DC Looking To Go Bi-Weekly

[ZariusTwo]

I remember the summer of 1989. It was the year that Marvel Comics in their infinite wisdom made a bunch of their best selling titles go bi-weekly for the summer, something they repeated for a few years. Every two weeks you’d get a new Uncanny X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Excalibur, what-have-you. You can identify the issues, whose monthly designation moved from JULY to EARLY JULY and LATE JULY. And I suddenly had a lot less money to spend.

In the noughties, Marvel chose to stop publishing separate mini-series or annuals for of certain comic books and instead up the number of issues published a year of the main series. Books like New X-Men, Ultimate Spider-Man and more put on up to six issues a year, spread through the year.

And even now, Marvel have a propensity to launch a book with two issues in one month. It can really help with marketshare and last month having two Star Wars, two Darth Vaders and a Vader Down really bumped up Marvel’s November figures.

You might have noticed that DC Comics has been a little marketshare-deprived of late. We have already told you that Dan DiDio is getting very concerned and making big plans to change things. New creative teams, mixing it up, looking for the magic.

Batman-Odyssey-1-p4Or, you know, publishing twice as many comics.

For certain titles that is. Bleeding Cool has been reliably informed by multiple sources that DC Comics is looking to make a number of comic books biweekly, publishing twice a month. The only issue is how many. The big books, Batman, Harley Quinn, Justice League, Batgirl, that’s a given. But others are falling into the fold, Superman, Green Lantern, Suicide Squad… its possible this may continue across many others.

What’s the effect of this? Well, marketshare will rise, it is impossible for it not to. And it may make a lot more sense financially to have a second Batman comic a month rather than a new Booster Gold series, say. But when Amazing Spider-Man went three times amount and cancelled Spectacular Spider-Man and Web Of Spider-Man, the average sales of each issue went up, but the highest audience being reached plummeted. Marvel sold more comics but to fewer people. That is likely to repeat with a comic like Batman. But with… let’s call them comics with a less committed audience, the danger is that being confronted with two issues rather than one issue, people will look at their wallet and drop out entirely.

DC Comics has had a recent history of publishing weekly books with Batman Eternal and now Batman & Robin Eternal, but with diminishing returns and burning through creatives like madmen. Not every creator can work with a doubled schedule on a book, especially if they have commitments elsewhere.

There is a solution of course. Bring in the professionals, those used to working weekly for decades, with strong form on the DC titles, and a guarantee of professionalism in their work.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/12/...-go-bi-weekly/

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Other than Batman, Justice League, Harley Quinn, and Batman and Robin Eternal, what are DC's big hitters these days? You ask me, they need to concentrate on telling BETTER stories, not more.

[ZariusTwo]

They prioritize too much on quality for the Bat-Books and let everything else drift. Superman in this era has become a fudging c-lister and he's a star of their movie next year. There is'nt even any appealing all-ages book for the character, but yet they gave one to Batman.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

They prioritize too much on quality for the Bat-Books and let everything else drift. Superman in this era has become a fudging c-lister and he's a star of their movie next year. There is'nt even any appealing all-ages book for the character, but yet they gave one to Batman.

The problem is that Batman has SO MANY Bat-Books, some of them are allowed to suck.

Red Hood & Arsenal, Batgirl... seriously, how is Scott Lobdell still employed? And who the HELL reads Batgirl since Gail Simone left the book? This new hipster tripe is unreadable.

Seriously, here is the entire Bat-universe for March, courtesy of the internet's best Batman site: http://batman-news.com/2015/12/21/ma...solicitations/

I think the ONLY Bat books that have been consistently good since The New 52 are: Batman, Nightwing/Grayson, and Batman and Robin/Robin, Son of Batman. Everything else has been either terrible all the time or terrible some of the time.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Other than Batman, Justice League, Harley Quinn, and Batman and Robin Eternal, what are DC's big hitters these days? You ask me, they need to concentrate on telling BETTER stories, not more.

Green Lantern ranked at 46th best seller last month...

[CyberCubed]

The problem is nobody has the money to buy all these comics. Most fans of DC just buy whoever their favorite superhero is and skip the rest, so I don't see what this will improve.

