80% of comics from ten years ago suck. 85% of comics from 20 years ago suck. 90% of comics from 30 years ago suck. The stories suck, the dialogue sucks, and the art sucks. Suckity-suck and more suck.
Thank you for putting every other statement you make in context.
You'd love a discussion I'm having with some fellow facebook artists now where we're sharing war stories about when potential clients would tell us their brilliant idea and how we're perfect for it and then their face dramatically changes when you mention you'd like to be paid. :)
<<blockquote rel="BlackUmbrella">80% of comics from ten years ago suck. 85% of comics from 20 years ago suck. 90% of comics from 30 years ago suck. The stories suck, the dialogue sucks, and the art sucks. Suckity-suck and more suck.
Thank you for putting every other statement you make in context.
I'm just saying... what are we comparing the industry against? There are so many beautiful books out there now, and the bar for sophistication of the stories and characters is getting higher all the time. When I go back and read older books, it's the exceptional book that is even tolerable. The older it is, the less likely it is to be any good.
I happen to think the books are better than they've ever been, and for the motivated artist/writer, there are so many more opportunities. Everything created for the big two is attributed, and the opportunities to produce your own work (and to fund it via Kickstarter, sell it via a website, etc) are vast.
I just do not get the constant contempt for the books and the industry. The conscience of the industry, Neal Adams, and his Batman Odyssey fiasco is the best evidence of just how much freedom a creator can get today, even with the most valuable and lucrative properties from a major publisher. And also why even the heavy hitters (including George Perez) need strong editorial oversight sometimes.
Personally, I have a hard time understanding how someone can love a hobby/craft centered around art and creativity but not care intensely about the creative folks that actually make it happen. That is just me though, and I know many people are content to not care or happily separate the two.
I'd say some people just care about the end product. As @Torchsong said, they will buy the comics regardless of who is doing them.
And to be honest, I'm sort of among the people I just described. I really don't care about the behind-the-scenes-stuff, I just want a good comic to read.
Sorry @Zhurrie, I don't think I've provided you with much perspective.
you'd think that him being THE George Perez that he'd be treated better... but guess that's often the case, there ARE favorites, even in families. which i don't necessarily see DC as
And also why even the heavy hitters (including George Perez) need strong editorial oversight sometimes.
While I would agree with that statement in general, in this instance, I would say the "strong editorial oversight" was the problem not the solution.
Although with that said, I got Superman 2 from DCBS for $.70 and I actually liked it. Not enough to start buying the book monthly (although that's partly because I knew the book was in a mess with changing creators, editorial interference, etc, but even beyond that, I still don't think I would have), but enough to look for issues in cheap bins when I get the chance.
I really don't care about the behind-the-scenes-stuff, I just want a good comic to read.
I love hearing behind the scenes stories and info about the industry (those are my fave CGS episodes), especially about the artists and runs I care a lot about. I've watched George Perez's DVD, and bought his Titans and JLA work off the spinner rack. Love his work.
I simply am not buying this idea that the primary problem with Superman was editorial interference or lack of timely info. No doubt those were real problems, but this was a very idiosyncratic and dense book, at sharp odds with every other book in the New 52 line, but in keeping with much of what Perez has produced in the past. Perez's calling card is intricate layout/detail and packed pages. I think he just played this wrong, and it drained all the dynamism out of the book.
Did DC say to put three pages of text and action on every page? I just don't buy that.
@Torchsong, choir = me :) I know and knew what you were saying there so I definitely get it. Art and creativity are all but gone from American life right now but look at how people even still unwittingly clamor for it and find great joy in it... even stuff like the abundance of Dance, singing, design, etc. reality shows. The same people that think art and museums and opera and ballet are dumb because they aren't the fast track to money and power all sit transfixed by... art/creativity almost every evening. It is that American need to equate any pursuit directly to financial gain to be valued that is just bearing out here in comics/DC. Screw the artist, I want my $4 picture book with the jiggly bewbz and clobberin cyborgs! What, dude has diabetes and thinks he should actually get care and be treated like a human after a life of work!? Crazy talk. Damn commies. Get the next art-school dropout to work for peanuts and get my book out and on time! DC should rake in billions and the artists should be left to fend for themselves with their independent contractor status and zero stability! It just amazes me how the rest of the world can manage to get it mostly right when it comes to this stuff yet we fall in the same old traps every damn time. It's like being Sideshow Bob in a yard of rakes.
