Too many titles!

[exilednight]

DC needs to put some books on the chopping block. This was one of the worst week of new releases that I have seen in a very long time.

If you could cancel any DC books what would they be.

My choices.
Green Arrow- Love the character, but is only good in a team book.

Nightwing- Same as above, great with the Outsiders, but lousy solo.

Every Batman book except Detective, and Batman

Every Superman book except All Star, Superman, Action.

The Flash

All new Atom

Birds of Prey

Shadowpact

Catwoman

Checkmate

Robin

Blue Beetle

Hawkgirl

They can take all of these books and create better ensembles.

[Biofungus]

I'd reduce both Batman and Superman to just *one* book, but I'd make it 64 pages.

Also, everybody else who has a solo book but is also involved in a team book. One or the other, period.

[exilednight]

The Superman/Batman book is pretty good most of the time. All Star Superman is awesome. You can't get rid of Action or Detective since they are the two longest running titles.

I would like to see a series with The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and the Question. I think that would make an interesting team.

I would also cancel anything that Judd Winnick is allowed to work on.

[Biofungus]

No reason they can't expand action and detective to 64 pages, and have 2 creative teams (ie two unrelated stories).

It's cheaper and I think fans (especially those with strapped wallets) would enjoy and appreciate it.

[onizuka43]

The saddest thing is that most of those books were really good a couple of years back. Since he is one of my favorites Nightwing should still have his own book and it's been starting to pick up since wolfman has taken over. Other then that most were really good until the one year later, funny since it was suppose to make them better.

[Radiophonicus]

Personally I'd axe most of them (as DC, not as a collector per se'). Ditch pretty much all the B list and certainly all of the C list, and keep top notch books going. Take all the beloved B and C list books and condense them into a couple of team style books with rotating characters and get the B and C list characters into recurring roles in the top books. Too much filler, not enough meat.

[L Jamal]

The B and C list books are some of the better books. The problem with the A list books is that they are A list and will sell no matter how bad they are. Super and Action have been uninspired for a long while, but the same can be said with Marvel A-list as well.

[Ian Ascher]

When you look at what Marvel, Image, and other companies put out, DC really isn't that bad.

I agree that Superman and Batman should only have one, maybe two, regular titles a month. Limit minis or make them original trades/delux projects. These two characters are DCs bread and butter so it'll never happen but it would be nice. The one title per character, 64 pages, isn't a bad idea either.

I also agree w/ Jamal that some of the second and third tier books are better than the first tier titles. You'll always have Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, etc... with their own books. Characters like Green Arrow, Atom, Aquaman, Hawkman/Hawkgirl, etc... will always come and go in time.

(Jamal... pick up the Busiek/Pacheo issues of Superman and give it a try.... much better than Supes has been in a long, long time.)

Books will come and books will go. Its the nature of the industry. The best rule to live by is read what you like and don't worry about the rest.

[Moonrider]

Of all the titles mentioned above I only read Blue Beetle, Batman and occationally Action Comics. I still put up with The Flash because it's supposed to be a nice point for a new reader to jump on, but if things don't get better I'll drop it for sure.

That said, I still can't find the real logic behind calling a character A-list or C-list. From a sales standpoint sure, there are books that will always sell well and there are books that don't. But there are also books that won't be able to shine if they are axed too early. And I also don't see the urgency in axing any of the second tier titles above. It's not like DC is stretching their resources thin or anything, and those who do not read them shouldn't even care. Besides, more books could mean more work for us in the future :)

[JoMaC2k]

You eliminate those books and I would only be reading Teen Titans and Jonah Hex. and Green Arrow ends with 75, though there may be a new book Green Arrow and Black Canary, so it's a step closer to a team book.

[xombey]

i say, combine some of the 2nd and 3rd tier books into 64 page books w/revolving stories

this month you get a green arrow story followed by aquaman, next month you get part 2 of aquaman story followed by the flash.

[exilednight]

I like the idea of a revolving book. The problem is, with so many titles, you can't make every title a good read. DC puts to many restrictions on the characters, thus giving titles to writers who can not write good stories within those restrictions.

