Been going here because it’s all a best guess with DC sales these days. April 2022 Single Issue Comic Book Sales Rankings - Comic Book Revolution
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Interesting. Different results on that site than comichron, but at least they integrate DC into the list. I don’t know that I trust either of ‘em now to be honest 
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I don’t. It’s a kind of rough idea though. Even if lower issues are off by 10, Action Comics is still way off from where it should be.
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Maybe they aren’t selling because they aren’t listening to what people are actually saying they want. Instead of pushing the same characters over and over, maybe they should pay more attention to the fans.
Some of us are annoyed as heck that our favorites disappeared. Everyone knows I am a huge JSA fan, and I’d love to see them back outside of cameo appearances, or one-offs that revolve around the Stargirl series.
Instead, we get more Bat-something…oh, and another, and another.
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True, which goes back to what you guys were saying about marketing and brand imaging. I have no insight into what drives comics sales, but I would like to think public perception has something to do with it. When half your titles are Batman, and the character is slapped on every piece of DC merchandise there is, your sales are going to be Batman centric. “But Batman sells!” Yeah he does, and so does Spiderman. He’s #1 on the list you provided. The rest of the top 10 includes X-Men, Moon Knight and other Marvel characters I know nothing about. Look at DC’s top spots: Batman this and Batman that. They really need to show that they’re not a 1-trick pony, not just in comics, but as a pop culture brand.
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One thing that would instantly help Action Comics is a return to format. Just a Superman dedicated book instead of the anthology format. People didn’t really go for it back when it was Action Comics Weekly. Anthologies don’t work for the typical reader.
Another thing that wouldn’t hurt sales is having comics at the newsstand again. That how I bought all my comics until 1996. Heck, even book stores. I’m not trying to suggest making things harder on LCS, but they’re a speciality store, and not typically a stop on the way home from school.
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You mean lose the backup story? You really think that’s hurting sales? Maybe because they charge an extra buck for the backup.
Do people still buy stuff at newsstands? I think the big thing here is pushing digital. One good thing that may come out the Comixology/Amazon thing is putting the comics in front of more eyes on a website that garners a lot more traffic than the specialty site that Comixology was.
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In larger cities, sure, stands are still relevant. I mostly mean in a Barnes and Nobel kinda way though. I don’t know that going digital only will make it particularly easy to attract new readers. I was six when I picked up my first book at a gas station newsstand across from my elementary school. Why buy it? Because I loved the movies, and the cover was amazing and in my face.
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There will shortly be no newsstand to go back to.
Entertainment Weekly is gone and it’s rumored People Magazine may soon follow.
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As far as DC’s sales are concerned, the rankings look a bit grim, but we are missing information we used to have. If Action Comics is ranked #95 but still selling close to 30,000 copies as it did last year, then it’s fine. If it’s starting to sell closer to 20,000 copies, then DC has a major problem.
A bigger concern may be the general economic headwinds as we seem to be entering a period of recession and stagflation. A similar set of circumstances nearly killed off DC in the 1970s.
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I’m hoping with next year being Superman’s 85th that they’ll push Action Comics and Son of Kal-El more.
Also yeah newstands aren’t what they used to be. But I agree it would be nice if they could get monthly comics back in Barnes & Noble! I know some Books A Millions still sell floppies so B&N should as well!
It would also be nice if DC could make some kind of deal with Target stores to sell more of the graphic novels and kid/ya OGNs. That could help sells as well!
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Thats still not good for Action Comics
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I’d rather they de-age Jon and bring back the normal Superman title
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With everything thats gone down recently i’d say that yes, WB & DC are in Danger!! 
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Personally I’m worried about the Blue Beetle & Static Shock movies! And Milestone in general.
With a bigot like Zaslav in charge of WBD I worry about the future of DC Comics and the Milestone Initiative.
I hope I’m wrong but given Batgirl got scrubbed (a movie featuring a diverse cast) I have a bad feeling.
