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Selling the Blackest Night

By Glenn Walker

Urban legend has it that several years ago, though not too long ago, there was a stockholders meeting at Time Warner and two things were brought up.  One was that “Superman” and “Batman” were called properties, not characters, or pop culture icons, or even comic books.  The other thing was apparently folks at that meeting also were quoted as saying, “Comic books?  Do they still even make those things?”

For the record, Time Warner owns DC Comics, the publishers of both Superman and Batman for seventy-five years, and represents almost half of the comics market.  Now whether this tale is apocryphal or not is still up in the air, but it does shed some light on how comics and their characters are viewed in the business world.  The two don’t really mix.

In the tiny subculture of pop culture that is the comics world, one of the biggest events of the last year has been DC Comics’ Blackest Night.  This Green Lantern mini-series and storyline crossed over into many of DC’s other titles and featured not only multiple colored versions of the Green Lantern Corps, but also the dead coming back to take the living.  Don’t worry, the good guys won, and the series was quickly followed by the current bi-weekly series Brightest Day.

The full spectrum of power rings related to the Blackest Night storyline in DC Comics

Blackest Night was successful for a number of reasons – just darned good writing and visual storytelling, accessibility to new readers, and of course, the marketing.  With each new color of Lantern that was introduced, DC decided to release a corresponding ring.  Some were free, and some came with the purchase of certain comics, and now, they are available for separate purchase.

The Power Ring props – in green, yellow, violet, red, orange, blue, indigo, and finally black and white – were a driving force in both marketing and promotion.  And as a promotion, it worked quite well.  It brought folks into comic shops that didn’t usually come to such places.  They might not have been reading the comics, but everybody wanted their own Power Ring.

The marketing didn’t stop there.  DC Comics has its own merchandising arm, DC Direct, which specializes in such things as statues, action figures and other props.  It’s a smart move, as sometimes the collector market is bigger than the comics market.  DC Direct has produced wave after wave of action figures based on the characters of Blackest Night.  Man, it’s a good time to be a kid, um, ahem, a collector.

Blackest Night-themed action figures

And if playing make-believe with your action figures on the carpet (or glass collectors cabinet) isn’t your style of play, there are even Blackest Night paraphernalia for the gamers out there. HeroClix, the tabletop collectible miniatures game by WizKids, has just released a special set to commemorate the series featuring the various colored Lanterns.  Now you can bring the events of Blackest Night and Brightest Day into play with your HeroClix.

Maybe they should change Green Lantern’s oath to “In brightest day, in blackest night, no merchandising shall escape our sight…”  Proof positive that the fun of comics and the business world can mix, sometimes.

But it’s all good, nothing’s wrong with toys.  Toys rock.  And if any of these toys or other accessories –or the comics they are based on- get you interested or excited, be sure to check out All Things Fun!