[Moonrider]

Maybe they can take all those titles and put it in a big anthology book. You know, like a manga.

[quantum1019]

Well, I wouldn't want to see Atom or Flash cancelled. I started reading Atom because of Byrne's art, and stayed with it since its been pretty good so far. The Flash has gotten much better, in my opinion, since Marc Guggenheim took over the writing.
What I would like to see though, is a book like World's Finest was in the early 80s. It was 64 pages, I think, with a featured story with Superman and Batman, followed by a bunch of short stories featuring "B-listers" like Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Lightning, Black Canary, etc.

[Paul Sanderson]

Both DC and Marvel put out too many lesser books. Some fat definitely needs to be trimmed, that's for sure.

[Buckyrig]

The B and C list books are some of the better books.

Often because they are B and C list books. DC is more likely to let people try things they would never allow on the big books.

The problem with the A list books is that they are A list and will sell no matter how bad they are. Super and Action have been uninspired for a long while, but the same can be said with Marvel A-list as well.

Shrinking the titles to one or two would probably help somewhat, but part of the problem is fear of doing anything real with the characters.

But, there's always Elseworlds. Reduce the monthly output and open the door for more specials and limiteds.

[JLillustrator]

With the amount of copies being sold, it makes less sense to cancel the titles originally suggested (figures from ICv2 March 07 estimates):
Superman/Batman: 78K copies
Brave and the Bold: 64K copies
Flash:46K copies
Batman Confidential: 39K Copies
Superman Confidential: 37K Copies
Nightwing and Green Arrow: 31K each

That's about 275K copies. Yeah, tell a publisher to cancel a half million dollars in monthly income worth of books across 6 titles (assuming each book brings in $2.00 per copy to DC). Even if it costs $10K per book per month to produce and print, that's still a lot of money to be made.

All the lower end titles mentioned, yeah, they could be on the chopping block, but as long as they make more money than they cost to produce and market, it's still earnings coming in.

I still can't believe Flash sold 46K in March 2007.

[Jamir with an E]

I'd reduce both Batman and Superman to just *one* book, but I'd make it 64 pages.

Also, everybody else who has a solo book but is also involved in a team book. One or the other, period.

The funny thing about Superman is that I think he lends himself much better to big event mini-series done every couple of years or so - think: something in the "Crises on Infinite Earths"; "Infinity Gauntlet" (I know I know ... I just want to highlight series based on 'epic in scope' potential); "War of the Gods" (had it been as good as it could've been) vein- as opposed to monthly presentation. Of course I don't envision D.C ever NOT keeping Superman (as a soloist) monthly it's just - from a continuity perspective - it seems as if the character should do something epic , be missed by reading public, and then show up again when things (story/D.C universe wise) get cataclysmic. Sort of like a comic book "within the comic books" movie franchise. He just doesn't lend himself to day to day tellings in the way that say ... Batman does.

But hey ... if the current approach has worked for nearly 70 years ... why should anyone change it up?

[exilednight]

He just doesn't lend himself to day to day tellings in the way that say ... Batman does.

It's like any other book, it really depends on who the writer is. I often find Clark Kent to be more interesting than Superman on most occasions. All Star is a good book that shows Superman on a day to day basis.

[Paul Sanderson]

Indeed, it really depends on the quality of the writing.

[Ian Ascher]

I applaud anyone that gets to write Superman or Batman good or bad.

Maybe this is why i'll never get to work for Marvel or DC but it would scare the hell out of me to have to write an Icon like that on a monthly basis. I honestly don't think I have a story in me for either character that hasn't been done.

That's what I think kills books like this and Im glad when a writer can come along and show me something I enjoy.

[chaosgoat]

I'd be very sad to see Birds of Prey get the axe. It's one of the few comics with a strong female cast. Female characters end up playing second fiddle in team books (mostly because they're vastly outnumbered).

DCs best bet would be to take titles that deal with the same character and/or set of characters, and condense them. Same for Marvel.