Seemingly self aware of his own incompetence, Dan didio publicly said he doesn’t know what the business is about anymore. If that’s true, then maybe you shouldn’t be working in the Industry anymore
6 Likes
I’m not convinced he knew what the business was about in 2004.
Really, really dumb things have happened either at his command, or because of the environment he fosters. He’s many, many, many years behind the very readers he ignored; his admission about the lack of a mapped-out timeline for the New52. Granted, I think that may’ve made some things better, but I don’t think it would’ve improved any of the retcons (especially the subtractive ones).
The only other thing I know he’s worked on before being at DC was I think Mainframe Entertainment (his name shows up in the credits for Beast Wars), so maybe his skills lie elsewhere than a higher-up at a comic company. Perhaps he’d be better suited somewhere else, with less authority. As it is, he’s done more harm to the publisher than good, and only stayed where he is because, I believe, Warner Bros. don’t care too much about the comics themselves, and as long as he makes some kind of profit on them, they think he’s doing fine. But it seems DC’s best way of making a profit is the very yearly events that many readers are getting tired of, regardless of how genuinely excited the creators are or claim to be on social media.
Yes, Didio should step down (preferably replaced by someone not loyal or similar to him), but if the pay is good and he doesn’t care about the tsunami of criticism he gets, he’s probably not leaving willingly. He’d have to bumble up big time, and in such a way that his corporate superiors realize he’s the problem, not the comics medium.
3 Likes
Seeing as Jim Lee is in charge of DC Daily (for sure) and DCU (possibly, I cant confirm it and he’s co-publisher with DiDio at DCComics.
I wonder if WB is “grooming” him to merge DC Comics and DCU together at some point in the future and have Lee take the helm entirely.
The rise of “nerd culture” has certainly increased interest in books. However, its clear that nobody knows where the industry will be in 3-5 years. Is “nerd culture” a bubble or a sustained shift as a pop culture offshoot.
Where is the balancing point between physical and digital delivery of comics?
While the above quote lacks any context, it is difficult to judge exactly what he means by that. I doubt anyone has a clear vision of what the future of the industry is in 5 years. People have guesses, but that’s what they are. Someone will have the right guess, but that doesn’t mean they knew that guess would be right.
Such micro economies can make a ceo or exec VP, look like a star. It’s when the bubble bursts, that you know for sure.
I dunno if I’m comfortable with Jim Lee taking over. If the day comes when Dan DiDio steps down, I’d prefer someone else to take the helm. I think we need to go back to a pre-Hush/Identity Crisis DC Comics. What I mean by that is, when both Hush and Identity Crisis it was a one-two punch of selling the stories based on creators (Jim Lee drawing Batman and Brad Meltzer writing a DC story) and stories that started sending DC into this dark and mean-spirited direction. Infinite Crisis could’ve swayed us from this, and for a while it kind of did but then the New 52 happened and things haven’t been the same since.
If we do get someone else in charge, I would prefer it to be someone like Geoff Johns or maybe Mark Waid–someone who is going to try and advance DC Comics without radically trying to reinvent the wheel when it didn’t need it.
4 Likes
Running a comic book company is really hard, guys.
8 Likes
I think didio should step aside he is the one screwing over all of our legacy characters everyone is so quick to blame tom King for wally and dick Grayson but it’s all didios doing he has stated several times he wants to kill off legacy characters permanently which to me is a horrible mistake because it is one of the things DC beats marvel at every time miles Morales and Kate bishop aside their legacy characters kind of suck
3 Likes
As I’ve suggested elsewhere, if Dan DiDio didn’t want the classic characters to be “aged” by their legacy characters, then he should have used one of the various crises during his tenure to stick de-aged versions of the Golden/Silver Age characters in one universe while allowing writers to keep on telling the stories of the now-older legacy characters in another universe. He could personally enjoy a Batman without a single Robin in the DC “Ultimate” timeline and still respect the fans who appreciate the long-standing continuity offered by Nightwing and pals.
By now, I think it may be too late to pull off this idea, at least not for another 5 years or so. (Every decade needs its crisis, after all.)
2 Likes
@superby1
Yeah, in full agreement on Hush/Identity Crisis. Bad, unnecessarily dark comics that sent DC down a spiral because they wanted to replicate the commercial success. The New 52 was honestly just the final hole in the hull of an already sinking boat. That said, I don’t know if Jim Lee would bring those attitudes back. That was ten years ago. I’m sure he understands stuff more now than he did then and I don’t think he’d be a bad fit. He’s certainly good with the business side of things and so long as he gives creators some wiggle room to work I bet he’d be fine.
Personally, I think the company needs a strong editorial direction on the functional universe.
I don’t think they need a reboot (a la CoIE), but some proper mapping out (a la History of the DC Universe), and some proper character definition (a la Who’s Who).
At the moment, any writer who comes along can pretty much do whatever he likes (ahem, Bendis, Snyder, King). “You want to jettison Superman’s family and he basically ignores it? No problem.” “You want Batman, who’s claim to fame is being a fallible human who can stand with super heroes, to become an all knowing God? No problem.” “You want to reboot the entire universe because you’re not talented enough to write aging characters? No problem.”
They really need to stop that kind of thing. I don’t know if that’s DiDio or whoever, but seriously, it needs to stop.
2 Likes