Today is August 31, 2011. Some comic blogs and websites are touting the importance of today in comics history. Why? Today marks the end of the old DCU and the beginning of the DCNu, DC’s relaunching of their universe in order to make it more accessible to today’s readers; this includes day-and-date digital releases on Comixology. I took this photo today outside my LCS. It’s in a mall, in the food court, i.e. the highest trafficked area in any mall. See anything wrong?
- Nothing Outside to Advertise
I see lots of things wrong, but let’s discuss the locale. I live in Orlando, FL — home to Mickey Mouse but also to lots of companies in the engineering industry. Lockheed Martin, AT&T, Raytheon, Siemens, and other large companies all have centers here in Orlando because it has become the modeling and simulation capital of the country. Each branch of the military has a small division here just to interact with these contractors. Let’s account for all of the people that support this industry; add in tourism and Orlando is not a small town, by any means. Coliseum of Comics is located in the food court of the mall in Downtown Orlando. Now, even though this particular mall has gone down hill and a whole lot of stores have emptied out, this store is one of 3 located in central Orlando and has a stranglehold on the entire eastern side of the city. Anyone living outside the city limits in the suburbs has to drive 20 minutes to any of these stores. In a sprawling city like Orlando, that doesn’t bode well for impulse buying. That’s a different article altogether — lets focus on the real problem here.
There’s no visible advertising for the DCNu at all. None.
This relaunch was designed to bring in new readers. Stores should be going nuts with it! Bigger stores in NYC are having creators out with midnight launches to bring people in. Others are using massive sales as well as the relaunch to bring people in (IAN EDIT: I went to the 40% off sale at Jim Hanley’s Universe and had a great time). Here, it’s just any other Wednesday. I went to the shop on my lunch hour because I was excited for the relaunch, only to find a whole bunch of non-excitement. It really brought my expectations and my reading experience down.
I ordered all 52 #1 issues through our sponsor DCBS because they had a bundle for 52% off the entire lot; they have a similar deal for the #2 issues. They obviously want people to try the books. A few weeks ago I went into Coliseum of Comics and asked if they were having a sale to promote the DC event and they said they weren’t — they did have a checklist though. I took that checklist and used it when I ordered the titles online. Now, if they were having a sale, I would have thought about getting my order through them so I could pick them up weekly on Wednesdays instead of waiting for UPS to ship them. I want to support my LCS — they are a good store, but they have a hard time being a great one.
You’ve probably heard about a great store in Orlando named A Comic Shop. It’s known online for their weekly column featured every Wednesday on Bleeding Cool. You’ve probably seen their models dressed as superheroes, or heard about their protesting The Superhuman Registration Act, or their “Aliens Among Us” promotion for Secret Invasion. I guarantee they are pushing the relaunch as much as they can.
There is something cool inside here! Come look!
The fact that Coliseum of Comics, the largest chain store in Orlando, is doing nothing is appalling to me. I guess they are okay with an aging customer base that is increasingly being driven out by price. The fact that there are no “IT’S HERE,” “SEE WHATS NEW” or “WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT?” signs is disappointing. I know malls at noon are typically empty on Wednesdays but they are not even preparing for the evening rush tonight or over the weekend. Hundreds, if not thousands, of potential new customers are going walk right by this shop and pass by this new DC Universe, and that’s a shame.
While I was writing this post, a guy I work with came to talk to me about the DC relaunch. He’s a lapsed reader of Spawn, Batman, and Grifter that’s looking to get back into comics. This means that something DC is doing is working. New readers are out there and so are lapsed readers — they are just looking for a way in. This can be that welcome back, but the industry as a whole, as well as podcasters, bloggers, and fans have to take advantage of it. This is even more true if the stores aren’t. I told him what dates that Justice League, Batman, Grifter, Superman, and a few other books were coming out and he’s going to go and try them. Once he gets there, it’s up to the store and the content of the comics to keep him coming back on a regular basis. The best thing is that he is already one of us — a geek. He plays video games like Halo, Gears of War, and World of Warcraft. He attended and got married at Blizzcon last year. He attends all of the superhero movies Hollywood is pumping out now. He and people like him are prime targets to become new customers. But if there is nothing outside the store to tell him he’s at the right spot and to “COME ON IN,” how will he know to go inside and discover the great and wide world of comics fandom?
My main point is this: if big stores like this one aren’t promoting the DCNu, then what are smaller stores doing across the country? Probably even less. If that’s the case, all of the pressure is on DC to attract new readers through advertisements online, in print, on television, and in movie theaters. If DC is in the business of making a profit, and they are, I would push the hell out of the online initiative. Drop the prices to $1.99 or $0.99 on all these new books because with Comixology, DC gets a bigger cut of the sales, rather than whatever is left over after the shops and Diamond get their cut (IAN EDIT: If someone can corroborate this that would be great as I for one would love to know what Comixology’s cut is.). I believe that the only reason the prices are as high as they are online is to save face with the retailers. If retailers like this one aren’t taking advantage of the opportunity DC is giving them, then the relaunch doesn’t matter. Sales will drop back to what they were after a few months, and comic sales will continue their downward spiral like they have been the last few years. This is why the move to digital for DC is a smart move, because if stores don’t care enough to gain new customers and new readers the stores will eventually go out of business. But hey, at least you’ll be able to get your comics online.