DC is under the bizarre assumption that people want to buy every single comic, when that's never been the case.

[ToTheNines]

Don't quit your day job mr. market analyst.

[Leo656]

Yeah really. That's actually kind of the opposite of what's true. I mean most people don't try to get "everything" that comes out but most people who bother to read comics from DC or Marvel have always been more the type to buy a wide variety of them. People who only read one or two characters has always been more a minority case.

It's like, if you're a Comic Book Store purchaser, you probably collect at least eight to a dozen books on a regular basis. If you buy your comics off the rack at the supermarket, you're probably the type who only buys Batman or whatever.

But yeah the price issue doesn't help anyone, but it seems like it's not as serious an issue to collectors as content is.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

If you're a Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, or Superman fan, then yeah, you buy one or two books a month.

But if you're a BATMAN fan, you're possibly buying 12-15 books a month. I imagine it was the same for X-Men back before Marvel started shutting down and/or consolidating those titles...

[Leo656]

Much as I love Batman, I've always hated the senseless over-saturation of Batman books going back to the early 1990s. The majority of them end up having little to no effect on canon, are mostly filler, and are handled as such, from art and writing chores to the fact that nothing that happens in the periphery books is usually ever mentioned again.

Pretty much every Superman fan agrees that the best era for those books was the "Triangle Number" era of the early-90s. There were only four books, one coming out each week, which were somewhat self-contained but each one also made reference to what was going on in the other Superman books, so it was like one ongoing weekly story, and every issue had a little number on the cover letting you know the reading order. They kind of did the same thing with Batman briefly but couldn't resist going overboard with it immediately. They couldn't keep it capped at four books, and once it went to like 6 or more then they just threw all attempts at continuity out the window. But they should have just stuck to the 1990s Superman model, it's a perfect balance. You literally always have a new book coming out but it's not overwhelming for anyone trying to follow them all because it's only one each week.

Shadow of the Bat was pretty good though.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Much as I love Batman, I've always hated the senseless over-saturation of Batman books going back to the early 1990s. The majority of them end up having little to no effect on canon, are mostly filler, and are handled as such, from art and writing chores to the fact that nothing that happens in the periphery books is usually ever mentioned again.

Pretty much every Superman fan agrees that the best era for those books was the "Triangle Number" era of the early-90s. There were only four books, one coming out each week, which were somewhat self-contained but each one also made reference to what was going on in the other Superman books, so it was like one ongoing weekly story, and every issue had a little number on the cover letting you know the reading order. They kind of did the same thing with Batman briefly but couldn't resist going overboard with it immediately. They couldn't keep it capped at four books, and once it went to like 6 or more then they just threw all attempts at continuity out the window. But they should have just stuck to the 1990s Superman model, it's a perfect balance. You literally always have a new book coming out but it's not overwhelming for anyone trying to follow them all because it's only one each week.

Shadow of the Bat was pretty good though.

Quality over quantity, except the world has already proven, there are plenty of "fans" who scarf down crap issue after crap movie after crap show just because it has their favorite character in it. Batman, Ninja Turtles, whatever.

I mean, I get why Batman currently has so many damn titles... it's because he's the only character DC didn't completely screw with in the New 52. Instead, they condensed four Robins into five years. 'Cause THAT makes sense.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

I mean, I get why Batman currently has so many damn titles... it's because he's the only character DC didn't completely screw with in the New 52. Instead, they condensed four Robins into five years. 'Cause THAT makes sense.

Because you have:

- Batman ongoing

- Detective Comics

- Batman/Superman team up books

- Batman in Justice League comics

- Dick Grayson/Nightwing series

- Batgirl series

- Tim Drake/Red Robin series

- Teen Titans which features Tim Drake

- Batman and Son series with Damian

etc.


Each Bat-family member has their own book, and Batman himself appears in many books. I don't know how anyone manages to follow it all. Its times like this I'm glad TMNT only has 2-3 books coming out each month.

[myconius]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

If you're a Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, or Superman fan, then yeah, you buy one or two books a month.

