As I was combing through the words of DC Comics Execs, I was struck by some pearls of wisdom more than others of a pretty far-reaching interview with DC’s co-publishers.
The most revealing of which was this from DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio.
- What If Some DC Comics Rebirth Series Don’t Click With Readers, Don’t Sell Well?
“…we do have breaks in our schedule, where we’ll decide whether or not a double-ship is working. And you might see some of these things slow down to monthly status at a later date. And we’re going to be examining that on a regular basis. We’re not going to keep book double-shipping if we don’t think the demand is there.“
DC Comics Co-Publisher Jim Lee also had several interesting comments on DC Rebirth.
- Why Do DC Comics Rebirth In the First Place?
“…as we moved the “New 52” forward, we realized we were missing an opportunity by overlooking things like legacy and generations and the things that were hallmarks of the DC Universe.
So what that allows us to do is talk again about, was there a Justice Society?
Talk again about a multi-generation of heroes and sidekicks.
And in a way, this was all there before Flashpoint, before the “New 52.”
Geoff came up with this brilliant story that basically allows us to seat the “New 52” within the continuity that preceded it.
So it really synchronizes and harmonizes pre-52 with “New 52” continuity, I think in an elegant way that allows, I think, long-time fans to have their cake and eat it too, and all the new fans that we got through the “New 52” to keep up with the fact that the universe is continuing to grow and evolve and is exciting and new.”
Why Do Twice-Monthly Shipping Ongoing Series?
“I also think it’s an interesting testing of the waters. We live in an era of binge-watching and immediate access to all the content you could want. And accelerating on series that people want to read and buy, I think it will be interesting to see how the audience and the retailers embrace it as we go forward.“
Not to be outdone, DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio had more to add to the earlier comment on DC Rebirth.
- Why Double Ship Books Monthly Instead Of C- or D-list Character Focused Books?
“We’re putting out, I believe, just as many or slightly less Batman product, with the double ships. What we did was eliminate some of the lower ranked titles, and we’re trying to incorporate those ideas into the main books themselves, because we feel that makes the main books stronger, fatigue only occurs if the stories aren’t good.
We’re hoping the quality of the material carries the day, moving all these series forward.”
What Is DC Comics Rebirth?
“…This is almost like a reset. We’re getting back to the basics of the character again.
It’s not a reinvention. It’s not a reboot. It’s just going back to what the core strengths of what the characters are, reinforcing them, understanding clearly what the characters stand for, what their motivations are about, who they are.
And that way, when we start to cross them over and start to do events, you can really understand why they’re participating in this story, what their role is in the story, and then hopefully how they add to the overall make-up of the entire universe…“
Well, DC Rebirth has been so far, so good.
