Comics are supposed to be recession proof. And as the economy has worsened, this reassuring publishing notion has been repeated over and over again the past several months. But as the economic downturn drags on and consumers become increasingly careful about spending, publishers are worried about sales. DC Comics and Dynamite Entertainment are two publishers that are using the comics shop specialty market to offer specially discounted promotional periodical issues that they hope will appeal to consumers looking for a bit more value for their comics dollar.
Dynamite Entertainment, a independent comics publisher based in New Jersey, has been releasing a discounted “Issue 0” edition of many of their series, starting with the fantasy mainstay, Red Sonja and continuing with introductory issues of such series as Project Superpowers, Jungle Girl, Battlestar Galactica, Painkiller Jane and Highlander. In Dynamite's case, what began as a way to give fans a greater opportunity to begin reading new series, has become a useful way to increase readership at a time when comics buyers have reason to be a little more selective about their purchases. Dynamite has made a deliberate “effort to create more introductory priced” publications such as Buck Rodgers #0”, released on May 2nd and selling for twenty-five cents. And while It's something of a risk, Dynamite publisher Nick Barucci said, “its hard to measure what the subsequent increase in sales have been, as you cannot compare it against what the subsequent issue would have been without the promotion.”
Nevertheless Barucci believes the promotions have been worth it and said that the introductory issues “create an awareness that is much larger than it would have been, and grow the audience as wide as possible”. Dynamite makes money on increased sales of the ongoing series, even though the introductory issues actually lose money on every sale. But building the audience, Barucci emphasized—especially in this economy—makes it worth the cost.
Even large comics publishers who don't normally need to work as hard to increase their audience are turning to discounted single issues. DC Comics has recently launched two different promotions based on selling single issues priced at one dollar a piece. DC’s “After Watchmen” promotion offers issues of Swamp Thing, Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Preacher and Identity Crisis and targets readers who may have recently read the bestselling trade paperback of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons landmark Watchmen graphic novel or perhaps seen the movie, and are now looking to read something similar. Although backlist sales of Watchmen over the past year have been a tremendous success, DC v-p of sales Bob Wayne said he expects the “majority of readers who start with book-format or return to us via the book-format will probably stay with book format releases.” But he also expects some book fans to “migrate towards the comic book specialty retailer” market (also known as the direct market) where DC's discounted After Watchmen series will be available.
DC's Vertigo imprint has also recently launched a series of one dollar issues of several of their current ongoing series, in the hopes that readers who might normally wait for a collected edition will start picking up the series on a monthly basis. With an inexpensive new issue available to the reader next time they're at their local comic shop, Wayne hopes some readers will pick it up and then discover “they can’t wait months to read the next chapter”. While these promotions weren't intentionally devised to target readers worried about their spending more, Wayne does report strong initial responses to discount campaigns from both direct market retailers and from fans.
Whether piggybacking on the interest generated by a hit superhero movie or simply offering added value in tough economic times, both publishers think the promotions are worth it. DC and Dynamite both believe that their inexpensive single issue promotions are gaining them new readers—a welcome result at any time.
