DC Flushpoint: Not Far Enough

Sick of this topic yet? Well, this isn't an article about how hard or soft the reboot will be (I first read it as a complete reset, but some interpret it as softer, with some books continuing mostly unmolested). No, I want to talk about Jim Lee's assertion that September will "change the way comics are consumed". And in that regard, I don't think DC is taking ENOUGH of a risk.

The strategy as announced is to provide same-day downloads for the titles, thus opening up the online market and getting readers that wouldn't normally walk into a comic book store (or rather, that wouldn't do so on a weekly basis - it's one thing to walk in and buy stuff, it's another to make it part of your routine). I completely respect the need for, and value of, changing with the audience/market. But is DC actually doing that? In my opinion, they're only going half-way.

My idea of the ideal model
The real problem with the industry, in my estimation, is the idea of the MONTHLY. At 3-5$ a pop, usually for 20-30 page installments, it's no wonder many readers are "waiting for the [inevitable] trade. My ideal model would combine the download scheme with the Euro-model best exemplified by graphic albums like Tintin and Asterix (to only mention the most famous). 20-page chapters can be offered as downloads on a regular basis, but no floppy monthlies are ever printed. Instead, collections of chapters are directly published as graphic novels (soft or hardcover based on the project's marketability). It's like reading Dickens chapter by chapter in a literary magazine, then getting Great Expectations as a single volume later. You could do either or both.

My arguments
If we ARE talking about today's audience and its habits, this is a better model. Here's why:
-Economics: Most consumers are adults with some kind of cash flow. When I was a kid, a comic cost me 83¢ Canadian with the tax. Literally pocket change, and the left overs from my lunch money would go to a comic. A comic a day back then meant I could try new titles and often did. At 3$ and above per issue, kids are unlikely to buy many comics or try new things. Adults are richer, but often can't justify that kind of money on a luxury (for themselves or their child) unless than luxury has some durability, which brings me to...
-Preferred formats: For a kid, stacks of floppies and long boxes are just another part of the decor. But if adults are the ones buying, the better format is the graphic novel or trade collection. These can stand upright on a shelf without looking cluttered and dirty, and have greater durability. For storage, moving and eventually passing those books on to your children, durability is key. The higher page count also makes the books a better investment, even if the price point more or less comes up to the same. What you have is greater value per dollar, which speaks to the adult consumer.
-Online price points: These have to be much lower than a printed comic would have been. This is how you get the kids interested. Most kids today are connected to the Internet in a big way, and if they can download chapters at, say 83¢ Canadian an issue, that can get them hooked and asking their parents for hard printed collections, or books they don't have in electronic format.
-Waiting for the trade: a lot of consumers are already doing this. Waiting creates anticipation you don't commonly find in the monthly grind. Think of the line-ups for the latest Harry Potter book. Now imagine the well-marketed latest Batman story, or serialized installment of the Green Lantern Corps saga. It's easier to market a book every 4-6 months than it is an issue every month. Creators are likewise often "writing for the trade", crafting stories in packageable arcs with definite beginnings and endings. To create anticipation for certain projects, they might not first be stripped on the Internet. There are various models to adopt here. Similarly, a comics company might publish stories exclusive to the Internet, perhaps as a way to test the waters for a new character or series.
-Countering lateness: Stories would be published when ready. I've waited 4 months for a new I, Zombie book, I can wait another, no problem. The fact new Asterix books come out only every few years hasn't hurt their sales (on the contrary, releases have become media events in the French-speaking world). Creators would all basically be working on mini-series to be published as graphic novels. If you don't publish until ready, it reduces the risk of dreaded fill-in artists or never-published final chapters.
-Other things wrong with monthlies: 1) For whatever reason, covers have become tedious indeed. Too many books simply feature a hero/group shot unrelated to the interior story. With fewer releases come fewer covers, so these may be more creative and less repetitive. And if it's a hero/group shot, well, that's not such a bad selling point for a trade/graphic novel. 2) Numbering. It's gotten to the point where numbering is a ridiculous artifact of the "way we do things". Titles are relaunched at new #1s, or have gap issues with crazy numbers (0, -1, .1, Infinity, etc.), or renumbered to get to a big 100 issue. Not only is it confusing to collectors, but the current consumer base is actively deriding such schemes. And apparently, it's not really working on the rubes who have been burned before. Self-contained graphic novels don't have this problem. And collected trades have simpler numbering. The back of a book should tell you what other books are in the series and in what they order they can/should be read (as both my Euro-examples do). And since they stay in print, there's no problem with "Oh I missed too much already". (Aside: Someone I went to see Thor with became very interested in the character and asked me if there were a lot of issues, implying he wanted to read more... I had no easy answers for him.)
-Selling them: It's the kind of scheme that doesn't necessarily put the hurt on comic book stores, while also opening the door very wide to sales in book stores. You would still have regular releases because there are many books/series, so stores could keep a weekly or monthly cash flow going. However, the model reflects adult shopping habits better. Today's comics consumer doesn't want to be tied down to a weekly routine, comics "accounts" that might burden his cash flow, etc. If stories are told in graphic novels exclusively (with FCBD samplers perhaps used as incentives), he or she can walk into a store at any time. No missing a key issue, and with the option of ordering what's not in stock, even years after initial release. When I was a kid, a grandparent used to buy me a graphic album every week after church. It was a BOOK, she would never have given me one of those dirty monthlies. And I still have them all moer than 30 years later and happily lend them out without a care about "de-minting" them.
-Passing them on: Yes, you can read a comic with a child. But imagine yourself with a large-format hardcover, that same child next to you. Which seems more natural? Which is most like "reading a book" and passing on the love of reading AND comics? Perception is important, and like that grandparent who considered those Tintins books above all, I know many adults who hold on to these graphic albums though they've thrown away their childhood "rags". There certainly is less of a stigma attached to hardbound graphic albums.

In short, the current consumer is older, though starting to have kids the right age. That makes him wealthier, but also more fiscally responsible. Comics need to be sold as a VALUE to the home and the family. The download strategy is important (and greener), but it may prove damaging to businesses instead of supporting them. Buying comics on a budget, or intermittently, or even for hardcore fans, is often disheartening. You're either missing out, or confused, or short of cash, or unsatisfied. It just doesn't make sense anymore no matter how much we hold on to the nostalgia of the monthly. But it's the monthly's very format that frustrates both the consumer and the industry. It's got to go.