Agreed on all points, and I love that you mentioned Sideshow Bob's rakes. What you just said here saddens me, because it's true. Sadly, this is the way the world at large is headed.
Personally, I have a hard time understanding how someone can love a hobby/craft centered around art and creativity but not care intensely about the creative folks that actually make it happen. That is just me though, and I know many people are content to not care or happily separate the two.
I'd say some people just care about the end product. As @Torchsong said, they will buy the comics regardless of who is doing them.
And to be honest, I'm sort of among the people I just described. I really don't care about the behind-the-scenes-stuff, I just want a good comic to read.
Sorry @Zhurrie, I don't think I've provided you with much perspective.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. Someone earlier in the thread made the comparison to Green Giant canned vegetables. These books are product. Can they be more? Absolutely. The proof is that they have. The problem now is that corporate comics, for the most part, and certainly for the big 2, are all about getting product on the shelf every week of every month, in some cases more than once a month (i.e. double shipping). That model isn't conducive to books that are more than just product, though some manage to slip through from time to time.
I guess it's just that it's hard to go into a McDonald's, and expect them to be serving a fine filet mignon. I don't say that to condescend by any stretch, as there are a bunch of New 52 books that I'm reading and enjoying. Sometimes, I love a Big Mac, but my expectation is going to be quite different.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. Someone earlier in the thread made the comparison to Green Giant canned vegetables. These books are product. Can they be more? Absolutely. The proof is that they have. The problem now is that corporate comics, for the most part, and certainly for the big 2, are all about getting product on the shelf every week of every month, in some cases more than once a month (i.e. double shipping). That model isn't conducive to books that are more than just product, though some manage to slip through from time to time.
I guess it's just that it's hard to go into a McDonald's, and expect them to be serving a fine filet mignon. I don't say that to condescend by any stretch, as there are a bunch of New 52 books that I'm reading and enjoying. Sometimes, I love a Big Mac, but my expectation is going to be quite different.
Honestly, I'm amazed how many decent books are still coming out from the Big Two.
It's a testament to the love and dedication of the creators involved.
And I want to encourage those who are still full of that love despite the oppression of their Evil Corporate Overlords.
No doubt. I'm OK with McDonalds every now and then just like I have always been pretty OK with trying and giving a Marvel or DC book a fair shake up until recently. People want McDonalds more often than I do, that's OK too. But even McDonalds has tried and tries to offer a few premium products along with the rest. Sure it isn't a medium rare filet but I have had one of the best lobster rolls of my life at a McDonalds in Maine (I'm a foodie so trust me that is painful to even admit). I just had this conversation yesterday with my friend/owner of an LCS that DC has now really stupidly stuck too long to the "New 52" moniker/gimmick and is almost a slave to it. The latest numbers show that almost every book is at the pre-52 numbers or worse with some in lower 4-digit sales. Make 10 of those books experimental and new and fresh and purely to foster new talent and be different. Have another 10 books be by the great teams and big names and leave them the F be. Then have 32 books by sweatshop exploited talent and micromanage the hell out of them (this is a hypothetical, I'd truthfully prefer this not an option :) ).
When you see even very large French and Japanese publishers and how they can still be very profitable and big but still have actual respect and very little of the mess we have with DC/Marvel I just have a hard time believing it can't be better across the board here.
I'm OK with none of that happening, things keep on the current trajectory, more awesome C-O/Indie stuff and Image and new small publishers breaking out... so I guess I should be lobbying hard for things to stay just how they are or even "better"! ;)
No doubt. I'm OK with McDonalds every now and then just like I have always been pretty OK with trying and giving a Marvel or DC book a fair shake up until recently. People want McDonalds more often than I do, that's OK too. But even McDonalds has tried and tries to offer a few premium products along with the rest. Sure it isn't a medium rare filet but I have had one of the best lobster rolls of my life at a McDonalds in Maine (I'm a foodie so trust me that is painful to even admit). I just had this conversation yesterday with my friend/owner of an LCS that DC has now really stupidly stuck too long to the "New 52" moniker/gimmick and is almost a slave to it. The latest numbers show that almost every book is at the pre-52 numbers or worse with some in lower 4-digit sales. Make 10 of those books experimental and new and fresh and purely to foster new talent and be different. Have another 10 books be by the great teams and big names and leave them the F be. Then have 32 books by sweatshop exploited talent and micromanage the hell out of them (this is a hypothetical, I'd truthfully prefer this not an option :) ).
