DC On the Move
Don't forget to check out Ryan's take on these latest developments.
There is excitement in the air! A bunch of positions were announced for DC Entertainment. In the normal world of business, such fanfare would usually be greeted with stock movements if the executives were well regarded. However, DC had already announced Diane Nelson as the president of the “new” company, and their plans to expand comic characters into other media, so a lot of fans are wondering why this news is so big. After all, half the names are very familiar, and many projects were already underway, so what has really changed? Well, suffer confusion no longer, fans. Here's where you get the breakdown.
The biggest news of last year was that Paul Levitz would step down from his longtime position of Publisher. As much as I might be interested in Levitz getting to take another stab at Legion comics, I was also a bit worried to see him go. He had done an admirable job of stewarding our beloved classic heroes, and successfully intervening most of the time to prevent embarrassments, or permanent mishandling/damage to the characters themselves.
The game changed in the last few years with the success of so many Marvel movies. DC needed to put on a better show with its main characters, or it would be left in the dust by the likes of Spider-Man and the X-Men. This led to the announcement that a new entity, DC Entertainment, would focus on developing comic characters for movies and other formats as part of everyday business. In the best of all worlds, this would eventually mean that we would get some killer Flash and Green Lantern movies, and maybe even Wonder Woman or Teen Titans some day. In our dream world, the creative teams would still be free to put out great comics, not suddenly beholden to Hollywood conventions or some greater corporate meddling. The first good sign that things might turn out this well is that they kept Levitz around in an advisory capacity until Diane Nelson knew all the players, and had a certain comfort level with her position.
The wait is over, and here are the results. These are the key people that will put the DC Entertainment plan into action:
Jim Lee and Dan DiDio Named Co-Publishers DC Comics
Geoff Johns Named Chief Creative Officer
John Rood Named EVP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development
Patrick Caldon Named EVP, Finance and Administration
I’m going to leave Nelson, Rood, and Caldon alone, because they are not from comic-land. I know enough from my research to understand they have all been successful in what they have done in the past, and have enough faith that the business side will take care of itself, as long as the creative side gives us the goods. That means the business side has to trust the creative side, and even let them experiment, and yes, let them make mistakes. I have no way of knowing how much Levitz had influence on the other choices, but the fact that Geoff Johns and Jim Lee are involved means they are trusting the creative talents, and the fact that Dan Didio gets a promotion is proof that they are perfectly willing to let them keep making mistakes.
Hah! Just kidding! (Barely.) But let’s take them one by one.
The Cast
Jim Lee is one of the better artists around, and he has developed some good business experience from heading up Wildstorm. More recently he has jumped into the digital world, and is adding his artistic flourish to the DCU Online multi-player game. The fact that there is someone still so relatively young who has such great artistic talent, combined with the fact that he was willing to jump into a big, new project and be on the cutting edge of the game industry, is all good news. The idea that they have recognized the many talents he holds under his belt does them credit. We already trust his art, and having it as the foundation of a digital game is genius in and of itself. As a Co-Publisher, this might also mean that he gets more say in DC’s direction, which might help counterbalance the Dreaded Didio Effect.
Geoff Johns has all the right credentials too. We know he is a fanboy himself at heart, and he has proven his bones as a writer for years. Lately we have seen him working in other formats too. He has a hand in the writing of the DCU Online game, and he has worked on film projects in the past. His Legion of Super-Heroes contribution to CW’s Smallville is part of the reason the series has such high ratings these days, and may be partially responsible for the talks about extending the series for another season. He reinforced his golden boy status, writing Absolute Justice, which introduced the JSA to Smallville. Anyone who saw that has to feel good about letting Johns have a bigger say in how to develop DC properties.
What fans get in Johns is someone who understands the core principles of every DC character, and can quickly and accurately distill that essential information to other people. This will help educate people who are clueless (think of the marketing guy who has to develop a Phantom Stranger action figure, but hasn’t the first clue about the character), as well as help give a solid foundation to business types who think they understand, but haven’t quite got it right. With somebody of Johns’ understanding at the helm, nobody will try turning the Spectre movie into a comedy. Geoff Johns will continue writing, and he will likely get to have a hand in the TV shows, the cartoons, and movies. This means a little writing when he wants/is invited, but more likely serving as a “big picture” consultant.
Which brings us to Dan Didio. Like it or not, Didio has been the one at the head of the bus during the upswing of DC. While many fans love to hate him, and lay blame at his feet for everything wrong (including rumors of a Watchmen sequel), the fact that DC is doing so well means that he has a successful track record. I certainly have my own gripes about some of his decisions, but I’m not behind the scenes. I don’t know if DC is where they are in part because of Didio, or in spite of him. But if Levitz had Diane Nelson’s ear, and he thought it would be the wrong choice, I expect he would have had a better suggestion ready. What I’m hoping for is that Didio will bring his ‘A’ game, and the bad stuff will be caught in time by Johns and Lee and the other high-flyers around him.
The big question is, will I take back everything nice I just said about him after I read the latest issue of the Outsiders?
What It Means
“But Green Lantern was already in development!” Yes it was. But now Geoff Johns has even more reason to be involved than ever before. Considering he took the title to the top of the sales charts, you think that his increased influence will help or hurt the chances of making it into a great movie? Granted, some projects are too far along. If Jonah Hex sucks, this announcement may be too late to affect anything. However, it was recently announced that the Sgt. Rock movie was taking him out of World War II and putting him in a futuristic war scenario. There’s a chance that someone now has the authority to step in and “remove the suck” from that clueless Hollywood decision (cross your fingers, folks!).
The short story is that Jim Lee and Geoff Johns are proven superstars in the realm of comics. We know they “get it.” We love to devour the material they produce. With this announcement, the fans know that fanboys like them who respect the core material will actually get a say in how and where the properties are “exploited” by Warner Brothers. Having people we know and trust in those positions is the major reason the fans are breathing a collective sigh of relief and cheering this week.
For myself, I can feel the excitement. I want Johns to write more Smallville episodes. I want to play the DCU Online and see Jim Lee’s influence. Instead of bemoaning the fact that Warner Brothers can’t get a good Superman movie going for decades, or that Wonder Woman has been in Development Hell for an Olympian-like eternity, we can hope again. We can look forward to the feature films with anticipation instead of dread.
Our Comics Are Safe
This is the most important point: we know our comics are safe. From the first moment it was announced that DC Comics was being turned into DC Entertainment, we had concerns. The biggest, at least from my viewpoint, was the fact that Paul Levitz would not be in a position to keep something absolutely horrible and unimaginable from happening. Like, say, killing Dick Grayson, just as a crazy, hypothetical idea. With Levitz gone, who would protect those most in need of protection? The answer today is that the talents who love the characters the most are being promoted to be the watchmen. I trust that Lee and Johns will not sell out for a quick buck or to appease the marketing guy. They will tell their fellow writers and artists to keep pumping out the best, wildest, most imaginative stories they can, and then they will capitalize on them in other formats without destroying their essence. And that’s a good move for DC.
Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.
