Dc General Manager Svp Anne Leung Depies' Keynote Speech To Comicspro

DC Comics General Manager and Senior Vice President Anne Leung DePies gave the Keynote speech at ComicsPRO, the comic book retailer summit being held at Glendale, California. Bleeding Cool has the transcript:

"ComicsPRO is an incredibly important organisation to DC. We are so appreciative of your work and the leadership in our industry, so let's start with who the heck I am. I'm a new face to many of you, but I spent almost 15 years working behind the scenes at DC. I'm currently the general manager of DC Comics, focusing on our business and partnering with our publisher and chief creative officer, Jim Lee.

"And DC Comics, honestly, this has been a dream and not anything I could've planned for. Certainly not a roadmap that my parents could've imagined. My mother may not know what I actually do for a living, but she does know Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman and how important these characters are to many, many people around the world. So, looking back, I started in 2021… 2011. I'm trying to make myself a little younger. Perfect timing, at that time, I had backstage access to the New 52. This also meant front-row seats watching my friend Dan try to kill off Nightwingin 2011 and 2012, 2013, and 2014. Actually, I'm just being nice. It came up every six months. So I've been around for a while, but time flies.

"The last time we had a Batman number one was during Rebirth, and that was almost ten years ago. I am incredibly proud and humbled to lead this company with Jim in his early days in DC. I immerse myself in the fundamentals, planning fifth weeks, annual page rates, participation, paper, printing and finding retailer discount distributor fees co-op and marketing. I also learned very quickly that this business is made up of individuals with battle-tested experience, incredible love of our characters, and a desire to tell the best story possible. And then share those stories with as many people as possible. And today, more than ever, I firmly believe in the power of storytelling, the power of our characters, the power of comics and the power of the direct market [APPLAUSE]. Thank you. It's hard to know if you're listening because I know you're having lunch, so…

"The direct market is the bread and butter of our business. When the direct market is strong, DC is strong, bottom line. In this moment, we are all facing both global and industry challenges. On the one hand, we have inflation, tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and Diamond's bankruptcy, just to name a few, challenging our basic business models. On the other hand, we're all fighting for the attention of our fans and a share of that customer's wallet. But there should be a lot of optimism. Interest in comics in our medium is as strong as ever. There are new generations interested in our stories, our characters and our craft. And here at DC, we're looking forward to July. We're so excited for Superman in the theatres in July. We're fortunate to have great partners in Peter Saffron andJames Gunn at DC Studios. They are both comics fanatics. I'm sure you've seen James share on social media the books he loves to read, and every time that happens, we and I think you, see spikes in sales. And Peter has an incredibly comprehensive knowledge of our canon. We are so fortunate to have James and Peter rooting for us and our comic industry. If 2024 showed anything, it's that comic fans are eager and ready to read what comes next. We are over the moon and appreciative of the support you have shown, from Absolute Power to All In and, of course, our Absolute line. While there is no silver bullet for the market challenges we face, I am confident that, as this industry has done many times before, we have a solid path forward that is grounded in the fundamentals of a comic business with an eye towards building the future.

"For DC, our plan is pretty straightforward. Tell the best stories possible, bring in new fans and readers, meet the fans where they are and invest for the future; none of these things is surprising directly or indirectly; they're the building blocks of our businesses. Everything begins with telling the best possible stories. Just to name a few, working with world-class writers and artists like Matt and Jorge, Scott and Dan, Tom and Bilquest, we strive to bring the best stories we can to you. We're expanding our canon, we're creating a diverse portfolio of books across genres, formats and ages. We want to give you the stories that you can sell. The successes of 2024, including All In and Absolute, tell us that the demand for great superhero storytelling remains. It is not fatigued."

