'DC Nation' #0 and 'Action Comics' #1000 Drew Massive Orders

DC Nation #0 will ship over 1 million copes and become the top-selling DC comic during [...]

DC Nation #0 will ship over 1 million copes and become the top-selling DC comic during co-publisher Dan DiDio's time with the company.

The announcement came at a retailers-only panel at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) today. DiDio also revealed that Action Comics #1000, despite a hefty price tag, received over 500,000 orders.

"If we can get one million of these into the hands of fans, that could change everything," DiDio said of DC Nation, an anthology one-shot featuring a number of DC's top heroes.

Comics orders, particularly for major issues like these, tend to be inflated relative to the number of actual readers, since comics retailers have to pre-order the issues far in advance based on anticipated sales. That, combined with collectors hoarding unsold copies (especially of issues like Action Comics #1000, which has several variant covers) do not guarantee that order numbers closely track with the number that will end up being read by an individual consumer.

Still, even with massive order numbers, comics like DC Universe: Rebirth #1 have managed to sell out quickly and go back for numerous reprints, most or all of which have dubious value to collectors and completists, which implies that most of the consumers buying them are readers.

While Action Comics #1000 is an anniversary issue that celebrates the history of the company, the character of Superman, and the comic itself, DC Nation is more nakedly a book designed to hook in new potential readers via a low price point, familiar characters, and all-star creators.

DC Nation #0, which will provide a look ahead at DC's upcoming stories and events, carries a 25-cent price tag. Action Comics #1000 will retail for $7.99, meaning that it will likely take the top spot in dollar sales this month by a wide margin. Each of the two books will feature Superman stories by Brian Michael Bendis, who will take over both Superman and Action Comics this summer after the titles take a short hiatus to make way for his weekly miniseries The Man of Steel.

Bendis's Superman story in Action Comics #1000 and his story in DC Nation #0 will both reportedly set the stage for The Man of Steel, setting up plot threads that Bendis will explore in the miniseries and delving into unexplored corners of Superman's origin. The Action Comics story will be drawn by DiDio's co-publisher at DC, Jim Lee. Comics legend Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez will draw the story in DC Nation.

Set after the events of Dark Nights: Metal, the four-issue Justice League: No Justice miniseries will team writers Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson, and Scott Snyder with artist Francis Manapul. Following the miniseries, the status quo for the Justice League family of titles will be fundamentally altered, and artist Jorge Jiménez (Super Sons) will lend his talents to helping tease the post-Metal world for DC Nation. Justice League: No Justice launches on May 9, just days after Free Comic Book Day.

In a Batman story by Tom King and artist Clay Mann, The Joker gets word about the wedding between the Bat and the Cat, and he's not happy. With the wedding story arc reaching its climax in Batman #50 on sale July 4, The Joker will be that one wedding guest most likely to speak now and not hold his peace at all.

Action Comics #1000 will be in stores on April 18. Accompanying that issue will be a hardcover collection celebrating 80 years of Superman and 1,000 issues of Action Comics. DC Nation #0 will be in stores on May 2, just before Free Comic Book Day. The issue will be made available for free as a digital download.

h/t: Newsarama

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