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DC Implosion 2020, or the day that shook the comic industry to its core

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  • MRP
    Persistent Member
    • Jul 19, 2016
    • 2035

    DC Implosion 2020, or the day that shook the comic industry to its core

    Rumors have been flying all day, and lots of stuff has been confirmed in the last few hours.

    Variety has this: https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/dc-...Pos=0#cxrecs_s

    the relevant part here:
    At DC Comics, editor-in-chief Bob Harras, editors Brian Cunningham and Mark Doyle, senior VP of publishing strategy and support services Hank Kanalz, VP of marketing Jonah Weiland, and VP of global publishing initiatives and digital strategy Bobbie Chase have all exited as part of the restructuring. DC Universe employees have also been significantly impacted by the personnel reduction.
    Additionally reported (but not confirmed yet as far as I know) Jim Lee is no longer publisher, but will remain with the company in a more consultant position.

    Several toy news sites are reporting that DC Direct has been dismantled, all staff laid off, and that DC will no longer produce its own collectibles and will now only license the properties out to other manufacturers.

    Further, reports are that DC will reduce their print output by 40% almost immediately.

    It has been previously reported the new CEO has stated that currently 33% of their (AT&T/Warner) revenue is generated outside the US, and that his goal is to increase that to closer to 70%. That was his goal informing the strategy of the restructuring that was implemented today. It seems print products for the US direct market do not fit the global initiative, and digital products and products aimed to the book trade are more in line with those new goals so the publishing presence in the direct market is being reduced.

    It's theorized that the big IP books that are selling well in context (Batman books, Justice League, Superman) will be retained but other titles trimmed with output of digital and OGN content increasing as the market allows. There will not be more Batbooks per se for example, but the Batbooks being published will make up a larger percentage of the print output as other stuff is cancelled. I guess secondary characters will be relegated to OGN and digital products unless they catch fire and become big sellers.

    The aftershocks will include reductions in editorial staff, a smaller pool of freelancers getting offered work with only proven-sellers being retained in the short term.

    This is going to have a snowball effect on other aspects of the industry as well. Brick and mortar comics shops are already struggling, and this will impact them immensely.

    And as an ironic note, that Fandome event DC was hyping might be a bit awkward as a lot of the pre-recorded segments featured people who were laid off today and a lot of the comic projects they were set to announce probably have uncertain futures now.

    A lot of people lost their jobs in a very uncertain economy today, and that sucks no matter what you think of the changes or the directions WB/AT&T is taking with DC. Change for businesses, however necessary, can hurt and often has a human price. This one looks like its going to affect a lot of people. so hopefully they can land on their feet somewhere else.

    -M
    Last edited by MRP; Aug 10, '20, 11:40 PM.
    "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato
  • MRP
    Persistent Member
    • Jul 19, 2016
    • 2035

    #2
    No word how all this affects existing licences deals (such as that with Mego,FTC, McFarlane toys, or Spinmasters), but there's a lot of talk of expanding their brands in the press releases by AT&T/WB corporate suits who are implementing the restructuring.

    -M
    "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

    Comment

    • hedrap
      Permanent Member
      • Feb 10, 2009
      • 4825

      #3
      The inevitable. The past two decades have been a quagmire. It's unfortunate and it sucks, but the fact is DC has more outlets to reach more people and they barely made it work.

      Eventually, DC publishing will be for lease. Marvel will throw a boatload for it and it will juice sales for a year or two.

      Comment

      • MRP
        Persistent Member
        • Jul 19, 2016
        • 2035

        #4
        Originally posted by hedrap
        The inevitable. The past two decades have been a quagmire. It's unfortunate and it sucks, but the fact is DC has more outlets to reach more people and they barely made it work.

