COMIXOLOGY - DCU LOOSING VALUE (ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK)

General Discussion Comic Books
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I may get some flack for this post but dang it DC! I’ve kept positive with my criticisms/comments but every time there seems to be a drop of good news there’s a flood of news that’s a bummer. I feel like this service looses value by the minute

The huge chunk of movies getting pulled with little warning was a bummer, but I took it in stride knowing that the comics were getting worked on. Over the past several days, it seemed like some significant change was happening. Perhaps we were getting heard…but it seems now like we weren’t getting heard, it was just simply time for the quarterly rotation. For all the stuff that was added, just as much was taken away.

For me, the comiXology news is just a punch in the gut. For a cheaper price point you get MANY of the runs we have, plus a ton of newer (rebirth) material, plus vertigo, plus a superior comic reader, plus a more concise curation with full arcs, plus a 15% discount on anything you want to purchase! This is not even including the thousands upon thousands of books you get from other publishers.

I would really love for all of my fellow subscribers comments to try and lift my pessimism…but as time goes on I find myself asking what am I paying for? I enjoy DC Daily but a good portion of that is free on YouTube. I like these message boards but I can read them for free as well. I like the sweepstakes but I can write in a submission for the cost of a stamp if I want. Right now it seems like all I’m paying for is access to watch the original programming. Don’t get me wrong, the original programming is great but is it worth $75/year? If that’s all I’m paying for, what’s stopping me from subscribing for one month, binging, and then rinse/repeat a year later?

I WANT to support DC. I WANT my money to go to them and not Amazon/Netflix/Hulu. But right now I’m starting to get a little buyers remorse. I’ve told myself over and over this is a young service and will grow…and I still believe that. But you have to honestly ask yourself, in the last 3-4 months, has there been more good news or bad news come from this app? For me, it’s the latter.

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@Tumey_is_MAGA_lad, everything you’ve said is incredibly fair and very thoughtfully expressed. Thank you so much for all of the constructive feedback, and I look forward to hearing what other thoughts folks have.

As a fan and as a liaison, I am very excited for what the near, nearnear future holds :slight_smile:

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I try not to agree with naysayers, but that was my initial reaction as well about the joining with Comixology. I thought “shouldn’t you get your own service corrected before joining another?” I keep holding out for these promised changes and I believe they are coming, but it does get rather hard to keep faking a smile when you talk about a company and service you admire, but feels like they aren’t truly listening to feedback. I still want this to be the best app and best place for DC content, so I am still glad I got the year service. I am interested in seeing what happens over the course of this year. I refuse to give up, even if it is wearing a little thin.

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I love DCU. My biggest gripe was getting a short notice when things are removed. But I can live with everything else. I believe them when they say changes are coming and I have confidence that the service will evolve.

I’ve always thought that the best part of DCU is its community. People can buy comics if they really want them. They can buy movies if they really want them. But a moderated community specifically for DCU fans and sponsored by DC doesn’t exist, as far as I know. Having everything in one place, plus new content is well-worth the price to me.

I know it’s hard to hope against hope, but my gut tells me we will see lots of upgrades and improvements over the next year. I don’t have facts or insider knowledge, it’s just a feeling.

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Reading this news story it really makes me sad about DCU’s comics section and what CU now has: https://io9.gizmodo.com/dc-comics-is-joining-comixologys-unlimited-subscription-1831573456

Sounds like I’ll be subscribing to it if for $6 I get a whole lot of DC, including series not on DCU, plus lots of other publishers. I was really hoping DCU was going to grow the library over time, not keep the rotation thing going, but sounds like that’s still the plan. Maybe that still changes and eventually we’ll get to a level where it’s like MU with all issues prior to, say 12 to 6 months ago.

Otherwise I don’t see a point of a monthly subscription, even with fine original series like we’re getting (really looking forward to Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing). But yeah I don’t feel like rotating series and a limited amount of comics (given 80+ years of DC history we’re seeing maybe 1% of the full library, if that) makes sense for me as a consumer and a DC fan. I don’t mean to sound down, because I really like this place and hope DC makes it the best thing ever.

