Why DC Comics Made A Big Deal They Weren’t Into Market Share

Back in July and August, some comics readers with whom I had contact were concerned about one particular aspect of the ramp-up to DC's New 52 comics line re-launch initiative: the clumsy insistence by DC executives and others here and there that DC wasn't at all interested in winning market share but was only interested in putting out good comics. Those sound bytes not only sounded like they were the result of some general edict, they came across like classic lowering-expectations spin. It looked to many people like DC was making an attempt to put a spin on what could have been a tough month of relative under-performance.

That under-performance, of course, turned out not to be the case: the new DC #1 comics performed way ahead of just about any rational person's expectations, and the publisher itself, giving DC the number one comic book for August and 17 of the top 20 for September. However, it's now become clear why the company was shying away from market share specifically: it's tough as hell to win it.

The writer Warren Ellis' very funny and sarcastic post here has it right, I think. If you want to look at this as DC trying to regain market dominance, and tons of people all over the industry including I'll suggest at DC Comics will, protestations to the contrary be damned, eking out a win in market share after that stunning month book to book, when a) the comics are returnable, b) Marvel was not exactly launching bombs in response, this isn't exactly a jaw-dropper. Not winning dollar amount is more understandable given DC's commitment to lower pricing with many of their books, something I think is really necessary right now to avoid a massive shedding of readers over the next year or so. There is also likely an element of market share that relates to number of comics published, but it still's a surprise.

When all this DC stuff was on the horizon, I heard from a few Marvel folks that they thought they had a good chance of winning market share in September, which I sort of dismissed as locker room smack talk. They were right -- they did have a chance. Again, I think Ellis has it right: argue the competitive numbers all you want, the real loser is the potential for industry-wide reform.
 
posted 3:50 am PST | Permalink
 

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