Tweet
I think the industry is a natural monopoly. Like, for example, the NFL. Disney might not even need to pay any money. They own so many properties, they might be able to swap some of them to TW for DC Entertainment.
-
-
Bleeding Cool: So Why Did Dan DiDio Leave DC Comics Anyway?
Bleeding Cool now understands that yes, DiDio was fired this morning by Warner Bros at 10.30am PT in their Burbank offices and he left the building straight away. I am told by sources close to the situation that he was fired, for cause, for 'fostering a poor work environment' – as evidenced, as we previously stated, by significant departures at the publisher by editors. Dan DiDio has a reputation of being a micro-manager from some, for being very involved in projects from others. And DC Comics was heading towards a big change in its publishing programme – one aspect of which was the much-rumoured 5G – or Generation Five. Which would have seen DC's major figures Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Diana and more aged out and replaced with new characters taking the roles of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as part of the new DC Timeline. And some folk at DC Comics were very much against this. But opposition never worried Dan, after all he was at constant odds with the direction the company line was pushed for pretty much his entire career as Publisher, and was always was striving to put comics first, as he saw it.
But in recent months, there seemed to be editorial backtracks on the direction given, details changes and a general sense of frustration that the clock was ticking and that nothing was being done. We saw a rapid departure in DC editorial of Pat McCallum, Alex Antone, Molly Mahan, Rob Levin and others. Could this have been a factor?
Certainly, DiDio's departure was a surprise – to him as it was everyone else. I understand that it was internally announced at a series of small staff meetings at Burbank today. Though no one seems to have told the executives attending ComicsPRO, who had to read about it on Bleeding Cool on their mobile phones – and who sharply exited the conference as a result. Jim Lee is the remaining Publisher and CCO at DC, and so will be steering the ship for the foreseeable future. Is it too late to change the upcoming C2E2 panel Meet The Publishers to the singular now?
Also at ComicsPRO, there was a lot of discussion amongst retailers about DiDio's firing, with comic book writer Scott Snyder's name being mentioned a lot as a factor. Internally at DC Comics, Snyder was seen as someone opposed to what was being planned with 5G, and thought it could harm retailers.
Snyder and DiDio were not eye-to-eye creatively, but I understand that Snyder merely wanted to keep his upcoming Death Metal comic book as far away from 5G/Generation Five as possible, intending to use the series to celebrate DC's 85 years to date, rather than anything forward-looking. This frustrated DiDio's plans to introduce 5G with Death Metal. And as a result, mentions of Death Metal were taken out of the planned Generation Zero: Gods Among Us story for Free Comic Book Day.
It is now possible that DC's Free Comic Book Day offering may change again as a result, even though it is up for FOC this weekend. But all this is being worked out in real-time this weekend at Burbank.
As of now? According to people working on it, 5G is still launching in October. In what shape or form, I haven't a clue.
Comment
-
Some creator reactions:
Comment
-
Comment
-
"He might end up somewhere where he can hire me again... he's a great guy, really!"Comment
-
No, I believe all of this to be genuine. He always did what was best for creators, not for the books or the characters.Comment
-
-
I'm not the biggest fan of Chuck Dixon, so it's possible I missed something.Comment
-
5G sounded like it was going to be the final blunder that wrecked DC Comics. You can't get rid of Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent for real because you "just know" you can create characters who will be equally popular. In 80 years nobody has been able to do that, but now by golly Dan DiDio can? Please.
I can understand people at DC's fighting that idea.Comment
-
If the powers that be at DC are smart, they will put the kibosh on this whole 5G debacle. It's a disaster waiting to happen.
Comment
-
Originally posted by Andrew NDB View PostI mean really, if the “fostering a poor working environment thing” is legit, then these tweets are just being nice or the really POed people haven’t spoken yet. It’s like Nixon’s funeral—when he’s actually gone everyone says nice things.Originally posted by Michael Heide View Post
Comment
-
I figured with the way 5G was introduced as being an alternate Earth in the Multiverse with the conclusion of Doomsday Clock, DC was already taking steps to move away from the original plan. I see it coming to us as a DC 1 Million type event with a mini series and several tie ins featuring future versions of the characters being featured more prominently than the modern heroes. If DC was smart they would contain events to be less universe breaking and only cross over like 4 or 5 titles tops.
Not gonna lie, with Lee now on top I kinda want a few Wildstorm characters back in the DCU. In general I think DC's dropped the ball when it came to all of the properties they've bought over the years. They should be doing more with Charlton, Quality, Fawcett, Wildstorm, and Milestone characters/concepts.Comment
-
I want them all back. Grifter, Spartan, Majestic, Midnighter, all of Gen13 and DV8, Deathblow... But I don't want them to be in the DCU, at least not full-time. The Wildstorm Universe and the DC Universe are vastly different universes, and merging them for the New 52 was one of Didio's biggest mistakes. Why not assign another Earth in the Multiverse to Wildstorm, and give us a couple of books set on that Earth?Originally posted by Ωmega Man View PostComment
-
I'm all for the Charlton characters getting a push. Milestone too for some of the characters. Not so much for the others, and zero interest in anything Wildstorm related.
I dont know if we will see that anyway. DC has bigger fish to fry in terms of repairing DC. I dont think Lee is going to be the guy. He is just there by virtue of not getting booted along with Didio, but someone else is going to be the person at the top. DC is going to want a new vision and new leadership, what is Lee going to bring to the table that he hasn't already?
Either way, this is the beginning of the end of DC as a publisher of comics. I think 5 years from.now we will look back on this and see it that way. And when I say 5 years, I am being SUPER generous.Comment
-
Unlikely, Jim Lee and Bob Harass are still in charge and I doubt they weren't onboard with DiDio's plans to some extent. It'll still happen though there will almost certainly be changes.Originally posted by Big Daddy Dave Skywalker View Post
Or it's quite possible that he's a nice guy to the people that know him even if he's not great at his job. It definitely feels like there's a lot more love out there for DiDio from the industry than there was when Marvel fired Axel Alonso. That being said Scott Snyder's silence is notable, lends credence to that bit of the Bleeding Cool report.Originally posted by Space Cop View Post
Few more reactions:
Last edited by Hypo; 02-22-2020, 03:34 PM.Comment
Comment