With comic book stores still closed across the world, DC has announced an expansion of its DC Digital First program, which is serializing material in digital format.
“Comic book fans want more access to content than ever before,” DC chief creative officer and publisher Jim Lee said Monday in a statement. “This strategy is intended to get daily content to fans immediately, and also to ensure that when comic shops open back up for business, they will have new content and product that their customers will want. In the meantime, we will have properly stoked and protected the demand for comics, keeping fans interested in our characters and stories.”
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To date, the DC Digital First program has focused on material tying in with media adaptations of DC properties, including the best-selling Injustice: Gods Among Us and DC Comics: Bombshells series, as well as multiple titles tying in with The CW’s Arrowverse shows. Most recently, DC launched Batman: The Adventures Continue, which expands upon the world of the popular 1990s animated Batman series.
The first titles released as part of the new expansion will be Superman: The Man of Tomorrow, Batman: Gotham Nights, Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace, Aquaman: Deep Dives, Flash: Fastest Man Alive, Swamp Thing: New Roots and DC Super Hero Girls: Infinite Frenemies, each debuting as individual books having previously been serialized in various mass-market DC 100-Page Giant series.
“I really want to stress that regularly scheduled and solicited print comics, traditionally available on Wednesdays, will continue to be available day-and-date digitally on Tuesdays moving forward,” added Lee. “On the other hand, DC Digital First comics will be released seven days a week, with a strikingly different trade dress that will distinguish these titles from physical versions.”
News of the expansion follows DC’s announcement last week that it would be shipping a limited selection of new comic book issues to stores in North America starting April 28, using new distribution companies while Diamond Comic Distributors — which had previously exclusively handled DC’s single issue releases — remains shuttered until an unidentified point in late May.
Additionally, DC on Monday launched DC Essential Reads, a new digital promotion that will release first issues of a number of best-selling and critically acclaimed runs for free for a limited period. Titles included in this promotion, which runs until June 8, will include Watchmen No. 1, The Sandman No. 1 and Doomsday Clock No. 1.
