Co-features

[Tron Bonne]

I know there was a thread earlier for this, but I couldn't find it. So, I'll just start a new one. Anyway, DC is switching up the co-features some:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24141

• "Green Arrow," "Booster Gold" and "Doom Patrol" will all lose their co-features moving forward and will return to a $2.99 price point.
• "Action Comics," "Adventure Comics" and "Batman: Streets of Gotham" will swap out their currently running co-features for serials starring different heroes from the DC Universe.
• Moving forward, "Teen Titans," "Justice League of America" and "JSA All-Stars" will include co-features where, rather than focusing on one character over a long story, readers will see different cast members related to the main team embark on their own, limited run adventures. On occasion, a co-feature will be dropped for a month if the main story needs to expand out to 30-pages.
• The Inferno and Hangman co-features in DC's Red Circle series "The Shield" and "The Web" will be replaced by similarly rotating stories featuring more characters associated with the classic Archie Comics superhero line, including the Black Hood and the Fox to start, with Mr. Justice, the Comet and Jaguar included as the series roll on. Designs for these new characters were revealed last week on DC's The Source blog.
• Upon the launch of its First Wave titles in March, DC's "Doc Savage" series will include a "Justice, Inc." co-feature, and "The Spirit" ongoing will have a "Spirit Black and White" series of stories.
• In the publisher's first official world of plans for the post-Blackest Night DCU, DiDio explained that "Green Lantern Corps" will gain a co-feature in the new year.
• The "Question" co-feature in "Detective Comics" will remain unchanged.

 

[yenaled]

That's a shame, Blue Beetle, Metal Men and Captain Atom have been very good.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm gonna miss Blue Beetle and Manhunter.

 

[Watchman]

I'm going to miss Metal Men. It was better than the main feature. Depending on how well the return of Crazy Jane goes that title might be dropped for me.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, it sucks to see most of these go actually. Even though I haven't been reading a few of them it's great to know that their stories were still out there.

So, are there any other characters you guys are hoping to see in the new co-features

 

[Dread]

While my wallet will appreciate BOOSTER GOLD being $2.99 again, I did like Sturges and Norton on the BLUE BEETLE back-up, er, I mean, "co-feature" strip. Still, DC likely got about another trade's worth of stories out of it to sell, which may have been the point (2-3 issues worth of pages). I didn't mind Beetle there nor paying an extra buck for his 8-10 page tales. But, perhaps some titles that had co-features didn't gain any readers, and it became cost effective to drop them for some.

Over at Marvel, the first issue of INCREDIBLE HERCULES with an AGENTS OF ATLAS strip last month actually saw a 7% sales increase (about 2,000 readers) from October's issue, that lacked it.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm still wondering how DC plans to collect these...

 

[hippie_hunter]

While my wallet will appreciate BOOSTER GOLD being $2.99 again, I did like Sturges and Norton on the BLUE BEETLE back-up, er, I mean, "co-feature" strip. Still, DC likely got about another trade's worth of stories out of it to sell, which may have been the point (2-3 issues worth of pages). I didn't mind Beetle there nor paying an extra buck for his 8-10 page tales. But, perhaps some titles that had co-features didn't gain any readers, and it became cost effective to drop them for some.

Over at Marvel, the first issue of INCREDIBLE HERCULES with an AGENTS OF ATLAS strip last month actually saw a 7% sales increase (about 2,000 readers) from October's issue, that lacked it.

I think the Incredible Hercules bump was more of the result of Marvel heavily promoting the Assault on New Olympus storyline than the Agents of Atlas co-feature. I think most Agents of Atlas readers were already reading Incredible Hercules.

 

[Dread]

I'm still wondering how DC plans to collect these...

I imagine some sort of trade will do. Some of these back-up features have gotten enough page count for a 2-4 issue mini series, which could be priced at $5.99 - $11.99. Considering that Blue Beetle at least is all collected in trade, I can't see why this isn't an option.

I think the Incredible Hercules bump was more of the result of Marvel heavily promoting the Assault on New Olympus storyline than the Agents of Atlas co-feature. I think most Agents of Atlas readers were already reading Incredible Hercules.

Possible; October's issue of INCREDIBLE HERCULES sold at 23k, the lowest in the book's history. The ASSAULT ON NEW OLYMPUS one shot sold over 25.5k, while the regular issue for the month, #138, sold a little over 25,100 copies - that is, not only did the regular issue gain sales, but the random one-shot actually had HIGHER sales than that month's regular issue; a rarity these days (just ask many X-books or AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE). For the record, X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS #2 sold a tad over 25,200 copies; between both Herc issues. Considering the AOA ongoing series ended with sales at 17k (which, while low, were still higher than the sales of the 6 issue mini in 2005, which ended around 15k), that's a positive net gain for the Agents. It is possible the promotion helped Herc; it is also possible that at least some of the Agents fans decided to give Herc a try, and at least stuck around through November. While readers of one will likely enjoy the other, that is an assumption that they were already reading both. The real test will be to see how IH fared in December. With sales at 25k, IH basically just moved back to where it sold in September.

 

[hippie_hunter]

In my opinion, I'm under the impression that the audiences for Agents of Atlas and Incredible Hercules are pretty much the same. I would think that the X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas mini sold higher than the ongoing because of Marvel really trying to push Agents of Atlas and the inclusion of the X-Men.

I really just don't see Incredible Hercules gaining many readers because of the Agents of Atlas co-feature.