Man of Steel is Responsible for the New 52

It's something that's always been in the back of my head.  Maybe I'd just read Watchmen one to many times.  But when it comes to DC's "New 52" initiative which has seen a lot of old fans end up on the outside looking in (and a lot of old characters no where to be found), I started to wonder: who benefits?

That germ of an idea, which I'll explain in a minute, was given validation in a recent NY Times article profiling the career of Karen Berger.  The article discusses the fact that DC is no longer interested in experimenting with titles ala Vertigo; they want to produce titles that can reach a wide audience.  From Dan DiDio himself: "That’s not what we’re in the business for,” he added. “We have to shoot for the stars with whatever we’re doing. Because what we’re trying to do is reach the biggest audience and be as successful as possible.”

We've heard for a long time that the point of the relaunch was to bring in new readers, although circumstantial evidence would suggest that most gains in readership came from lapsed readers.  Regardless, there's some interesting information to check out over at the Comics Beat's sales break down for DC for March.  

DC has now gotten to the point where most of their titles are selling at below pre-New 52 levels, and those that are still higher than they were 2 years ago are losing sales every month.  Batman: The Dark Knight sold a little more than 54K copies in March, and even at that number is down 23.7% from 2 years ago.  It's also trending downward.

Green Lantern is one of DC's flagship titles, the core book in a franchise that was left alone for the relaunch because it was doing so well.  Issue #18 sold just under 70K, which is a great number.  But guess what?  That's still 8.5% less than two years ago.

I'm picking and choosing a bit here.  Books like the Justice League, Batman, and Detective Comics are
doing much better than 2 years ago.  Here's the downside, though, as Frisch points out: There are only 3 DC comics with positive gains over the last six months, one of which was a new #1 for Constantine.  Only 5 books are up over the past year, the aforementioned Constantine, Scooby-Doo, and 3 Batman titles.

All the Green Lantern books are down versus pre-New 52 numbers.  The Batman books are split.  You could argue that the Justice League books are up, but there's only one to compare it to, and the creative team change had a lot to do with that.  Plus, Vibe is already below cancellation level after only two issues, even though it has the Justice League brand on it.

The one franchise that is up almost across the board?  Superman.  Only Superboy is down versus his pre-New 52 numbers.

That said, all of that information is more context than anything else.  Because here's the thing: Warner Brothers does not own DC because of the money that Action Comics brings in, just as Disney doesn't own Marvel because New Avengers is making them millions.  They own these companies because the characters can make them money in other outlets.

The most lucrative of those other outlets lately has been movies (movies which then also translate into licensing).  And it's no secret that DC has been far behind Marvel in this venue.

Which brings us to The Man of Steel, which opens this month.  Warner Brothers has a lot riding on this movie.  The Batman trilogy is over.  Green Lantern was a bomb.  Wonder Woman can't get off the ground.  It's all or nothing for the Man of Steel.

Not that movie versions of comic book characters are ever beholden to comic book versions, but with an iconic character like Superman, whose image is already all over the place, there has to be some kind of connection.  Look at it this way: when Warners licenses the movie version and a kid has a choice between a t-shirt of the comic book version of Superman or the movie version, that kid is going to pick the comic book version.  Why?  Because it's timeless.  The red swim trunks are timeless and they're everywhere.

Cue the New 52.  The red swim trunks are gone and the comic book version of Superman is surprisingly similar to the upcoming movie version.  No trunks?  Check.  No longer married to Lois Lane?  Check.  Lonely and mysterious?  Check.

Look at it this way: Green Lantern and Batman didn't need any help with sales prior to the relaunch (and GL has now lost readers).  The Flash is basically the same book as it was prior to Flashpoint.  The Justice League has gone up in sales, sure, but look who's been working on the book.  The same idea applies to Aquaman.  But Superman, Superman needed help.  Superman needed broken down to the basics and updated for the 21st century.  And as goes Superman, so goes (most) of the DCU.

Will the new Superman bring in new readers when the movie comes out?  I honestly don't know.  It might move a few more graphic novels, but a) those would be pre-New 52 adventures and b) that doesn't translate into monthly sales.

But in the interests of giving Superman a leg up in time for the movie, DC has thrown a whole lot of babies out with the bath water.