The DC3: Digital Offerings

While all of us at Multiversity are fans of a wide spectrum of comics, there are a few of us that tend to self-identify as “DC guys.” We’ve cried for justice; we’ve been through the blackest nights and the brightest days. And now, we’ve been culled together for a new column to focus on some of the bigger goings on in the world of Detective Comics Comics. If you’re wondering who is going to stand up and discuss what is happening at DC – don’t worry:

Today, we are looking at DC’s digital side – both how they handle the digital distribution of their print titles and their digital-first output.

Vince: As much as we’ve been on DC Comics lately for their current ‘New 52’ status quo, I think we can probably agree that they’ve been doing some really nice stuff on the digital side of things. Actually, something that’s fallen by the wayside in all of this is the fact that when the ‘New 52’ started, they were the first ones to say that all of their monthly comics would be day-and-date digital releases as well. Very soon after, other companies followed suit and we saw the Comixology boom happen.

So let’s go back to the beginning. Start with the beginning of the ‘New 52’ – what was your relationship with digital comics early on? Do you read any comics exclusively in digital that are also released in floppy form? How do you think DC Comics has done with their day-and-date digital releases?

Zach: Initially, I wasn’t a big fan of digital comics. The nebulous nature of long term ownership of digital comics kept me from diving in to “day and date” digital craze. I had, however, been buying a few back issues digitally, mostly through early sales and specials. The advent of digital first content like the “Beyond” titles, with their quick release schedule and low price marked the first time I consistently purchased a digital title.

Since then, the allure of cutting down on the amount of space taken up by digital comics have proven quite strong. I’ve moved to digital on several New 52 titles, including “Wonder Woman” and “Green Arrow.” The practice of cutting an issue’s price by a dollar one month after it’s release helped me catch up on a few titles I had been interesting, although the move to a two month wait has curbed that practice significantly. I also find myself consciously unable to buy $3.99 comics digitally. The price point just feels too high for me.

As far as how DC has handled their day-and-date releases, I feel like they’ve done just as well as any other publisher (except Dark Horse, whose digital app I still find cumbersome). If there’s one respect I think they are failing, it’s in their print/digital combos. The practice of offering combo packs for select titles at a premium seems archaic compared to Marvel’s policy of including digital copies with all $3.99 titles.

Brian: Day and date digital is a wonderful idea, but one that doesn’t interest me all that much at the moment, specifically in regards to the price point. $2.99 or $3.99 for an un-downloadable file seems extraordinarily steep to me, and prices me directly out of the market for that book. I know people often compare digital comics to digital music, but it is apples and oranges to me – even in the early days of DRM-iTunes downloads, you could always burn a CD and then have protection against the software/client being outdated or shut down. ComiXology is the only game in town (save for Dark Horse), and while the company seems to be doing well, it will be a bitter pill to swallow when (not if – when) that platform goes away.

And Zach, you’re totally right – the combo pack is an asinine idea that I can’t believe is still happening 2+ years into the New 52.

Now, digital first offerings are a different story – the price point is lower, the offerings are more unique, and the work is tailored to fit the screen upon which I view the work. That is a completely different situation than just paying for the convenience of not going to the store/not having an additional long box in my closet.

Vince: That’s a nice segue for where we’re going to go next, but first let me cap this introduction off by saying I more or less agree with what you guys have been saying. I’m so darn sick of lugging my long boxes around – digital comics are something of a godsend for me. However, I don’t like the idea of my comics not being DRM-free. I have nothing against ComiXology, but I would buy far more if that weren’t the case.

As it is, I still get my Indie comics and creator-owned stuff in floppy copies – I guess because I inherently value those more. With Marvel and DC, I’m leaning digital more and more all the time.

I think what DC is doing with their weekly digital series is terrific all the way around. You pretty much can’t beat a price point of $0.99 and the quality has been really high – there’s been a lot more hits than misses. I’d wager to say that much of the time I find myself looking more forward to these digital weeklies than anything else they publish. I’m pulling “Adventures of Superman” and “Legends of the Dark Knight” on a weekly basis, as long as all the “Beyond” stuff – though I’m admittedly behind on those.

I tried “Arrow”, but that was one where I felt that I was getting enough out of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino’s ‘New 52’ series while the quality of the digital TV series tie-in wasn’t great. A rare miss. “Batman ’66” grabbed me for a bit, but the gimmick wore off for me. I can see why people really love that one though.

Which ones do you guys pick up regularly, if any?

