DC’s August Solicitations are you and we’re looking at the cancellation axe falling again.

Dial H for Hero #15
Dial H for Hero #15

Threshold – gone with #8

Legion of Super Heroes – gone with #23

Demon Knights – gone with #23

Dial H gone with #15 — a double-sized issue to wrap it up.

No surprises with any of those books.  None were selling well.  In the case of Dial H, it at also dovetails with the exit of editor Karen Berger.

The solicitation for Legion does have a bit of a tease, that might mean a relaunch:

Don’t miss surprises galore in this landmark issue drawn by Kevin Maguire as the true nature of the Legion is questioned—and the future of the DCU is changed in a way you’ll never expect!

And then there’s the Trinity War.  Here we have two flavors: chapters and “tie-ins”

JLA #7 = Chapter 4

JLD #23 = Chapter 5

JL #23 = Chapter 6, the final chapter

You don’t believe a big event could only be 6 chapters?  Oh, cynical reader — you are correct.

We have two “Trinity of Sin” titles tying in and, in theory, providing a circulation boost to them.  (Pandora hasn’t debuted yet, but Phantom Stranger hasn’t been doing so hot.)

Trinity of Sin: Pandora #3 is described as:

A “Trinity War” tie-in! As both the heroes and the villains continue to hunt
Pandora down, she makes a crucial decision involving the Seven Deadly Sins,
one that will affect the entire world…

Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger #11 is described as

The key to ending “Trinity War” may be the soul of a murdered Justice League
member, so the Phantom Stranger must lead a covert team—including Batman,
Deadman and Katana—into the afterlife to try to retrieve it! But the Stranger
made a promise never to return to the afterlife— and when he breaks that
promise, he’ll find that the Hosts of Heaven are all too eager to dish out his
punishment!

Why are there only two titles for the “Trinity of Sin?”  That’s a good question to which I have no answer.  Perhaps there was a “Trinity of Sin: The Question” attempted and the scripts just never came together?

Only 5 titles for a big crossover event does seem a little low.  There’s also:

JUSTICE LEAGUE: TRINITY WAR—DIRECTOR’S CUT #1
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by IVAN REIS
On sale AUGUST 7 • 64 pg, FC, $5.99 US • RATED T
The War of the Justice Leagues is here—and now, DC Comics presents the first
chapter in this epic event in a new Director’s Cut, featuring Geoff Johns’ original
script from JUSTICE LEAGUE #22 and Ivan Reis’ artwork presented in pencil
form!

Earth 2 Crossover Watch

DC’s let it be known that Earth 2 is heading towards a big crossover next year.  How many titles feature something crossing over with that dimension?

Worlds’ Finest, but you knew that was going to be the case, even if the web appears to be getting drawn tighter.  Batman/Superman also continues with an Earth 2 story.

A Superman Crossover

Psi-War, featuring a new Psycho Pirate, starts in Superman and continues into Superboy.

Prepping a Green Lantern Crossover?

Both Green Lantern and Green Lantern: New Guardians have solicitations concerning the villain Relic.  However the New Guardians solicitation says:

Relic deals a game-changing blow to the Corps as the final pieces are put in
place for the ultimate battle to save the universe! Do not miss this issue!

Marvel Pricing Watch

How many comics are listed as $3.99 / 32 pages?

Justice League America, Justice League Dark, Superman Unchained and Batman/Superman.  Of those, Justice League America has been 40 pages in the past, but both JL titles are Trinity War chapters.  And Marvel started by making the big books and the event mini’s $3.99.  Consider yourself warned.

Vertigo Watch

Jeff Lemire’s Trillium and Scott Snyder/Sean Murphy’s The Wake both make their debut

30 COMMENTS

  1. Yup. Looks like my eye went right over that one. Another one that’s been selling poorly for several months.

  2. How many books do they have to cancel before they realize a) the New 52 is a dismal failure, and b) it’s time for Dan, Jim, and Geoff to seek new employment?

  3. I’m not trying to be fecutious, I’m just genuinely curious, but how many of the original New 52 titles are left?

  4. What was the typical churn rate at DC before the New 52? I remember poorly-selling series being canceled at the 1 and 2-year marks fairly frequently. Someone must have some numbers they can use to make a comparison.

  5. The Wake debuts in May. Issues 2 and 3 ship in June and July. The August issue is a director’s cut of issue 1.

  6. So, a little better than half have survived. Interesting…I’m sure Marc-Oliver’s going to have some fun stuff to say about it, too.

  7. In a way it’s good they’re cancellig Demon Knights. Now I can walk away from DC after exactly two years (and after trying out about 25 DC titles) and never look back.
    Guess now I’m one of the lapsed readers they’re gonna be trying to reach with the next big reboot. Will I fall for it again? I don’t hink so.

  8. There is no “How many Trinity Crossovers?” It was always the three JL books, plus Pandora and Phantom Stranger as tie-ins (they are called ‘Trinity of Sin’). That’s hardly heart-stopping – when you consider how many tie-in issues you normally get (for example, Avengers versus X-Men – which had more than 20 tie-in issues (excluding the main 12 issues).

    But I wouldn’t expect anything less from Todd Allen, Mr Anti-DC, who only writes about DC when he can find something negative about them. Trying to make the Trinity War sound worse than it is. Not noting that DC at least gave their quirky books a shot – which is more than most publishers.

