Dan Didio has been fired.

https://bookriot.com/2020/02/25/co-publisher-dan-didio-and-dc-comics-part-ways/

basic rundown, Didio planned to do a new event called 5g it would be replacing all the main cast with newer heroes. Luke Fox becoming batman, Jonathan kent becoming superman. Aging out Bruce wayne's generation etc. AT&T has too much invested in other media to allow that sorta thing to happen
(See robert pattinson as bruce wayne)


So if 5g fails, At&T might shutter DC comics.

http://epicstream.com/news/TinyDiapana/ATT-Reportedly-Closing-DC-Comics-If-Ever-5G-Event-Fails

 

They're supposed to be doing another massive crossover event with Marvel in the near future, which some commentators that I watch thought was a kind of last-ditch effort to get people to read their comics again. If that doesn't work, though, they probably won't invest more into the comics; they'll probably focus on their streaming platform, videogames, etc. It's not as if they don't have options, and I don't blame AT&T for pulling the rug out from under them; the story of the last ten years of DC has been 'wow, pushing the massive overhaul button was a mistake, let's push it again'.

 

Worth noting that Bleeding Cool, at least, are attributing Dedio's exit to him "fostering a poor work environment" rather than upcoming plans. https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/02/21/why-dan-didio-leave-dc-comics/

Given that the main source for a planned closure of DC seems to be someone who, as far as I can tell, isn't employed by DC anymore and doesn't seem to be treated with much beyond disdain by current writers, I'd be wary of presenting that as a definite plan just yet.

 

And good riddance to him.

The only source for that is a guy who has a reason to hate DC but no real way to know things like that.

That Secret Crisis mention in Doomsday Clock was probably just an Easter Egg. It's stupid to treat it seriously when nothing really points to it being true.

 

I've seen more than a few rumblings lately from what have historically been pretty solid sites saying that there's a chance Marvel may start taking over DC publications. I'm not honestly sure how I'd feel about that, but it's probably a damn sight better than the rusty coat hanger abortion that 5g looks like it'll turn out to be.

 

Not sure what the AT&T plans for DC Comics are, but closing them is probably the biggest mistake they could make. Are comics not really that profitable for them? Sure. But the superheroes are and the comics are a perfect platform to cheaply try new adventures for them, add new concepts and made new characters, that they can use later in a different medium that makes more money.

I would say that using the Court of Owls for their next Batman game is a lot less riskier than using something untested and it cost them nothing because they have comics that same fans still want to write them for a lot less than writers from different places.

 

What sites are those?

 

Exactly this. In the post-Speculator Boom comics industry, comics themselves aren't really around to make money. They're a storehouse for valuable Intellectual Properties and a testing ground to develop new stories/concepts that can make money in other mediums. The Marvel Comics Civil War might've been a flop, but they took what worked, fixed what didn't, and got the MCU Civil War that made over a billion dollars.

 

Trying to make things interesting by using a new guy as the same superhero is the stupidest idea in the world. Trying to do the same to literally everyone is that stupidity to the extreme.

 

Yeah, replacing long-established characters with new people is something that almost never works well in the modern comics scene. Most characters are just too established to really reinvent.

Granted, there are some exceptions, but they're usually more along the lines of things like the Green Lantern Corps, which by its very concept has an easy time introducing new members.

 

You have to remember that Comics don't make money anymore, it's all the merchandising and media that earn the profit (loss leaders I think it's called) So most comic events and such are just to test the waters for future movies, tv shows, etc. While DC may be closed I doubt AT&T will stop producing the comics, they might just make a new company and take people from Marvel or Darkhorse and try again.

 

Yeah, loss leaders are stuff priced to make a loss, to bring in traffic or sales, and once people're invested they buy other stuff. The comics are like milk in a grocery store-- not everybody drinks it, but the folks that do will buy other stuff once they're in the grocery store, like frozen food or deli meat or something.

Not everybody buys or reads Batman or Superman comics, but a lot of people are familiar with the characters and the IPs, and would go see movies or watch a streaming show, and people do buy and play games. The margins on those are a lot better than comics and publishing in general, I think.

 

As I recall (and confirmed with a quick google), the actual comics side of DC has been a loss leader for decades. Pretty much the only time in recent memory when they were actually making a profit on the books was during Speculator Boom (which depended on an unsustainable model that nearly destroyed the industry). It's merchandising where the real money gets made.

Outside of being a creative testing area there's not a lot the actual comics really do in the modern era. The fallout of the Speculator Boom basically destroyed the distribution channels that made comics cheap and ubiquitous, and has comic companies struggling with the fact that they're not bringing in new readers. And even the value of comics as a creative testbed is rather limited; not that they can't come up with valuable new ideas, but there are a -lot- of old stories left to draw from. Especially since DCs comic books ever since The New 52 have mostly been a mess of never-ending gimmicks in a desperate attempt to draw in new readers.

(Arguably one of the reasons the MCU was so much more successful than the DCEU is that DC tried to do movies with the modern comic book versions of their characters, while Marvel pulled from older material that had both stood the test of time and had nostalgia value).

 

Arguably not that much since a lot of these old stories are bad or simply repetitive. Not that it's not the same these days, but the point is that by keeping a lot of series around you have a lot better chance of getting a new classic than if you just have one or two series.

One thing that DC actually improved lately over Marvel is having a lot more series that are out of the continuity. It allows for more freedom with interpretations of their characters and they can experiment without usual complains from the fans about destroying the status quo.

 

Of course the majority of old stories were nothing special, but when you've got decades of them to draw from it's easy to cherry-pick the best ones.

I will definitely agree that DC's Elseworlds and other out-of-continuity stories have been a pretty consistent point in their favor. It's hard to dispute that when you look at the number of stories they've produced that are much-loved by the fandom: Kingdom Come, The Dark Knight Returns, Superman: Red Son, All Star Superman, Watchmen initially started off as one, and so on. Sure, the various non-canon stories have also produced a lot of duds, but like you said those stories can easily be ignored because they're stand-alone stories anyway.

Really, one of the banes of the industry for a while now has been an excess of continuity in conjunction with near-constant Crisis Crossovers. It's easy to understand why the industry does that: the vast majority of writers are long-time comic book fans, and the market they're increasingly forced to cater to are hardcore long-time fans. Not to mention big crossover events are usually seen as a great way to get people interested and buying new books. The problem is that at this point crossover events are happening virtually non-stop, which makes it hard to tell any self-contained stories or even have something approachable for new readers.

I think that's a big part of why DC's out-of-continuity stories have been a big source of quality storytelling. It allows for self-contained stories with a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. By contrast, the main line of comics continuity is ridiculously sprawling and in a state of constant upheaval as it staggers between crossover or reboot to the next.

 

Doing a mild necro because of new developments.

Diamond Distributors has temporarily shut down due to Coronavirus. For those who don't know, Diamond is the de-facto monopoly that's had total control over comics distribution ever since the Speculator Boom screwed things up.

Needless to say, that's adding even more pressure onto the already struggling comics industry.

If AT&T was already considering shutting them down before Coronavirus did a ton of damage to already struggling comic shops...

 

I wonder if we'll now see the numbers for digital sales. As far as I know, neither of The Big Two have ever disclosed how good/bad they do on the digital medium.

 

It's OK, think I've spent enough on DC through comixology the last year or two that they should be good for a while.

 

More trouble at Diamond.

Needless to say, having the exclusive distributor of all DC's print comics unable to pay their bills to DC is ... a problem.

 

DC Comics just cut ties with Diamond. Not sure if many shops can survive adding new distributors with everything else that's happening.