Comments on: Random thoughts on DC restructuring

By: Matt Ampersand

Matt Ampersand — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:09:14 +0000

“A few years back, an acquaintance of mine predicted we’d see a day when DC and Marvel would stop publishing and instead license their characters out to be published by others. This is still a ways off, but I can actually envision a time when Dynamite Entertainment’s SPIDER-MAN comic vies with Todd McFarlane Productions’ BATMAN for top spot in the sales charts.”

Didn’t Marvel already do this with Heroes Reborn and Marvel Knights? They basically hired people from other companies to handle their characters for a little while.

By: Journalista – the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Sept. 10, 2009: The man who couldn’t shoot straight

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:34:58 +0000

[...] Rich Johnston, Tom Spurgeon, Johanna Draper Carlson, Mark Evanier, John Jackson Miller, Christopher Bird, Valerie D’Orazio, Rick Marshall, Christopher Butcher and Kevin Church. As noted above, the [...]

By: Justin Zyduck

Justin Zyduck — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:22:13 +0000

Yeah, I’d read the Nelson thing earlier as well, come to think of it; it’s just a timing thing, I’m sure, that makes this seem like a reaction.

By: Andrew Foley

Andrew Foley — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:31:05 +0000

Andrew W: Interesting…the people I’ve encountered who seem most upset by the Disney/Marvel thing are pretty much all Marvel fans who live in mortal terror of a time when their favourite superhero characters and teams don’t have the word “Dark” tagged on the front of them.
I’d say it’s bigger news short-term simply because something is actually noticeably happening in the immediate present. Levitz stepping down is pretty big news for comics industry wonks, as evidenced by the testimonials from Evanier, Wolfman, Berger, etc. The Marvel Disney story, while it made a lot of headlines and got fans of various stripes in an uproar of one stripe or another, is kind of a non-story at the moment. I’m faintly hopeful that there’ll be some drama when it comes time for the board to vote or shareholders to bring suits against Marvel or an antitrust investigation gets underway. For the moment, it really does feel like sound and fury to me, while having the guy who’s widely credited with saying “No action movies with female leads” taking a more direct role in DC matters–and being able to do so more or less unilaterally whenever the notion strikes him–carries a certain weight with me. But mileages vary.

Justin: While the timing of the announcement seems calculated to pull some wind out of the Marvel/Disney sales, by all accounts the changes have been in the works for some time. As Andrew W. points out, Diane Nelson’s new role has been the subject of online speculation and rumour for at least a couple weeks.

By: Andrew W

Andrew W — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:15:50 +0000

I really don’t see how this is bigger news than Disney’s acquisition of Marvel. ‘Corporate restructure’ isn’t even an interesting story, and it has even less impact on fans. In fact, if this story weren’t so hot on the heels of the Disney acquisition, I don’t think it would be getting much attention at all. Heck, the news that Diane Nelson was taking over at the top was known over a week ago and nobody really cared about it then. DC is living in a Disney-Marvel world now, and it’s really pissing off the DC fans.

By: Randy B.

Randy B. — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:16:22 +0000

“I wonder if this means further restructuring of DC, including the removal/demotion/moving of Dan Dildio?”

We can only hope and dream…

By: Justin Zyduck

Justin Zyduck — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:58:24 +0000

As much as I’d like to believe that WB taking an active interest in DC will result in fewer gory disembowlings of C-list heroes and villains and at least 80% less rape as a plot device, I wouldn’t hold out hope.

Whether it’s really the case or not, this announcement kind of reads to me like WB execs have been hearing Disney talking about what a great opportunity the Marvel acquisition is and thinking, “Wait a minute, they paid four billion dollars for a COMIC BOOK PUBLISHER? Hold on a second, don’t we already OWN one of those?”

By: ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:24:21 +0000

I wonder if this means further restructuring of DC, including the removal/demotion/moving of Dan Dildio?

By: Lister Sage

Lister Sage — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:19:33 +0000

I’m sure this is news to no one, but Quesada comes off as a real asshole in that interview.