Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities DC Relaunch- is there an ulterior motive?

Bad or good doesn't matter at this point, just that the talk is happening.

September is a different story... if these books all come out and suck monkey butt, well... DC's in trouble then!

I have a feeling this may actually be about Comixology and digital distribution. iPhone 5, Android Phones ipads and tablets will be arriving just in time for Back to School in September. A concerted social media push in that period plus preloading comixology on devices might be the goal. Several of the DC press releases actually mention Comixology by name.

For the Publisher, the economics of digital distribution are much better than the old printed books.

1) the retail margin is only 30% for digital distribution (iTunes Store is the standard), as opposed to over 50% for printed books.

2) they get rid of one level as well since they don't need Diamond (perhaps Diamond is the Retailer) if they could own a service such as COmixology.

3) bypasses all the printing costs,

4) can get rid their ad sales department as well, because online ads are handled by the service the customer buys the comic from

I estimate DC would net 2.5x as much per digital download than the equivalent paper issue after artists and writers are paid.

Yes, I think the move to digital is the major purpose of this whole relaunch, but they're not really hiding that part. Though perhaps they're downplaying it, and presenting it as adding digital rather than moving to it. But I think the goal is to eventually be all-digital.

Whether its the major purpose or not, I certainly think the digital comics, in the long term, will turn out to be far more important than the reboot/relaunch/whatever that will probably be re-rebooted within a few years anyway.

I wouldn't care if they did all digital monthlies and then physically collected them like Ellis' FreakAngels. I won't be buying any monthlies, though... I'm not paying for something I don't actually in-my-hands OWN.

I've been playing around with Comixology. Im not a fan of the current comics format on my 4inch phone screen.

The frame pans to follow the word balloons because the scanned page is a different width ratio than the screen.

If they were serious about digital they would have to implement new story-telling methods to really take advantage of digital or at least minimize the annoying factor.

... I think they're just trying to make some quick cash with these #1s before declaring bankruptcy.

Now THERE's an interesting theory. They'd have to take the cash out and put it somewhere untraceable before bankruptcy for that to make sense, otherwise it just gets taken and split among their creditors.

But then who's to say they researched the plan carefully?

In Paul's latest interview he mentioned how writing is different in the age of Google, because he can mention past events without an editor's footnote, or introduce concepts without explaining them in the text (such as a scientific principle that Brainy is blathering about).

That's one huge difference I could see with a pure digital format, is the possibility of enriching the text with links to what past issue is relevant to what the characters are talking about, or what higher concept the characters are alluding to, without having to get all Explication Lad or Recap Lass right there in the story.

Imagine the incoporation of hyperlinked Encyclopedia Galactica texts, for example.

Borders filing bankruptcy didn't stop the bleeding. It now looks like all their stores will be closed by the end of September. This means one less outlet for graphic novels and comic related books. What does this mean for the comic book companies and comic book shops?

A shame about Borders. I still remember when they built one in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, right at the top of the hill. For several years, I used to drive out that way, park my car, then take a long, casual walk UP the hill, stopping at the top to browse the book store (and use the facilities). Most of my audio-book collection I bought in that place. The walk back to the car was always easier, since it was all downhill.

The biggest texts store in the world is itunes. Amazon sold more books on kindle than they sold books. For the paper comic book it's just a matter of time. Digital premiere and collected volumes printed on demand and ordered over the web will be the norm within a few years.

this model creates many possibilities. How about bringing back dailiescollected once a story line is done.