The Four Color Media Monitor

The LA Weekly's Deadline Hollywood Daily site has taken notice of the discussion that's been brewing up over DC's tumbling downhill in the past few years (via Newsarama blog), and tells that Warner's top execs have been taking notice:

With Comic-Con fast approaching (July 24-27) and all the Hollywood studios getting ready, I understand that Warner Bros has been nervously monitoring the deteriorating situation at its subsidiary DC Comics. There could be a major shake-up -- especially if Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes keeps cleaning house inside the Big Media corp.

I'm actually surprised they hadn't said or done anything earlier. If they had, a lot of the fate that befell the DCU in the past couple years might've been prevented. But if they're starting to wake up and take notice now, I guess better late then never.

The website also makes a spot-on observation about some of DiDio's mistakes:

But also average sales of the DCU line are down more than 20% from a year ago, and DiDio has lost a big chunk of existing readers in a year while deliberately failing to reach out to new ones.

Wow, now that is certainly paying attention, and if only more major press sources would point that out, then we'd be getting somewhere. At least one of the commentors even mentions how Chuck Dixon may have been dismissed, and the recent resignation of business development VP John Nee.

Comic Mix (also via Newsarama blog) says that at the Heroes Con panel DiDio attended, he was pretty gruff throughout, and even said:

The DC presence was pretty tense. DiDio stayed pretty gruff throughout the State of the Industry panel and dodged moderator Tom Spurgeon’s questions about the past week at DC, marred by Chuck Dixon’s acrimonious exit.

Not inspiring anyone, at one point DiDio said, “We have the same characters… There’s only so much you can do with them. You’ve seen it all, you’ve heard it all.”

Yes, we have. Same characters? Uh, where's Ted Kord? His appearance in past timelines in Booster Gold isn't exactly my idea of how to provide him with appearances. Come to think of it, where's Elongated Man, Sue Dibny and Jean Loring? They all seem to have disappeared recently. So too in fact have Hector and Lyta Hall, Jade, Atom Smasher, and a few other former Infinity Inc. members who moved on to the JSA. And what's with Mary Marvel? Is she still as tarnished and blackened as she was in Countdown, right up to the end of the series? And now that I think of it, the reintroduction of the Multiverse sure hasn't born much fruit. Yep, we've seen/heard it all - before.

Dan DiDio is clearly depressed, as he realizes he's in trouble for the quagmire he's gotten DC into. He could save himself a lot more aggravation by just stepping down, and letting someone with more sense try to repair DC and stand them erect again.

Labels: bad editors, dc comics