DC Comics has caught up to and surpassed Marvel in sales, an upset that scholars and comic book sellers say was a long time coming.
Despite being the creators of the very concept of “Superheroes” as we understand them today, DC has long held a backseat to marvel in both character popularity and comic and movie sales.
Local comic shop owner Micheal Rice credits the “Absolute” runs, which are extremely exaggerated and dark versions of the DC superhero stories, with being what turned the tide on Marvel.
“Absolute Batman is what we call a generational book. At every generation, there is an iteration or an analogue we will have that represents your era. This brought the normal public into comics, people who had never read a comic in their life and we’re talking about droves.” Rice said. “The conversations on Wednesdays went from ‘I’m getting these books just to finish my run, no one really cares about the stories, they suck,’ to everybody hyped about the new Batman.”
He said the marvel brand was “petty,” in that they would cancel any series that posed serious competition to their own mainline runs.
Individual issue shelves at Atomic Comics featurring DC and Marvel side by side on Sept. 23. DC and Marvel are two of the most popular comic book companies in the world. (D.L. Mata)
Rice also noted that DC’s willingness to publish more absurd stories where Marvel has been more calculated and protective of their characters’ continued marketability and relationship to the brand may have played a role in DC’s increase in sales.
During the interview, Rice joked about the notorious Harley Quinn ‘Fart Comic’, which spends its entire run time making fart jokes about Harley Quinn.
This was criticized harshly, but the willingness to publish basically anything has also given them some of their greatest successes.
The shining examples are these Absolute runs.
Absolute Batman is a complete departure from the source material. It reworks the entire mythos into something relevant to the modern day. The book has been received with extreme enthusiasm from fans.
Local comic book stores have seen a huge increase in sales since the release.
Price also noted how bloated Marvel comics have begun to feel in recent years.
“They put out so many different issues of the same character at one point there must have been a dozen different spider-man running at once,” Price said.
Low risk, low reward, but high volume seems to have been Marvel’s business model, and one of the reasons why readers are moving in droves to more experimental and adventurous work that respects their ability to choose what they want.
LBCC Drama student Abraham Figueroa spoke as well about DC’s willingness to make intensely deviating stories and reworks on their most beloved characters, and how it compelled him to stay loyal to DC comics.
““DC is kinda known for having reboots very consistently. Marvel is different because you kinda have to know what happened before whereas with DC, I can just start with issue number 1 of the New 52,” Figueroa said. “It’s great to have these because you can play with the universe however you want, it’s the author’s imagination. These are all great ways to reimagine the characters to make it interesting again for new readership.”
People are finding that where Marvel overextends their stories in order to keep the exact same characters running unchanged, DC has allowed for creative expansions on the batman mythos that serve to widen the scope of who he can be to the reader.
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