Aaaaaaaand right on time, here’re the “What’s happening behind the scenes at DC?!” rumors, courtesy of Rich Johnston:
I understand that at least one high profile creator will be making the jump to Marvel. As will quite a few slightly less-high profile creators with an opportunity to play up their new higher profiles in the wake of the relaunch. And that Marvel has also had to turn down a number of enquiries.
Is there anyone that wasn’t expecting a variation on this to appear within the next week or so? It’s not that I doubt that DC editorial has come into all manner of conflict with creators, pissing more than a few off in the process (One of the benefits of having such a long lead-time for the creation of the books, Dan Didio said in some interview pre-release, was the ability to “tweak” the content as much as possible, which was always going to upset creators), but… It can’t just be me who thinks that the above smacks of Marvel sources pushing these stories to undermine DC’s success, right (The giveaway is “Marvel has also had to turn down a number of enquiries,” which feels like a company release instead of an actual rumor, although maybe that’s just in the way that Rich is telling it)?
What’ll be more interesting will be what happens if a lot of creators do jump ship from DC soon. Because, in the strangest way, I think the New 52 has simultaneously underscored the importance of good creators while also pushing the value of those creators as much to the background as possible. The characters, the franchises and the DC Universe were what were being promoted through this entire process; this wasn’t a “creator name” recognition event for anyone other than the hardcore fanbase, and even then, enough curiosity was created so that even those hardcore fans checked out books by creators they wouldn’t normally sample.
The fact that the entire first month sold out suggests that, depending on whether or not good replacements can be found for departed creators, DC may have actually broken the idea of a creator-led market for the first time in years. Which may be possible for a month, but is it feasible in the long term? And if it is, what replaces creators as the guide for the audience? Characters? Quality?
September 29th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Creators are linked to characters and quality. Without good creators, characters become uninteresting and weak, resulting in poor quality.
From what I understand from Johnstons’ article, this whole debacle is attributed to DiDio’s micro-management. On one hand, this did mostly produced a generally cohesive and high quality reboot that doesn’t take us readers for granted, but I can understand a creator’s reaction to what is essentially an indictment of no confidence on their ability and vision. It remains to be seen how this will develop. It will, personally for me, dilute my excitement should, say for example, Morrison leaves Action Comics or Winnick/Capullo leave Batman. Having said that, Lobdell elaving wouldn’t bother me one bit. If this is true, I believe they will see a drop in sales on SOME titles but not all.
September 29th, 2011 at 11:40 am
man when marvel had jim shooter as eic and marvel had 70% of the comic market,creator’s saidthey where leaveing left and right maybe this didio guy’s a little better then I thought.
September 29th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
I think you got a very, very good point in what mostly differentiates this to DC’s 80s relaunch, and that’s its orientation. DC seems to be playing up only its characters this time: most of the time, it was all about renumbering and 52 books. Whereas in the 80s, it was all about Byrne on Superman, George Pérez on WW, Tim Truman on Hawkman and so forth. That was why that moment was so important, and we can say it was mostly a success (I don’t think any of the relaunches back then was even remotely weak). DC since late 90s has been struggling with balancing out creators and properties and these last ones are frankly on the rise right now. If all goes through with DCs plans, I expect a lot of creators moving not only to Marvel, but even maybe to a new indie sort-of renaissance.
September 29th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
When is Bob Harras going to can Gail Simone? I want read the article about the tweet war between her, Rich, and Scott Lojerkoff. How much is Appl–I mean Warner paying you people to write all these articles about just DC books? Rich included.
September 30th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Rich Johnston gets paid from both DC and Marvel and will be FIRED from Bleeding Cool.
Inside sources: MyBuhtt.com
September 30th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
@sucking for andrew luck: If Harris does that then he’s my hero
At least her dumb metro sexual neckbeard vampires will stop reading dc comics.
DC should take a anti-homosexual stance just to offend it’s gay readers and drive Gail Simone out of there.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Crash and burn, baby! Crash and burn! What ever cohesion DC thinks it achieved with New 52 will dissolve away to nothingness as the DC creators jump ship for Marvel and new ones come in. DC’s problem is that there is no real editorial control. DC has gone with “the hot hand” for decades. Got a great idea? You’re hired. Oh … that idea only lasts 6 issues. Okay, we’ll get the next hot hand on the title. Whatever …. I hate this “New” 52 and hope it ends in a puddle of ink on the floor.