And one more note about rotations, if you have to do it (hopefully not forever), then two weeks is not enough notice, sorry. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon always announce what’s new and what’s leaving on a monthly basis. That’s fair. If I knew last month that Manhunter and Supergirl were leaving, I would have read that.

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I am the same as you, @Mae! There are titles I would have tried to quickly get through had they gave any type of notice! Checkmate and Manhunter being two of the top two examples. I had been slowly reading both titles. I keep feeling like I am penalized on this service for not wanting or desiring to read through 30+ issues in a few months or heck on some a few weeks. This is a leisure activity for me, not my job. I come to read for fun and escapism. I keep wondering if the higher-ups even get that at this point. I keep trying to be positive about this service but some days it really does feel like it is harder than others. I almost stopped using the service entirely for a few weeks because I was afraid what would suddenly go away. I don’t want to invest my time into something that will just disappear before I am given any notice about it. I am upset right now, so I am sure tomorrow I will return to my normal cheerful positive self but today I am a bit mad.

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100% agree… Seeing the comiXology selection include Vertigo before “us” was very disappointing. I would have dropped DCU after a few months if I didn’t commit to a full year. So we’ll see how much improvement the comics selection gets in a year or I’m out.

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I do like this app better than one with just comics. Yes, we should absolutely have the Vertigo Comics on here, and maybe they will. Brand new app in a crowded arena, if you love all things DC support and enjoy the app. The sell off to Amazon tells me we need more subscribers here if we want this goodness to continue and grow

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Yeah, I just loaded up a free trial on Comixology and sure they don’t have everything or all complete series, but they still have a lot that DCU doesn’t like a lot of The Sandman and some spinoffs, Fables, Azrael, looks like all of 52 the series, The Multiversity, American Vampire, just lots of stuff. Not to mention oodles of other publisher. I’m finally gonna check out Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Paper Girls, Saga, and tons more random stuff.

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There’s no way I would subscribe to another comic book app when I have this one. For me, I have more than enough to read. I still buy paperback, usually from the other publishers mentioned before

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The Comixology library is impressive but it’s about the same as DC Universe. Some complete volumes of certain titles but some are incomplete.

Really not sure how people are freaking out over this.

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A lot of great comments that I sincerely hope DC is paying attention to. I’m leaning to taking my money to CU and Marvel Unlimited and then binging the original series on here.

The feedback I have seen for weeks is stop the rotations and obviously the higher ups don’t hear Very well.

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The new Exclusive shows release weekly. There isn’t another app like this with comics connecting you to a community. I seen in an article today where “Luke Wilson” signed onto Stargirl. A lot of good talent signing up. As it reads on the app - “DC Universe The Ultimate Membership.”

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I used to spend way way too much money per month on paper comics. I came here in hopes that DC would finally offer unlimited digital, and they have. I already was paying for Comixology Unlimited, Marvel Unlimited and (before it froze up) Comic Blitz (Scribd for books and Magzter for magazines), and now I only spend maybe $40 a month on paper comics, and maybe another $60 on all the digital reading services, a big big drop.

If DCU can have a special focus on the '60s and '70’s historic stuff like Showcase / the Brave and Bold with of course newer stuff here, while Comixology has other more recent stuff only, I’m fine with that.

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The one thing that DC Universe MUST NEVER DO AGAIN is drop material without giving us enough warning. Two weeks is sufficient warning only if about 15 books or movies are dropped not more.

The slogan for Comixology DC Unlimited is Start Here, not Get Everything You want for $5.99.

Unlike Marvel Unlimited, it is a selection, which will also be rotated.

DC, Warners and AT&T want this service to introduce readers to their publications, because the number of comic book readers are shrinking every year. They desperately need new readers, male and female. from young to 20 and 30 years olds

That is why there is DC Superhero Girls, DC Books written by popular Young Adult Authors, Wonder Comics, Black Label and constant plot twists in the regular titles.

