DC Retailer Roadshow, A Perspective From Convergence Fest

Yesterday night was the DC Retailer Roadshow in Burbank, CA, the future home of DC Comics starting this May. The event is a semi-regular gathering of comic Retailers with the head of Sales, Publishing, and a few other admin/creative types from DC Comics to discuss upcoming events, sales tactics, incentives, and generally share ideas with one another. Great things like the popular Harley Quinn on-going that is currently being published by DC have spun out of these meetings, as well as some great and extraordinarily rare exclusive variant covers offered only to participants. Notable hosts on hand this time were DC Publishers, Jim Lee and Dan Didio, as well as Bob Wayne, DC’s Senior Vice President of Sales, on his final tour of Road Shows before retiring this April.

The focus of this meeting was unquestionably Convergence, how to sell it, what DC was offering to retailers to help sell it, and Divergence, the title for DC’s plan of attack this June via the many new titles and creative teams announced yesterday morning. Dan Didio walked retailers through many of the new June releases, adding the flare of creators (when he could remember the names, without the aid of Jim Lee) with approaches and styles. While Dan did not reveal any plot details on these titles, he managed to do a much more charismatic job of selling retailers on some of these titles than the plan exclamation of their future existence did in DC press releases and blog posts did yesterday morning. This is perhaps one of the great parts of Dan’s live presence, as even when giving less than enjoyable answer he often does them with a large smile and wonderful selection of words that allow you to feel more comfortable and appreciative than you might otherwise in simply reading or being told these facts by another. As someone who looked at many of June’s comic releases yesterday morning with a mediocre lack of interest, this warmed me up to many of the ideas. Hearing things like “we want to focus less on events and more on making each book stand out individually” and “we don’t want to sell a reader EVERY one of our books. We want them to pick and choose the ones they’ll like the most” certainly seemed like DC was finally starting to understand their very wide range and varied audience. It was also great to see titles of very different styles described, like the new Black Canary series being done in the style and complimenting the new Batgirl, or goofier/out there titles like Bizarro and Bat-Mite being presented. By the way, it was made clear this upcoming Bizarro series would be done more in the style of Bizarro World’s Bizarro, rather than the darker Lex Luthor creation of New 52.

Dan also made clear that, while no longer as heavily branded as the New 52, that would be the universe we would still be following in June. They refuse to look back anymore, as they feel the universe needs to be moved forward. I, and a few others, found that a little odd when it felt like that reset did something opposite back in 2011, but as usual Dan also commented that there is nothing saying they can’t change their mind in a few years…it just didn’t seem likely. This led to the question of Convergence. Obviously that was a look back and the wonderful history of DC comics, which was rich with great continuity that many fans adore and hold so tightly to. Was there no chance of even an annual mini-series or one-shot reminding us nostalgic old comic readers of what we all so desperately once loved? In fact, Dan had opened up the meeting with the great point that every DC fan had their favorite incarnations of heroes from certain time periods, universes, ages, and creative teams. But Dan held tightly to the fact that they would not be looking back come June. Convergence was to be closure for all those that loved the old, and he reminded all that they would still live on in the expansive library of collected editions where they could. Collected editions like a potential JLA Omnibus series that might include even more than just Grant Morrison’s great stories. This was a suggestion brought up by a retailer and verbally back in desire by much of the room. The guys at DC certainly took note and seemed in no way resistant, so this could easily be another future item grown out of discussion with retailers at a Road Show.

Though something many fans might have hated could also have grown out of retailers at a roadshow. At one point the topic of Convergence many mini-series bumping prices up to $3.99 for two months arose. The question was whether prices would stay that high come June. It was explained why prices were raised, particularly with an increase in page count and then prices would drop down in June when new titles and traditional titles returned. DC felt they could easily hold the line still at $2.99, feeling no cost point reason to raise this number and that titles that were at $4 were justifiably priced that way. They felt no need to “pull a Marvel”, though it was whispered by several retailers that they had attempted such earlier with Batman only to be pushed away from the thought. A handful of retailers, though, did want DC to raise their prices. Dan Didio and a few others did question if this was a universal thought, which led to much discussion and a vote being put to the floor; something which could have potentially led down the path of a $3.99 average. Thankfully a majority of the retailers were against this, with only a handful voting for the higher price.