Brian: I’m a pretty regular reader of “Adventures of Superman” and “Legends of the Dark Knight,” and an occasional reader of “Batman ’66.” I was pulling “Batman: Lil’ Gotham” before it ran its course. I was never a Batman: Beyond kid, so that character/universe has never really appealed to me (chalk that up to me being old, yo).

I never got into “Arrow,” mainly because I just recently caught up on Arrow the show, so I wasn’t going to read a digital tie-in comic for a series I wasn’t watching. I am admittedly considering going back and catching up on the series, but we’ll see if that happens or not. I’ve never watched The Vampire Diaries, so I doubt I’ll be picking up that book anytime soon.

What I’m certainly not reading is the “Injustice” line, nor did I read “Ame-Comi Girls,” nor any of the Batman “Arkham” digital books. While I’m not a reader of those series, I understand the strategy of appealing to fans of the characters that aren’t necessarily fans of the comics themselves. There is a huge market of gamers who needed an easy entrance into the comics world – ditto anime-style art fans, who maybe bought toys/statues of these characters, but have never picked up one of their comics.

In fact, when you take a step back and look at the three demographics DC is targeting (people seeking continuity free Bat/Super stories, fans of characters that originated on television, and fans of characters, not comics), it is a pretty ingenious way to build up a new audience for their digital books.

Zach: Currently, I don’t purchase any of DC’s digital offerings on a regular basis. I loved Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolf’s “Justice League Beyond,” but couldn’t get into the “2.0” iteration. I’ve dabbled in nearly every series, barring the “Ame-Comi” and “Vampire Diaries.” With anthology style offerings like “Legends of the Dark Knight” and “Adventures of Superman,” I pick them up based on the creative team involved. I’ve been extremely interested in catching up on “Injustice,” but have never gotten around to it.

There are a couple barriers keeping my “digital-first pull list” low. First, due to the quick release schedule, I often overlook or forget issues, which leads to me getting behind/disinterested. Related to that, a weekly digital title essentially equates to a $3.99 book. As a buyer on a strict budget, a digital title really has to impress me to take a spot that could go to a print book.

Brian, you brought up DC’s target market. Most of the offerings are either continuity free Batman/Superman stories or media tie-in books, neither of which I’m particularly interested in. As much as I dig the idea of digital first releases, there’s yet to be a real “killer app” that gets me really excited about the medium. Quite simply, at least with the current direction, I don’t feel like I’m the target audience.

Vince: I’m glad to see that we have a nice range of approaches here. I think we’ll go back to talking about the Superman and Batman titles in a bit, because I’d like to give our readers some short recommendations for particularly good issues or arcs, but let’s talk more about the negatives before we ultimately turn back to what I think is, overall, a positive effort by DC Comics, even if it’s not for everybody.

From my viewpoint, the digital anthologies are giving creators who wouldn’t normally be given a chance to work on flagship DC titles an opportunity to show their stuff with big, important characters. The consequence of that is, as Zach and Brian alluded to, everything being out of continuity or canon. The one thing that Marvel digital does truly differently than DC with their digital line is the fact that they are in-continuity or direct tie-ins to current events and titles. Though the actual quality of their digital titles thus far could be debated (for me, none of them have been very worthwhile), they do a good job of making readers feel like there is a tie to the current status quo in their print comics.

Zach, would DC Comics applying this idea to their digital comics get more of your attention?

Brian, do you think this is something we’ll see sooner rather than later?

Brian: I think DC will eventually have to get on this tip – if done properly, this could be a cost-effective, world-building, new-creator-showcasing method of doing business.

Here are three weird examples of books that would have worked really well as digital titles:

1. “Countdown to Final Crisis” – Now, I know this book is regarded as total garbage, and rightly so, but I’d imagine the outrage would have been significantly lessened if these came out as $1 digital offerings, rather than full priced print comics. This story was, more or less, totally unnecessary, and served as continuity porn for the small subset of fans (like me, sadly) who still really care about the machinations of the multiverse. Smaller audience, smaller financial commitment = a wiser financial decision for the company.

2. “DC Universe Presents” – I have been calling for a DC anthology book forever, but this book was doomed from the start. The arcs were too long, the focal points not all that interesting to the casual fan, and in the shock of 52 new titles, this one got lost. If this had been a digital-first (or only) title, fans of the particular character or creative team would still buy it, but I think the average fan buying things digitally would have taken a chance on it much easier for $.99 than for $2.99. Plus, due to the lower financial commitment, you could have new creators try their skills on a low-risk story. I sympathize with DC’s problem – they need Superman comics to sell, and it is scary to turn that book over to an unproven creator. Similarly, if you’re going to launch a new book, you want to know your investment will be rewarded. If you let people cut their teeth in the digital realm, you’re limiting your potential damage and giving new creators a place to try.

