Yeah…but I wonder how many pages will be character sketches – uninked scans – script pages – interviews – used as filler? Otherwise, for Dc and creative team, not sure how this would be financially sustainable in the long run.

Fail.

If they want this to catch on with people who aren’t already regular funnybook readers, they should be pushing it as a cheap paperback. Who the hell wants to spend $20 on a hardcover that they’ll probably read in 20 minutes?

The paper back trades are $20.

This sounds like a steal compared to monthlies.

Top notch art and a sense of uniqueness can sell comics. It has happened before.

I’m more concerned about that release date. Why’d they even announce this project last week if they’re intending for it to come out THIS late? I mean, September? That’s near the end of NEXT year.

DC, this is another case of you jumping the gun. The excitement for this project won’t last that long. WTF is it coming out this late for anyway? JMS said he was down to the final words on the script and a lot of art was ALREADY done.

They really need to stop doing this. When the projects are released the response is never, “Yay, can’t wait to make it to the store~”, but rather, ” ‘Bout time.”

Everyone and their uncle? I need to get in that family – most NYC stores offer $20 credit AFTER you spend $100.

Get this through instocktrades, Amazon or someone like that and it’ll probably be about $16. Sounds good to me.

I still don’t really know who DC is hoping the target audiences for this line of books is, though, as good as they sound.

A great Collected Editions commenter points out that monthly comics often sell at a discount, too, so the margins are actually a little closer. The $19.95 price point is significant for its symbolic value, if nothing else — $20, I think, is just about what a consumer would expect to pay for a graphic novel, whereas a price of $24.99 would begin to feel more like a “specialty item” of interest to regular readers only. It’s still cheaper than both of the other current Superman “jumping on points,” New Krypton and Secret Origin.

Expectation explains the hardcover format, too — if DC truly intends for Earth One to be the gateway comic for bookstore customers, I believe most will be more comfortable than hardcover and paperback. The good news is, if the hardcover is already this cheaper, the paperback will be cheaper.

Many, many people who buy comics every week receive no discount whatsoever. None. Nada. Zip. Zero.

If you buy via DCBS or the like, sure you get a discount. But I’ve found very few retailers who actually offer such on new comics. I actually get *better* prices off of Amazon (but I don’t use Amazon for comics).

Frankly, I was expecting them to be priced at $24.95, so this is something of a surprise (and an experiment). As to whether or not this will be a twenty minute read and still not have perceived value, that can’t be answered until we see the story itself.

Johnny Z, these are only 128 pages. I don’t think even DC has the gumption to charge twenty bucks (yet) for a 128-page paperback.

>I’ve found very few retailers who actually offer such on new comics.

Matt, every comic book store in Boston offers discounts on new comics to people with a pull list. I’m not sure where you are that this service isn’t offered. Based on some of the stores around here, that’s the only way they sell any comics, since they certainly offering any sort of assortment “on the rack” to appeal to (hypothetical) walk-in traffic.

Scratchie, no comic stores in San Francisco that I’ve been to do the same thing. None that I’ve found in Sacramento do so, either. Many retailers are anti-discount, including nearly every store that I’ve maintained a pull list at. Perhaps in places with more competition, retailers see the need to do that, but not out here.

But it’s also clear from your comments that you see any attempt at change as a bad thing, since you’re willing to label these as a failure a year before they’re even published.

I’m not sure what DC is going for anymore with this project. I hear that $20 is a great price for a hardcover, an d maybe that’s so. But I honestly just don’t see stray bookstore customers- people who don’t read comics- wanting to make an impulse buy of a $20 Superman story. I don’t think that is a price point that will catch the eye of new readers, which was the idea behind this.

When I go to the bookstore and I’m browsing around I don’t usually drop $20 on something I don’t normally read.

Sheesh, Matt, chill out. Sorry to hear that the comic book stores in your area are expensive, but hopefully their selection is better, at least.

The only thing that should be “clear” from my comments is that I think twenty dollar hardcovers are a stupid way to attract new readers. Infer anything else and you’re getting into the realm of internet psychoanalysis. I love the concept of these books (WHICH IS SOMETHING NEW, I.E., “CHANGE”, I.E., I AM NOT ACTUALLY OPPOSED TO “ANY ATTEMPT AT CHANGE”, SEE HOW IT WORKS?), but for 128 pages, these should be a ten dollar paperback.

