DC Entertainment Announcents Just Weeks Away

[FordSVT]

I'm hoping there will be some announcement about a sequel to The Dark Knight (ideally with Nolan returning) and a new Superman project (presumably a reboot but I retain a little hope that Brandon Routh might reprise his role).

I hope he does. Of all the things that were wrong with that movie, his portrayal of Supes and Clark were not to blame. I thought he did a fine job and he certainly looks the part. I'd be too worried that a "new and improved" reboot of the franchise would attempt to place a well known actor in the role, which doesn't usually work well.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

A letter from Diane Nelson on the new executive team:

Well, we’re finally here. The announcement so many have been waiting for – and a few of us have been waiting anxiously to make. I’m very happy to present the new leadership team for DC Entertainment, including our new Co-Publishers of DC Comics!

I simply couldn’t be prouder or more excited to be working alongside these amazingly talented gentlemen. And I couldn’t have more faith in the promise of the future for DC and its deeply talented employees.

Before I share a few thoughts on each of these leaders, I’d like to acknowledge some of the rumors that have understandably been swirling around in the days and weeks leading up to today.

First, what we announced in September was the creation of DC Entertainment as a company and my role running it. We also shared the fact that Paul Levitz would continue to operate as Publisher of DC Comics until his replacement was announced. Paul has continued to operate as Publisher of DC Comics over the past 5 months, as I took time to learn about the organization, consider how I want to structure the company for the future and who I want to run it with me. He made sure the business kept working and people knew someone was on the ground with them, looking out for their interests.

I thank Paul for that continuity and commitment to me, Warner Bros. and the DC business and team. I know it was not an easy time for him or for the employees at DC – and I’m thrilled that he can now turn his full attention to writing; something I know he is excited about, as are fans.

In terms of possible alternate candidates for the Publisher role, some very qualified names have been talked about and raised. Each have tremendous merit in his or her own right, but none other than this team were approached or considered seriously. Jeff Robinov’s and my interest in this specific combination of people – with their highly complementary talent – has been in play since very early on in this transition period. And our decision to pursue assembling this specific team was made as early as mid-November. Anyone who looks carefully will see that it can’t have been easy or quick to make this team happen. But equally, people must see how compelling it was to try.

It has been my observation that business partnerships – actually, any partnership, really – are rarely effective unless the partners choose each other. This partnership – both Dan and Jim as Co-Publishers and Geoff, John and Pat as executive partners with them – was a very organic and natural one. And this team is brimming with respect for one another and excitement at what this combination can achieve.

And so, a word or two about each:

- Jim Lee is one of the top artists and creators in the business. But he is also an astonishingly smart and experienced businessman. He has a calm, confident and reassuring leadership style that will be enormously valuable to every member of the DC Entertainment and DC Comics team. He is fully adept and experienced at building a publishing program on his own, and will partner with Dan in doing so, but he also brings an affinity and passion for digital that will help the DC Comics business move aggressively into the future.

- Dan DiDio is one of the most passionate and energetic leaders I have ever seen. He cares deeply about these characters and stories, and equally about the people who bring them to life at and with DC Comics. He knows how to manage the day-in, day-out mechanics of the publishing program, with his own strong creative sense, and he has great experience from prior to DC in adapting stories for other platforms.

- Geoff Johns has an unparalleled creative mind and a huge heart. He brings a level of enthusiasm, passion and optimism to every discussion I have with him that is so motivating. He will be instrumental in establishing the tone and culture of creative risk and business growth that we intend for DC Entertainment. And he will ensure the integrity of how we bring these characters and stories to fans across every entertainment platform.

- John Rood is a long-time colleague and friend. I have been looking for a way to work with him again ever since we met during his first stint at Warner Bros. 10 years ago. John was smart and accomplished then, but he has built and grown his professional experience in his 10 years at ABC Family in a way that makes him uniquely qualified for the job I envisioned. John will be a passionate, innovative marketer of the DC Comics publishing program, while he helps us build DC Entertainment and its library with internal divisions across Time Warner and Warner Bros. He will treat our retail customers and our consumers like the superheroes they are. And we’re lucky to have him on this team.

- Pat Caldon. What can I say about Pat that people don’t already know, particularly inside DC Comics? He is a rock. He is deeply knowledgeable and much more creatively passionate than he lets on. He cares about everyone and everything associated with DC and he will be an instrumental partner to all of us in building the company for the future.

At some point during the September announcement flurry, Paul and I were talking about what I was taking on as President of DC Entertainment. He pointed out to me that I was about to step in to the greatest job in the world at arguably the greatest company in the world. The last 6 months, while anxious and difficult ones for all of you at DC Comics, have demonstrated to me how true Paul’s words were.

Among the many incredibly fun experiences I’ve had over this period, was a recent one week stint in which I had the honor to have dinner with Neil Gaiman one night and Grant Morrison and his awesome wife, Kristan, the next. That fact alone should be enough to illustrate my point about the greatest job in the world. But during each of those conversations, we touched on the crossroads at which DC finds itself.

