The Impact of the DC Comics Move
By now, you’ve probably seen the news: DC Comics is leaving New York.
As part of the reorganization that created DC Entertainment several years ago, pieces of DC’s operations have already been in Burbank, CA — digital media, anything related to the movies and TV shows, etc. But now Diane Nelson has sent an e-mail to DC staffers confirming that in 2015 the whole kit & caboodle will be in California under one roof.
Debates aside as to who broke the story first, this is pretty significant news for the comics industry. DC has been part of the New York scene since before it was DC. New York City has always been closely associated with the publishing industry, and still is home to Marvel and other publishers. The city boasts one of the highest per-square-mile number of Local Comic Shops in the country. For DC to leave the publishing town and move everything to the “movie” coast, raises the question of priorities for the publisher.
The bigger questions remain: What affect will this have on staff? Granted, most of the creative work comes from writers and artists who are scattered around the globe, so the impact on stories and monthly titles is likely to be minimal. But editorial staff? Some see this as a way for DC to shed themselves of “Old Guard” editors and staffers who have deep roots in New York and will be hard-pressed to make the move. Will this increase or decrease the amount of editorial interference in the books?
And does this indicate that Warner Brothers will have even more involvement in the comics? Kevin Tsujihara is definitely shaking things up at WB, making several public statements that DC is not a back-burner item for him, and the timing of this seems to have come at the point where there’s no one — Karen Berger, Jeff Robinov, Paul Levitz — remaining to argue against the move.
RELATED: Our discussion of DC’s faltering public relations on H2O.
Reactions have been swift and mixed. Some think it’s a good move to consolidate the operation into one place, making it easier for administrative types to communicate and collaborate. Others see it as a sign that DC Entertainment is firmly entrenched in “movie” mode, sacrificing good stories in the comics for something that can be turned into filmed media.
At least this wasn’t a last-minute decision that leaves a lot of people hanging. Staffers have notice, so they can start planning. But one wonders if Diane Nelson would have sent the e-mail when she did had it not started circulating on the Internet first…
Got a thought? Let us know how you feel about the move.
