There's a lot of sorrow in Batman's Gotham City. This week it may be worse in the real-life city of Burbank, California, home of DC Comics.
On Monday, Aug. 10, WarnerMedia announced layoffs of enormous proportions for most of its various arms and companies. Among those hardest hit were DC Comics; DC Universe, the streaming service; and DC Direct, the in-house manufacturer of DC-related merchandise and collectibles.
How bad is it?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, roughly a third of DC Comics editorial was let go, including Bob Harras, the editor-in-chief. Bobbie Chase, who launched DC's popular young adult line of graphic novels, has been terminated. Ditto editor Mark Doyle, instrumental in creating Black Label, DC's line of mature readers GNs.
At DC Universe, most of the streamer's employees have been pink-slipped.
At DC Direct ... well, it's gone. Completely. After 22 years.
While the size of the bloodbath was unexpected, that it was coming was not. There had been signs and portents.
When AT&T bought WarnerMedia in 2018, speculation began immediately as to what areas the communications giant would be downsize, trim or combine _ and DC Comics was on the tip of the rumor mill's tongue. Would it be sold? Would the IP be leased to another publisher? Would it go completely digital?
None of that happened, but DC did do something dramatic and unexpected: In June it ended its contract with Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. and began distributing through two comic shops with large mail-order businesses. Inexplicable at the time, it seems likely now that this was the first step on the road to self-distribution.
And, of course, those other possibilities are still on the table. With a third of its staff gone, DC's output and market share will inevitably contract. It's as if, you know, AT&T just doesn't care what happens to its comic book arm.
Also, when WarnerMedia launched HBO Max, the immediate assumption was that somehow or other the company's other streaming service, DC Universe, would be killed or merged. After all, HBO Max had more general appeal than the fan-oriented DC Universe, with its huge library of DC-related comics, movies, TV shows and cartoons. The service also aired original TV shows, both live and animated, as well as a news show titled "DC Daily."
But "DC Daily" was recently canceled. And according to comicbook.com. "DC Universe quietly ended its subscription package to users" in July. Meanwhile, DC Universe's fare has been finding new homes elsewhere: "Stargirl" and "Swamp Thing" are available on The CW, while "Doom Patrol" and "Harley Quinn" are migrating to HBO Max. That just leaves "Titans" and the animated "Young Justice," and no one will be surprised if they move as well.
Finally, there's DC Direct, home of DC-related statues, action figures, T-shirts, collectibles, etc. Its demise isn't unexpected, according to The Hollywood Reporter, who said the move "was rumored when Warner Bros. Consumer Products began taking a more active role in DC merchandising."
The online reaction was immediate and mournful.
"So sad," tweeted legendary writer Neil Gaiman. "I started working with @DCComics 33 years ago. Seeing so many staff fired hurts."
"No one works in comics who doesn't do it for love of comics," tweeted "Batman" and "Justice League" writer Scott Snyder. "Only compassion and love for friends and creative partners at DC tonight. Hoping everyone sees far better days in far better years."
Longtime writer Gail Simone tried to find a positive approach: "Okay, let's have some #DCLove. Name your four favorite DCU comics, not Vertigo or other imprints, just straight DCU titles. Any run, any era." She immediately had a number of takers.
Another popular opinion was fingering AT&T as the villain. Veteran writer Gerry Conway tweeted: "What happened at @DCComics (Monday) was probably inevitable once @WarnerMedia became a subsidiary of a tech company uninterested in creating new creative content, and planning only to strip mine existing IP for streaming."
Oddly, this sort of catastrophe is not unknown in the comics biz. A number of fans drew an immediate comparisons to the "DC Implosion" of 42 years ago.
In 1978, DC Comics announced the "DC Explosion," a marketing initiative wherein the number of titles would greatly expand, and the number of pages per title would increase as well (along with the price). But as luck would have it, a number of factors _ blizzards in New York in 1977 and '78, rising paper prices, oil shocks, "stagflation," recession, etc. _ resulted in poor sales for the publisher for 1978. As a result, DC's corporate master, Warner Communications, ordered a severe cutback.
The result was the sudden cancellation of 26 titles, with more to follow. Fans immediately began calling the event "the DC Implosion."
But DC isn't the only publisher to suffer sudden contractions. A host of publishers in the mid-1950s _ staggered by the twin blows of the Comics Code and television _ went out of business or dropped their comic book lines. And in 1995, Marvel Comics contracted sharply when a distribution scheme went awry and the company was facing bankruptcy.
But of all disasters that have befallen a comics company, this one may have the worst timing. Because on Aug. 22, the publisher is running a 24-hour online convention celebrating all things DC. Called "FanDome," it's touted on DC's website as a "first-of-its-kind, immersive global fan experience in nine languages, featuring exclusive reveals with our biggest stars across the DC Multiverse."
That includes the likes of Brec Bassinger ("Stargirl"), Gal Gadot ("Wonder Woman 1984"), Timothy Dalton ("Doom Patrol"), Dwayne Johnson ("Black Adam"), Val Kilmer ("Batman Forever") and Margot Robbie ("Birds of Prey"). And the announcement of a new Suicide Squad video game is expected as well, so they're not just blowing smoke.
So if you care about DC Comics movies, TV shows, comic books and collectibles, log on to DCFanDome.com on Aug. 22. And let's hope it's still a party, and not a funeral.
