Retailers attending DC’s Chicago Roadshow, which was held in suburban Rosemont, have told ICv2 that, according to the DC personnel, the Chicago event was the best-attended of the entire tour. DC was represented by co-publisherDan Didio, Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing and Business Development John Rood, and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Bob Wayne.
Eric Kirsammer of Chicago Comics indicated that he was pleased with DCs plans to advertise its “New 52” initiative nationally with a reported seven-figure ad campaign that includes TV, print, and social media, and with what he called “an aggressive coop advertising plan for local retailers with DC picking up 75% of the tab.” DC also told retailers that the free “sampler” preview comic that will be given away at the San Diego Comic-Con on Preview Night (Wednesday, July 20th), will ship to retailers across the country so that they can put it out on the same day. DC is planning to ship retailers quantities of the sampler, which is essentially the first shot in a multi-faceted campaign aimed at both the direct market and the wider world, equal to five times their Flashpoint #1 orders.
Eric Kirsammer of Chicago Comics indicated that he was pleased with DCs plans to advertise its “New 52” initiative nationally with a reported seven-figure ad campaign that includes TV, print, and social media, and with what he called “an aggressive coop advertising plan for local retailers with DC picking up 75% of the tab.” DC also told retailers that the free “sampler” preview comic that will be given away at the San Diego Comic-Con on Preview Night (Wednesday, July 20th), will ship to retailers across the country so that they can put it out on the same day. DC is planning to ship retailers quantities of the sampler, which is essentially the first shot in a multi-faceted campaign aimed at both the direct market and the wider world, equal to five times their Flashpoint #1 orders.
Kirsammer also told ICv2 that DC is planning some rare variants for the top five books (Action, Batman, Green Lantern, and Flash). Retailers will have to order aggressively to snag the rarest variant covers, which are 1-in-200 sketch variants. In addition to varying levels of variants on the five bestselling titles, DC is offering retailers an extra 15% discount on six series, Batwoman, Stormwatch, Teen Titans, Green Lantern New Guardians, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman and the great thing for retailers is that there are no hoops to jump through to get the extra discount (see “DC Outlines Incentives, Variants, Returnability”).
John Robinson of Graham Crackers Comics was most excited about the DC’s plans to make the other 41 books of the “New 52” fully returnable for the first three issues if retailers order 125% of the May DC orders. “These are the titles like Frankenstein,” Robinson told ICv2, “that retailers are going to have a hard time getting a handle on, and having the first three issues returnable will make it much easier.” Retailers will be charged a fee of 20 cents per returned (stripped covers only) book. While Robinson wasn’t necessarily happy with the processing fee for returned covers, he felt it would serve to tamp down rampant over ordering, and he was particularly pleased that DC was allowing three months of sale on all the #1 issues before they have to be returned, which gives retailers until December to sell them and consumers more time to decide to pick up a new series.
Another aspect of the program that potentially interested Kirsammer was DC’s offer of increased revenue on digital comics if retailers create a stand-alone DC sales portal through comiXology.
