DC Relaunching AGAIN

[Autbot_Benz]

DC Comics, DC Universe Hit By Major Layoffs

The majority of staff of the streaming service DC Universe has been laid off, as has editor-in-chief Bob Harras and multiple other executives on the publishing side.
Monday's WarnerMedia layoffs have affected a significant number of high-level figures at comic book powerhouse DC, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Among those said to be losing their positions are editor-in-chief Bob Harris, senior VP of publishing strategy and support services Hank Kanalz, VP of marketing and creative services Jonah Weiland, VP global publishing initiatives and digital strategy Bobbie Chase, senior story editor Brian Cunningham, and executive editor Mark Doyle, who oversaw the rollout of the Black Label graphic novels. Jim Lee remains the CCO.

Roughly one third of DC's editorial ranks are being laid off, according to sources.

Insiders also say the majority of the staff of the streaming service DC Universe has been laid off, a move that had been widely expected as WarnerMedia shifts its focus to new streaming service HBO Max.

"DC Universe was DOA as soon as the AT&T merger happened,” said one source.

DC Universe launched in May 2018, and is home to live-action series such as Doom Patrol, Titans and Stargirl, as well as animated offerings including Young Justice and Harley Quinn. Some of those shows have now started to stream on HBO Max.

Also a victim of the layoffs: DC Direct, the company’s in-house merchandise and collectibles manufacturer. The division has been shuttered after 22 years, another move that was rumored when Warner Bros. Consumer Products began taking a more active role in DC merchandising.

A DC spokesperson declined to comment on the changes, which come less than two weeks before the planned Aug. 22 online event DC Fandome, which is set to showcase stars from DC's film, TV and comic book worlds.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...ayoffs-1306743

[ZariusTwo]

Reportedly Warner are looking for a general manager for DC to replace the EIC and other senior editorial roles, and have their eye on one talent who has had prior experiences in...competitive esports



A two year plan is now in the works which will see DC move to mass-market production through Walmart, titles being licencesed out, editors becoming brand managers that will approve that, digital serialisation, and OGNs.



https://bleedingcool.com/comics/afte...for-dc-comics/

[Leo656]

DC Direct shutting down hurts me the most, sentimentally. They were the first company to ever make toys for 95% of DC's characters who weren't Superman or Batman-related. Sure, they had some problems over the years with limited articulation and brittle joints, but they got the ball rolling. With regards to DC, they created the market for 6 and 7-inch scale figures, they were the first ones to do DC figures with more than 5 points of articulation... they kind of pioneered the whole 20+ POA gimmick in the first place, or at least made it more popular.

If you were collecting DC toys through the 90s into the very early 2000s, it was a very dark time. 80 million Batman variants and f*cking nothing else. Every once in a while you got a Kenner "Total Justice" or a Hasbro "JLA" line, but they'd always do one or two Waves and then shut it down. Same 8-10 characters, over and over (and with those two series, most of them were the exact same figures repainted!). And still tons and tons and TONS of Batman over everything.

DC Direct saved us from all of that. They proved that lots of people would pay good money, and LOTS of it (these things weren't cheap by 2003 standards), to get figures of characters like Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle, Lobo, etc. In turn, other companies FINALLY followed suit at retail.

If not for DC Direct, Mattel NEVER would have given us DC Super-Heroes, DC Universe Classics, and the DC Multiverse line.

Sadly, it's sliding backwards again. Go to Walmart now, it's all about Batman. Even with McFarlane's stuff, the stores only order and stock Batman. You're lucky to find a Wonder Woman or even a Superman.

Siiiiiigh. R.I.P., DC Direct. You weren't perfect, but you gave us some of my favorite figures of all time and kicked the door open for so much more.

[ZariusTwo]

From Gerry Conway's twitter

What happened at ⁦@DCComics yesterday was probably inevitable once ⁦@WarnerMedia became a subsidiary of a tech company uninterested in creating new creative content, and planning only to strip mine existing IP for streaming. It should have been clear when the incoming AT&T management told the management of the highly successful and profitable @HBO that they needed to upend their corporate culture in order to feed the AT&T cable pipeline with continuous streaming content a la Netflix. It should have been clear when AT&T replaced the successful management team at @HBO that AT&T didn?t see value in @HBO?s content? only value in @HBO?s *brand*.

The content currently produced at @DCComicsor @dcuniverse is of no interest to the tech bros of AT&T? only the brand. Publishing comics is a low profit margin business? the value lies in the IP, and only the IP. Expect AT&T to do the absolute minimum necessary to keep the @DCComics brand alive for its IP value. Some of the decisions AT&T will make are probably long overdue for a business model that?s been marginal for decades; this will be brutal and bloody.