        Eventually, DC publishing will be for lease. Marvel will throw a boatload for it and it will juice sales for a year or two.
        Marvel publishing is not in much better shape. They have the successful movies (but the future of that depends on if theatres recover from the COVID shutdown and the business model of the $300 million blockbuster is still viable. If the $billion and a half plus revenue they get form theatrical releases goes away because there isn't a venue for theatrical release, then that model has to change to things with much more modest budgets that can still make money from limited theatrical releases and streaming services which would mean things like Endgame couldn't happen) but their publishing is in almost as dire straights as DC, and they do not have the presence in the mass market book trade with OGN releases that DC does, or a catalog of evergreen sellers in the book trade that DC does that provides alternative revenue streams for publishing outside the direct market. Disney is healthier than AT&T/WB for now, but if they start to restructure/contract, you could see the same kinds of moves made at Marvel as well. Marvel is holding its marketshare by flooding the direct market with titles and variants , not many of which are selling significantly better than DC's titles are in that direct market. A contraction is likely on the horizon for them as well, so I don't see them trying to license DC publishing form WB/AT&T, in fact Marvel/Disney is already licensing some of its publishing for part of Star Wars, part of the Marvel heroes, and all of the Disney comics to IDW (who is in it's own financial mess right now) and may look to do more of that than keep publishing low revenue producing products.

        -M
        "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

        Comment

        • enyawd72
          Maker of Monsters!
          • Oct 1, 2009
          • 7904

          #5
          Comic sales have been slowly dying for years due to being sold exclusively through comic shops. People can't buy what they can't find.
          The only comic shop within 100 miles of me was run by an 80 year old guy who retired and closed up shop early this year.
          With him gone, there is literally nowhere for me to get new comics.
          If I could walk into my local Dollar General, CVS, or Giant Eagle and find new comics on the magazine rack I'd buy them. So would a lot of people.

          I think the entire industry needs to find a better method of distribution. If you want to sell a product, you need to make it available to purchase. It should be a no brainer.
          Last edited by enyawd72; Aug 11, '20, 1:43 AM.

          Comment

          • thunderbolt
            Hi Ernie!!!
            • Feb 15, 2004
            • 34211

            #6
            Originally posted by enyawd72
            Comic sales have been slowly dying for years due to being sold exclusively through comic shops. People can't buy what they can't find.
            The only comic shop within 100 miles of me was run by an 80 year old guy who retired and closed up shop early this year.
            With him gone, there is literally nowhere for me to get new comics.
            If I could walk into my local Dollar General, CVS, or Giant Eagle and find new comics on the magazine rack I'd buy them. So would a lot of people.

            I think the entire industry needs to find a better method of distribution. If you want to sell a product, you need to make it available to purchase. It should be a no brainer.
            This right here. DC tried a little with its 100 page comics in Walmart, and to me just casually looking they did move. Make them available and affordable and they'd sell some books again.
            You must try to generate happiness within yourself. If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace. -Ernie Banks

            Comment

            • MRP
              Persistent Member
              • Jul 19, 2016
              • 2035

              #7
              Originally posted by enyawd72
              Comic sales have been slowly dying for years due to being sold exclusively through comic shops. People can't buy what they can't find.
              The only comic shop within 100 miles of me was run by an 80 year old guy who retired and closed up shop early this year.
              With him gone, there is literally nowhere for me to get new comics.
              If I could walk into my local Dollar General, CVS, or Giant Eagle and find new comics on the magazine rack I'd buy them. So would a lot of people.

              I think the entire industry needs to find a better method of distribution. If you want to sell a product, you need to make it available to purchase. It should be a no brainer.
              The problem is the newsstand distributors and vendors didn't want to carry comics; they were too cheap to pay for the space they took up and the vast majority of newsstand accounts gave up on comics long before comics gave up on the newsstands. The big blow was when 7-11 decided to stop carrying comics. You can't sell to a mas market if the mass market vendors won't carry your product. The direct market became the only viable path to market, which then led to them becoming a niche product with a niche product pricing structure as opposed to a mass market pricing structure, because economy of scale in production worked against them once they lost access to the mass market. But without the direct market, comics would have disappeared from the marketplace much sooner. The mistake they made was not building a new discovery market to bring in new customers to go along with the direct market, which serviced people who already knew they wanted comics.

              The bigger problem is that the monthly periodical format is a dinosaur product and one that does not appeal to modern mass market retailers or modern consumers, but which old time comic collectors have clung to and won't let go of. Comics as a medium will survive. In fact YA comics/Graphic novels is the fastest growing segment in publishing right now. But none of those are sold as periodicals. It's complete stories sold in book form, and very little of them feature super-heroes.

