DC Announces “After Watchmen, What’s Next?” Promotion
- Posted by Johanna on February 17, 2009 at 8:56 pm
- Category: Comic News
Now this is smart. DC is thinking ahead, beyond their upcoming hoped-for-blockbuster movie, and trying to figure out how to keep customers interested by feeding them more suggestions on what to buy.
DC has announced the “After Watchmen, What’s Next?” marketing campaign that
spotlights several award-winning, best-selling titles from our various imprints. Each book reflects an aspect of WATCHMEN’s broad appeal — including other works by Alan Moore, science fiction tales, post-modern super hero action, and sophisticated titles for mature readers — and is a great entry point for both new fans just discovering graphic novels and established readers looking to try something new.
Due out beginning in March are five special comics with a one-dollar cover price and branded trade dress. Each leads into a series of collected editions, to hook interested customers. The five comics are:
- Saga of the Swamp Thing #21, March 11 (more Alan Moore)
- Transmetropolitan #1, March 18 (science fiction)
- Planetary #1, March 25 (smart-aleck superhero rewriting)
- Preacher #1, April 1 (???)
- Identity Crisis #1, April 8 (“one of these things is not like the other”, but they need something from the “main line”, I suppose)
Additionally, DC is running house ads in DCU, Vertigo, and WildStorm comics as well as covering the effort in the editorial columns. There will be downloadable material available to retailers and groups set up on MySpace and Facebook. DC will also be giving away a 32-page booklet and bookmarks at their convention booths as well as updating their Watchmen promo page to cover the effort.
To order the $1 comics at a 60% discount, retailers need to contact their Diamond or DC representative.
6 Responses to “DC Announces “After Watchmen, What’s Next?” Promotion”
Leave a Comment
Subscribe to comment feed.
February 17, 2009 at 9:09 PM
Wow, so we will be getting an issue of Planetary this year! Yay! And since it’s already written, there’s no chance for a delay, right?
February 17, 2009 at 9:15 PM
Not only is “one of these things not like the other,” but interesting that they went with Identity Crisis and not Batman RIP (with which Dark Knight fans might feel more comfortable). Maybe Identity Crisis leads into more varied collections, or maybe Identity Crisis’s team-of-heroes-in-trouble vibe meshes more strongly with Watchmen?
February 17, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Transmet movie NOW, dammit! I want to see Patrick Stewart as Spider before he gets too old.
February 17, 2009 at 11:35 PM
If these are going to be sold in comic book shops exclusively, this promotion is going to be a huge waste of time for DC.
Or am I stating the obvious.
February 18, 2009 at 7:25 AM
CE, I suspect some higher-ups would get stroppy if there wasn’t some entry point into the “main” DCU, which is still the bread-and-butter of their strategies.
Personally, I think Marvel really missed the boat not having The Twelve done and collected to tie in.
JDH, the promo booklets will be given out at conventions (which more and more attract movie as well as comic fans), and there was some mention of giving them out at bookstores as well.
March 12, 2009 at 9:02 PM
[...] website for the After Watchmen, What’s Next? promotional campaign has gone live at AfterWatchmen.com with an expanded list of 20 titles and a [...]