This time next year, I predict @Marvel will own about 90% of the new monthly comic market? in which case, retail comic shops are done. @DCComics will probably publish reprints and a handful/dozen of new digital-only monthly series intended for graphic novel release. When the comic book retail market collapses, @Marvel too will have to turn to a digital monthly/print graphic novel format for a reduced number of titles. It?s simple economics. The business has relied too long on a fragile distribution model. COVID-19 and AT&T have broken it.

In the long run, despite the tremendous personal loss of the people affected by this? and my heart breaks for them, it really does; these are good, worthy people who deserve better? this may be for the best, creatively. Storytelling in superhero comics has been in a creative, market-driven straitjacket for decades. Pandering to the tastes of a diminishing comic shop readership, relying on marketing gimmicks like variants, reboots and bi-annual ?events? to temporarily boost sales?

It?s all had a cost, creatively. A long time ago, in my na?f youth, I once argued with Marvel?s head of production at the time, Gentleman John Verpoorten, that some production decision he?d made would have a negative effect on the creative value of the book I was working on. At the time Marvel was publishing 40 titles or more a month. John gestured at the wall of covers behind him in his office. ?Hell,? he said. ?If you want to talk about creative value, from a creative point of view we can justify maybe six of these.?

It was true then, and it?s true now. Maybe a diminished superhero comic book market would be a more creative one.

Guess we?ll see in 2021. Till then...

****ing 2020

[ZariusTwo]

DC cancel their direct-to-digital series Superman: Man of Tomorrow. Real shame, it was arguably the best Superman book since Tomasi and Jurgens stepped down

https://twitter.com/robertvenditti/s...18747374891011

[CyberCubed]

So comics are pretty much dying in 2021 outside Marvel? With DC having trouble I can't imagine how everyone else like IDW, Dark Horse, Image, etc. will stay afloat. Covid certainly hasn't helped but I guess comics moving mostly to digital is kinda inevitable besides trades/collections.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

From Gerry Conway's twitter

That is a bleak picture. But he does make a really good point:

Mainstream comics (Marvel and DC) have been bloated and hogtied by the market demands for a long, long time.

Crossovers, reboots, variants, and just a ton of superfluous titles and series.

[Autbot_Benz]

If At@T screws over my Sandman Universe Hellblazer and Justice League Dark comics they will have hell to pay

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Not having new Batman comics is going to be really, really weird.

Like having Twinkies or Oscar Mayer bologna disappear from the grocery stores.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA!?

[Leo656]

Well, for one thing, being functionally illiterate is a badge of honor these days. An entire generation of people openly brag that if something wasn't sent in a text or a meme, it's not worth reading. Comics are generally a youth-driven business, or were, not "kids" per se but kids and teens, much of the time, and that audience doesn't exist anymore. Not because there aren't books that cater to their demographic - lots and lots of young people still read comics in the "Dark N Gritty" 90s, after all - but because "I don't read, period, I just watch the movie/cartoon" has become something not only accepted, but encouraged.

On another level, there's the extreme disconnect between the shows and movies people watch, and the comics based on those same stories and characters. "Variety" is one thing, but at any given time, if you go see an X-Men movie, get mildly curious and decide to dip your toe in the comics scene, the stories and characters are not in any way recognizable. Same unanimously across the board, from Superman and Batman all the way down to the ground. It's always been that way; even the original Superman and Batman movies people hold so sacrosanct have some pretty huge deviations and clash heavily with the comics, so people who enjoy one might not fully be able to get into the other. Which is NOT to say they should forever tinker with the books to cater to the fickle and ever-changing tastes of movie fans; far from it, in fact. I've always argued (and always will) that the movies and TV shows and cartoons have a responsibility to skew closer to the "real" versions of these characters which have been in print for decades, so that someone who sees a movie and decides to try the comics WON'T feel completely lost. As is, they have so little in common that it's almost pointless to even try to enjoy both, or at least without "picking sides" as to what you prefer and mostly ignoring the other side.

When you're openly told by big corporations like Disney that the movies "count" for more than the comics they're based on, what incentive does anyone have to read the (far superior in every way) comics? Alongside the Active Entertainment vs. Passive Entertainment phenomenon, as well; Reading is Active, Watching is Passive. We live in an increasingly lazy, push-button society that flaunts its disinterest at every turn. "Why would I or should I read something when I can stare drooling and slack-jawed at a screen and get, kinda, the same story?"

