In his annual sitdown with retailer website ICv2.com, DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz talks at some length about the state of the market, web delivery, 52, the CMX manga line and more.
The interview, which includes responses from Stephanie Fierman, DC’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, was conducted at Comic-Con, so parts of the conversation are a bit dated (for instance, UGO.com began carrying the first five issues of 52 two weeks ago).
The Q&A is probably at its most interesting here, when Levitz addresses the 52 model by candidly looking at DC’s history experimenting with different formats — namely, the graphic novel and the weekly comic book.
The experiment in 1979 or ’80 with Manhunter, based on the European album? “[L]asted for about 2.5 seconds and didn’t work.” Early-’80s Baxter reprints? “That was a lead balloon.” Action Comics Weekly? “[A] notable failure.”
So far, Levitz says, 52 is “thankfully a very, very successful” experiment.
“I think part of the reason for success is Dan [Didio] brought to it an approach to creating new material that was modeled on his TV experience using team writing and building it so the creative people were not so much interchangeable parts,” Levitz says, “but teamed parts so that a consistent product could come out week after week, but without the reader paying attention to the label of which member of the team was doing which job which day.”
Read the interview: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
