Sales are good this summer for DC Comics. The publishing giant has taken a page from its own most recent marketing campaign and initiated a "Rebirth" in sales that pulled no punches.
It looks like DC Comics publishing is experiencing a “rebirth”! Rousing sales over the summer months have resulted in record-shattering sales for the comics imprint which relaunched most of its titles over the season as part of a brand new initiative to return the brand to its greatness.
In an announcement released yesterday the publishing powerhouse confirmed that it has shipped over 12 million comic books this summer, with eleven issues topping 200,000, more than 60 issues exceeded 100,000 and 21 titles went back to print multiple times.
It would appear to confirm that the nostalgically motivated “Rebirth” — not-a-reboot — that was introduced as a marketing effort to re-institutionalize legacy elements that had been missing from the books since the previous imprint relaunch “The New 52” has been enthusiastically embraced by fans. The initial book written by Geoff Johns, DC Universe: Rebirth Special #1 intended to address a lot of those legacy misgivings, was a blockbuster hit on the newsstands!
DC followed the special one-shot with an all-new lineup of stories, restarting many of its more popular titles at #1 including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman which have also begun to ship twice a monthly, giving the creatives a broad brush by which to work intricate storylines that place the heroes back into their proper legacy context. That is none more evident than in The Flash which brought the missing favorite character Wally West back from oblivion.
The relaunch has also given two DC flagship titles the unprecedented opportunity to resume their original legacy numbering. Action Comics featuring Superman resumed with #957 and Detective Comics starring Batman picked up at #934. “This is the biggest story in comics publishing right now — fan and retailer demand for these books is at an all-time high,” said John Cunningham, DC’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Marketing. “This summer we’ve sold more issues over 100,000 units than we did in all of 2015.”
This bodes well for the publishing giant and for fans, especially the purist who were eager to see a return to greatness for the DC Comics characters, something that many fans felt was lost at the onset of “The New 52” reboot. “Hope, optimism and legacy are integral to the epic, universe-spanning stories that define what a ‘DC’ superhero is to me. As is building on the foundation of all the amazing writers and artists, as well as, characters that have been part of DC’s history and celebrating it,” said Geoff Johns, President and Chief Creative Officer, DC Entertainment.
With the digital market also moving in, many fans have turned to downloading their books using the DC Comics reader app for iPad by ComiXology as an option to keep their shelves open for the collected editions of some favorites. DC confirmed that major “Rebirth” arcs will be available as soon as early 2017.
For more news and recent developments visit www.dccomics.com.