When is DC's The New 52 going to revert back to the original universe

[Greg Cox]

Out Of My Vulcan Mind wrote:

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So even movies that underperform at the box office, such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Watchmen, can drive book sales way above their usual level.

The same applies to prose, btw. Even underperforming movies can put the original novel onto the bestseller lists for weeks. Especially if there's a movie tie-in cover.

Neither What Dreams May Come or The Mothman Prophecies blew the box office away, but sales on the original books (both of which had been out of print before the movies were announced) went through the roof. And both books are still selling to this day.

Heck, sales for I Am Legend soared as soon as the first trailer for the Will Smith movie came out. The book eventually hit #2 on the NYT list for the first time in fifty-some years. (Damn you, Nora Roberts, for taking #1.)

Now if I could just get somebody to remake Hell House or Somewhere in Time . . . .

[JoeZhang]

Stand alone properties have done well via book store sales but big two comics don't seem to gain any benefit - the movies haven't resulted in any increase and sales off the New 52 are already back to the previous lows of the past few years and down on 2003 which was the last good year (there is a great article on this over at comics beat but it's down at the moment so I can't link to it). The bottom line is that the audience itself continues to shrink and continues to age.

Digital might bring in some fresh faces but it is too early to say.

[Admiral_Young]

Plus we don't really know I don't think what the digital sales are since DC doesn't release those figures apparently.

[the G-man]

Out Of My Vulcan Mind wrote:

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Depends on the comics in question. The Batman comics got a huge boost from the movie in 1989.

But that was 23 years ago, and as distant from now as that movie was from the debut of Adam West's show.

What kind of spikes did the books see/not see from the Nolan films?

[Admiral_Young]

I don't really think the Nolan films directly affected sales of Batman books...Morrison's run has sold pretty well...or DC would not have made the decision to carry over the continuity in the first place. Maybe trades of the source material that Nolan has used have seen sales increases (since DC has reprinted various trades and did so again this year), but I don't know that the actual comics have. It's hard to say really.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

the G-man wrote:

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But that was 23 years ago, and as distant from now as that movie was from the debut of Adam West's show.

What kind of spikes did the books see/not see from the Nolan films?

Like I said, DC and Marvel comics set in their regular shared superhero universe haven't seen big sales spikes like the Batman books in 1989 when movies featuring their characters have been released since then. It's been standalone books, like Watchmen, 300 and so forth, that have been the ones to see big sales boosts from movie releases.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Greg Cox wrote:

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Which is not always a bad idea...

Oh yeah, I think that generally it's a good idea.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

I'd like to see periodic reboots that start from scratch with each publication era forming a complete saga. Each publication period would last for, say, 10 to 15 years. One saga might span decades in its internal chronology, while another might run in real time. Creative teams should be encouraged to make each era fresh and distinct. Eventually you'd have a number of different takes on the DC Universe that would each tell a complete story. I'd like to see Marvel do the same thing.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Make it five years or less and it might work.

[Leroy]

Out Of My Vulcan Mind wrote:

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I'd like to see periodic reboots that start from scratch with each publication era forming a complete saga. Each publication period would last for, say, 10 to 15 years. One saga might span decades in its internal chronology, while another might run in real time. Creative teams should be encouraged to make each era fresh and distinct. Eventually you'd have a number of different takes on the DC Universe that would each tell a complete story. I'd like to see Marvel do the same thing.

We kind of already have this to a degree, comics are already split into different eras silver, gold, bronze, etc. and DC seems to like doing reboots every 20 years or so.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Leroy wrote:

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We kind of already have this to a degree, comics are already split into different eras silver, gold, bronze, etc. and DC seems to like doing reboots every 20 years or so.

Yes, we have it to a degree, but I'd like to see it pushed further so that each cycle would be an epic saga with a definitive conclusion.

[nvek86]

Out Of My Vulcan Mind wrote:

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It's been standalone books, like Watchmen, 300 and so forth, that have been the ones to see big sales boosts from movie releases.

I'm guessing these are also the books you can find in book stores and don't have to go to comic book shops like for the monthly issues.

And I like the idea of publishing cycles, if they would actually be willing to change things and let characters grow/be replaced within each cycle.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

nvek86 wrote:

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I'm guessing these are also the books you can find in book stores and don't have to go to comic book shops like for the monthly issues.

They are, but their sales went up substantially in the direct market as well as in bookstores and from online booksellers.

And I like the idea of publishing cycles, if they would actually be willing to change things and let characters grow/be replaced within each cycle.

Key characters whom the companies wants to maintain in perpetuity as brand name characters, both in comics and in filmed entertainment, make it impossible for either the DC or Marvel Universes to really grow and change, with all of the characters giving way to new generations with permanent effect. That's why I think it would be better to have publishing cycles where writers could put forward various visions of these characters, with each cycle being given a definitive conclusion, rather than being part of an ever-ongoing continuity that'll be partially rebooted and retconned over time. You could probably introduce new versions of a lot of the B- and C-list characters with each cycle, though.

[theenglish]

JoeZhang wrote:

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Stand alone properties have done well via book store sales but big two comics don't seem to gain any benefit - the movies haven't resulted in any increase and sales off the New 52 are already back to the previous lows of the past few years and down on 2003 which was the last good year (there is a great article on this over at comics beat but it's down at the moment so I can't link to it). The bottom line is that the audience itself continues to shrink and continues to age.

Digital might bring in some fresh faces but it is too early to say.

I wonder though if the collections and trades have increased?

[Admiral_Young]

Publication cycles would be interesting...but how would this account for sales? Sales status's are usually the primary justification for relaunching or rebooting books in the first place. Hiring or letting go creative teams. If there was a publication cycle in place with some kind of mandatory reboot clause, how would you factor in sales? What if you reach the end point of one of these cycles and you have most of your titles dominating the top ten list every month? Some of these books are highly popular and are highly regarded among the fandom? Would you just bite the bullet and relaunch anyway because it's part of your policy? I don't think there is a perfect method to handling this kind of thing. There are too many factors involved IMO.