Is the DC chronicle line done?

CaptShazam

I got a notice from DCBS that the Justice League Chronicles vol 1 has been cancelled. In the press releases over the past couple of weeks with trade releases from Sept to Feb, there was not one Chronicles volume listed. Does anyone know if the series is finished?

SolitaireRose

I am not sure, but I know they dropped the JLA Chronicles due to low sales.

It would be a shame if DC abandoned its excellent reprint policy in favor of just focusing on their current work. There were periods in the 90's when DC sold more in their backstock line than in their current comics, and it wasn't because their current comics were weak.

Mr_Cosmic

Why didn't they ever try a TPB version like Marvel did with their Masterworks? I know the lower price point would make me more likely to buy them.

Chuck_Melville

Mr_Cosmic said:

Why didn't they ever try a TPB version like Marvel did with their Masterworks? I know the lower price point would make me more likely to buy them.

They probably figure that they're already doing that with the black and white Showcase editions.

Mr_Cosmic

Ah, but how many sales are you losing by not having color? I buy soft cover Masterworks but I avoid Essentials. I just think they'd make some extra cash by offering soft cover Chronichles.

Chuck_Melville

Mr_Cosmic said:

Ah, but how many sales are you losing by not having color? I buy soft cover Masterworks but I avoid Essentials. I just think they'd make some extra cash by offering soft cover Chronichles.

I couldn't say. I buy the Essentials and Showcases because 1) they're pretty complete and add in a few bonus selections; 2) they're affordable and give you a hefty tome for the price; and c) I like the black and white reprint because it allows me to have a good look at the artists' linework without being partially obscured by the colors. If I want color, I get the high quality Masterworks and Archives (in hardcover, since that's my preference). I buy the regular trades if the other two options aren't available.

nweathington

Mr_Cosmic said:

Why didn't they ever try a TPB version like Marvel did with their Masterworks? I know the lower price point would make me more likely to buy them.

Well, for something like the Batman Archives, they would certainly get enough hardcover sales to justify printing them even if there was a trade paperback version offered. But what about the Seven Soldiers of Victory Archive? There were only 2,230 initial orders for the hardcover. If a trade had also been offered, there would still have been a certain number of people buying the hardcover version, but it’s likely that 500-1,000 of those initial orders would have opted for the trade instead. (I know I would have.) Would there have been enough additional buyers of the trade to offset the loss in hardcover sales? Probably not. Especially when they can’t even get enough orders for a paperback version of the JLA Archive material to justify printing it.

Chuck_Melville said:

They probably figure that they're already doing that with the black and white Showcase editions.

Actually, the point of the Showcase volumes (which feature some Silver Age, but mostly Bronze Age material and a little beyond) was to cheaply reprint things that wouldn’t necessarily get the Archive treatment (which features Golden Age and Silver Age material almost exclusively). Yes, there has been some overlap—Metal Men, Doom Patrol, Teen Titans, etc.—of the better-selling Silver Age material, but for the most part, they are not undercutting the sales of one another.

Mr_Cosmic said:

Ah, but how many sales are you losing by not having color? I buy soft cover Masterworks but I avoid Essentials. I just think they'd make some extra cash by offering soft cover Chronichles.

The Chronicles books are basically the paperback version of the Archives. But by using the name “Chronicles” rather than “Archives,” DC is free to reprint whatever of the Archive material they want without having to worry about reprinting all of the Archives in paperback. Notice that while the Archives have reprinted a broad spectrum of material, including less popular characters and titles, the Chronicles have focused solely on the best-selling material—Superman, Batman, Flash, etc. They still have not sold especially well, probably because a large number of the people who would have bought them already have the hardcover Archive version in their collections. The fact is, there are only so many people who are interested in reading the Golden and Silver Age stuff, and that’s all there is to it.

Mr_Cosmic

I was getting the Archives and Chronicles mixed up..my bad.

CaptShazam

There is also probably a lot less demand for the chronicles series as it continues. Volume #1 of Batman is interesting because of the origin. Volume # 11 is a little tougher sale.

If the chronicle line is done, I will just pick up the story with the Archieve line. Most of the older Archieves can be found for 50 or 60 percent off cover price.

SolitaireRose

I would think that the Archives line is all but dead. Not only are they not announcing new volumes, but they are letting many of the books going out of print, which is a damn shame. In the 90's, DC was great about keeping the Archives in print, and our shop did a decent business by having them available as Marvel was letting the Masterworks go out of print.

Now it seems the business practices have been reversed.

nweathington

SolitaireRose said:

I would think that the Archives line is all but dead. Not only are they not announcing new volumes, but they are letting many of the books going out of print, which is a damn shame. In the 90's, DC was great about keeping the Archives in print, and our shop did a decent business by having them available as Marvel was letting the Masterworks go out of print.

Now it seems the business practices have been reversed.

That’s not entirely the case. There were eight or nine Archives released last year. And at least four have been planned for this year—Captain Comet being the most recent to be solicited. But, yes, more and more of them are going out of print. It costs money to store books, and if the backstock isn’t selling quickly enough to cover those costs, then they’re a loss. No company is going to keep a book in print that loses money, especially in this economic climate. I think DC may have been hoping that the Chronicles series could replace the Archives as a viable way to keep their back catalog in print, but if they did, it doesn’t seem to be working.