The era of DC Tuesdays is at an end. The Burbank-based publisher has confirmed that it will begin releasing its new weekly comics on Wednesdays again starting this July.
On its website, DC announced that it would be returning to a Wednesday release schedule for new periodicals starting on July 3. New collected editions and graphic novels will continue to release on Tuesdays. This revelation came as DC revealed some of its upcoming publishing initiatives — including the new Absolute Power event and the DC Finest line of graphic collections.
In a statement, the publisher explained that its planned return to Wednesdays is due to “feedback from retailers and readers.” “As a result of supply chain disruption in 2020, the publisher pivoted to a Tuesday release schedule for new periodicals,” the statement continues. “This summer, DC will realign with the industry standard of Wednesday releases, and the New Comic Book Day that fans look forward to each week.”
DC’s comics have released on Tuesdays for four years
2020 was no doubt a significant year for the comic book industry. In addition to the various challenges brought about by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, that was the year DC opted to part ways with Diamond Comic Distributors.
From early April to late May of 2020, Diamond — which had an exclusive distribution deal with DC — closed its doors due to the global health crisis. During that time, DC began distributing its weekly comics through Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors — ostensibly on a temporary basis.
However, even after Diamond reopened, DC opted to stick with Lunar and UCS, cutting ties with its former exclusive distributor. As part of this shift, the Distinguished Competition began releasing its new periodicals on Tuesdays — one day earlier all the other major comic publishers. Meanwhile, Penguin Random House began distributing DC’s collected editions and graphic novels to the bookstore market.
Of course, DC was not the last publisher to take a step back from Diamond. Marvel Comics parted ways with the distributor in early 2021 in favor of a new deal with Penguin. IDW Publishing made a similar move later that year. However, both publishers’ weekly periodicals stayed put on Wednesdays. Furthermore, as opposed to DC’s complete split from Diamond, Marvel and IDW continued to allow retailers to use the company as a middleman when ordering from Penguin.
