I tried out Black Hole Comics over by Westland. I think they went through at least 3 owners while I was there, each one less and less interested in actually running a business. So, I was looking for a new place, and I was up in Hilliard one Saturday for an event that hadn’t started. I had heard that a place called Packrat Comics was in the area, so I looked around. I think I had a brochure from them?

The place was much smaller than they are today, but the place was clean and organized (not the standard setup of most shops), and Jaime and Teresa were so friendly, that I decided that day to switch over. That was around 2008 I think, and I’ve been there ever since.

So, I’m saying that this has been a long-time habit, and it’s hard to break. However, I am so frustrated over DC Comics’ decision that I made a lot of changes to my “subscriptions”, pulling the plug on many DC titles that, frankly, I was buying more from inertia than any major interest in the contents. DC (and Marvel) have lost their way, with constant “events” that demand you buy dozens of books in order to know what’s going on. A plan to do yet another “reboot” at DC has apparently been strangled in it’s crib after a management shakeup. Not saying that would have fixed things, but it couldn’t have hurt. And now this move to punish local shops and customers at a time both are dealing with financial and social upheaval.

I’m not going cold turkey on DC—I enjoy Brian Michael Bendis’ work on the Superman titles, the LSH, and his Wonder Comics imprint. Justice League Odyssey is taking some bold story moves (although I’m not sure it will last much longer). Rucka’s gritty Lois Lane and Fraction’s goofy Jimmy Olsen stay in the mix, although both are miniseries and are wrapping up. I’m giving Batman a few more issues to find it’s footing after Tom King’s stellar run. Speaking of King, I’m hoping to see how (if?) his bizarre Strange Adventures title works out. But the rest—Flash, the other League titles, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, The Terrifics—sorry.

I’m going to reach out to indie titles, which will hopefully fill the void. Perhaps this might change in the future, if DC ever moves forward on a rumored JSA title, and the oft-delayed “Other History of the DC Universe” (covering “heroes of color”). Based on DC’s next “event”, Scott Snyder’s Mad Max pastiche “Death Metal”, this may be a good time to get out anyway. Perhaps the recent comic embargo has given me perspective on all this.

I’m not sure what this means for the podcast we’ve been doing for 12 years—”How I Got My Wife to Read Comics”. For the most part, the show involves us talking about recent comics I’ve picked up, with DC getting the lion’s share of coverage. There will definitely be adjustments in the format.

Stay tuned.

A Modest Proposal to DC Comics

I'm taking a short break from the Aquaman show review to extrapolate on something we discussed on our podcast, "How I Got My Wife to Read Comics".

DC Comics, as you probably know, had a company-wide reboot last September. When you restart 52 comics at the same time, you will only have so many hits, and you only have so much money for marketing, etc. This means some of the titles will need to be cancelled. DC recently announced that 6 of the 52 titles would end at issue #8 (they just finished out #5), and that 6 new titles would replace them. Based on what I've heard about them, my opinion is that 3 will probably do well, one is questionable, and two are DOA.

This post isn't about the specifics of those titles--it's about how DC can go about replacing titles without rolling the dice on a bunch of brand new ongoing series. Basically, my suggestion is that they bring back the Showcase title. Showcase was started in 1956 to revive DC's superheroes. Wertham's crusade, and the resulting Senate hearing and the creation of the Comics Code Authority, effectively killed off most of the DC superhero line by this point. DC's management wanted to bring them back, but more in line with the modern era. Creative teams were given a total of (usually) 3 issues to introduce a new character, and get enough sales to justify a move to their own title or team. For all intensive intents and purposes, Showcase kickstarted the Silver Age at DC--the Barry Allen Flash, the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, The Ray Palmer Atom, Adam Strange, the Metal Men, the Creeper, Hawk and Dove, the Challengers of the Unknown, and Rip Hunter were all introduced in the pages of Showcase.

DC has a huge line of characters that have effectively fallen off the map, especially due to the recent reboot. At some point, those character names will need to be used to exercise their copyright. A new Showcase series would be a great way to try out new or updated characters--a "pilot" process for filling in the New 52. It's less of a risk than starting a whole new ongoing series. It would also give DC the opportunity to bring in new creatives--a tryout process for them as well as the characters. I wouldn't want to see established creatives used, especially those already working at DC--they have enough to do keeping the 52 titles running on time.

The really great thing about this idea is that DC wouldn't have to depend on just sales and old schools "letters to the editor". Facebook, Twitter, Google + sites are already in place or could be set up easily to track interest. Just see how many "likes", "retweets", or "plus ones" you get about a particular new character run.

Consider that one of the most talked about events in DC history was when they gave the readers the ability to vote via a 900 number on whether the Jason Todd Robin would die. This would be even more interactive--and an ongoing process that can spawn more marketing.

A possible downside is that DC is already using the Showcase name for a series of reprint volumes. Either that could be changed, or the existing DC Universe Presents title could be refashioned for this use. 

The reboot generated a huge buzz for DC, but that won't last forever--the numbers are already dropping. Resurrecting Showcase would give DC an ongoing flow of new characters and concepts, as well as a way to discover new creating talent.

What do you think, Didio and Lee?  Just a thought from an old comic collector...