When you see even very large French and Japanese publishers and how they can still be very profitable and big but still have actual respect and very little of the mess we have with DC/Marvel I just have a hard time believing it can't be better across the board here.
I'm OK with none of that happening, things keep on the current trajectory, more awesome C-O/Indie stuff and Image and new small publishers breaking out... so I guess I should be lobbying hard for things to stay just how they are or even "better"! ;)
I feel your pain on the lobster roll.
I agree with pretty much everything you've said here, but the one thing is what you said about the latest numbers. According to the numbers released for last month's sales, it's not true.
DC, for the month of May alone, was up 88% in unit sales (2.8 million over 1.5 million last year), and slightly over 100% in dollars, relative to the same month last year. Doubling your business in a mature market? That's not a bad thing, and the full year numbers would actually be better than that.
Average units per title went from 22,161 last year to 36,448 this year. The lowest selling DCU title (new that month) was Captain Atom at 12,264. Last year, the lowest selling DCU title was Freedom Fighters at 8,425.
The only DCU titles at 4 digits are reorders on the prior month's books, and then it's Johnny DC and Vertigo.
That said, I couldn't agree with you more that I'd love to see them get more experimental, however, the last few years have shown that true experimentation (my favourite example being last year's fantastic Xombi title) have not paid off for them (Xombi #3, last May sold only 7,977 units, and it dropped further from there). I can't say that I'm surprised they've largely moved away from that sort of publishing. They're only pissing off a small number of us by doing so.
@Paul I actually was speaking with an individual from pretty high up at Diamond yesterday along with my friend (that owns the LCS) at pretty great length and that is where the info came from. I don't doubt there are myriad numbers out there and quoted, but directly it was stated that almost all of the New 52 are currently at or below the pre-52 numbers aside from some outliers. He had stated that this is the first that it happened and we were talking about how even at less than a full year it still had a longer tail than either of us (myself and my friend) had thought. Not sure if he was speaking about current numbers even (June) and the numbers may not be out publicly yet. I used to cover sales data for the gaming industry many moons ago and any released numbers should be taken with a massive grain of salt, the best barometer is to ask the actual retailers and from every retailer big and small there has been a precipitous drop off lately so it jives with what the Diamond rep stated.
At the very least, applying the same grain of salt to last year as well as this year, the volume this year is still more. The numbers Diamond releases while not exact, actually aren't usually all that far off, according to the SEC filings that Marvel used to make before they disappeared behind the corporate veil at Disney (the old forum actually had some breakdown on this at one time, sadly now lost to the ether). Relative to last year at this time, DC is doing somewhere near double the business this year than last. If the numbers were exaggerated this May, they probably were last May too. They're still estimating using the same methodology,so take out the absolute numbers and just look at relative to last year, which is what every corporation I've ever worked for does.
Are some titles doing less than some titles were last year? Absolutely. Has there been a drop off since September? Of course there has. There always is. Are they doing better than last year? Yes they are.
Again, even though those are only estimates, they are still substantially higher than last years estimates, so even with a margin of error, they're more, and more in any corporate business is a good thing.
My point though, is not really the sales. I was one of those 7977 people buying Xombi last year. I'm not a shareholder, so I don't really give a damn how much a book sells, iLife what I like. The point was more that, when JLA and Batman are your bestselling books, expect there to be more books like those. Traditional superhero stuff is their bread and butter for the larger audience, and I think that under Warner's more direct control, experimentation isn't going to be encouraged as much. Like it or not, DC under Warner, and Marvel under Disney, they're now studio properties. Remember when Miramax was the indie studio? Then, gradually, they started putting out stuff like She's All That? Hoping for experimentation is a worthy pursuit, but perhaps not one that's going to go where you'd like.
I get all of that I was just relaying info from basically the sources... Diamond and an established LCS since we just had the conversation. His exact words were that this was the first month where sales on individual titles were mostly back to the pre new 52 numbers and again his words that a few are dipping to lower 4 digits. That was from Diamond, I don't know if it was a total volume comparison it seemed to me to mean if you tak book X pre and post 52 this month that the sales numbers are the same for the first time since the relaunch. Stores are still having a hard time gauging orders for many books because of the new crops so that is also inflating things depending on how the numbers are derived. Earth 2 has a lot of shops sitting on a ton of excess. Ultimately it doesn't matter and the shops feel the burn more than anyone in this because they have a constantly moving target with cancellations and new titles popping in and out like they are right now. 52 seems unsustainable the way they are doing it now. Those Liefelds takeover books will get cut more of the original crop and others from the second/third wave too it seems so eventually they have to run out of spaghetti to throw at the wall to hit a magic number... Or come up with a new approach in part.