3. “Men of War”/”G.I. Combat” – I am not a fan of war comics, but I am a fan of war comics existing, and I think that line diversity is a super-important aspect of a successful company. But let’s get real – did anyone – and I mean anyone think that either of DC’s war books would be running 2 years into the New 52? Of course not! There isn’t a demand for it, nor is there a history of that working well in modern comics. That doesn’t mean that it is a bad idea, it just has to be approached properly. Using the digital marketplace as the launching point, you can build an audience that currently isn’t buying print comics because, again, the print audience isn’t exactly beating down the doors for a military comic not called “G.I. Joe.” Maybe use some savvy marketing and some good outreach – offer the comic free to anyone with a military ID, and $.99 for us civilians. Build buzz with a community that, just about universally, is beloved, and invite them into the comics world through a book they can relate to better than the average reader. Throw in some crossovers, and you may have a brand new fan.

These aren’t perfect solutions, but I think all of them represent a way to do digital comics that makes sense: publish books that appeal to the fringe comics reader, that can foster new talent, and can reach new audiences.

And, most importantly, these stories would be in continuity, so it would bridge the gap between current, lapsed, and new readers. I agree with Vince that the Marvel digital releases have been far from great, but they are at least attempting to add something to the overall Marvel Universe.

Zach: I’m really glad your brought up the Marvel digital books, Vince. While I haven’t read any of them, I really do like the idea of digital “spin-offs” by the same creators handling the print property. For example, I could totally get behind a digital first Green Arrow series written by Jeff Lemire, tying in to his ongoing story, far more easily than a Green Arrow TV show tie-in by a creator I have little interest in.

Being “in-continuity” would be a major draw for me as a regular reader. However, I don’t think it’s the key ingredient to make me enjoy DC’s digital offerings more. As I sort of alluded to earlier, there’s just a certain sense of urgency or importance that I think a lot of the digital offerings lack. Creating more ties to the current DCU, as Brian mentioned, would be one way of rectifying this. However, I think digital first is a great avenue for a sort of Elseworlds renaissance. We’re already sort of seeing something like that with the “Injustice” comic. Creating new out of continuity stories in the vein of “Kingdom Come,” “DC: The New Frontier,” or “All-Star Superman” seems pretty low on DC’s priority list right now. However, I think digital first is a terrific venue for that sort of “evergreen” story-telling.

I think that, in order for DC to to really make the most of the digital first initiative, they need to strike a better balance in the types of content they’re offering. Adding in a few in-continuity books (a “DCU Presents” style book, like Brian mentioned, is a fantastic idea), or giving a high-profile creative team free reign to tell new, long-form, out of continuity stories would be a great way to do that.

Vince: I think you guys have some great points, but I don’t think they’re doing too shabby a little over two years in. I hope they expand to include the types of concepts that you’re both talking about. Not that this is a contest or anything (at least not in my own mind), but I think digital is the one place that DC Comics is outpacing Marvel a bit. I think you guys identified a couple key areas where Marvel is going beyond DC’s line of sight, but their quality hasn’t matched their aims yet.

Unless you fellas have anything to add, can we do some recommendations for DC digital comics to check out? Do you guys have any specific arcs or issues of any of these titles to recommend?

I’ll close us out with a few of my own after you, gentlemen.

Zach: I mentioned Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen’s run on “Justice League Beyond” earlier. In particular, I adored the ‘Konstriction’ arc, which I believe ran through the first sixteen or so chapters. That story-line felt almost event worthy, a wonderful blending of the DC animated universe and a myriad of Jack Kirby creations, the Fourth World being foremost. The interlude issues focusing on the various league members were also spectacular. The series managed to remain continuity-lite, while having great pay-offs for long time fans of not just the animated universe, but DC Comics history in general. Plus, awesome Dustin Nguyen art. In my eyes, it’s one of the best things to come out of DC in years, I seriously cannot recommend it enough.

I would also recommend just searching through the backlog of both “Adventures of Superman” and “Legends of the Dark Knight” for stories written and/or drawn by creators you love. There have been quite a few stellar match ups over the course of both series’ runs. Jeff Lemire’s contributions to both remain among my favorites. The DC2 chapters of “Batman ’66,” are a terrific value, a ton of fun, and a tease of just what digital comics are capable of. Finally, while I’ve only dabbled in “Injustice,” and while it out-grims even the New 52, it certainly has its merits. Tom Taylor, whose work I’m loving on “Earth 2,” has gotten the chance to take DC’s sacred cows in some genuinely surprising directions. With “Year Two” just beginning, it’s the digital-first title I’m most interested in diving into.

