AQUAMAN Subscriptions Saved

I might have missed it being stated elsewhere, but after Didio hinted that there might be a change as to whether the Aquaman subscription was being killed, I can confirm it is no longer the case.

I called the company that handles the subscriptions and they indicated that, not only was the cancellation reversed, but subscribers would be getting an extra issue tacked on to their subscription to make up for the confusion.

Interestingly enough, when I asked them about the Green Lantern: New Guardians sub I had a letter telling me was being moved to GLC, they could find no record that GL:NG was having its subscriptions cut off. They're going to look into it to make sure, but it might well be another book that is surviving, albeit due to a miscommunication, rather than a change in plans.

DC Cutting Back On Subscriptions?

Heidi MacDonald's THE BEAT has noticed that DC has dropped the number of titles that they offer for subscription on their site. I posted the following as a comment there, but since it is something I've attempted to call attention to a number of times here, I figured I'd slap it in its own blog entry:

Funny, just about a week ago, they offered a drastically reduced subscription to Aquaman through Tanga. It was $11 for a full year. I've been skipping that book, but got sucked into subscribing at that price. I've linked to a screen cap of the offering if anyone doubts it. I've kind of wondered how happy retail partners would be about them offering a decent section of their books at a 67+% discount (and no tax). BATMAN, BATMAN & ROBIN and BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT ($12) have all been offered (I don't recall DETECTIVE making it on the site yet). JUSTICE LEAGUE, GREEN LANTERN and GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS have, also, been offered.

I know the argument for the 30-35% discount not being an instance of them competing with the DM is based around the inconsistent delivery dates and possible damage, but doubling that discount (which is something no retailer can match) has to open that back up to concern, no?

Damn You, Tanga!

I'd quit Aquaman. The same "water/fish/etc" jokes were getting used repeatedly and I felt like it was more to take aim at fans to make fun of them rather than make them laugh. I generally like the character and this is the first time I can recall dropping a Johns book.

But then Tanga went and threw it up as an $11 subscription.

At least I don't have to feel as guilty about this one, as I'd not have been buying it at the LCS currently.

Green Lantern At Less Than 1/3 Cover Price

You'll find it for just that price (pops up automatically for me, but some may need the discount code of GREEN to be put in on the final checkout page).

I've been beating this drum for awhile, but the online deal site, Tanga.com, has had several DC relaunch titles for postal subscriptions at less than one-third the cover price.

Snail mail subscriptions are always cheaper, but never before have they regularly beaten even the discount that retailers get in buying the book through Diamond.

If you couple this with the returnability commitment that DC keeps expanding out for additional months, it might seem to indicate that the publishing strategy on the physical side is to increase circulation so that ad buys will be more attractive and/or increase the pool of potential digital subscribers.

Six or so DC titles offered up at a dangerously low price (not quite a loss, necessarily, given DC cutting out retail and distribution, but having to pay lower class mail rates) upping the circulation and putting them in direct contact with the customer in a way that retailers won't be as alerted to as Marvel's "free digital copy for every comic" idea seems like it is good for the reader and possibly the publisher, but not anyone in between.

DC Comics: Quietly Undercutting The Direct Market

A big deal has been made about digital pricing, with an eye towards how DC will try to discount the cost of electronic comics to increase readership. Currently, the pricing is identical to the printer cover price for the first four weeks of release, which essentially makes it cost more than the print version, given the assorted discounts that can be found at brick and mortar shops as well as online retailers.

Enter Tanga.com.

If you search for Tanga and DC Comics on some of the discount deal sites, like SlickDeals.net, you'll find them offering full year subscriptions to their physical books FOR LESS THAN A DOLLAR PER ISSUE. That is a discount that beats anything an actual retail partner could ever afford to regularly offer.

At the link above, you can see they have made this offer on Batman & Robin, Batman (twice!) and Swamp Thing. They've done this for Justice League and Green Lantern, as well. Some of the offerings came before the relaunch books were on the shelves, but I believe all came after the relaunch push was announced.

I could be wrong, but I believe at least four of the five are among their "greater than 100k sold" titles in the relaunch, with Justice League purportedly being well in excess of 200k. To put the fine point on it: they're largely cherry picking what are their bread and butter titles for the direct market to push for an obscene direct-to-the-customer discount.

You can name all the postal subscription drawbacks you like, but at a greater than 66% discount, you're increasingly likely to find a reader willing to make that sacrifice for a sweetheart deal.