I get all of that I was just relaying info from basically the sources... Diamond and an established LCS since we just had the conversation. His exact words were that this was the first month where sales on individual titles were mostly back to the pre new 52 numbers and again his words that a few are dipping to lower 4 digits. That was from Diamond, I don't know if it was a total volume comparison it seemed to me to mean if you tak book X pre and post 52 this month that the sales numbers are the same for the first time since the relaunch. Stores are still having a hard time gauging orders for many books because of the new crops so that is also inflating things depending on how the numbers are derived. Earth 2 has a lot of shops sitting on a ton of excess. Ultimately it doesn't matter and the shops feel the burn more than anyone in this because they have a constantly moving target with cancellations and new titles popping in and out like they are right now. 52 seems unsustainable the way they are doing it now. Those Liefelds takeover books will get cut more of the original crop and others from the second/third wave too it seems so eventually they have to run out of spaghetti to throw at the wall to hit a magic number... Or come up with a new approach in part.
I think they'll always have books ready to fill in when they cancel the next batch. Captain Atom selling around 12k lasted 13 issues so that the next batch of books would be ready. If they don't have new titles ready, the lower selling books will continue to be published. It's that simple. As for comparing sales, a lot of the books were not even being published last year. From the top of my head the only books selling lower now are Superboy, GLC, Birds of Prey and Green Arrow. Superman and Flash are still selling higher. So is Dark Knight. Detective is still at least double. What else was still published last year: Action Comics Batman Justice League Detective Batgirl Green Lantern GLC Superman Superboy Supergirl Batman and Robin Batman Dark Knight Birds of Prey Batman Inc Earth2 (JSA) Wonder Woman Flash Green Arrow Teen Titans Legion of Superheroes That's 20 out of 52. Some stores will have sales return to pre-new 52 levels (depends on which months it's compared to) while other stores will still be selling more. On average stores are ordering more. Are the selling all their copies? That I can't address.
I'd really like to hear some numbers on DC digital sales, especially since they've given all digital buyers an incentive to wait a month. With very few exceptions I'm buying a month behind. Kind of a wildcard.
I am a major major fan of Perez. He is a big influence on my own artwork. I have discussed this with him a few times. He, to me, is a touchstone of modern comics visual storytelling. That said, I am not a fan of his writing. I can certainly see some writers treading over others because they have the power. That's corporate thinking. I don't like that Perez was put in a vacuum. Marvel has this over dc currently. Marvel gets how to coordinate within a group of titles. Dc's new plan is well thought out business wise, but we are seeing often that this is not the case creative wise. Creative teams leaving books after six issues says a lot. Mixing it up over and over on some is worse. And don't get me started on liefeld!
The zero issues are looking like a safety device built in to the plan early on to drop, tweak or change any creative issues before moving into year two.
Completely agree @MikeGallagher. The extra waves, the zero issues, the Before Watchmen, etc. all keep numbers jumping all around and that was what I was saying about the conversation I had this Wed. with the man from Diamond... I get that they aren't all apples to apples comparisons and that not every title can be directly compared pre/post but again I see no reason to doubt him and also see sales numbers from two large shops and it all jived. Again, ultimately matters little regardless. However, the zero issues actually are more concerning to me as it is almost like a shell game playing out. These blips to boost numbers over and over again are already getting push back from retailers and becoming tiring, communication is lacking as well even to retailers who many didn't know about key tie-ins/crossovers that have been happening and even fans didn't which made ordering and numbers crazy again. Again, business-wise all perfectly fine to inflate numbers or generate sales but it just all comes off as a bit lacking focus and direction and clear goals. That trickles down then into the creative teams and actual production of the comics and helps create a bad situation. Once the zero issues drop and fall away, things resume, DC then has to again take stock and rethink quite a few books to keep to 52. There is still the hooded woman and my major belief that DC will reboot again and possibly even return to old numbering or some other ridiculous move to try to bring back some of the long-time fans that they have alienated in favor of these quick flashes in the pan. They'll see it as a way to retain many of the new readers they gained *and* bring back more. Again, a pure business move. Which is where I think it is all heading. I think they have multiple safety valves at the ready and unfortunately I see them actually tugging on one or more of them sooner than later. We shall see.