We created this sh*tty world and now we're stuck with it.

I *hope* there's a way to pull the nose up on these things, but frankly I'm not so sure. On the other hand, people have been saying "Print Is Dead" since long before I was even born, yet its endured. On the OTHER other hand, those people didn't live in the Internet Age where ignorance and passivity are virtues.

So... who knows.

[MikeandRaph87]

How does this Wal-Mart thing work and affect the comic shops?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I know a lot of people who will read comics or manga, but won't read actual prose. But the actual publishing industry is doing better than comics (not that there isn't a lot of $hit going on there, but that's a different rant for a different thread).

I think the biggest culprits are the oversaturation of titles and general glut on the market, and (as you said), the huge dichotomy between comics and the on-screen media.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

I think the biggest culprits are the oversaturation of titles and general glut on the market, and (as you said), the huge dichotomy between comics and the on-screen media.

Fair points, that latter one really sticks with me.

If I had a nickel for everyone who loved that abominable "Batman: Hush" cartoon, and I said "You should read the book, it's entirely different but altogether much, MUCH better, if you liked that you'll probably love the book," and they're all "Nah, man, I got it already. I watched the thing, I don't care about the other thing."

Same for "Preacher", "The Boys" or any countless other examples. The books are so, SO much better but people forever tell me they don't care because a far-inferior adaptation already wet their whistle.

This is why I get blood in my eyes over such things. Mediocre/poor "adaptations" turn people away from the superior printed versions and it KILLS me. They have a responsibility to fidelity and they waste it by catering to the short attention span crowd and pointless "reimagining" instead of doing what they ought.

[CyberCubed]

Nobody likes to read, it's true. Tell people to watch a show/movie or read a book/comic, 90% of the time people will choose to watch something instead.

[Leo656]

Ignorance is a fact of life, but to flaunt it is vulgar.

I damn sure don't want the current generation to be tasked with "taking care" of me in 30 years. I can see how that's gonna go. Especially since the virus is never going away and most people by then are gonna have grown up being home-schooled by bored, depressed alcoholics and the internet.

They won't even read my medical chart because it wasn't sent to them via text and they'll just diagnose my symptoms with either a Smiley or Frowney Emoji.

I weep for the future.

[Autbot_Benz]

Some new stuff.

Black Label is likely being phased out. The removal of editors Mark Doyle and Andy Khouri, who headed up DC?s mature label effort, is a big flashing arrow at that conclusion. Announced projects such as the highly promoted Rorschach miniseries by Tom King and Jorge Fornes will continue, and Black Label will remain a ?label? for collected editions. However, WM?s President, Global Brands, Franchises, and Experiences Pam Lifford, who oversees DC, is said to dislike the more mature approach to comics. And no, this isn?t just because of Batman?s full frontal back in the day.



DC Editorial will be headed up by Marie Javins, currently Executive Editor of Global Publishing Initiatives and Digital Strategy, and Michelle Wells, Executive Editor, DC Children?s/Young Adult. The move is seen as interim, for now, but don?t be too surprised if it lasts. Javins is probably the most respected editor in the business, and someone long trusted by both creators AND Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. Wells was brought on board to spearhead the Zoom and Ink graphic novel lines ? now known as DC?s young readers books. She has a strong background in YA publishing, including five years at Disney, and seems well equipped for this promotion, having shown a LOT of enthusiasm for DC?s YA lines in the time she?s been there.

That DC Editorial will now be run by two women for the first time in 80 years is something deserving its own post.

https://www.comicsbeat.com/dcs-new-e...odbath-monday/

[ZariusTwo]

Aquaman will be cancelled in November

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-c...5-in-november/

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

That DC Editorial will now be run by two women for the first time in 80 years is something deserving its own post.

I can only imagine the sticky notes. Yeesh. I'm glad I stopped when I did.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

This sounds like DC wants to appeal to the younger crowds more.

Because THEY'RE all about reading, sure.

[Autbot_Benz]

ya you can smell the wokeness from two chicks running DC

Welp DC has decided not to continue with Sandman Universe Hellblazer Issue 12 is its last. **** I am upset that was my favorite comic to get each month

more comics that will be done in November

DC's titles ending by the end of November:

- Shazam!
- Batgirl
- Supergirl
- Harley Quinn
- Terrifics
- Aquaman
- Teen Titans
- Hawkman
- Suicide Squad
- Young Justice
- John Constantine: Hellblazer