Comin’ At Ya… Again: DC To Use 3D Covers In September

Septembers have been a big deal for DC Comics ever since they staged the New 52 reboot in September, 2011. In 2012, DC released issues numbered zero for each of their titles. Last year, they published a lot of 23 and 24 “point” issues, focused on the main villains of each title… including a few that they just made up. I mean, seriously: Relic? That guy just got beat down like six months ago and I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup of old Charlton Comics villains or creepy circus clowns.

But last year, not only did we get a ton of villain comics, but we got a bunch of actually pretty sweet 3D lenticular covers for those books. Or at least some of us did. When word started going around that the available stock of 3D covers might not cover the orders, we told the owner of our local comic store, where they know me by name and ask me to stop offering to show the paying customers if they want to check out 1D, that we were willing to accept copies with standard 2D covers if he ran short. He initially said that he didn’t think it would be an issue. And then we got about three of the 3D covers, and his heartfelt thanks for being willing to compromise.

So what does DC have in store for this coming September, the third anniversary of the big reboot?

Yeah, more 3D covers.

So let me start with this: DC’s 3D covers from last year were pretty sweet… at least the ones we saw were. Again: the 3D covers were the first time ever that our local guy told me he could get me something and then couldn’t follow through. So to help hype up the news about 2014’s 3D covers, DC’s Co-Publisher Dan Didio did an interview with Newsarama to expand on the news:

The last [3D covers] did extraordinarily well for us. And you know, it wasn’t without its challenges.

And the best part about it is that we had a chance to work with a number of retailers. We heard what their concerns were. And we figure we came out with a structure and plan right now that I think allows everybody to feel confident in how to order these things, to make sure that the right amount of books are on the shelf.

What we’ve done is accelerate the initial order and [final order cutoff] process. Instead of doing this four months out, we’re actually doing it six months out in order to give the retailers time to order properly, and for us to build the books with enough time to get the lenticular covers on to the order specifications that will be given to us from the retailers.

Further, DiDio said that the 3D issues will tie into DC’s upcoming weekly series, Futures End, which shows what the DC Universe might be like in five and even 35 years, and that the covers will include a new “flicker effect” to give a glimpse where the characters might be in that timeframe.

And that’s the reason why we have the “might” aspect of our conversation. Because the 35-years-in-the-future story is a very dystopic future. And because of that, we’re saying that it might happen.

Ultimately, the goal of the Futures End story is to reset the future so that that type of end for our characters does not happen.

So where are the ideas of these future stories coming from, Dan?

These stories aren’t going to just be tied into the weekly. But what you’ll be seeing is a lot of the writers who are working on series right now projecting forward — their ideas, their storylines, where they think their character might be five years from now.

What that means is that you have a writer who’s working on a series currently, and he’s looking forward to his run five years from now, where he anticipates the characters will be at that time.

Wow. So based on how DC Editorial’s been working in the past year or so, this will either be a bunch of stories about people working on indie comics. Either that, or it might be a cynical attempt by editorial to preemptively reject previously-approved storylines five years in advance so they can get a month off in August, 2019.

(via Newsarama)