I agree. You can see corporate Warner brothers involvement in this now. The whole new 52 is playing out almost like old pre TiVo television. Get the ratings. Follow the schedule. Here is where we need a crossover. Here is where sales are traditionally low so do this. I agree with the out strategy for another reboot, but I don't think it is to go back to the way it was. I think it's corporate thinking 'gosh these crisis things really sold in the past huh? Look how good flashpoint did. ' change for changes sake. Crisis built into the universe. Another fake problem to solve.
I am a major major fan of Perez. He is a big influence on my own artwork. I have discussed this with him a few times. He, to me, is a touchstone of modern comics visual storytelling. That said, I am not a fan of his writing. I can certainly see some writers treading over others because they have the power. That's corporate thinking. I don't like that Perez was put in a vacuum. Marvel has this over dc currently. Marvel gets how to coordinate within a group of titles. Dc's new plan is well thought out business wise, but we are seeing often that this is not the case creative wise. Creative teams leaving books after six issues says a lot. Mixing it up over and over on some is worse. And don't get me started on liefeld!
The zero issues are looking like a safety device built in to the plan early on to drop, tweak or change any creative issues before moving into year two.
The weird thing is, I was about to disagree with you, but the ONLY good writing stint I can think of with Perez was on Wonder Woman. As an artist under the "Marvel Style", he certainly can bring a lot to the party, and Marv Wolfman has talked about how he added a lot of the character richness to Teen Titans, but his run on Silver Surfer was unreadable, I didn't care for this Superman run, and his previous Superman run in the late 80's/early 90's was unremarkable.
I forgot about wonder woman. That was good. Maybe it was something close to his heart? Dunno. He is a great collaborator as you mention. But past that ww stint it's all pedestrian.
Those quotes are exactly the same as what he told me, I knew he would eventually come out with more of it. So for all the people that wanted to speculate that it had anything to do with the creators can now move on to a new theory... the reality is corporatization and people at the middle/top spoiling the entire thing for a lot of creatives. The cover thing was ridiculous when he told me about that, a fully finished cover and then a last minute change simply because someone else wanted it and had done their piece and no one communicated to anyone else. And then shittily communicate it and demand a super fast "fix." It is the demanding nature of a lot of it, no planning or vision, poor communication, and then push it all on the creative folks. I've worked in corporate America for a long time and it is exactly a case where they want so badly to be that. For what reason I'll never know. I hope it all goes entirely off the rails and those same creators at the top that should know better get axed and knocked far off their lofty perch.
There are some balancing comments from Freddie Williams related to Captain Atom and editorial meddling (or, in his case, the lack of it) on the latest Raging Bullets episode.
Comments
I'm just saying... what are we comparing the industry against? There are so many beautiful books out there now, and the bar for sophistication of the stories and characters is getting higher all the time. When I go back and read older books, it's the exceptional book that is even tolerable. The older it is, the less likely it is to be any good.
I happen to think the books are better than they've ever been, and for the motivated artist/writer, there are so many more opportunities. Everything created for the big two is attributed, and the opportunities to produce your own work (and to fund it via Kickstarter, sell it via a website, etc) are vast.
I just do not get the constant contempt for the books and the industry. The conscience of the industry, Neal Adams, and his Batman Odyssey fiasco is the best evidence of just how much freedom a creator can get today, even with the most valuable and lucrative properties from a major publisher. And also why even the heavy hitters (including George Perez) need strong editorial oversight sometimes.
I'd say some people just care about the end product. As @Torchsong said, they will buy the comics regardless of who is doing them.
And to be honest, I'm sort of among the people I just described. I really don't care about the behind-the-scenes-stuff, I just want a good comic to read.
Sorry @Zhurrie, I don't think I've provided you with much perspective.
Although with that said, I got Superman 2 from DCBS for $.70 and I actually liked it. Not enough to start buying the book monthly (although that's partly because I knew the book was in a mess with changing creators, editorial interference, etc, but even beyond that, I still don't think I would have), but enough to look for issues in cheap bins when I get the chance.
I simply am not buying this idea that the primary problem with Superman was editorial interference or lack of timely info. No doubt those were real problems, but this was a very idiosyncratic and dense book, at sharp odds with every other book in the New 52 line, but in keeping with much of what Perez has produced in the past. Perez's calling card is intricate layout/detail and packed pages. I think he just played this wrong, and it drained all the dynamism out of the book.
Did DC say to put three pages of text and action on every page? I just don't buy that.