    But the way Mr Allen writes it, not seen that way at all. Wow, Mr Allen, what did DC ever do to you??

  9. Looking back, did they not think through the reboot at all, or did they just think through it really, really poorly?

    It’s got to be one or the other.

  10. I don’t feel like doing the research or the math, but in general I don’t think DC is cancelling more series (especially if you include minis as cancelled series) than they did in the past.

  11. Wait, I’m confused…Todd Allen is the man who hates DC? I thought it was Marc Oliver Frisch! This is like 1984…I can’t keep up with who we’re at war with.

  12. “This takes me down to just Batwoman and All-Star Western.”

    For me it’s just Batwoman and Animal Man now. I was buying the Jonah Hex book before the reboot, but wasn’t interested in the premise of the New 52 version.

  13. I wonder how long it will take for DC to get back on the saddle. Their current buisness model is not working in the slightest. They need to take a long look a Image, and try to work the things that are working for them into DC buisness plan.

  14. @Jon If I didn’t write about DC, how would you be able to troll? It’s the only thing that gives your life meaning and I wouldn’t want to take that away from you.

  15. Read with interest that DC Comics are cancelling more titles in August. Again, it comes as no surprise. There are too many mediocre titles on the market of which DC has more than a few so people are voting with their dollars, as they should. Perhaps if DC concentrated more on sustaining the quality of their books rather than the oft-reported in-fighting they would be in better shape.

  16. @Chris Hero – spell check much, or are you single handedly trying to massacre the English language?

    You meant facetious, correct? There’s no such word as fecutious.

    I know they all can’t be winners – but with Justice League Dark, I think that’s the most brilliant concept ever brought to mainstream comics in years- just take all the Vertigo characters and make them into the most offbeat super hero team that they could possibly be.

    And I complement Dan DeDio in bringing back a lot of my favorite obscure DC characters such as The Challengers of the Unknown, The Spectre, Phantom Stranger, and the Question and injecting new life into them.

    Justice League Dark and The Phantom Stranger – those are two books I will stand behind.

    ~
    Coat

  17. Once again, they don’t care if their bottom 10 titles don’t sell. They’re taking chances with these D-tier books by farming out various properties they won’t sell anyway and can eat the loss.

    It would be panic if the top 10 books were sliding down the charts, but this isn’t the case.

  18. @Cary Coatney

    I type these comments from my phone, so the spelling is hit and miss. If you’re trying to be the stereotype of the obnoxious comic book guy, you certainly succeeded.

  19. @Chris Hero

    And I suppose that makes it ok? Just blame technology for your shit use of grammar and all is right in the world.

    I’m amazed your phone got the spelling of my name right – or did you actually type it yourself rather than speak into it?

    I’d like to crush every one of those infernal devices under my goddamn heel

    Ok, moving on….

    ~

    Coat

  20. This comment from the Onion AV Club’s Will Harris, posted last year, summed up my feelings about the New 52:

    “The sheer economics of trying to pick up all of the comic books I wanted to follow while making mortgage and car payments and raising a daughter had already led me to start making far fewer Wednesday-lunchtime trips to my local comic shop, but when I found out about DC Comics’ New 52, which found the publisher cancelling all of its titles, starting 52 new series, and effectively rebooting the entire universe and starting it all over from scratch, I may have literally said, “No way, f*** this, I’m out.”

    “I’m in no way suggesting that the subsequent series and reinvention of DC’s existing properties aren’t creatively viable. Heck, some of them might even be better now than they were before. But I don’t care. Even if I did have the money to start collecting again, I had 40 years invested in the characters, and the idea of having to adjust to new origins and revised characterizations just doesn’t interest me. I’ll still occasionally pick up an issue and flip through it, but there are just way too many trade paperbacks’ worth of stories from the pre-New 52 era out there that I’ve never read for me to have any interest in trying to start all over again. ”

    I took the New 52 as an opportunity to move on from DC, just as I’d moved on from Marvel a few years earlier (around the time they erased Peter Parker’s 20-year marriage.)

  21. Baby out with the bathwater…

    Bar emotional blackmail I really don’t see how they will win people back this time.

    Saying ”HEY EVERYONE WE’RE GOING BACK TO PRE-NU-52! ISN’T THAT GREAT ALL YOUR OLD FAVORITES ARE BACK! PLEASE FORGIVE US!”

    Really won’t be enough this time for those of us who stuck around and didn’t leave completely like some did when NU-52 was dropped on us.

    I still read DC because they still have some interesting products, most of us can find at least 1 or 2 comics to stick to long term for years, but remember we are ‘not economically viable’ and that’s why the Nu 52 happened in the first place and we were told to like it or leave, for the noobs and new money, well here we are, the noobs jumped ship and we long timers suffer the consequences yet again seeing the old pull list shrink again and again with DC expecting us to stick around like a battered wife.

    Like I say bar emotional blackmail of outright saying if you don’t buy the next reboot the characters are gone forever and we’re going into Archives Printing. DC have one hell of a mountain to climb on the mindshare and PR front.

  22. Am I the only guy on this page who loves DC? haha
    I’m actually looking forward to the whole trinity war thing – I only started collecting like 11 weeks in the new 52. Can’t stand Marvel, read a few comics of theirs like ‘Spiderman’ and ‘X-Men’ and they’re just trying so hard to be relaxed and casual and humorous.

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