Dan DiDio OUT at DC Comics

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

I have read that ever since Didio got an executive position he was looking to completely reboot the comics continuity and line with every crisis, first Infinite Crisis, then Final Crisis, again with Blackest Night, but every time Paul Levitz said, "no"

I remember reading the same things. That he would always say and vow, "Crisis on Infinite Earths was only a half measure! It didn't re-number everything back to #1. That's what we need to do now!" as if that'd be some kind of cure-all.

[rickwj324]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Well I am and let me assure you, that man is a true piece of sh**, through and through. All of the terrible decisions at DC over the past 20 years I could point to, he was at the forefront of every one. Smiling with that sh**-eating grin. Giggling, even. I've seen him so many times here in Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con and San Diego Comic Con at the mic that that damn giggle is stuck in my head. The way he dismissively talks to the fans, the way he answers (or doesn't) their questions... he's something else, man.

If Geoff is the trigger man ruining and retconning everything he touches and atrophying every series he writes with his own inane events, Didio is the guy who enabled him and protected him. He created him as we know him and, for a time, made him unstoppable.

I totally agree with your assessment of Didio! Very glad he's gone! However Geoff Johns has written some really great things at DC in the past and I have much more respect for him than I do for Didio. DiDio truly screwed over DC during his reign. If this new 5G initiative goes forward it will be the final nail in the coffin for DC. I'm so sick of SJW b.s. and political agenda driving our beloved comics in the ground.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by rickwj324

I'm so sick of SJW b.s. and political agenda driving our beloved comics in the ground.

It's pretty sadly hysterical that that's DC's last ditch effort to save their comics. Like, that's been the supposed power play in their pocket this whole time, this kind of SJW button on the wall with a "break in case of emergency" over it? Pathetic. They deserve to fail.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It's pretty sadly hysterical that that's DC's last ditch effort to save their comics. Like, that's been the supposed power play in their pocket this whole time, this kind of SJW button on the wall with a "break in case of emergency" over it? Pathetic. They deserve to fail.

It didn't work for Marvel. Why should DC expect any different?

[AquaParade]

I was under the impression that G5 was more of a legacy-character event, not necessarily "SJW-related", but I haven't been totally keeping up.

I just knew that a black Batman was coming and it sounded pretty cool to me, tbh. I enjoy seeing other characters under the cowl, when done right.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

I was under the impression that G5 was more of a legacy-character event, not necessarily "SJW-related"

It's been specifically alluded that none of the 5G replacement characters will be any existing legacy characters.

I just knew that a black Batman was coming and it sounded pretty cool to me, tbh.

What part of that sounds cool? And they already did a black Batman with "Batwing." It did a respectable 2 1/2 year run but ultimately failed.

Makes you wonder, how is this supposed to work with something like Green Lantern? That's not a mantle... it's a ring. And it's lots of them. Are Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Jessica Cruz, and Simon Baz all just suddenly going to retire?

[Leo656]

Yeah, it's f*cking pathetic because as MikeandRaph mentioned in another thread, DC already has a TON of legacy characters that have been perfectly set up and established for just this kind of stunt... BUT, as I pointed out in the same thread, they're all too white and too straight to be "allowed" to step into the roles that some of them have been set up for over DECADES of stories already. So we have to whip up a bunch of not-white, not-straight characters out of thin air and cram them down everybody's throats instead when the people reading the books would rather have Wally West and Dick Grayson.

As CKD said, it didn't work for Marvel, because blatant pandering nonsense like this is incredibly transparent, and as Andrew pointed out, deserves to fail because it's sh*tty on its face.

In other notes...

- Man, Cry For Justice was terrible. Good artwork, though. Story was a f*ckin' pooch.

- Man, "Blackest Night" was great. Especially considering how all-encompassing it was. How'd they not screw that up, I wonder? One of the very few "events" that I really don't have any problems with whatsoever.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

- Man, Cry For Justice was terrible. Good artwork, though.

Not after the first couple of issues. Remember, they changed their painted artist out with a regular artist when Didio changed the story midway through?

- Man, "Blackest Night" was great. Especially considering how all-encompassing it was. How'd they not screw that up, I wonder?

Eh, they didn't?

[Leo656]

Well *I* liked it.

And forgive me for not remembering more about the artwork in Cry For Justice. I read it A-to-Z all of once and since then all I remember about it was from Linkara's videos, which I also haven't watched in a long time.

I knew that whole thing was gonna suck when it was announced. "It's a new JLA, except they go out and beat up bad guys for things they MIGHT do soon but haven't done just yet, and also stuff they already did and were already punished for in previous stories. Because JUSTICE!" I remember the editors being SO gung-ho about it, when it was originally an ongoing and not a mini-series - "This is what the JLA SHOULD be doing all the time! Go out and stop bad guys BEFORE they do bad things, not just wait for bad things to happen and then go clean up the mess afterwards!" - and I remember myself and others going "Um... that's kinda fascist, boss." Little bit too Minority Report, for me.

And I guess they hadn't thought about it like that at all until people started pointing it out, because five minutes later it was a mini-series. What a f*cking wreck. And all that story really served to do at all, was undo about 20+ years of Roy Harper's character development and turn him into a junkie scumbag again, thus ensuring that I'd never root for him again no matter how many "redemption" arcs they'd try and give him after that, because now he's firmly established as a whiny bum who gives up and starts shooting up every time he has a bad day. He was supposed to have been way, way past that sh*t. Nope, still a loser! Way to make me completely quit on a character I was finally starting to like, DC.

