DC’s Dan DiDio on the Double-Edged Success of Reprinting Old Comics

We be in an epoch where making access to high-pitched - quality versions of retro comics is easier than ever . That can only be a dear thing , correct ? Not exactly , at least concord to DC Comics ’ co - publisher , Dan DiDio .

According toNewsarama , while speaking to devotee at the DC Meet the Publishers venire at San Diego Comic - Con yesterday , DiDio poll the audience over just how many mass in the room read DC ’s Facsimile Editions — reprints of classic storylines from the company ’ long history in their entirety , in good order down to the original adverts these number ran with .

The publisher got on board with the train to begin with this yr , survey in the footsteps of Marvel , who have been doing a similar thing for a while to this level , and to great winner .

Robin faces mortal peril in the Facsimile release cover art of Batman #232.

Robin faces mortal peril in the Facsimile release cover art of Batman #232.Image: Neal Adams (DC Comics)

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It ’s worked well for DC too , but interestingly DiDio went on to express that it ’s not inevitably something he ’s all pleased with :

We do these Facsimile Editions where we reprint older issues of comedian including all the previous advertising and stuff … and in some cases these are selling more than the new comics with these eccentric . People are more concerned in buy the stories from 30 or 40 years ago than the contemporary stories , and that ’s a failure on us .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

We should be focused on motivate thing forward , always push the boundaries and receive new narration to tell . That ’s how we ’ll live on and grow this industry .

Given all thecurrent shake upsat DC , as it tries to realine its current comics turnout , it make sense that DiDio would at least like to see fans more invigorated by thecurrent creative outputinstead of flocking to reprinted classics . But as more and more reader of all ages come into comics for the first clock time , stimulate easier access code to iconic stories from across a newspaper publisher ’s back catalogue is a worthful gateway to the bequest story behind those current character .

But DiDio ’s right in that it ’s not the only thing a publishing company can focus on — there has to be new books and serial to keep it all going . If people are n’t onboarding to the current books on fling as enthusiastically as they are going back to old ones ? That ’s a problem DC needs to deal with .

William Duplessie