DC

Houston, we're leveled out. It took seven months, but as of April 2012, it looks like DC's superhero line of comics, relaunched under the "New 52" banner in September, have mostly settled into what we love to call "standard attrition." The average "New 52" drop in April was 2.9%, which is a good number, at this stage. Thanks to a number of low-selling titles ending in March, the average sales figures for the publisher's comic books are slightly up on March, even. Overall, this means that the numbers are still significantly up on this time last year. The average DC Universe comic book sold an estimated 35,264 units in April 2012, for instance. The last time DC hit that point prior to September 2011 was in July 2010. Likewise, the total unit sales figures for the DC Universe imprint are the highest since October 2009. Total DC Universe dollar sales are actually lower than they were in August 2011, one month before the relaunch, but back then, the imprint had 80 titles on sale, to be fair -- in April 2012, it was 60.

Man the barricades! Release the militia! Marc-Oliver Frisch, the controversial number cruncher for DC comics, has taken a detailed look at DC periodical sales for the last 110 months. And he's armed with numerous charts and graphs, such as the above showing average monthly sales for DC and it's imprints going back to 2003. His takeaway? As you might have guessed, that the New 52 sales surge has resulted in only a modest increase in monthly sales.

It's big news that Green Lantern is now gay, but there appears to be a little (a lot?) of confusion in the general public over which Green Lantern is gay. For that matter, there seems to be some confusion in the general public over how many Green Lanterns there are. You might be getting questions about this from your friends who don't read comics and you may find this is a little more complicated to explain than you'd first thought. Don't worry, I'm here for you. This is what you need to explain (or just point them here).

In recent weeks, we've been seeing the exclusivity monster poke it's head up on the digital platform. Marvel's exclusive with Comixology. Valiant is exclusive with Comixology. DC might as well be exclusive with Comixology. But, for the most part, there appears to be a catch: the digital exclusives seem to be just for the monthly editions. Single issues if you prefer.

We know this post will anger comics industry journalists, but after Disney's success getting PR for their gay-themed comic onThe View, it seems Turner/WB is getting in on the synergy action too. We just received a tip from a Turner PR person for this story on the HLN (Headline News) site.

Everyone does seem to be all hot and bothered about DC's gay superhero announcement. The really odd thing about all the hubbub is it really doesn't seem to have been planned out ahead of time... and as such, the June solicitations show perhaps a slightly different picture than all the buzz. Let's look at the actual timeline for all this:

Looks like DC is really taking some chances and instead of another popular lesbian, a male DC character will reveal he is gay:

“One of the major iconic DC characters will reveal that he is gay in a storyline in June,” Courtney Simmons, DC Entertainment’s senior vice president of publicity, confirmed to ABC News.

As for who, we can't even guess.

As reported over the weekend, Dan DiDio told the Kapow! audience that, as part of the ongoing move towards diversity, an established DC character will be returning and changing sexual orientation. It seems someone is switching teams...and we don't mean going from the Justice League to the Justice Society.

Roger Langridge mentioned in a podcast that he was done with Marvel and DC (OK, he wasn't working with DC... but he's planning on keeping it that way) a little while back. The story has popped up again over at the Washington Post's Comic Riffs blog. This time out, the emphasis is clearly on Jack Kirby and The Avengers movie.

A while ago, a few very select comics press outlets were invited to the NY and Burbank offices of DC Comics to look at the pages of the BEFORE WATCHMEN prequels. Of course, only the tip top of the comics media were allowed in: MTV Geek, IGN, CBR, , Comicvine, and 670 The Score Chicago Sports Radio. We call shenanigans! Anyway, caveats were entered, impressions gleaned. Writers were not allowed to actually discuss plot points but rather give overall thoughts and gestaltic reactions.

You never know where the next round of cuts is going to come from. DC appears to have been cutting titles from their subscription program, not based on overall sales, but based on how many subscriptions they're getting. Which is to say, while Aquaman, which has caused much head scratching over it's omission from the subscription list while being a top 10 Diamond seller, may be more of a Direct Market title than a mainstream title.

After a lot of misfires, the WB finally hit the target* with a pilot pick up in the form of ARROW, what they are now calling Green Arrow. We don't know why the Green part was redacted because as you can see from the cast shot, they do wear green. Guess "**** Lantern is not a phrase that is remembered fondly beneath the water tower.