I gotta stop. That was such a terrible series I could be here until tomorrow ripping on it. But I maintain that Blackest Night was awesome.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah, it's f*cking pathetic because as MikeandRaph mentioned in another thread, DC already has a TON of legacy characters that have been perfectly set up and established for just this kind of stunt... BUT, as I pointed out in the same thread, they're all too white and too straight to be "allowed" to step into the roles that some of them have been set up for over DECADES of stories already. So we have to whip up a bunch of not-white, not-straight characters out of thin air and cram them down everybody's throats instead when the people reading the books would rather have Wally West and Dick Grayson.

As CKD said, it didn't work for Marvel, because blatant pandering nonsense like this is incredibly transparent, and as Andrew pointed out, deserves to fail because it's sh*tty on its face.

In other notes...

- Man, Cry For Justice was terrible. Good artwork, though. Story was a f*ckin' pooch.

- Man, "Blackest Night" was great. Especially considering how all-encompassing it was. How'd they not screw that up, I wonder? One of the very few "events" that I really don't have any problems with whatsoever.

What I liked about Blackest Night is if you did not care about the event you could ignore it. It also had a few mini-series so if you wondered how Dick and Tim were handling the event go to the mini-series not the ongoings. Same for the Titans. Same for Flash,etc. The overarcing ramifications only effected Green Lantern and I was one never to read a secondary GL title and it did not matter because I did not miss anything essential to the mini-series or what was going on in the Green Lantern (2005-2011) title that I was reading. That being said I read the event with interest because I had investment in the expanded GL mythology and see how Hal handled the crisis and got a great character arc for John Stewart to resolve a long dangling ghost of his. Thatbeing said it worked well with continuity as "zombie lanterns" helped bring up bad memories or played upon their emotions like with Dick and Tim. So in summary I could read about the characters I was invested in and not have to buy other books while still getting solid characterization. That is what made it work for me so well, but also I think a number of readers. This is the format I would have preferred Flashpoint to do. Keep your crap in your corner and don't force it don't my throat. If you do then I am out. I also was invested in Wally West not Barry Allen. Problem was due to the change of ramifications I like the rest of the readers with a lack of investment could not ignore it like readers could Blackest Night.

[ZariusTwo]

This isn't good, now DC have pulled Friday's co-publishers panel at C2E2, although Jim Lee will still be in attendance with a Spotlight panel scheduled for Saturday

https://www.newsarama.com/49205-dc-c...idio-exit.html

[MikeandRaph87]

This is good update of the situation. It also said Jeph Loeb was seen going into DC offices on Monday.

[MikeandRaph87]

Jim Lee hosted a panel this morning suggesting that he will remain the sole publisher and that 5G will not be a full line wide reboot. The one thing that bothers me is "and developing characters that are inclusive and diverse." My response is, "make new characters".
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pol...departure-c2e2

[ZariusTwo]

You know the old saying from Yes Minister....'don't believe anything until it's been officially denied'

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

You know the old saying from Yes Minister....'don't believe anything until it's been officially denied'

He is the sole publisher for now. There were reports of Jeph Loeb being asked to the DC offices. We can assume he said "no" and its all speculation. That being said, since Didio is gone can Batman and Catwoman have a legal marriage and inspired by his father figure Dick follows up with a proposal to Barbara and they go through with it? Its time for marriages to be gone through with. There was a time the Hawks for married to each other, each Flash, Wonder Woman was married to Steve Trevor, The Atom, Adam Strange, Animal Man, Saturn Girl to Lightning Lad and a few others. It was more than Aquaman to Mera just because she could fight alongside him.

[IMJ]

Earlier in the thread I was talking about my observations and experiences with Joe Quesada. Then lo and behold I saw some articles implying that DC might bring Joe Quesada in.

Can you believe that?

[ZariusTwo]

Oh he's having fun with this

https://comicbook.com/dc/2020/02/29/...ng-new-sketch/

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Man, "Blackest Night" was great. Especially considering how all-encompassing it was.

Blackest Night was where it started wearing thin for me - the whole rainbow corps stuff. Blackest Night was a fine story and I got through it but it's ending was a jumping off point for me.

The Sinestro Corps War was a masterpiece of modern storytelling that truly brought Green Lantern back into relevance. But by the time Blackest Night wrapped and I saw what was planned after, I was pretty much done with GL. I have been for years, which is unfortunate because it's the only DC character I was into enough to build a back issue run of going back to the Silver age.

[Leo656]

Can't really disagree. I was very intrigued by the Sinestro Corps, and then later on the whole "rainbow Corps" thing, simply because I saw it as a story with a beginning, middle, and end, which hadn't been done before in the GL mythos and had a lot of potential. And I really enjoyed the Sinestro Corps and Blackest Night stories a whole bunch at the time, as they felt like an organic progression and expansion of the idea.

If you had told me in 2006, however, that the various colored Corps would still be around and pretty much be the only storytelling device in the GL mythos through the year 2020, I'd be pretty annoyed and possibly not believe you. It does seem like the entire Green Lantern brand has been in a holding pattern ever since then, unable to move past what was originally a fairly creative idea.

I'm similar to you in that I stopped heavily collecting comics shortly after Blackest Night wrapped, but there were a variety of factors in play for that.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Can't really disagree. I was very intrigued by the Sinestro Corps, and then later on the whole "rainbow Corps" thing, simply because I saw it as a story with a beginning, middle, and end

It was anything but that. Every single event was cliffhung into the next. There's never been an ending since, like, early 2000s GL stories.