DC Comics has announced a new line of digital comics sold as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), and the publisher is getting mixed reactions on social media.
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DC Collectible Comics (DC3) launches Friday with Superman #1, limited to 3 thousand minted editions, which will be sold on the blockchain. A new title will be released each week from either the “Legacy” or “Modern” category, with the former including classic comic book releases that may be out of print and the latter including newer titles. Editions “will feature rare variant covers and grading that physical comics collectors have enjoyed over the years.”
At the time of purchase, each DC3 will be randomly assigned one of five rarity levels: “Common”, “Uncommon”, “Rare”, “Epic” or “Legendary”. These will affect the appearance of “Legacy” titles, with “Common” graded copies looking more faded and aged and “Legendary” copies looking more pristine. “Modern” DC3s will have variants for each rarity level.
“We want to take the physical, real-world experience of collecting comics that so many of our readers have loved over the years and expand it into a new digital community,” said DC senior vice president and general manager Anne DePies. “We want to build the community aspect that everyone has been so proud to be a part of into our digital ecosystem to make comics collecting more accessible and accessible than ever before.”
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DC3 expands DC’s already existing line of NFTs, incl free NFTs given to fans ahead of DC Fandome 2021 (opens in a new tab). More recently, the publisher launched Bat Cowl NFTs on April 26, giving buyers the opportunity to shape the Batman: The Legacy Cowl #1 digital comic through a series of votes. This edition was released today, exclusively to Bat Cowl NFT holders.
For its NFT releases, DC is partnering with PalmNFT, who claim that their proprietary NFTs built with Ethereum are better for the environment than conventional NFTs – which use huge amounts of electricity and resources. According to CNBC (opens in a new tab)in September Ethereum “migrated to a system known as proof-of-stake, which replaces miners with validators. Instead of running large banks of computers, validators leverage their existing cache of ether as a means of verifying transactions and creating new tokens. This requires far less power than mining, and experts say it will make the protocol both safer and more sustainable.”
Following the announcement of DC3s on Tuesday morning, DC received mixed feedback on social media which seems dependent on the public viewing the tweets. The company created a DC NFT account in May 2022, which at the time of writing has 1,610 followers. There, The DC3 announcement (opens in a new tab) has been met with hundreds of likes and retweets, most of them positive.
Reactions to the post from the DC Comics Twitter account (opens in a new tab) – who have 5.2 million followers – are very different, however. The responses include several tweets simply saying “no,” while others tell DC they “should be ashamed.” Others point to the availability of digital comics through platforms such as comiXology, which do not rely on blockchain technology.
According to DC, titles including Black Adam #1 by Priest and Rafa Sandoval are among the upcoming DC3 releases. Prices, quantity and rarity for each weekly drop may vary, but collectors can view purchased DC3s at nft.dcuniverse.com (opens in a new tab).
These are all the new Batman comics, graphic novels and collections from DC in 2022 (and 2023).
