DC Comics Insider Exposes DC All In Sales Are Far Lower Than Expected And Absolute Batman Writer Scott Snyder is Panicking Behind The Scenes

DC Comics is one month from DC All In and Absolute Batman, but comic book readers are largely checked out from the company already.

We’re less than a month before DC Comics launches their DC All-In titles along with their new Absolute DC Universe helmed by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson. Unlike most events in recent comic book history, the company is meeting the launch with dread and fear instead of excitement. An insider told Fandom Pulse many jobs are on the line and that pre-sales numbers are not looking to be where the company hoped. 

When DC Comics first announced the initiative prior to San Diego Comic-Con, they did so with a long promotional video that looked more like a hostage video holding Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson at gunpoint rather than appearing to be something the men wanted to do. The “all in” messaging is a strange one by itself, as with the same writers and artists working for the same company, it begs the question were these people not trying to write their best, most exciting stories before? If not, why not? 

For comic customers, that seems to be the main problem. DC Comics has done the same thing repeatedly and keeps trying it again. According to a recent video from Thinking Critical, 66% of their books currently being published are selling below what they consider their cancelation line—the point where a book needs to be canceled because it’s not profitable. Yet instead of bringing in new talent and new ideas, DC All In is mostly a shuffling of the deck of the same people who brought the company to the brink of destruction. 

DC Comics has a track record in recent years of not following through with any initiative, change, or even simply finishing a line of graphic novels they start publishing. It’s led comic readers and customers to have no faith in the company to progress characters, stick with storylines, or see anything through with reboots and retcons looming for characters all of the time. That lack of confidence has made it difficult for books to sell because it’s sent the message that the stories currently being published don’t matter.

We have seen a string of reboots in recent years: Rebirth, then Future State (which was supposed to be a much bigger event than the flop ended up being), then Dawn of DC, and now this Absolute DC Universe. It appears the company has dipped into the well too many times. 

Our industry insiders tell us that Scott Snyder, in particular, is a nervous wreck over the event. For Snyder personally, this DC All-In means his legacy in the comic industry. After he’d left DC Comics to pursue independent works, none of his projects took off like he’d anticipated. Even his high profile Nocterra only did acceptable sales numbers and didn’t propel him to superstardom like many would have thought. His name cache didn’t push him to the levels of a Jonathan Hickman or Mark Millar like many in the industry were expecting. 

On the opposite side, the whisper network inside comics has it out for Snyder. They’ve wanted him canceled several times and are looking for a reason to put his head on a plate. With 2024 being a bad year for the whisper network’s sales and power within the industry, they’re ready to lash out.

It’s the reason we saw Snyder making a political post the other day about “xenophobia” when the Absolute Batman writer is typically silent on such matters. According to our insider, he’s being careful now to signal where he is politically ahead of the election so he can hope to have a little protection from the cancelation mob inside the industry. 

The problem Scott Snyder and company are going to face with DC All In isn’t with the industry’s embedded activists, however, it’s with the fans who feel burned by DC Comics and have not been given enough of a reason to come back. Our insider also tells us that the pre-sales on DC All In and the Absolute DC Universe only hit about 50% of projections, meaning retailers are already savvy to not over-ordering on events where DC Comics doesn’t do much to get the fans excited. 

With odd choices like promoting Tom Taylor to Detective Comics after his gay Superman run failed to generate sales, and Kelly Thompson on Absolute Wonder Woman when she’s another non-seller who the whisper network likes to promote in the name of feminism, it seems DC Comics is simply doing the same thing, rebooting and rebranding as usual.

While Snyder indicated he’s got storylines planned for Absolute Batman for two years, he also made a strange post on X indicating that it’s only if sales are up to muster, and the mask slipped a little as he revealed that would only be if they’re not fired in the meantime. 

The nervousness and lack of confidence in the event is showing to fans, who have been tepid in pre-ordering the books launching with DC All In. No one wants to see another event that will “change the universe forever” only to get memory-holed in twelve issues when the bulk of titles get canceled and relaunched. Readers are fed up with the lack of consistency, lack of care for characters, and lack of development in the comic industry. This might be the last chance DC Comics gets in this form.

What do you think of DC Comics sales not being where they want for DC All In and the Absolute DC Universe? Leave a comment and let us know.

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