Not to mention The Flash is still coming out despite the fact it will most likely bomb due to all the criminal allegations against Ezra Miller.
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Personally I’m worried about the Blue Beetle & Static Shock movies! And Milestone in general.
With a bigot like Zaslav in charge of WBD I worry about the future of DC Comics and the Milestone Initiative.
I hope I’m wrong but given Batgirl got scrubbed (a movie featuring a diverse cast) I have a bad feeling.
Not to mention The Flash is still coming out despite the fact it will most likely bomb due to all the criminal allegations against Ezra Miller.
I wouldn’t really worry about that just yet…
And speaking as someone who is Black and wants to see Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Superman project more than anything, and understands that’s probably not going to happen either.
The thing to look for is what he green lights, not what he cancels. Because the things he’s canceling he didn’t green-light. No, it’s all stuff left over and that he inherited, and obviously doesn’t want to do.
So what he does going forward is what he should be judged on, I think.
A few things immediately come to mind:
One, Bitter Root…
Legendary is producing that and they have a history of working with Warner Bros. – they of course recently did Dune (and will be doing the sequel, and possibly the Bene Gesserit HBO Max spin-off if that goes forward) with Warner Bros…
Anyway, if he axes Bitter Root… that’s maybe a cause for a little concern. But of course there’s no guarantee that’s coming to Warner Bros. anyway, just that Legendary is producing it.
Two, Black…
If he axes that, that may not be that much of a cause for concern, because the subject matter of that was a little iffy anyway. I’m interested in it, but I don’t think that was ever going to make a lot of money.
But just the same, it is Warner Bros., so he’ll be the one to decided what happens to it, whether it goes forward or not.
Last, Prince of Cats…
One of my all-time favorite comics.
Legendary again is doing it, so no guarantee it’s coming to Warner Bros., but that would be the first place I would think it would go. And PRINCE OF CATS was at Vertigo.
And LaKeith Stanfield was set to star, and he just did Judas and The Black Messiah (one of my all-time favorite movies) at Warner Bros. with Daniel Kaluuya.
And they were both up for the Oscar for Best Actor for it with Daniel Kaluuya winning the Oscar for Best Actor.
Why they didn’t put one up for Best Actor and the other up for Best Supporting Actor is beyond me, but whatever… 
And Spike Lee of course did Malcolm X at Warner Bros. (also one of my all-time favorite movies).
And yes, Prince of Cats has been in development hell forever, but it is something that might be coming from Warner Bros., so it may be worth keeping an eye on and what David Zaslav does or doesn’t do with it.
In the immediate future (like in the next year or two) on the non-comic book and super-hero front:
Creed III is still happening, it was just moved back that’s all. I’ve never seen any of them and never had any interest in seeing them, but it’s still happening.
And The Color Purple is still happening. And it’s going to be a musical this time.
And Oprah Winfrey is involved with it…
The Color Purple is one of my top two of three favorite movies ever (and of course Warner Bros. did that too with Steven Spielberg).
Anyway, now if David Zaslav axes this new The Color Purple, with Oprah Winfrey involved in it… then it’s like, “Okay, what exactly are you doing, guy?”
No, but yeah, what David Zaslav green-lights is what he should be judged on, I think.
All of these cancellations that he’s doing now are just business as usual. New bosses do what they want to do, and not necessarily what the old bosses wanted to do – sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
What comes out in 2024 and after is what to look for, because that’s when the David Zaslav stuff will start to come out.
EDIT:
And if then there are any questions, then there may be a problem and it may be time to start worrying.
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I guess, still Zaslav is already Damaging WB’s brand and reputation. Since they had their presentation a couple of days ago WBD stock has plummeted! Its down over 16% and is only at $14.59 cents a share.
Its painfully obvious Zaslav is bad for Business! I hope and pray he’s replaced with someone more competent from the WB side of things sooner rather then later, while there’s still a WB/DC left to save!
On the DC side of things, why couldn’t WB get a creative person in charge who is also enthusiastic about DC? I would nominate James Gunn.
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Give it time
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