DC won't provide clear numbers for digital sales
John Rood and Bob Wayne are trying to assure that everything's working out fine for their relaunch of DC titles, but again, as is typical these days for them and Marvel, they won't provide any specific sales numbers for how many books actually sold to customers, and it's the same case now with digital sales, where they tell a little something else of interest:
This posting on Comics Worth Reading also tells why this is bound to be yet another short-lived "celebration" for them.
Let's talk a bit about digital. I know Jim Lee was out there talking about "Justice League's" digital sales being good, and we've heard about the DC App being high ranked on iTunes, but those are really non-specific metrics. Can you guys tell us how many copies "Justice League" or any of the books have sold so far through the iPad app?And what's that supposed to mean? That digital results aren't going through the roof as they were hoping? It's been awhile since Marvel tried this same idea, and the novelty's worn off, so that could explain in part why, despite what they're telling, it's not working out for them. They've gotten in on the game too late. Besides, the main problem is: their storytelling is simply bad.
Rood: We can't. We can't provide specific numbers. I'll tell you were delighted by the digital sales, but I can't say that they've exceeded expectations in a way that the physical sales have exceeded our forecast and expectations. In the "nice problem to have" department, we've got both media clicking in a way that can only tell us that this is by our design [digital] is working as an additive media and not a replacement one.
This posting on Comics Worth Reading also tells why this is bound to be yet another short-lived "celebration" for them.
