What happens if DC Comics' new Publisher comes from the world of Children's Books?

[samurainoir]

Bleeding Cool Comic Book News and Rumors s Barbara Marcus The New Publisher Of DC Comics?

There is a positive side to this... having the person who brought Harry Potter and Bone to the mass markets would be a positive thing for wooing back an indifferent kid's market to DC Comics with the right projects (push Tiny Titans!).

On the other hand, they have cannily cross marketed Harry Potter to an adult marketplace as well, and given the fact that Watchmen was the best selling DC Graphic Novel this past year (not bad for a twenty year old comic), I'm sure that they would not focus on the kids side of things to the detriment of the expanding adult Graphic Novel marketplace.

[BlackKnight]

I hate Potter.
Don't care Much for the WatchMen either, to be Honest.

[samurainoir]

Jeanette Kahn came from children's magazines publishing and she did alright.
Rich

Good point! I had totally forgotten that!


Although the DC Explosion/Implosion was a pretty rocky start for her.

Swamp Thing/Sophisticated Suspense, Watchmen, Dark Knight, Sandman and Vertigo did all happen under her watch.

[Earth 2 Chris]

The Implosion wasn't her fault. Massive blizzards kept months worth of DC's expanded line from shipping to newstands, and Warners just saw the bottom line of unsold books and forced Kahn and co. to cut the DC line by well over half.

This could be a positive thing for the content of the comics, which has gotten way out of hand with the sadistic gore inside. But that's just my opinion.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

I miss Jeanette Kahn as publisher.....I think the last time DC was REALLY fun was under her watch....Since then everything got progressively dark. But maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, what with Brightest Day and some of the announcements coming out of that. God I hope so....

[Earth 2 Chris]

I miss her too. When Dick Giordano retired, that was the first blow, and then when Kahn retired, DC really changed. I always admired Levitz's comic work, but his stewardship of DC kind of left me cold, esp. his continued support of DiDio's abuse of the DCU.



Chris

[The Toyroom]

I agree with you....Levitz, great writer, horrible President/Publisher...in essence he seemed to be nothing more than a figurehead with DiDio calling all of the shots and never over-riding any of his decisions. I wonder if his laidback approach is why he sort of got bounced from the position, even though the spin is he can't wait to write again and DC is looking to have more synergy with parent company Time Warner.

[samurainoir]

I always thought Julie Schwartz retiring was the end of an era for fun comics at DC. I loved all those gonzo Superman stories towards the end just before Crisis where Superman was bumping into Popeye and Asterix analogues and Ambush Bug was running rampant through the back pages of ActionComics what felt like every other month.

Perhaps Brightest Day is a hint of DC's rumoured move to the West Coast?

[madmarva]

I think bringing someone in from the outside might be really good. Freshen things up a bit.

Unlike Black Knight, I like the Harry Potter books and if this person can talk Rowling into opening up the universe she created around Potter to comic book adaptions and original stories, I think it would be a great boon to comics.

A lot of teens and young adults were introduced to fantasy and reading through the Potter books and some of the might enjoy reading about the characters in comics like the Buffy fans do. More people have read the Potter books by far than are regular comics buyers. It wouldn't hurt the business to add a few of them to our ranks

Really, I think there is a more natural translation from serialized novels like the Potter books to comics than TV or movies.

But I doubt Rowling will give in. It's her universe and she can do what she wants with it.

But, I hope Warner's doesn't get confuse the success of the Potter books as having to do with Marcus

Obviously, she knew something good when she saw it and knew how to take advantage of its popularity. But, the Potter empire was built on Rowling's talent not Marcus'. I'd say Rowling should get 97 percent of the credit and Scholastic or Marcus about 3 percent, and that's probably being generous.

If a success like Potter was all about marketing, every novel would explode in popularity. But that 3 percent was important.

She and Warners did a fine job of translating the books into movies and there is no doubt the films increased the popularity of the books.

If she can help more DC characters get from the page to the screen and get it done faithfully, she's the gal for me.