Brian: I can’t recommend “Batman: Lil’ Gotham” enough to any self-respecting Bat-fan. It is the anti-New 52 book in tone and feel – think “Tiny Titans” with more of a concrete plot. Because they are holiday themed, they could also make a great entrance into the comics world for a young ‘in who maybe knows who Batman is, but hasn’t had any real exposure to the character in a comics setting.

Outside of that, I’d just echo what Zach said – one of the nice things about both “Adventures of Superman” and “Legends of the Dark Knight” is that the stories they’ve put out by creators feel like, well, stories put out by those creators. I’ve found, more or less, that because the creators have free reign, their tone is very much in place. That doesn’t mean the stories are predictable or lame, but it does mean that if you’re a fan of Michael Avon Oeming, you’ll love the Michael Avon Oeming issues. Look at the creator credits, and take a $.99 chance.

Vince: All good choices, gentlemen. I’m going to recommend a couple of specific arcs and issues from first “Legends of the Dark Knight” and then “Adventures of Superman”:

– ‘Crisis in Identity’ by B. Clay Moore and Ben Templesmith (Issues #4-6) is a wonderful twist on typical Joker stories.
– ‘Gotham Spirit’ (Issue #16) by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman is visually terrific.
– ‘Carved’ by Paul Tobin (Issue #22) has Tradd Moore art on it, so you know it’s good.
– ‘Riddler in the Dark’ (Issues #53-55) from Charles Soule and Dennis Calero is a really good Riddler story.

– “Adventures of Superman” #5 by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joelle Jones is a terrific Clark vs. Lois story, and Jones captures the playful spirit of it wonderfully through her visuals.
– Issue #6 is a very high concept tale from Michael Avon Oeming that takes place on the Kryptonian side of things.
– Issue #12 by Rob Williams and Chris Weston has tons of heart (courtesy of Ma Kent)
– “Space, Actually” (Issue #21) is Tim Seeley and Mike Norton just doing what they do best.

These are 8 great picks, at $0.99 a piece, for getting a taste of what DC’s cheap digital entries have to offer. The “Adventures of Superman” choices, in particular, are better than nearly anything that DC has released on the Superman side of things in their ‘New 52’ (the exception being Greg Pak’s work, of course).

Brian: One last thing, boys: Marvel Unlimited is a pay service where fans have access to “over 13,000 digital comics” – dating as far back as the original Lee/Kirby comics, and continuing through (almost) present day. They charge $70 a year or so for the service. If DC offered this, would you pay it? If the cost went up to, say, $10 or $20 a month, but included all new books as well, would you consider that?

Vince: To answer you last question, Brian, I think I belong to a certain set of fans who like the collection aspect of comics quite a bit. Maybe I’m weird, but that extends to my digital library, as well, even they are ultimately not worth anything.

I think the price and format would have to be right. If there’s a big run that I want to read, but don’t necessarily want to buy, I’d love to buy a month-to-month style subscription so I could jump in and read, but then get out when I’m done. With Netflix as an exception due to its seemingly unbeatable price, I’m generally not a fan of longterm subscription services. I forget about them or get caught up in other interests and they generally go to waste. Take for example, my gym membership – I’m currently letting that fritter away to come talk comics with you guys all week.

Zach: Theoretically, I would love something like that. There are a ton of older runs I would love to check out, but don’t have the time/money/desire to track them down. However, like Vince mentioned, my collector mentality rears its ugly head more often than I would like. There are only a few current DC series I’m interested in reading, even if I was given unlimited access to the entire line, and those series are ones that I want long term copies of my own.

Of course, that brings up the whole “you don’t really own your digital comics” dilemma, which might be better left alone?

Brian: While you both raise valid points, I don’t know if I could refuse a $20 a month “unlimited” plan. The WWE just made a huge splash with the announcement of its Network – a combination app/on demand/24/7 streaming service that includes pay-per-views for only $10 a month (with a six month commitment). If the WWE can justify making a profit at $10 a month for literally tens of thousands worth of digitized video, then I can’t see how DC wouldn’t make a killing with something like this.

Of course, there is no indication that it would ever happen, and more than likely the current system will continue. Luckily for us, the current system isn’t broken, and is actually looking pretty impressive.