PS: Here’s one comic shop in Sacramento that offers subscription discounts:

http://www.a-1comics.com/new%20releases/newrelease.html

And one in SF:

http://comixexperience.com/CEFAQ.htm#subs

You’re welcome.

My LCS gives a 10% discount on monthlies, and 25% for GNs and TPBs. The other stores in the area either offer no discount, or a flat 20% discount if you pay $20 bucks a month to be part of the subscription service.

Amazon release dates are kind of like movie release dates. This far out they’re a little fluid and may change. And since Diane Nelson took over, they may want more synergy between different media, so they may promote this with the last season of Smallville. Just a possibility.

Also, we’ll all still be coming down off the high of Comic-Con, which is where I’m guessing the real push for this book will start in the non-comics media.

As far as as the price point goes, $20 for 128 doesn’t sound like something that would entice new readers. But I think hardback books in general are doing as well right now as they’ve done in years, so what do I know?

SageShini asked why they announced it so early. I would guess that Amazon requires a very early listing date, and DC had to announce it now because it was going ‘live’ at Amazon. Once it was ‘live’ at Amazon, somebody would have seen it and spilled the beans.

Thanks for the head’s up, Scratchie. Though being told to chill out by a guy who starts his comments with “Fail” seems kinda ironic. I stand corrected on the discount issue (and am a little surprised to see that Brian Hibbs offers discounting since he was against it–but that may have been the deep discounts in the heyday of the market.) If I bought weekly comics, I’d be more thankful for the info, but I ain’t. Nearest A-1 store is more than 30 minutes from me and I burned out on buying chapter books (which is what singles have basically become, instead of longform serials.)

This whole “everyone and their uncle gets some kind of discount on comic books, at least 30%” myth isn’t true, and hasn’t been for some time. The place I used to shop here in the midwest stopped giving their much-smaller-than-30% discount almost 10 years ago, during the economic downturn after 9/11. Since they’re a chain that controls pretty much all of the market within a 120 mile radius, you have to really search to find discounts around here anymore.

I’ve moved to being a “waiting for trade” buyer using Amazon, where I now get good discounts, but I buy considerbly fewer books than I would have otherwise. Good for my pocketbook, but a lot of lost sales for the local chain, and even some lost sales for the publishers, who loses all those impulse buys of tryout issues, 1st issues, and whatnot.

I agree with someone above: if you’re in a larger market with many options, then maybe you’ve got a better shot at discounts. But in many other places around the country — nada.

The issue of discounts is a complete red herring in this case anyway, since these books are supposedly intended to appeal beyond the core group of comic store regulars (even if the announced price and binding seems to contradict that aim). The question is whether someone who is not already a regular comic book buyer is going to spend $20 on a slim hardcover. I really, really, really doubt it.

>Matt, every comic book store in Boston offers discounts on new comics to people with a pull list. I’m not
> sure where you are that this service isn’t offered.

Scratchie, I live in Milwaukee and no one’s giving discounts here. Well, not true. My LCS does, but the amount you have to buy is so outrageously high (and the discount so miniscule for what you’d have to spend) that it’s not worth it. There aren’t enough titles out there that I’d want to add to my pull list anyhow, seeing as I buy so few now.

Anyhow, I don’t know if this will reach the new readers or not, but if the books are good then I’M excited. Order from Amazon and probably get it for about $16, with NO ADS, no sales tax, no shipping fee (as long as I spend at least $25, never a problem at Amazon) and a nice hardcover story that I didn’t have to wait six months or more to collect in floppy form.

I’m all for this, and I’m suprised that there’s been so much negativity here towards this. Books with some great talent, and stories outside of Didiot’s DCU continuity. Again, I don’t know how DC plans to capture new readers with these books, but I hope this project succeeds. DC will likely need some creative marketing and promotion that goes outside of normal comics circles.

“at least 30%”

Not where I shop. I’m lucky they still give subscribers free bags and boards. They simply can’t afford that steep of a discount these days and stay in business.

I live in central Alaska, with only one LCS within 300+ miles where I live, so the store basically has a monopoly in the area. As such, they only offer discounts once a year: on Free Comic Book Day. Back issues are half-off, and trades are 10% off, but that’s it.

As for Earth One, the release date really irks me, but with the concept and creative teams, I don’t really care when it comes out, just as long as it does. Glad it’s in hardcover, and I don’t see the $20 pricetag being much of a deterrent; loads of people still bought the Joker OGN.

$11.44 after tax for superman earth one is a great deal.