But they don’t want to cannibalize their Graphic Novel trades

You want Watchmen? Issue 1 is available. But there is no Heroes in Crisis or Doomsday Clock, no Killing Joke or Dark Night Returns.

You can read All Star Superman 1 through 4, with no guarantee that issue 5 will be available to you. You want it. Buy it from Comixology outside Unlimited.

The 15% off, might offset the 5.99 many months, but that is what they want you to do, buy, not rent. And if you wait for sale periods , it will often be cheaper, maybe half the price.

There are hundreds of Batman Issues but gaps between issues.

For those who don’t demand physical copies, Comixology will always be a supplement to DC Universe. You will never get much of Rebirth, Killing Joke, Watchmen, or Dark Night Return here, but you can buy them at Comixology, often cheaply.

This is just another alternative.

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I prefer to own my comics. Knowing that they’re sitting in a database forever or on my self adds a sense of security. That’s why the comic selection on this app is not a big deal for me. Sure, it’s saved me some me money on a handful of books and series when funds were tight, but I’d still rather build a physical and digital collection.

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I do like reading comics on an IPad or on my TV is cool, but if I want to own a comic, I prefer it to be paperback

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The ComiXology deal is probably a sign of things to come for this app. They’ve been teasing some big changes here in the comics section and I’m willing to bet there is some sort of deal between Amazon and DCU that will allow DCU to have more digital books all the time at a lower cost to DC/Time-Warner and gives ComiXology a larger potential subscription base now that they also have D.C. Comics. That probably doesn’t mean the library will be the same, but I’m guessing it’s a good thing for this app.

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Took a more detailed look at Comixology Unlimited.

In general there are now several categories of DC comic book offerings, in terms of price:

Those comics that you can read for 5.99 a month and buy for 15% off. These are listed and are less than 200 books, but several are Graphic Novels. Some are MUST HAVE, like Batman, Year One. MANY are Volume 1. Single issues have large gaps in them.

The current issues of DC comics I bought on Wednesday were not included in the 5.99 or 15% off. Only Green Arrow, which is being cancelled at issue 50, and Harley Quinn, which may not be as popular as I thought, since there is little Harley remaining in our Library, were 15% off if you had Unlimited.

MUST HAVE Graphical Novels like Watchmen, New Frontier and Dark Night Returns are 15% off if you pay monthly for Unlimited. In the past, they have been discounted more than that in sales.

There is some tendency for other titles that have Graphical Novels to have Volume 1 full price but subsequent volumes are 15% off, if you have Unlimited.

Single Issues without Graphical Novel version are full price, but if they are older titles, they are often 1.99, even without Unlimited.

Other members should do their own analysis.

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I’m not too bummed about the deal personally, but can see why others would be. I see it as this deal being like the one they made with the international markets for DC Universe Originals. The Netflix deal, the deal with Teletoon in Canada, etc. It helps DC pay for things while getting people that don’t have DCU more aware of the brand. The thing I don’t like is that we don’t get any Vertigo, etc. while CU does. They do seem to be adding more full runs here whereas on CU it’s first few issues or some graphic novels on Amazon Prime for a limited time. I’d much rather have full runs.

The thing that bothered me is that we were not warned about the titles leaving. They knew how much we just want to know what is leaving so we can finish reading/watching content we started. There is an entire thread of people just wanting to be told with enough time when things are leaving. This felt like a sneaky way of them taking titles off and hoping that because they were unpopular no one would notice or care. Some of those titles could have been unpopular because people had to read or watch other things that were leaving the service. Over the holidays I was trying to watch all of the movies they were getting rid of that I didn’t read many comics, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have an interest in those comics. I do hope they consider letting us know when things are leaving with enough time. Sure, let me know 2 weeks in advance when a miniseries is leaving. I can get through 6 issues, 7, 8, 9, in that time. Getting rid of a 20+ issue title with no notice whatsoever is really bad, but 2 weeks notice won’t be that much better. It’s something at least.

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