Now let it be said, before any fans start vilifying retailers that wanted a higher price point on DC books, this could be very understandable for many business owners. Right now your average $2.99 comic sale nets a small business only $1.50 or so profit. That’s not very high for a store that might only sell a handful of comics to any one individual. Rising that price a dollar makes that profit roughly $2 a comic depending on the retailer’s cost percentage. Those two quarters build up quickly and might mean the difference of paying bills, buying more inventory, expanding, or countless other gains. Furthermore, when your average customer comes into buy just a small handful of comics, the price point of $2.99 to $3.99 doesn’t hugely effect what they buy. Some might complain a small bit, but most will just bite their tongue (if they even notice) and purchase what they want to read. The price point really makes the difference to the comic fan who buys 10 or more comics a trip (let alone those who buy 20, 30, 40, or more comics a week) as that is when they really feel the extra dollar. But most of the retailers very wonderfully preferred their customers pick up an extra few comics rather than making those extra fifty cents an issue. Part of the long and lively discussion on this pointed out that the extra dollar spent by the consumer could be what turns them away from buying an old back issue, action figure, or trying out a new comic each week with their purchases. Either way, at least in Burbank, the retailers present preferred DC’s view of holding the line at $2.99. For the consumers sake, let’s hope that view is held true next week in Orlando’s Retailer Road Show.

Another topic of discussion that led to much debate was the desire for more All Ages DC books that could be handed to younger audience readers. DC has often found themselves having trouble with these on sales charts, but retailers pointed out how they wanted things less aimed at children and more fitting of actually being all ages where everyone could enjoy them. To this Dan and others pointed out Bat-Mite and Bizarro, though stating many other titles produced by them would be fine in the hands of readers aged 10 and even younger. Still, some ached for a proper Batman title that was comparable in quality to Snyder and Capullo’s run, yet more fitting for the eyes of a 7-year-old boy.

Bob Wayne was on hand to often mediate and entertain discussion, as he has become long familiar with over his lengthy career, but was mainly there to point out various ordering incentives on Convergence and the general books be sold during April and May. Retailers might find these details very interesting and can look to Diamond Distribution for more information, as they’re likely aware. DC certainly has some fine tactics to approach the subject and seems to really be pushing high orders on these potentially risky books. Fans hoping to ease the risk and show DC their support should talk to their local comic shops soon, requesting any pre-orders, subscriptions, or general interest in various minis or the main 8-issue Convergence event series. Most comic shops will have copies of PREVIEWS on hand so you can look over solicitations, costs, release dates, and creative teams for these titles. As a retailer, I can confidently say we love it when fans due this research and help inform us where they want to spend their money.

Those retailers present were also treated exclusively to great art previews of many of Convergence’s various mini-series, pages from several of the main event’s issues, and interior art for Bryan Hitch’s Justice League of America series coming out this June. I personally must say everything previewed had me hugely excited for April and May, far more than what June had to offer. But that said, Hitch’s artwork for Justice League of America was positively stunning. The series will follow the core heroes of the main Justice League, but not in the events DC and Geoff Johns have planned in the main Justice League title during June’s Darkseid War.

A very exciting thing, however, that might build interest in the June releases is the fact that all the Convergence mini-series second issues, releasing in May, will feature 8-page original stories that lead into (but are not integral to read) for the various new June releases. These are stories that will also find their way free online and in other various ways into peoples hands exclusive and unreprinted until collected edition unlikely to release until late fall 2015. As of now it is not sure which of the Convergence mini-series will see 8-page stories for which of the June releases, but this might be something to keep an eye on depending on what character or stories you want to follow. It will also likely help sell many of the June releases to people on the fence or unsure about some of the newer series and creative teams lined up for June.

Finally, as the meeting wrapped up, retailers present for the meeting were given exclusive variants to the Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special and a very high quality Convergence Print done on truly high paper stock. You can see a photo of both below. If you would like a copy of these rare, low printed items I highly recommend checking ebay or your local comic shop soon, to see what few make it out for sale.

Now before everything was wrapped up, the Publishers of DC Comics took a moment to thank Bob Wayne. Bob has been with DC Comics for 27 years, is a huge proponent of the Direct Market (local comic shops) and has done many things to help innovate that end of the industry, DC Comics itself, and the general sales of comics. I am personally quite the admirer of the man. Therefore it is somewhat unfortunate he will be retiring from DC Comics this April, not making the move out West to Burbank with the company. A very boisterous round of applause accompanied the room’s general love and appreciation for the man that was perhaps the most unanimous and cheerful moment of the entire event. Bob still has several more months with DC, so if you have the pleasure of meeting him make sure you show it, as he will undoubtedly be missed. That said, it seems like DC will be in very capable hands via Bob’s replacement, Derek Maddalena, a man who shows a very solid interest in the future of DC Comics.

Bob Wayne and SG2M Staffers, Darren Schram & Mathias Lewis