Tag: DC

Sales of the "New 52" books show no sign of stabilization, four issues into DC's big relaunch. The average "New 52" title dropped by 17.4% in December, versus 19.6% in November and 5.2% in October. The only "New 52" titles with single-digit drops in December are Aquaman (6.0%), Teen Titans (9.6%) and Batman: The Dark Knight (9.7%). The three "New 52" titles with the biggest fourth-issue drops are Static Shock (28.2%), Mister Terrific (29.0%) and Men of War (30.0%). Overall, there are 18 "New 52" titles with drops in excess of 20% in December, down from 22 in November. The lack of re-orders on the chart also suggests that the sheen is off the "New 52." Whereas 51 of the debut issues made the chart again in October, only two of the second issues charted again in November. In December, none of the third issues made the chart again. The average drop-off in first-month sales since issue #1 for the "New 52" books is 36.4%, as of December. The three titles with the smallest overall drop-off are Animal Man (7.4%), Detective Comics (13.5%) and Nightwing (17.6%). The three titles with the largest overall drop-off are Blackhawks (58.0%), Mister Terrific (56.7%) and Men of War (55.6%). Only 7 of the "New 52" titles display an overall drop-off of less than 20%, while 9 of them have already lost more than 50% of their debut first-month sales.

All week DC Women Kicking Ass has been running polls to pick the favorite artists on various DCU heroines, such as Wonder Woman and Batgirl. It's fun to see the great artists who have drawn these characters over the years. It is also fun to observe how community standards have changed with regards to superheroines. Take Black Canary. It's a pretty safe assumption that even when the character was created by Carmine Infantino and Robert Kanigher in 1947, a woman in fishnet tights was assumed to be hot stuff. However, first general prudishness, and later the Comics Code, kept her sort of modest. In recent years, she's been unchained.

Ending some speculation, DC released an updated schedule for New 52 collections, and even the red shirt six titles that already joined the hall of heroes WILL be collected in their entirety -- all eight issues of Omac, Static Shock, etc, will be collected. Nice move there, actually.

Okay this might just be the coolest comics-related promo of the year. Aardman Films, the claymation studio behind Wallace and Gromit, has made a promo piece for the DC Nation cartoon block debuting on the Cartoon Network later this year. It takes a conceit first used on their breakthrough film, CREATURE COMFORTS, which animated zoo goers comments on what the zoo animals might be thinking. In this case, they take kid's voicing various DC superheroes. The result is charming and fresh. If DC Nation has anything this good we're in for a treat.

Starting with yesterday's highly corporate We Can Be Heroes press conference, DC Comics/Entertainment has been rolling out its new logo. It's seen briefly at the end of the WCBH video—but not in the eagerly awaited animated form, alas.

Okay so that Allie McAmazon version of Wonder Woman didn't work out as a TV pilot. Despite being re-elevated to Trinity Status as one of DC's big three, Wonder Woman is still languishing in the development purgatory that so many DC characters seem to swim around in. But how's this for an electrifying concept for Diana: a film directed by DRIVE's kinetic stylist Nicholas Winding Refn and starring-MMA fighter-turned-actor Gina Carrano. Wow, now didn't that make you jump up and shout "2012!" Refn's movie was a great character piece, a twisted noir view of LA, a hipster retro fest, AND an edge of your seat action film. All traits that could make an amazing comic book adaptation.

Superheroes have often stepped up to campaign for charities, but this morning's announcement of Warner's new WE CAN BE HEROES initiative has set the bar pretty high. A multi-pronged campaign spearheaded by DC Entertainment and WB has committed several million dollars to teaming with three charities to fight starvation in the Horn of Africa, where 13 million people are currently at risk due to drought and war. In addition to selling merchandise, DC Entertainment will match donations dollar for dollar up to $1 million.

Having now had a little time to digest it, DC's secondary relaunch (wave two, line expansion -- pick your favorite term) looks like it might have a little more resonance for me, percentage-wise, than the initial relaunch. Whether this is a specific attempt to appeal to traditional fandom or happenstance, I can't tell you. I do have a few observations, though.

A piece at business site Fast Company has unveiled the new DC logo — and yeah, it's been chosen because it can be animated and — probably — make a sound. John Rood and Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management, roll out the new malleable, adaptable, interactive logo:

DC and Lego have teamed for an app that offers all-new, all-free comics. This could be significant, for reasons explained below.

Well, by now it's looking more and more like the new DC logo is for real.

The past year has seen an unusually large number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, both in comics and on the screen, but not all Holmeses are created equal. Last night, British viewers got to see the last episode of Season 2 of the BBC's wildly popular starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law is still doing well in theaters a month after it opened. So if you're in a Holmesian mood and wondering what to read next, here's run down on the Holmes adaptations which have come out or had new installments in the past year. Varying from inspiredly odd to unreadably awful, don't go to the comic store without reading this first!