twogeeksinapod:

gailsimone:

differenzeartistiche:

We think it's important to note something, when talking about the people DC are targeting.

While they regularly say they're reaching out to "new readers," there's a lot of evidence that that's not what they're really aiming for. Rather, it looks more and more like they're aiming for LAPSED readers, and a specific subset at that.

Think about it. Nearly every critical comment  we've read regarding the relaunch notes how the books seem to be re-capturing the look and feel of the late 80s and early 90s, right down to the redesigned costumes. Even the books and casts themselves, while they're being touted as aimed at new readers, are clearly replicating that specific era—from a Barry Allen, to Rob Liefeld's Hawk and Dove.

Even Lemire's Animal Man, regarded so far as one of the best of the relaunch, is clearly meant to evoke Morrison's run from the late 80s Vertigo era, right down to breaking the fourth wall and talking with the writer.

And what about the confusion over Swamp Thing's origin? Whether he IS Alec Holland, or WAS Alec Holland, or THINKS he's Alec Holland? All of that stems from a fear of invalidating the 80s Alan Moore run, and losing readers who picked up comics during that time period.

Which is why when DC chooses to tout success stories, it's often "This reader is back buying comics after 20 years!" or "Just heard about a fan picking up books again after 15 years!" Because that's the market the current DC output is aimed towards—not really new readers, but not really loyalists at the same time. People who read a lot of books at a very specific point.

It makes sense from an economic standpoint to cater to those readers, at least. This hypothetical reader—let's call him "Him," because at the time he was thought to be overwhelmingly male—he came of age around 20 years ago, in 1991, and is now in his 40s, with a stable income, and enough money to spend on comic books. So it makes perfect sense for DC to play to that audience, since that audience is the one that can buy in bulk, especially at the 3- to 4-dollar mark.

Now, this is not to say EVERY book appeals EXCLUSIVELY to that market. Static Shock looks and feels like the cartoon, and the DCAU as a whole. So it's clearly appealing to younger readers, or teenagers who watched the cartoons when they were kids. But enough books ARE appealing the 90s lapsed reader to make that appeal apparent.

This is actually a really good point and a little bit complicated.

First, let me get this out…they ARE aiming and new readers. The intent and the result might be at variance, but some of the ad stuff and marketing stuff, starting next week, in fact, is aimed at people who have very likely never picked up a comic. I was very surprised.

The truth is, they were hoping for both, new readers and lapsed readers. Some of the marketing is aimed there already, but the ads are meant to have a dual purpose, to appeal to both groups. What they didn't want to do this time, unlike the vast majority of comics advertising, is fight for market share. Moving the percent of market share ten points one way or the other is a relatively minor effect.

However, I think you make a valid point that what we're hearing about mostly is lapsed readers returning. I've talked to a ton of stores that have gotten new readers, but nearly EVERY store I've talked to has said that they're getting readers back that have been gone for as long as fifteen years. That's really significant.

I guess we'll see how it all shakes out, but it's a valid point.

The criticism about 80's and 90's effect, I don't know, most of the books I've really enjoyed had a very modern approach, even if they had some trappings of past successes.

I do think, and Marvel's doing the same thing, that there's an attempt to tie in the comics to some of the incredibly successful game, tv and movie versions, which makes pretty good sense to me. If being a bit more like the cartoon helps Static gain an audience, I am happy with that, because I know that's what Dwayne McDuffie hoped to happen—it was something he pushed for for a long time when the show was on the air. And I wouldn't mind the people who love Arkham Asylum or Arkham City checking out Scott Snyder's Batman (although I admit, some of the costume things have been a bit weird).

It may be that they are shooting for new and lapsed customers but mainly getting lapsed customers back, I don't know if we'll have a full answer for that for a little while. I can ask around with retailers and find out.