I guess it's just that it's hard to go into a McDonald's, and expect them to be serving a fine filet mignon. I don't say that to condescend by any stretch, as there are a bunch of New 52 books that I'm reading and enjoying. Sometimes, I love a Big Mac, but my expectation is going to be quite different.
It's a testament to the love and dedication of the creators involved.
And I want to encourage those who are still full of that love despite the oppression of their Evil Corporate Overlords.
^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^
When you see even very large French and Japanese publishers and how they can still be very profitable and big but still have actual respect and very little of the mess we have with DC/Marvel I just have a hard time believing it can't be better across the board here.
I'm OK with none of that happening, things keep on the current trajectory, more awesome C-O/Indie stuff and Image and new small publishers breaking out... so I guess I should be lobbying hard for things to stay just how they are or even "better"! ;)
I agree with pretty much everything you've said here, but the one thing is what you said about the latest numbers. According to the numbers released for last month's sales, it's not true.
DC, for the month of May alone, was up 88% in unit sales (2.8 million over 1.5 million last year), and slightly over 100% in dollars, relative to the same month last year. Doubling your business in a mature market? That's not a bad thing, and the full year numbers would actually be better than that.
Average units per title went from 22,161 last year to 36,448 this year. The lowest selling DCU title (new that month) was Captain Atom at 12,264. Last year, the lowest selling DCU title was Freedom Fighters at 8,425.
The only DCU titles at 4 digits are reorders on the prior month's books, and then it's Johnny DC and Vertigo.
That said, I couldn't agree with you more that I'd love to see them get more experimental, however, the last few years have shown that true experimentation (my favourite example being last year's fantastic Xombi title) have not paid off for them (Xombi #3, last May sold only 7,977 units, and it dropped further from there). I can't say that I'm surprised they've largely moved away from that sort of publishing. They're only pissing off a small number of us by doing so.
Are some titles doing less than some titles were last year? Absolutely. Has there been a drop off since September? Of course there has. There always is. Are they doing better than last year? Yes they are.
Again, even though those are only estimates, they are still substantially higher than last years estimates, so even with a margin of error, they're more, and more in any corporate business is a good thing.
My point though, is not really the sales. I was one of those 7977 people buying Xombi last year. I'm not a shareholder, so I don't really give a damn how much a book sells, iLife what I like. The point was more that, when JLA and Batman are your bestselling books, expect there to be more books like those. Traditional superhero stuff is their bread and butter for the larger audience, and I think that under Warner's more direct control, experimentation isn't going to be encouraged as much. Like it or not, DC under Warner, and Marvel under Disney, they're now studio properties. Remember when Miramax was the indie studio? Then, gradually, they started putting out stuff like She's All That? Hoping for experimentation is a worthy pursuit, but perhaps not one that's going to go where you'd like.
As for comparing sales, a lot of the books were not even being published last year. From the top of my head the only books selling lower now are Superboy, GLC, Birds of Prey and Green Arrow.
Superman and Flash are still selling higher. So is Dark Knight. Detective is still at least double.
What else was still published last year:
Action Comics
Batman
Justice League
Detective
Batgirl
Green Lantern
GLC
Superman
Superboy
Supergirl
Batman and Robin
Batman Dark Knight
Birds of Prey
Batman Inc
Earth2 (JSA)
Wonder Woman
Flash
Green Arrow
Teen Titans
Legion of Superheroes
That's 20 out of 52. Some stores will have sales return to pre-new 52 levels (depends on which months it's compared to) while other stores will still be selling more. On average stores are ordering more. Are the selling all their copies? That I can't address.
That said, I am not a fan of his writing.
I can certainly see some writers treading over others because they have the power. That's corporate thinking. I don't like that Perez was put in a vacuum. Marvel has this over dc currently. Marvel gets how to coordinate within a group of titles. Dc's new plan is well thought out business wise, but we are seeing often that this is not the case creative wise. Creative teams leaving books after six issues says a lot. Mixing it up over and over on some is worse. And don't get me started on liefeld!
The zero issues are looking like a safety device built in to the plan early on to drop, tweak or change any creative issues before moving into year two.
The whole new 52 is playing out almost like old pre TiVo television. Get the ratings. Follow the schedule. Here is where we need a crossover. Here is where sales are traditionally low so do this.
I agree with the out strategy for another reboot, but I don't think it is to go back to the way it was. I think it's corporate thinking 'gosh these crisis things really sold in the past huh? Look how good flashpoint did. ' change for changes sake.
Crisis built into the universe. Another fake problem to solve.