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Peter David, formerly the writer of Young Justice, responds on his blog to comments DC Executive Editor Dan Didio apparently made in an interview on Newsarama. PAD writes:
First he [Didio] complained about the quality of the book's sales, stating that a book which features such iconic characters should have far higher numbers. And second he asserted that "Slobo" ruined the character of Lobo.The aspect that Dan perpetually leaves out of his two-part evisceration of "Young Justice" is that YJ was specifically designed to appeal to a younger readership. That was the mandate from editorial. That's what I was asked to write. YJ was intended to skew young--in its stories, in its subject matter, in its readership--with the notion that it would draw in younger readers who would eventually "graduate" to the older-skewing titles. I was told at the outset that DC neither expected nor needed the book to sell huge numbers; it was aiming at the long-term goal of bringing in new, younger readers. So his complaining about the quality of the sales is irrelevant...not to mention that YJ outsold "Impulse" and "Superboy," both of which were also cancelled, and even he admits the book was turning a profit. So pointing to these iconic characters--characters so "iconic" that DC did away with them--and complaining that sales didn't reflect their presence is really beside the point.
Later in the comments section, PAD writes:
what is deceptive is that he [Didio] didn't say, "Peter was writing exactly what he'd been told to write, but I decided to go in a different direction." Instead he simply said, "The book wasn't selling as well as it should have been." They canceled it for one reason and one reason only: To relaunch "Teen Titans" so that they could tie in with the new animated series. A series which was, ironically, in tone and style, influenced by "Young Justice."
To which retailer Brian Hibbs responds in the comments section:
I'll just note that the last issue of YJ (#55, 3/03) sold approximately 24k copies.TEEN TITANS #1 (7/03) sold approximately 75k.
The most recent issue of TT (#36) came in at 71k.
Regardless of the "tone" of Didio's comments, it does appear that his decision was the correct one FOR THE FRANCHISE -- sales have about TRIPLED in the rebranding/repositioning, and have stayed high ever since.
Posted by YMB Staff at July 24, 2006 06:30 PM