"We just announced the sixth printing of Absolute Batman number one… sorry, Nancy, have we announced it? I guess I just did. And you probably thought I wasn't gonna make any announcements. Let me… truth be told, I don't get the fun ones, so I'm coming back all the time now. To date, with only 15 issues, the Absolute line has sold over 2.5 million units, and we're not even close to being done. It is through our stories that we bring excitement to our line and energise our base, bringing back the lapsed readers and attracting new ones. You don't need me to remind you that Jim and Jeph have Hushthis year. You don't need me to remind you that we have a Batman number one. You don't need me to remind you that we're bringing back Vertigo. All this is in service to our fans and also to bring in new fans and new readers. It's not an easy task to bring in new readers, but the reward is great."

"Our research shows that those who enter the DC ecosystem as a comic reader are stickier. They stay around, they hang around, and they spend more than other fans. In some ways, it's not surprising. We know how passionate our comic fans are, so DC will continue to invest in the Young Adult and middle-grade line of books, we have heard your feedback. [APPLAUSE] Wooo! We have heard your feedback and are actively working on new formats and products for the direct market, and this year in 2025, we are expanding into the Early Reader line, which is for ages 5 to 7. I am confident that this line will bring in young fans and even some lapsed parent fans starting with Superman's Good Guy Gangand Aquamanatee, which really just rolls off your tongue. So we're very excited, I can't wait for you to see them."

"So this leads me to our third pillar, meeting fans where they are. What this means is that we need to continue to innovate with new products and with how we engage with our fans. Sometimes, that means looking at our backlist differently, like we did with Compact Comics and DC Finest. Sometimes that means going to where the new customers are and helping them find their way to the direct market. Last year, we started a new program with discount stores like Dollar Tree, WinCo and Five Below to sell reprints of number ones featuring our iconic characters. On the back cover of each comic is an ad to drive readers to your stores. The goal is to bring these new readers into the market. When I think about meeting fans where they are, you, the retailers, are really the best example of that. You built and nurtured the communities around your stores. We need to support what you're doing. By being planful with our marketing approach, we create excitement for our events, supporting and engaging fans, starting at FOC and all the way through, in stores and beyond. Our activations should leverage both in-person opportunities and digital tools to nurture our very valuable fan communities. We're open to your ideas, no one knows our fans better than you. Behind the scenes… oops, I skipped something. Let me go back for a paragraph. Last but certainly, not least, we are investing in the future. This means that everything I've already talked about, and I'm not sure how my timing is going, but I'm gonna say it's okay… But also preparing for the unknown."

"Behind the scenes, DC is investing in our teams and in our operations, including research and analytics. These investments will help us weather current and future challenges in the marketplace. There are many externalities beyond our control, but we can certainly control how we prepare. When it comes to the unknown of tariffs or more supply chain disruptions, we scenario plan. We gather data, we analyse, we develop options, and we figure out game plans. All this is to ensure that there is no disruption to our business, making sure we get our books to you, so you can get them to your customers. I continue to believe in the power of comics, the resilience of our industry and this community's ability to innovate. There is no doubt that uncertainties of the wider world will likely bring unexpected challenges this coming year, but as a community, every one of us is ready. Writers, artists, publishers, distributors, retailers, and each person involved in bringing the power of comics. There are so many opportunities in front of us, especially if we work together and surprise and delight fans. Speaking of amazing opportunities of working together and the power of comics, we're deeply grateful for your support of the DC Vs Marvel Omnibus and the Amalgam Omnibus last year. I have a couple of special guests who share that sentiment and want to come up and thank you for moving thousands and thousands of very, very heavy hard covers. But before I do that and give you back the floor, thank you for your time, it's an honour working with you."

"Please welcome Marie Javins, EIC of DC Comics… and CB Cebuslki, EIC of Marvel Comics." And that's when we got the announcement of the new Marvel/DC crossovers…

Catch up with all our ComicsPRO breaking news using this link if you want… ComicsPRO is a trade association for comic book retailers, a volunteer non-profit organization that states it is dedicated to improving the comic book speciality market. Since the decline of Diamond, ComicsPRO Summit has become the central annual comic book retailer meet-up occasion.