Well, as they say, nothing lasts forever!

Earlier this week, DC Comics released their January 2018 solicits. They revealed that Superwoman will end with issue #18. This marks the cancellation of DC’s first floppy title since they relaunched their line under the “Rebirth” moniker in March of 2016.

SUPERWOMAN #18

Written by K. PERKINS
Art by STEPHEN SEGOVIA and ART THIBERT
Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ
Variant cover by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO

“THE MIDNIGHT HOUR” finale! A day in the life of Superwoman…but someone else is in the driver’s seat! Will Superwoman manage to break her mind free from Midnight’s digital grasp and dispel her twisted protocol once and for all?

On sale JANUARY 10 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • FINAL ISSUE

Superwoman #18 cover by Phil Jimenez

The cancellation of this book is striking because it reflects DC’s first capitulation to market forces in the Rebirth era. For over a year, which is essentially unheard of in the modern era of Marvel/DC Comics, DC cancelled no titles. Publisher Dan DiDio recently stated that they would rather switch up creative teams to help their titles find a creative footing than cancel them outright. Unfortunately, with direct market issue sales at 13,343 last month, it’s hard to imagine much that could salvage Superwoman‘s sales.

That said, even though Superwoman is the first DC Rebirth title to be cancelled, there are others that still sell less than it. New Super Man is one of those titles, although it may well be safe thanks to the new character’s ability to appeal to an underserved minority readership (*raises hand*) and its YA slant, which makes it a much easier sell to markets outside comic shops.

All the Young Animal titles excepting Doom Patrol, which has scheduling issues of its own, are also selling less than Superwoman, but the bar for those titles is likely more akin to whatever the current barometer is for the success of a Vertigo book. The line is also crossing over with the mainstream DCU at the start of next year and then, presumably, getting a soft relaunch of sorts. The crossover should greatly bolster sales for a short period and the star-power behind that lineup, headed by Umbrella Academy writer and former My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way, should give that line a modicum of protection for the foreseeable future.

So that leaves us with Cyborg and Blue Beetle. There are rumors that the latter title will be cancelled following current writer Chris Sebella’s arc and our reviewers aren’t big fans of the former series either, so it’s quite likely we may see a few more DC cancellations in short order. Cyborg has the benefit of being a major character in the upcoming Justice League film and a much needed minority lead, but it’s unclear whether these things will keep a solo title starring him afloat for much longer.

10 COMMENTS

  1. I’m sure they’re trying to keep Cyborg alive to see if the movie bumps up any interest (along with a new writer in Kevin Grevioux), but I think that book’s days are numbered.

  2. Good point, GARP.. I’d technically leave All-Star aside from Rebirth though due to its somewhat tangential place in the lineup canonically and its already announced return in some other form– I think it’s more in line with their prestige series than with Rebirth more generally– but I absolutely see your point.

  3. I don’t think they booted Giffen, so much as he had to move on in order to start drawing and co-plotting The Inferior Five with Lemire. Only so much time in the day. But yeah, I like that comic too.

  4. Cyborg has huge tpb sales in the school BOOK FAIR market …huge …at many schools it is the biggest selling book ( and not just comic /related books )

  5. I really wanted to like the Cyborg series but it was just so badly written that I had to drop it. At $3.99 an issue, I’m not really feeling like giving a new creative team a chance. With Blue Beetle, I only read the title for Ted Kord. Without him, I won’t be buying that title anymore either.

  6. Bingo, where are the stats on that. I’m not surprised if it’s true as Teen Titans Go is insanely popular with grade school kids.

  7. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cyborg vol.1 is in fact a top seller in the school book fair market. But I’d have a hard time believing there’s any repeat sales. My kids LOVE the Cyborg character from Teen Titans Go, and have begged for more related content at every opportunity. But they don’t recognize any of the characters in DC comics continuity upon actually reading current DC comics. “That’s not Cyborg.” I will not buy any JLA member, father-issue-riddled, dark angsty Cyborg comics, period. They want books about fighting bad guys, eating pizza, farting, and going on great adventures with your friends.

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