What We Know Is Still Coming From DC Direct At This Time

iam so happy Jim Fletcher is still at DC good for him

Interesting we're hearing this from Lee and NOT Fletcher. A good rule of thumb is never ask the guys who kept their jobs. They dodged the chopping block, and aren't going to risk rocking the boat.

Ask the guys who don't have their jobs anymore. They have nothing more to lose.

3 hours ago, Satam said:

Very intresting interview with Jim Lee at THR:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dcs-jim-lee-companys-future-we-are-still-business-publishing-comics-1307413-Jim Fletcher is still at DC, even though DC Direct is done-confirmation (of the obvious) that DC Universe original programming will migrate to HBO Max, and that the app will "transform" instead of being shut down.

Good for Jim Fletcher. I dont know him and have only interacted with him briefly at events like SDCC and Toy Fair but he always struck me as a good guy. So Im glad to hear his job is still safe. Too bad thats also not true for my dozens of friends, hundreds of employees, and thousands of freelancers and contractorsthat have all been let go by Warner Media this week.

2 hours ago, Satam said:

Very intresting interview with Jim Lee at THR:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dcs-jim-lee-companys-future-we-are-still-business-publishing-comics-1307413-Jim Fletcher is still at DC, even though DC Direct is done-confirmation (of the obvious) that DC Universe original programming will migrate to HBO Max, and that the app will "transform" instead of being shut down.

Good to hear about Jim. Sounds like and I think will be a good fit for him that they are moving him into a position very similar with what Marvel did with Jesse Falcon after Toy Biz was dissolved. Basically where they oversea all the various companies that make licensed product and that those licensed product meet a certain standard set by the licensor.

Very intresting interview with Jim Lee at THR:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dcs-jim-lee-companys-future-we-are-still-business-publishing-comics-1307413-Jim Fletcher is still at DC, even though DC Direct is done-confirmation (of the obvious) that DC Universe original programming will migrate to HBO Max, and that the app will "transform" instead of being shut down.

6 hours ago, Gigantor said:

I wish I was a top shareholder in that company, but alas, I'm not a shareholder in anything. I understand your POV on the matter but I guess I'm more about quality over quantity. Way too many comic titles on the shelves nowadays & imo, most suffered from bad art & story telling. Saw way too much "art" that looked like a 12yr old was penciling it. There's a glutton of Batman comics/ spinoffs & that to me is a problem. Same goes for Marvel & all the different X- titles wolverine to me is an X-man, nothing more. Not an Avenger. There should be just 1 main X-men comic & since he's the most popular member, give him a solo series again. Same goes for Avengers, just 1 title, not 3-4 different Avengers teams where you can't keep track of who's coming or going every month. And stop swapping genders of established male characters just to appease 5% of the comic buying population. Create a new fan character to appease them. Nothing made me drop a title or series faster than that.

I dont disagree with your feelingsand position. The problem is that an industry implosion in addition to all thenew problems I presented will also probablynot fix the problems you want to see fixed. This corporate repriortization wontbe to do less Batman books. It will be to do less-non-Batman books. Nor will this change likely decrease gender swapping or any other editorial elements you dont care for. If anything youre likely to see a higher percentage of that as the slimmed down number of titles are more likely to be told to connect to the other Entertainment media (Films, television, etc). And as local comic shops suffer and publishing revenue suffers and giant conglomerate sucks away profits to pay dividends while not prioritizing reinvestment of profits back into the publishing armyou become more likely to see less financial investment in quality artists and story telling, not more.

And allthis is likelythe best case scenario. In the longer term once these negative effects have trickled down and the lack of profits trickle back up youre likely to see even further negative changes across the entire industry (as shops close that will also hurt Marvel and other independent publishers which means eventually Disney might take a similar action). What those furtherchanges might mean is still very speculative but talking to several friends at DC that were laid off this week some of their theories of where this is leading is far worse if you happen to be a DC fan and like the comics medium.

13 hours ago, InspectorZartan said:

There can be a plus to cutting some titles slowly over time but historically having either a publishing explosion or publishingimplosion has never benefited anyone from either the consumer side or the industry side outside of investors who dont care about that industry and are just seeking short term gains.

Less titles can certainly mean less for a consumer to have to keep up with which can be somewhat a plusbut on the flip side less titles typicallymeans less variety in the types of books published, less risk on the type of creative art and story telling invested in,and lessinvestment on new characters, artists, and writers. Obviously less titles being published means less employment opportunities for those creatives that work on the books or are trying to break into the industry. And if the number of books being cut are truly significant thats going to cripple local comic shops who are already struggling to survive in a more digital world and have already been crippled and are barely holding on due to thepandemic. An industry implosion could be enough to push those surviving local shops over the edge andinto bankruptcy and foreclosure particularly in higher overhead markets also hit hardest by COVID.

Some of this was unfortunately inevitable from the time AT&T acquired Warner but had it rolled out more subtly then the damage might have been less significant, but this scale of an implosion has never proven to be good for the comics or entertainment industry and this stands to be the largest comics implosion since the 1950s (which the industry never fully recovered from). Long term thatsgoing to be bad for everyone unless you happen to be a top shareholder at AT&T who is only interested in making money and cares nothing about the health of the specific businesses and industries you acquire beyond them helping you achieve your one goal ofprofit at the expense of all else.

I wish I was a top shareholder in that company, but alas, I'm not a shareholder in anything. I understand your POV on the matter but I guess I'm more about quality over quantity. Way too many comic titles on the shelves nowadays & imo, most suffered from bad art & story telling. Saw way too much "art" that looked like a 12yr old was penciling it. There's a glutton of Batman comics/ spinoffs & that to me is a problem. Same goes for Marvel & all the different X- titles wolverine to me is an X-man, nothing more. Not an Avenger. There should be just 1 main X-men comic & since he's the most popular member, give him a solo series again. Same goes for Avengers, just 1 title, not 3-4 different Avengers teams where you can't keep track of who's coming or going every month. And stop swapping genders of established male characters just to appease 5% of the comic buying population. Create a new fan character to appease them. Nothing made me drop a title or series faster than that.

2 hours ago, JayC said:

I saw on linkedin that Bryan Flynn from Super7 has put out a request for folks laid off at DC Direct to contact him about possible job opportunities, so hopefully folks in need of work will be able to find it elsewhere in the industry.

Thats great to hear.

2 hours ago, JayC said:

I saw on linkedin that Bryan Flynn from Super7 has put out a request for folks laid off at DC Direct to contact him about possible job opportunities, so hopefully folks in need of work will be able to find it elsewhere in the industry.

Bravo for Super7

I saw on linkedin that Bryan Flynn from Super7 has put out a request for folks laid off at DC Direct to contact him about possible job opportunities, so hopefully folks in need of work will be able to find it elsewhere in the industry.