              The core of the problem is the direct market comic industry failed to adapt to the changing market and failed to bring in new readers over time. They doubled down on the existing customer base, which was fine until that customer base starting aging out, dying off and rejecting any content or format that might appeal to a wider mass audience or new customers.

              The moves made by AT&T today reflect them trying to move away from the direct market and adapt to what the current market for comic material in the mass market is. And it's not print periodicals sold anywhere.

              -M
              "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

              Comment

              • RonnyG
                Career Member
                • Apr 23, 2014
                • 909

                #8
                Reading this thread brought back childhood memories of going to the local convenience store every week to buy comic books. They were on a turn style display rack. Those days are long gone now, but that's how we used to buy them back them because there were no comic book stores in my immediate area, and of course no internet. I loved Archie comics, but I also collected Rom: Spaceknight, and Dazzler starting with their first issues. Occasionally, I would use the order form inside the comics if I missed an issue. I think I even xeroxed the form at the local library so I wouldn't have to cut up my book.

                Comment

                • RonnyG
                  Career Member
                  • Apr 23, 2014
                  • 909

                  #9
                  Will this news affect the massive Omnibus books that DC was putting out? I have all three volumes of Golden Age Wonder Woman stories, and was looking forward to future volumes.

                  Comment

                  • Bruce Banner
                    HULK SMASH!
                    • Apr 3, 2010
                    • 4327

                    #10
                    The writing has been on the wall for quite some time now.
                    PUNY HUMANS!

                    Comment

                    • Godzilla
                      Permanent Member
                      • Nov 3, 2002
                      • 3008

                      #11
                      I feel this is the death knell of the monthly comics.
                      Mortui Vivos Docent
                      The Dead Teach the Living

                      Comment

                      • Earth 2 Chris
                        Verbose Member
                        • Mar 7, 2004
                        • 32498

                        #12
                        A sad day indeed, but one I think everyone saw coming. I don't think DC Universe is long for this world, and apparently DC Direct is literally gone, overnight.

                        Monday's WarnerMedia layoffs have hit a significant number of high-level figures at comic book powerhouse DC.


                        Chris
                        sigpic

                        Comment

                        • hedrap
                          Permanent Member
                          • Feb 10, 2009
                          • 4825

                          #13
                          Originally posted by MRP
                          The problem is the newsstand distributors and vendors didn't want to carry comics; they were too cheap to pay for the space they took up and the vast majority of newsstand accounts gave up on comics long before comics gave up on the newsstands. The big blow was when 7-11 decided to stop carrying comics. You can't sell to a mas market if the mass market vendors won't carry your product. The direct market became the only viable path to market, which then led to them becoming a niche product with a niche product pricing structure as opposed to a mass market pricing structure, because economy of scale in production worked against them once they lost access to the mass market. But without the direct market, comics would have disappeared from the marketplace much sooner. The mistake they made was not building a new discovery market to bring in new customers to go along with the direct market, which serviced people who already knew they wanted comics.

                          The bigger problem is that the monthly periodical format is a dinosaur product and one that does not appeal to modern mass market retailers or modern consumers, but which old time comic collectors have clung to and won't let go of. Comics as a medium will survive. In fact YA comics/Graphic novels is the fastest growing segment in publishing right now. But none of those are sold as periodicals. It's complete stories sold in book form, and very little of them feature super-heroes.

                          The core of the problem is the direct market comic industry failed to adapt to the changing market and failed to bring in new readers over time. They doubled down on the existing customer base, which was fine until that customer base starting aging out, dying off and rejecting any content or format that might appeal to a wider mass audience or new customers.

                          The moves made by AT&T today reflect them trying to move away from the direct market and adapt to what the current market for comic material in the mass market is. And it's not print periodicals sold anywhere.

                          -M
                          That is really well put and to the heart of the matter.

                          Re: Marvel. You're right from a financial and publication end. In the current form, it's fugly for everyone.

