DC Pulls the plug on Wildstrorm.....

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:25 am

Zuda too, but that falls more into the "who cares" category.....

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dc-publ ... 00921.html

After 18 years of existence, DC's WildStorm imprint is ending in December.

DC Comics Co-Publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio announced the news in a joint statement on official DC Universe blog The Source Tuesday afternoon, writing, "After taking the comics scene by storm nearly 20 years ago, the WildStorm Universe titles will end this December."

Not really surprising given their sales #s (here from August):

And here are the Wildstorm #s for August. Worse than Vertigo, but not radically worse. Vertigo could be here in a year if things dont turn around......

Rank
124 Ex Machina #50 14,146
193 Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #3 6,989
194 Authority (2008) #25 6,860
196 Mighty Crusaders #2 6,751
202 Fringe Tales From the Fringe #2 6,506
219 Authority the Lost Year #12 6,021
221 Gears of War #13 5,962
223 Fringe Tales From the Fringe #3 5,928
226 Wildcats #26 5,607
229 Dv8 Gods and Monsters #5 5,598
241 Welcome to Tranquility One Foot Grave #2 4,776
242 Gen 13 (2006) #37 4,757
267 Kane and Lynch #1 3,756
272 Sparta Usa #6 3,594

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:27 am

Another disturbing thought......given the number of "I'll wait for the trade"-ers in Vertigo, sales across that line are not doing gangbusters either.

I think the line has a bit more cachet, but I would not be surprised if there were some major shake-ups there too. DC is a business and continuing to do marginally-profitable stuff does not make good business sense. Vertigo #s are not that much better than Wildstorm. The top-selling Fables didn't even break 20k:

Rank
98 Fables #97 19,625
117 Izombie #4 15,772
135 Unwritten #16 12,778
144 X Files 30 Days of Night #2 11,163
153 Hellblazer #270 9,928
162 Sweet Tooth #12 9,246
168 Daytripper #9 8,617
174 House of Mystery #28 8,238
182 Madame Xanadu #26 7,656
189 Northlanders #31 7,376
200 Scalped #40 6,593
201 DMZ #56 6,524
236 Greek Street #14 5,153
237 Unknown Soldier #23 5,090
245 Air #24 4,719
247 Ides of Blood #1 4,560

spid · Post by **spid** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 6:26 am

I personally loved the Wildstorm Universe. I am sorry to see it get shuffled away. At this point, I was getting more Wildstorm books than DC books. Given how badly anything not in the mainstream universe does from either of the big two I feel like the Wildstorm characters will languish.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:31 am

spid wrote: At this point, I was getting more Wildstorm books than DC books.

You're a member of an elite cadre of ~6,000 fans....... (John is in there too.....)

spid wrote:
Given how badly anything not in the mainstream universe does from either of the big two I feel like the Wildstorm characters will languish.

This is true.....

torchsong · Post by **torchsong** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:06 pm

Guilty.

From both thoses lists I read:

Ex Machina (completed its run)
Fables
and
Madame Xanadu (already been given the ax)

and on all three I'm a trade-waiter. So it's my fault, people. Throw all your hate my way.

Also heard grumblings that DC Direct Toys may get shuttered. While my wallet will be okay with that, I know Bob and I are both big into statues, and hopefully they'll keep that part of the biz going.

More distressing is that it put a lot of people out of work as a result. Never good news to hear.

yensid4disney · Post by **yensid4disney** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 2:59 pm

Bob,

While I see you're point, I don't think that the same argument applies.

The Veritgo line has been developed over the years, and knows who their target audience is (Mature Readers ie, anyone old enough to not gigle like a teeny bobber at the sight of a breast, or at the use of some more colorful language). They have worked hard to not only have a strong selection of titles, but also a strong brand. Those who purchase the Vertigo family of monthly books, are extremely loyal to the writer/artist/title, even if it is a smaller audience.

Also, as you said, the Veritgo line has a lot of people who wait for the trade (myself being one of them). They also move a lot of trades every month, not just of new material, but also of the older stuff (just how many copies of Sandman vol 1 exist now anyway?). This allows DC/Warner Bros to realize profits long after the cost of producing this material has been absorbed.

I think that Wildstorm, while a good selection of books, never really found it's voice, or brand if you will. Were they licensed properties like World of Warcraft? Were they the old Image titles that Jim Lee brought with him? Were they a place for old voices to try new things (Top Ten, The Authority)? It didn't seem to really fit.

I see the closing of Wildstorm more as a consolidation of imprints, rather than a closing of a non profitable division, but I may be wrong.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 2:20 am

I for one have really enjoyed the Wildstorm imprint especially the creator owned stuff. I liked Sparta USA and the Victorian The Undead. I just recently liked reading Tom Strong, X-Files and 30 Days of NIght, and Welcome to Tranquility. I am hoping that the creator owned books still have a place whether they move to Vertigo or DC.

spid · Post by **spid** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:11 am

Bob, brings up an excellent point about Vertigo. I think at this point the imprint gets by on its buzz more than its sales. Outside of Fables I do not think any of those other Vertigo titles have much staying power. Maybe DC or rather WB thinks Vertigo as a cheap way to develop concepts for movies/tv shows.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:30 pm

comicm wrote:I for one have really enjoyed the Wildstorm imprint especially the creator owned stuff. I liked Sparta USA and the Victorian The Undead. I just recently liked reading Tom Strong, X-Files and 30 Days of NIght, and Welcome to Tranquility. I am hoping that the creator owned books still have a place whether they move to Vertigo or DC.

Agreed. but these kinds of Wildstorm books (and the likes of Ex Machina & Mysterius) could just as easily have been published under the Vertigo imprint. In fact, I'm not completely sure why they weren't. it seems like most of the non-Wildstorm-Universe titles (with the excpetion of the media tie-ins) that WS has published have been "misplaced Vertigo books".

The really good stuff (just my opinion) to have come out from WS can easily be published under Vertigo.

killyrcomics · Post by **killyrcomics** » Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:37 am

I thought They had green lit another Tom Strong mini. Does anyone know the status of that or where it might be published?

ctowner1 · Post by **ctowner1** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:56 am

SO what would be a decent number of books such that cancellation would not be a big risk. It looks like the current range for Vertigo is 5K to 20K. Is a 20K book like Fables considered a major success? Or is a 15K book like Ex Machina enough to guarantee a continued line?

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HassanT · Post by **HassanT** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:38 am

killyrcomics wrote:I thought They had green lit another Tom Strong mini. Does anyone know the status of that or where it might be published?

The rumor is that it will still be published but through the DC banner.

As a long-time WS fan, I gave up on the core WS characters after the last reboot. It was one too many reboots for me. Honestly, what WS should have done is what Top Cow did with their books, keep it to one or two core titles and slowly grow it back up. However, since they were part of the DC publishing arm, I felt that WS had a need to publish multiple books of their shared universe, regardless how successful. Sometimes when a concept or a book is not successful, it should be put away for a period of time until it is brought back again. I am hoping now that WS brand is gone, if and when the WS characters come back, it is because the creators on the book have a good and unique idea.