A little more on WB's restructuring DC
Paul Levitz's resignation as publisher of DC was only the beginning. Apparently, Warner Bros. is taking steps to restructure DC Comics as DC Entertainment, in response to Disney's buying Marvel last week.
I hope this does lead to some positive developments, because under Dan DiDio, DC has mostly thrown away a lot of the characters they own for the sake of publicity stunts, including several members of Infinity Inc, and reduced the company to constant crossovers. So it's to be hoped that under Diane Nelson, they'll start to consider that all these problems, and that includes even gratuitous violence, will be solved.
Another thing they may have to consider is the likely end of the Direct Market (via The Beat). If WB wants DC's output to be read, they're going to have to take into account that selling almost everything through comics stores just isn't paying anymore, and that the rising prices aren't helping matters either. That's why different formats are going to have to be conjured up for American comics, if they want to rebuilt a sizable audience again. The same goes for Marvel.
I hope this does lead to some positive developments, because under Dan DiDio, DC has mostly thrown away a lot of the characters they own for the sake of publicity stunts, including several members of Infinity Inc, and reduced the company to constant crossovers. So it's to be hoped that under Diane Nelson, they'll start to consider that all these problems, and that includes even gratuitous violence, will be solved.
Another thing they may have to consider is the likely end of the Direct Market (via The Beat). If WB wants DC's output to be read, they're going to have to take into account that selling almost everything through comics stores just isn't paying anymore, and that the rising prices aren't helping matters either. That's why different formats are going to have to be conjured up for American comics, if they want to rebuilt a sizable audience again. The same goes for Marvel.
Labels: bad editors, crossoverloading, dc comics, golden calf of death, marvel comics, sales
