Will DC ever get ahead of Marvel? (Comic-wise)

Kster95

Civilian
Joined
Apr 2, 2015
Messages
148
Reaction score
0
Points
11
I was just looking at sales and for the longest time now Marvel has been beating DC. Its not by a lot but its a pretty hefty edge.

The only DC title that can even compete is Batman and Justice League. The top ten is usually filled with Marvel titles.

Now I can hardly keep up with things going on in DC so I dont read much Marvel, I mean both sides have great characters so I would expect them to be pretty even but are Marvel's stories and writing better or something?

DC screwed up so bad with New 52, their sales originally were great but once people realized how much they trashed the universe the sales really faded. Now they have finally dropped the new 52 logo but I mean the damage has been done. They lost so many fans with the New 52 and I am pretty sure they didnt gain many and those they did gain most likely have dropped DC titles by now.

Even the big cross over stories are very un-even in sales. This Secret Wars story line in Marvel has made a lot of sales but a story like Forever Evil (I really liked it, I thought it was so good) didnt make nearly as much as something like Secret Wars.

What can DC do to compete? How can they even catch up? I dont want them to beat Marvel but I would like them to at least be neck and neck. I am also kind of scared DC will go out of business in the near future, its not likely with all the money they will make with the movies but Marvel has some edge.
 
Last edited:
Secret Wars is currently hot because it's their big event before their October relaunch/reboot. Marvel has Star Wars now so it'll be hard to compete against that. They've also been relaunching some titles the past months and with their upcoming "reboot" this October, that means, what, 50+ new #1s? #1s sell a lot and Marvel knows that. I wouldn't be surprised if they relaunch some of their titles every year like annual TV seasons. :o On the dollar-share market, Marvel will always beat DC because most if not all their books are 4-5 bucks while there are still some 3-dollar books at DC.

As for DC, I believe they're in their most diverse creativity in years with DCYou and it's not just with their books and characters, but with their creators. A bi is writing the ultra-violent Midnighter, a former CIA is on James Bond-esque Grayson and Gene Luen Yang on Superman. I think they also have more female creators than Marvel. They have a Scooby-Doo book with Gotham Academy. They also have some mini's in kids-oriented titles like Bizarro and Bat-Mite. They're putting out a non-superhero title with Prez which feels like a Vertigo book (if you enjoyed the movie Idiocracy, seriously pick up Prez right now; it's one of my current favourites even after two issues only). And finally, they have two books dedicated to some Z-listers with Section Eight and Omega Men.

Now those books aren't selling like hot cakes, besides maybe Grayson, but DC is willing to take the risk and give them at least the 12-issue treatment. But how can we explain these average (some below average) sales? Bad PR? Sure, Marvel's PR is definitely better than DC's. They announced their female Thor on The View and almost announced their all-female Avengers book on that show. Now, how can DC promote a LGBT character like Midnighter without looking like they're exploiting the character or even the community? You get hired on DC's PR team to promote Batwoman's relaunch title: how would you do it? Announce it on The View? TheOuthousers are just waiting to reset their "DC has done something stupid" clock as soon as they see a hint of exploitation coming from those two characters.

In the end, I don't think we should really worry about DC's sales. Image Comics has been killing it the past few years but they're nowhere near the Big Two. Though, in trades sales, they're in the top thanks to Walking Dead and Saga. I believe DC are also quite popular in those sales thanks to Watchmen, Killing Joke, DKR, etc. So if DC can "stay in the business" with their trades, I'd be fine and I believe the majority of consumers buys their comics in trade format more than monthly floppies anyway.

Oh and I hope DC can put Vertigo back on the map and retake some of that Image magic. The Vertigo slate for October looks great.
 
Last edited:
They should let their universe grow and age again instead of being afraid of their charecters having history.
 
I'd like to just add something to geetard's terrific analysis. This surge in Marvel comic sales is a mirror reflection to what is happening with their movie franchises. Let's face it, Marvel simply has had so much more output than DC over the last 10 years and there appears to be a strong correlation between films and comic sales. The new Star Wars film releases this year and - surprise! surprise! - you see a spike in their sales. Once WB starts to expand this DCEU, I think their books will sell a lot more.
 
I was thinking of how cool if would be if they involved the fans like they did a long time ago. Like how the fans voted to kill of Jason Todd, thats crazy but its sounds like a very good time in comics.
 
Why do we worry about one or the winning a battle.

Just give me LOTS of good product


All I want is for both to be profitable. So they can afford to give us quality product
 

I'm guessing his logic is that the two big companies being in more direct competition with each would force them up their game and increase their quality?

Honestly we'll have to wait for the current regime to sod off before DC raise their game. In the mean time, I'm going to stick with the titles I like and ignore what I don't.
 
I live DC comics better tbh. A good bit of Marvel stuff is boring....too many spider-man and x-men group books.
 
Walk down the street and ask 10 people to name 3 superheroes off the top of their heads.

I'm guessing the answer you'll get is Superman, Batman, and as a third maybe Spider-Man or Iron Man or Captain America.

The day when Supes and Bats don't come so easily to the public consciousness, then we can say Marvel is really ahead of DC.

Sales rise and fall, but the iconic status of Supes and Bats will always put DC ahead IMO, there are other measurements of greatness besides money (if there weren't then Michael Bay would be considered a great director).

Cheers.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top
monitoring_string = "afb8e5d7348ab9e99f73cba908f10802"