But if you're a BATMAN fan, you're possibly buying 12-15 books a month. I imagine it was the same for X-Men back before Marvel started shutting down and/or consolidating those titles...

unfortunately Superman has been littered with cross-overs since the re-boot in 2011.

there was a cross-over every few months mostly between Superman, Action comics, Supergirl, and Superboy.
now that the later two titles have been cancelled the cross-overs have been spanning across 'Batman/Superman', and 'Superman/Wonder Woman' tiles which themselves are cross-overs!!! it's like a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mystery...

DC is definitely forcing Quantity of Quality! and Honestly it's getting WORSE!!!

i strongly feel like if they keep this up i'm going to have to drop most of the DC titles i read.

and Justice League has been just as bad with the cross-over events!
they did the 'Trinity-War' which was a cross-over that just ended in a cliff-hanger leading into the 'Forever Evil' Mini-Series. that had a pretty BLAH ending and it was just a set up for this cruddy new 'Darkseid War' which spawned 6 one-shots that were all pretty lame.

there have been a VERY select few 'Gem' stories within DC for that past few years, but most of them are not worth the paper they were printed on!

[myconius]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Because you have:

- Batman ongoing

- Detective Comics

- Batman/Superman team up books

- Batman in Justice League comics

- Dick Grayson/Nightwing series

- Batgirl series

- Tim Drake/Red Robin series

- Teen Titans which features Tim Drake

- Batman and Son series with Damian

etc.


Each Bat-family member has their own book, and Batman himself appears in many books. I don't know how anyone manages to follow it all. Its times like this I'm glad TMNT only has 2-3 books coming out each month.

yeah and on top of also having Catwoman, Red Hood, and Birds of Prey(now replaced by the new Black Canary series)...
there is ALSO the WEEKLY 'Batman Eternal' comics TOO!!!!!

Tim's 'Red Robin' series actually ended once they started 'The New 52'.

even though he still appears in 'Teen Titans' Tim went into the future to become 'Batman Beyond'.
i know it's just comics, but that's plain ridiculous!!!

Tim Drake and Jason Todd have literally both become the Red-Hooded stepchildren of Batman!!!

[myconius]

http://www.tor.com/2016/02/24/dc-reb...-mean-rebirth/


June

Aquaman #1 (bi-monthly)
Batman #1 (bi-monthly)
The Flash #1 (bi-monthly)
Green Arrow #1 (bi-monthly)
Green Lanterns #1 (bi-monthly)
Superman #1 (bi-monthly)
Wonder Woman #1 (bi-monthly)
Action Comics #957 (bi-monthly)
Detective Comics #934 (bi-monthly)

July

Batgirl #1 (monthly)
Batgirl & The Birds Of Prey #1 (monthly)
Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps #1 (bi-monthly)
The Hellblazer #1 (monthly)
Justice League #1 (bi-monthly)
Nightwing #1 (bi-monthly)
Red Hood & The Outlaws #1 (monthly)
The Super-Man #1 (monthly)
Titans #1 (monthly)

Fall/TBA

Batman Beyond #1 (monthly)
Blue Beetle #1 (monthly)
Cyborg #1 (bi-monthly)
Deathstroke #1 (bi-monthly)
Earth 2 #1 (monthly)
Gotham Academy: Next Semester #1 (monthly)
Harley Quinn #1 (bi-monthly)
Justice League America #1 (bi-monthly)
Suicide Squad #1 (bi-monthly)
Supergirl #1 (monthly)
Superwoman #1 (monthly)
Super Sons #1 (monthly)
Teen Titans #1 (monthly)
Trinity #1 (monthly)

[snake]

I'm so sick of both companies. With DC's retarded renumbering and Marvel's retarded everything, I'm seriously done.

[myconius]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

They prioritize too much on quality for the Bat-Books and let everything else drift. Superman in this era has become a fudging c-lister and he's a star of their movie next year. There is'nt even any appealing all-ages book for the character, but yet they gave one to Batman.

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

The problem is that Batman has SO MANY Bat-Books, some of them are allowed to suck.

Red Hood & Arsenal, Batgirl... seriously, how is Scott Lobdell still employed? And who the HELL reads Batgirl since Gail Simone left the book? This new hipster tripe is unreadable.

