DC

In May, DC reminded us that the old sales-boosting tricks still work. In June, we're reminded how short-lived those sales increases are. Coming out of the "Night of the Owls" crossover, the Batman line basically dropped right back to its previous levels, and the same applies to other titles participating in other crossovers in May; second, DC cut many of its variant-cover editions in June, with predictable results; third, the six replacement "New 52" titles all show second-issue drops between 20% and 44% in June; finally, a range of "New 52" titles display bigger-than-usual drops for no readily available reason in June, so it seems retailers weren't done yet trying to catch up with actual demand, after all. As a result of all this, DC's numbers were actually slightly down in June, despite the Before Watchmen launch and despite the fact that DC published two more DC Universe (and one more Vertigo) titles than they did in May. The DC Universe imprint's estimated average comic-book unit sales dropped from 39,179 units in May to 37,599, total unit sales from 2.69 million to 2.67 million, and total dollar sales from $9.05 million to $8.98 million. On the up side, though, the numbers are still golden overall, thanks, of course, to the four juggernaut debut issues of the Before Watchmen line, all of which made the Top 10 and cleared between 110,000 and 120,000 units each. Consequently, average DC Universe unit sales were still the 25th highest ever since March 2003, total DC Universe unit sales the 8th highest, and total DC Universe dollar sales the 6th highest. While it seems unlikely that DC will be able to sustain these types of sales levels through the rest of the year, it's well worth mentioning: They're doing very well right now.

We're told that today, August 1st, 2012 marks DC Senior Vice President, Sales of DC Comics Bob Wayne's 25th anniversary at DC, that's a pretty astonishingly long run and there aren't too many people who have been at the same place in the industry for longer.

It's time for ICV2's annual sit down with the DC publisher, or in this case, co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. As is usually the case, DiDio is more the quotable provocateur. And boy, did he drop a bunkerbuster of a bomb in this one...

By Jeff Trexler

-- Whatever the merits of the latest summary judgment motion in the dispute over the Superman copyright, its supporting exhibits bring together a number of important documents in two accessible filings.

If you didn't see the trailer for Man of Steel, the upcoming Zack Synder Superman film, in the previews before The Dark Knight Rises, the trailer has finally started turning up online. The trailer is bleak and somber in tone. It might be the whole film has this feel or it might be a deliberate attempt to differentiate a new project from the Richard Donner version the viewing public is familiar with (and that Bryan Singer was attempting to emulate in the last Superman film).

We discover some overlooked items from Comic-Con. Lobo, bubble gum cards, Margaret Atwood, and Weird Al!

Last night's gala premiere for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in NYC brought out some stars, with author Neil Gaiman escorting DC president Diane Nelson to the event. At the afterparty, DC execs Jim Lee and Geoff Johns relaxed and flexed with singing star Daughtry, who is teaming with the WB and DC for the "We Can Be Heroes" campaign to raise funds to end hunger in the Horn of Africa.

With "New 52" numbers settled down (see here for a long-term breakdown), May marked a return to a variety of old-fashioned direct-market sales boosters: six of the loowest-selling "New 52" titles were replaced with new launches Earth-2, Worlds' Finest, Dial H, G.I. Combat, The Ravagers and Batman, Incorporated; new creative teams (meaning Rob Liefeld, mostly) were instated on Hawkman, Deathstroke and Grifter, three of the lower-selling "New 52" books that haven't been cancelled; Annuals for Batman, Animal Man and Teen Titans, three of the more popular "New 52" series; and, finally, four separate crossovers involving 21 titles, notably the "Court of Owls" storyline running through most of the Batman line. And those tricks still work quite well, as it turns out: For the DC Universe imprint, average comic-book sales, total unit sales and total dollar sales soared back towards their highest respective levels since November 2011, which is pretty good. With Before Watchmen around the corner and September's issue-#0 stunt and the next round of "New 52" replacements coming up, it seems safe to say that the publisher will be able to build on the ground recovered thanks to the "New 52" relaunch through the second half of 2012.

There's a new teaser poster for Man of Steel making the rounds at Comicon:

Quentin Tarantino jumped onto the Before Watchmen panel today, ran around on the table, and announced a new 5-issue miniseries based on his new film, to be published by Vertigo.

Today I spoke with Scott Snyder by the DC Booth at San Diego Comic-Con. I got to talk with him about his work with Batman and how he's going to bring us the another big event with Greg Capullo and Death of the Family.

It's the 25th anniversary of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Could DC let this go by without new material? No. And not only did they get Gaiman to agree to do a new tale, they got a real artist's artist to illustrate it in the form of J.H. Williams III. Technically, this sounds like it will be a prequel, if not a prologue, to the original series. It should end just as the original issue #1 is about to begin.