Our insider got some info from people within DC and their thoughts of what happened and where DC Comics goes from here.
All hell is breaking loose in comicdom, and as usual the fires are raging in DC. The abrupt dismissal of co-publisher Dan DiDio is spinning off into all sorts of gossip and speculation – some accurate, some bogus, some venomous, some heartfelt. So the question remains: What the fucketh?
The Black Knight is receiving mashed notes from various personnel involved with WB or know people who are. There are the usual contradictions but the following keeps popping up and the truth is in there somehow.
It’s been reported everywhere now that DiDio and sales-hot comics scribe Scott Snyder were in Fight Club bout with one another over the 5G plans, with WB taking Snyder’s side and booting out DiDio. Certainly, DiDio was having issues with certain DC editors and executives, almost like what happened to Jim Shooter in his last days at Marvel Comics, post-New Universe.
Rumor I: 5G had many haters at DC with Snyder being probably the most vocal and powerful. But apparently owner AT&T was concerned that the characters they were licensing for merch — namely the Holy Trinity — were no longer going to match what was in newly released comics. The same could be said of movies and TV programs.
Rumor II: AT&T was about to throw comics creators under the bus, and they still just might. They felt that the blame for dropping sales was that they needed successful movie and TV writers to produce the comic books themselves. With J.J. Abrams under the WB now, AT&T believed that’s what the comics needed to boost publicity and sales.
Rumor III: Selling off DC Comics has been discussed at AT&T since they acquired DC. But Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman had too much value as IPs to be sold. They need them for TV and films. Instead of shutting down DC Comics, AT&T is seriously thinking about farming them out…to Marvel Comics. It would be a huge licensing arrangement not too unlike what Marvel does with Conan the Barbarian. Except on massive roids. Disney would publish DC Comics and integrate the entire universe in the 616 just as Conan is hanging out with the Savage Avengers. This could open the doors for DC characters entering the MCU through the multiverse.