                          My thinking is Fiege has enough of a hand in the comic side now that building his own Marvel/DC crossover is something he's aiming for. He could get Disney to bite on the licensing cost if it also meant a co-production that could spin out onto Disney+ and HBO+. Both sides are going to need it and it's not as if people are only going to choose one service. For example, you have Avengers/JLA and Batman/Spider-Man movies, but anything else would be +content. Watch Superman v Hulk in two 60 minute formats. Hulks hour on Disney+, Superman's on HBO+.

                          A few years ago, this was impossible thanks to the DC fiefdoms. But we've had Tull/Legendary, Robinov, Nelson, Tsujhiria, Nolans, Snyder, Johns, Didio and now etc...all cleared out since 2013. The opening is now there.

                          Another thing to remember, if things get as bad as it could for Disney, Marvel is technically a separate arm. Perlmutter could decouple and go independent again. It would be a much different landscape and being free of Disney would allow them to purchase DC.

                          Comment

                          • MRP
                            Persistent Member
                            • Jul 19, 2016
                            • 2035

                            #14
                            The other thing to remember about this is that it is not about DC Comics. This is part of a much larger restructuring of AT&T/Warner as a whole. Hundreds, if not thousands fo people lost their jobs throughout Warner/AT&T, not just at DC. The root cause of the restructuring was not about comics, it was about the loss of billions in revenue because of the shutdown of theatres and the delays/shutdowns of movie and TV productions that will delay or reduce future revenue streams as well, and the stumbling out of the block of the roll out of HBO Max. Certainly DC was a part of the restructuring, but it wasn't abut DC and it wasn't about comics. It didn't happen because newsstand sales were shrinking or DC Comics sales were sluggish, it happened because the entertainment industry as a whole took a gut punch and Warner/AT&T was not positioned well to endure it, and are now scrambling to fins ways to rework ans redirect what they do to succeed in the new reality of what the entertainment market is. Again, comics and publishing are part of that, but what happened/is happening is not about comics.


                            -M
                            "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

                            Comment

                            • MRP
                              Persistent Member
                              • Jul 19, 2016
                              • 2035

                              #15
                              Originally posted by RonnyG
                              Will this news affect the massive Omnibus books that DC was putting out? I have all three volumes of Golden Age Wonder Woman stories, and was looking forward to future volumes.
                              Quite possibly as it seems the the reprint/collected edition division was dismantled just as DC Direct was. Word is editors of titles are now responsible for the collected editions of their material that come out and archival products, which are more labor intensive to get reproduction ready for press, and sell less are on hold as they weigh options including licensing such collections out to other publishers. Books done and in the pipeline may still go to press/get released, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for new volumes to be produced until this all shakes out and we see how the new regime plays things.

                              There were supposedly a number of staff meetings done in person or via Zoom and Zoom-like apps today with press releases to follow that debriefed employees on what exactly was done and how things will operate in the future. Bleeding Cool and the Beat have had frequent and mostly accurate updates the past 2 days, and there's more out there than I have time or inclination to recap, but there's also a lot of misinformation form a lot of other comics "news" sites and youtubers as well, so be skeptical on what you read/watch unless it is well-sourced, as it is likely to be someone grinding their agenda rather than actually reporting accurate news.

                              The biggest piece, which seems to be accurate, is that Jim Lee is remaining as CCO bit is no longer publisher, and there will be co-publishers-one is Marie Javins, a comic veteran who is being promoted within the company, and had been the Executive Editor of Global Publishing Initiatives & Digital Strategy. The other is Michele Wells, who had been Executive Editor, DC Children's/Young Adult and has more of a background in book publishing, especially children's books at at Disney, First Book and DK, and has been at DC for almost 4 years. She has also worked closely with Warner Bros President, Global Brands, Franchises, and Experiences Pamela Lifford, which is who Lee will report to (and (Lifford) who unsubstantiated rumor has it does not like the more mature style of comics aimed at older readers and thinks it is a part of the reason for shrinking sales and wants to redirect the focus towards younger readers again).

                              There is also a lot of chatter about developing a two-year plan for the transformation of DC as well, but that that holds is uncertain. We'll have to wait and see what of all this is confirmed, what is just rumor, and how well any plans hold together once they hit the realities of the marketplace.

                              -M
                              "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

                              Comment

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