DC Reduced Retailer Exclusive Covers Minimum From 3000 To 1000

Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: absolute, DC All-In

DC Comics have reduced their retailer exclusive covers minimum number order from 3000 to 1000 for DC All In.

Article Summary

DC Comics reduces retailer-exclusive cover minimums from 3000 to 1000 copies for DC All-In.

This change could lead to a resurgence of retailer sign-ups for exclusive covers, making each cover rarer.

DC All-In, relaunching in October, features new creators, story arcs, and concepts for characters.

Scott Snyder leads the DC All-In initiative, with more news expected leading up to San Diego Comic-Con.

Retailer-exclusive covers used to be a really big thing for Marvel and DC Comics. To get an exclusive retailer cover from Marvel or DC, shops, shows or creators had to order a minimum of 3000 copies, with subsequent variants of the variant at 1500 and 1000. They pay the full wholesale price, plus the artist’s cost – unless they are representing the artist themselves. These can be sold for premium prices or used for promotional purposes as they often have the name of the store somewhere. And they can really swell the orders of a title, even though it puts the production price across the board up significantly. We noted that for the 300,000 orders for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, one store at San Diego Comic-Con, SMZ at Booth #933, ordered over 1 in 1o of those comics just for itself.

Of late, there has been a lull in Marvel and DC Comics issuing retailer-exclusive covers. There are a handful, just not as many as they used to be. It’s a greater financial commitment—the TMNT covers were for print runs of 500 and up; 3000 is a lot more expensive. But it seems that for Absolute and DC All-In, DC Comics has dropped the minimum from 3000 copies to 1000 copies and has seen a massive resurgence of retailers and events signing up for the deal.

The details of the covers are still under embargo and NDA. But expect a lot of them. A lot… and while there will be more covers out there, each one will be a lot rarer than they used to be…

DC All-In is the new relaunch for DC Comics in October, which will encompass the new Absolute Universe line but also across the board with new creators, new story arcs and new concepts for characters, intended to be a jumping-on-point for readers for DC Comics as a whole. With Scott Snyder as a creative lead, it went official in July, but has been covered on Bleeding Cool for some time. Expect more news this week, running into San Diego Comic-Con and beyond. And you can use our Absolute tag, and DC All-In tag to catch up on all our previous and future reporting on this story, which has been going since last October.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!