When one thinks about DC Comics you think about great stories as well as iconic, aspirational, optimistic heroes. Heroes that inspires readers to be the best version of themselves and do good in the world. But Dan Didio finds this boring and unrealistic. He prefers heroes to be miserable with no happy life and driven by tragedy. His interest is deconstructed heroes and dark, gritty stories where they are barely heroic. This way of thinking shows in his cash grab decisions such as New 52, Identity Crisis, Bendis Man Of Steel, and the recent Batman 50. Things will only get worse under Dan Didio. DC Comics needs a new direction with someone who knows and cares about these characters as well as listen to fan feedback. Most importantly give fan service with compelling stories that stays true to these iconic characters.
I agree that he makes many mistakes. However I will defend 50 to the death and I think Identify Crisis has its moments. DC has had its ups and downs. Rebirth has been awesome though. I just think some big decisions made with the companies best interest in mind have been misguided.
When Flashpoint and New52 hit Didio and co. were horrendously apathetic about the feelings of long-term fans such as myself (I had been a DC fan in general since childhood. a serious reader and collector since 1986 (started with DC’s Star Trek, then Batman, then others in College), and had been a dedicated fan ever since. I never questioned or argued against the return of any hero that died…(Green Arrow? Great! Hawkman? Awesome! Hal Jordan? YES! Barry Allen? IT’S ABOUT TIME!!) but in doing the New52 Didio pushed Wally West fans as far away as he could as if we had the plague or leprosy! “We have no plans…we’re concentrating on the uniqueness of Barry Allen…He’s the ICONIC FLASH!” Sorry…no…he’s not!..when people hear the word Flash…correction: when the regular person on the street hears Flash…they don’t think scarlet speedster. they think Queen (FLASH!!! AHHHH-AHHHHH!!!) they think Flash Gordon they think of a movie that is(at this point) 38 years old! THAT Flash is Iconic! (and by the way, when joe average would see my lightning bolt t-shirt they’d say Shazam!) Now, of course i wasn’t resistant to putting Barry in the spotlight for a while. After 25 years or so of being a ghost or a memory (DC’s first official saint) he deserved to be center stage. and I had no problem with Wally taking a backseat for a while so that Barry could carry the weight. However, no sooner does Barry say to Wally in Blackest Night “The more, the merrier” DC decides that suddenly the DC Universe doesn’t have any room for any other speedsters but “The One, True FLASH!” curreent events being what they are Dan Didio and his co-horts have made it very hard for me to trust DC.
To me it just feels like Dan Didio is putting out what he wants and at the end of the day you have to put out something that the fans want. That’s what makes any business and company prosper.
The days of vanilla written characters is over. This isn’t the 1950s…60s…70s… anymore. Time to grow up and embrace diversity
I totally agree that the man has made some pretty boneheaded moves, especially in recent years. I wish he and Lee would move on and that we could get some fresh blood in their offices. It feels to me like they are extremely out of touch with the DC fanbase as a whole these days . I also feel like they have forgotten what makes DC great as well as how to push their product forward and into the future in a way that respects DC’s long history and characters while also pushing the limits of those characters and telling new stories that aren’t just simply rehashes of older material. In my opinion when those things happen its time to let go, move on and let someone new try their hand at running things.
Yawn
rolls eyes
Is that why comics are still selling like hotcakes for DC and people unanimously have praised the Rebirth stuff?
I was buying DC before Flashpoint and I was buying it after. however I wish they had kept the 52 ideas going instead of basically obliterating that and then doing Rebirth and now we’ve kind of tossed that out for Dark Metal and now there’s all this new wave of Heroes.
Yeah that launch of 52 is ambitious and a lot of fun. I seem to recall it was 52 titles which is amazing. Farewell Blackhawk farewell
This post gave me a good laugh
I don’t see what’s so yawn, eyeroll or laugh worthy about wanting DC to do better than they are currently and thinking that a change in management might be one way to achieve that. People have wanted new blood in DC’s writing stable for years as we as new editors so why not new blood in Didio and Lee’s positions? Also Rebirth hasn’t been universally loved by fans either. Lots of people take issue with King’s Batman for example.
I cant disagree more. Dan Didio wrote OMAC during New 52 which was one of the better lighter hearted books to come out of New 52. He isnt forcing anyone to write darker stories. Heroes in Crisis came from Tom King when he was stationed in Iraq as a CIA agent and saw soldiers going through PTSD, he felt heroes would go through the same issues. Bendis on Man of Steel and transistioning to Action Comics and Superman has been one of the truest, light hearted interpretations of Superman in years and DC has allowed Bendis to do what he wants. Jim Lee oversees more of DC tha. Didio does. Maybe you have an unknown grudge against Didio but you’re definitely wrong.
But the majority of people love Tom King’s Batman and overall the majority matters more from a business standpoint. They rake in the most money and no company is going to try and please a minority. @JasonTodd428
In response to my post Dan Didio’s decision for New 52 had some good titles and started with great sales. But the sales dropped. I feel that mostly it was because there was a reinvention of characters and a darker universe. In response to that Geoff Johns came back to make DC Rebirth where there was a more hopeful universe that attempted to bring characters back to who they where before New 52. Since Johns left to work on live DC Comics adaptations it feels like Didio is trying to shake up DC Rebirth and morph it back into the New 52.
You would assume those of us who signed up early are some of the biggest DC fans, so why the hell are some of you complaining about the content and talent?
@ aztek: I didn’t realise that wanting a change in upper management is something that was synonymous with having personal grudge against Didio. Thanks for for assuming things about someone you’ve never even met. I have no personal grudge against him I just personally would like to see someone brought in who has a fresh perspective on DC is all.
I don’t think that you have to be a Dan Didio booster to be a DC Fan. I signed up for this service because I’ve been reading DC Comics since I was a kid! I was a fan of DC and it’s characters long before Dan Didio ever joined the company!
@ANerdWonder: Tell that to the people that post on the CBR forum. You can’t go into any post about King’s Batman and be able to even hold a decent discussion with it being derailed by King haters waving their torches and decrying him as a hack writer who destroys characters left and right. I love King’s Batman but I don’t bother with trying to discuss it there or much of anywhere else because of the haters. I’m fact I’ve seen a lot more hate for his run from fans online then I’ve seen love for it because the haters have basically run the people who like it off with their attitudes toward them. Also there is a percentage of the fan base that buys Batman regardless because they have been collecting it for years and they don’t want gaps in their collections as well as those who continue to read the book despite hating his work.
Didio wants a “soap opera” DC universe where tragedy and self-ruination run rampant.
Soap Operas change head writers every few years, even on the bigger ones like Young and the Restless. They change it so that different perspectives on the characters come in. Different people provide different perspectives. Dan is a nice guy, I have met him a few times at conventions. I would just personally love to see a position like head writer on soaps that changes from time to time to help change DC from time to time and I don’t mean all these weird new 52 rebirth reboots, just new fresh perspectives. To me DC just seems so bleak and dark and I want some fun in an already bleak actual real world.