Seriously, here is the entire Bat-universe for March, courtesy of the internet's best Batman site: http://batman-news.com/2015/12/21/ma...solicitations/

I think the ONLY Bat books that have been consistently good since The New 52 are: Batman, Nightwing/Grayson, and Batman and Robin/Robin, Son of Batman. Everything else has been either terrible all the time or terrible some of the time.

i have to say that as of late ALL of the Batman books have been seriously sucking!!!!
and this is coming from a HUGE Batman-fanatic!!!

Detective Comics has been a real snooze, Batman & Robin Eternal is unmitigated GARBAGE not worth the paper it's printed on, Grayson was once great but is quickly headed south, Catwoman has stunk for quite a while, Batgirl of Burnside (nuff said there!!!)
and for all it's hype and all it's praise Scott Snyder's Batman has really burned itself out!!!
i haven't fully enjoyed that series since less than halfway through 'Zero-Year'!
i've mainly just been buying the book for Greg Capullo's art.
the over-wordy dialog and exposition puts me in a coma!

as far as ALL of their comics are concerned, NONE of them have any sort of quality anymore!!!

it's ALL about quantity!!! and squeezing every sing penny they can from their loyal fans!

Originally Posted by snake

I'm so sick of both companies. With DC's retarded renumbering and Marvel's retarded everything, I'm seriously done.

amen Snake!!! i'm right there with you!!!

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

The hilarious thing is that DC's first two forays into weekly releases, Batman Eternal and Batman & Robin Eternal, have both sucked.

Good ideas with a LOT of weird rambling and secondary plots, ultimately going nowhere and ending in very connect-the-dots fistfights. If you read those series, you get the idea that they'd have been pretty good if they were streamlined and cut down to monthly release.

So with the STELLAR stories of the two "Eternal" series, DC is gonna take half their entire lineup to bi-weekly releases.

I predict there is absolutely no way DC Comics will screw this up. No way.

[myconius]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

The hilarious thing is that DC's first two forays into weekly releases, Batman Eternal and Batman & Robin Eternal, have both sucked.

Good ideas with a LOT of weird rambling and secondary plots, ultimately going nowhere and ending in very connect-the-dots fistfights. If you read those series, you get the idea that they'd have been pretty good if they were streamlined and cut down to monthly release.

So with the STELLAR stories of the two "Eternal" series, DC is gonna take half their entire lineup to bi-weekly releases.

I predict there is absolutely no way DC Comics will screw this up. No way.

heck yeah!!!!!

i can't belive after being duped into buying Batman Eternal i actually FELL for buying B&R Eternal which i hated EVEN more that the first one!!!!

but those 2 stinkers combined with 'Convergence' , every single stinky Superman cross-over since the beginning of the New 52 , the uneventful Robin War and the lackluster Darkseid war, me dropping DC completely has been a LONG time coming!!!

after i told my local comic store guy i was dropping all of the DC books i was reading it felt like a HUGE weight lifted off my chest!!!

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by myconius

heck yeah!!!!!

i can't belive after being duped into buying Batman Eternal i actually FELL for buying B&R Eternal which i hated EVEN more that the first one!!!!

but those 2 stinkers combined with 'Convergence' , every single stinky Superman cross-over since the beginning of the New 52 , the uneventful Robin War and the lackluster Darkseid war, me dropping DC completely has been a LONG time coming!!!

after i told my local comic store guy i was dropping all of the DC books i was reading it felt like a HUGE weight lifted off my chest!!!

Really? I thought B&R Eternal was at least a major improvement over Batman Eternal. Mother was a pretty cool concept. And the storyline had fewer WTF sidetrails than the previous story.

Oh man, I forgot about Robin War. That was indeed so pointless... and the Court of Owls is the best idea ever, but the worst idea executed ever. Nobody has any idea what to do with that organization...

Eh, I think Darkseid War is pretty cool. I mean, it's all about spectacle and visuals, not actual story or characters, but it looks pretty. That one splash page of Darkseid and Anti-Moniter duking it out is righteous.