Given how lucrative young-adult and middle-grade fiction has become, it's no surprise DC Comics is embracing those markets with DC Ink and DC Zoom, two imprints launching this fall with books featuring some of the company's most popular heroes. What's perhaps more interesting, however, are the authors selected to work on the launch titles: Many are women or people of color, and virtually all of them have experience creating YA and MG fiction.

That's in stark contrast to initiatives like the New Age of DC Heroes, which critics noted lacked female creators among its primary lineup. Although those women and people of color are not necessarily being incorporated into DC's core titles, bringing them into the new YA and MG imprints presents an opportunity to lay the foundations for a more diverse future for the publisher, when it comes to representation, while also making lots and lots of money.

DC's Move Into YA and MG Fiction Is Financially Smart

YA and MG graphic novels sell incredibly well in bookstores. In 2015, Scholastic usurped DC's spot as the top seller of graphic novels in the book market amid a 25.24-percent growth in sales for the category over the previous year. Fifteen of the 20 top-selling graphic novels that year were aimed at children, with 12 of them created by women. Among those, Raina Telgemeier reigned supreme, selling more than 990,000 copies. Those trends seem to hold true for subsequent years as well.

DC clearly recognizes that YA and MG are lucrative markets. In the announcement for DC Ink and Zoom, DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee noted, "Two of the recent areas of growth in publishing include graphic novels and books for young readers." They went on to say that Ink and Zoom's slate, in conjunction with their chosen creators, offered an opportunity for "major business growth."

RELATED: Bendis Launching New Superman Title for DC Comics: Man of Steel

The company has already had a taste of success in those markets with DC Super Hero Girls. DC's Senior Vice President of Sales John Cunningham noted last year that DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis was the company's No. 2 book in 2016, based on unite sales, lagging behind only Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's perennial bestseller Batman: The Killing Joke. The numbers for Finals Crisis didn't even take into account copies purchased through events like Scholastic Book Clubs.

Beyond pure sales, DC has acknowledged the importance of focusing on younger audiences. "Our overall consumer products represent a $6 billion business," Diane Nelson, president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Entertainment, told Forbes in 2016. "The DC brand brings in about half of that. We think the DC Super Hero Girls can be bigger than a $1 billion brand." Nelson's estimates reflect confidence in the ability of content focused on younger audiences to drive sales outside of the traditional comics market. Embracing YA and MG audiences isn't just a ploy to increase book sales, it's a governing business strategy that stands to make DC billions in the long run.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Growing%20a%20New%20Generation%20of%20Superhero%20Fans']

A Great Entry Point For Young Readers

Teen Titans in DC Ink

Children know DC's primary superheroes, and it's unlikely that Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are going to disappear from toy shelves anytime soon. However, contemporary comics tend to skew older, making a lot of the content unsuitable for younger audiences. That's in addition to the issue of trying to introduce younger and new readers to the labyrinthine superhero canon, and the costs of keeping up with an ongoing series. It may not be practical for many younger readers to follow superhero comics in their current form, but graphic novels starring those same characters can serve as an inviting entry point.

RELATED: DC Comics Announces Batman & Catwoman's Wedding Date

There's also the matter of name recognition: The publisher hired established YA and MG authors, most of whom will be familiar to parents and children, to headline the first wave of titles from DC Ink and DC Zoom.

As those young readers grow older, DC will be presented with an opportunity to help transition them to the more adult versions of its characters, using that same process. Consider renowned cartoonist Gene Luen Yang, who will write Superman Smashes the Klan for Zoom. Known for such works as American Born Chinese, Boxers and Saints, and The Shadow Hero, Yang also writes DC's New Super-Man. He's a familiar name that can be trusted by young readers transitioning into mainstream comic books.

Increases Diversity of DC's Creators and Audience

DC Zoom
DC Zoom

Zoom and Ink also present DC with a chance to further increase the diversity of its pool of creators, which continues to be an issue in the industry. And while there's a contingent of comics fans that insists diversifying the characters is doing superhero comics more harm than good, there's no real evidence that it's hurting sales. Additionally, diverse creative teams do see success in the graphic novel market. In 2017, 17 of the 20 top-selling graphic novels included at least one woman or person of color on their creative teams.

RELATED: DC Comics Just Published the Perfect Superman Story

Although Zoom's and Ink's first books certainly feature a large number of white, male heroes, there's also a strong focus on women and people of color. Readers come from different backgrounds, and they deserve to see themselves reflected in the material they read. Zoom and Ink will give them exposure to both heroes and creators who look like them and may share their experiences.

DC's new foray into the young-adult and middle-grade markets might just yield the success the company needs to both make money from its characters and to start the process of introducing a new generation of readers to its characters. The lineups of DC Zoom and DC Ink are a step forward for diversity, and if DC can find a way to bring those creators into its primary line in the future, publisher's brand will be stronger for it.


The first titles from DC Comics' DC Zoom and DC Ink imprints will debut this fall.