From Neil came the eloquently concise assessment that what I was talking about for the future of DC Entertainment was “no fear”. So true; my job, with this team of amazing executives, is to support and create a safe environment for creative risks and business innovation.

And from Grant and Kristan was the observation that we’re at the starting point of the next era for DC Comics and DC Entertainment. Preceded by so many interesting, passionate, talented leaders, we are continuing a legacy and building upon it – together.

Let’s have fun and work hard to make this next era the best yet and thank you to everyone at DC for your patience and professionalism with me as I take the time to make careful, thoughtful and meaningful changes that set us all up for success.

And a note from Geoff Johns:

“WOW.”

That’s the first thing I said too when I heard about the team Diane wanted to form to guide DC Entertainment both in and out of the comic book pages and into the not-so-distant future. That not-so-distant future being today.

And in the words of my Tiny Titans collaborators, “AW YEAH, DC COMICS!”

The second thing I said to Diane was, “Um, what about writing? I love writing. I can’t stop writing!” Diane smiled and said, “...writing’s part of the job!” Right away, I knew I was in. This was a dream come true. So what am I going to be doing besides writing Green Lantern, The Flash, Batman: Earth One and Brightest Day? What’s “Chief Creative Officer” even mean? It sounds like a suit job...thankfully I’m still wearing my t-shirts. Even in the blizzards here in New York. But before I get into what new things I’ll be doing, I want to tell you why I’ve decided to jump into DC Entertainment full on, as if it wasn’t obvious already.

1) The People.

I’ve worked with Dan and Jim over the years and, honestly, there are very few people I admire more in my life, inside or outside of the comic book world. Dan’s leadership, endless energy and devotion to pushing boundaries is infectious and Jim’s pure talent, enthusiasm and dedication to exploring the outlets of the future inspiring. In the short time I’ve come to know John and Patrick, I feel a sense of progression and history forging together, both of which make DC what it is.
And now there’s Diane. Someone whose passion and understanding of the value of the creative process is undoubtedly going to lead DC Entertainment into an incredible new era for all of us fans, soon-to-be-fans and fellow creators – the writers and artists who create the lifeblood of this industry. I can’t wait for you to meet Diane. Her warmth and sincerity has made me feel like I’ve known her my entire life. Just like DC Comics. Which brings me to the second reason this totally rocks.

2) The Mythologies.

There is no place on Earth that has a more diverse and deep universe of characters and worlds. From Atrocitus to Y: The Last Man. My love for DC started when I first saw the Flash take on Captain Cold in the Challenge of the Super-Friends. I never ate my Honeycomb that fast. It when I bought my first comic books in 1985, including Crisis on Infinite Earths, alongside my Super Powers figures and only grew over the years until I broke into the industry myself.

So what does a “Chief Creative Officer” do? Well, I still wear t-shirts and write and go to conventions, but I’ll be doing a whole lot more too.

Under the leadership of Jim and Dan, I’ll continue writing and giving my creative input as I have been in comic books. But expanding onto that, Diane’s asked me to take our comic book world, embrace it (as I do) and use it to lead the creative charge on bringing it all to film, toys, television, video games, animation and beyond. The Justice Society appearing on Smallville was only the beginning.

Let’s all let this sink in a little more: Martin Campbell of Casino Royale is directing Green Lantern. And over the last few months, I’ve met with Ryan Reynolds to talk all-things Green Lantern, I’ve worked closely with Green Lantern producer Donald Deline and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg on the script (Aw yeah, Kilowog!) and I’ve realized that the Green Lantern comics and film and everything growing out of them (wait until you see what!) is only the beginning of what DC Entertainment has coming our way under Diane and Jeff Robinov’s leadership. And I have to say something about Jeff too. He’s made Warner Brothers the most successful and artist-friendly studio out there and that will carry over into DC Entertainment. He knows what we know: the potential of DC is infinite. We couldn’t be in better hands on that front. Expect the characters we love, the A-list and the ones even you and I might barely know, to be shepherded into the “outside world” with respect, care and unbridled energy. They’ll be plenty of Batman and Superman, but there are a whole lot of characters from the DC Universe, Mad, Vertigo and Wildstorm waiting to be unleashed.

They might say, “The sky is the limit!” at other places when looking at the new opportunities ahead. They think too small. We all know the sky isn’t the limit at DC. The universe isn’t even the limit. There isn’t one.

I was going to close this out with one of my favorite phrases from Blackest Night – “All Will Be Well!” – but I think another one can sum up DC Entertainment and the people and creative teams behind it.

“Beware Our Power!”

Aw.

Yeah.

Geoff

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I think it's a bit silly to lump them all together as 'superhero movies.'

Well, it's no sillier as a genre definition than "spy movies," "mysteries" or "westerns." A genre is not necessarily the same thing as a niche.

In most book stories everything from comic book novelizations (as opposed to graphic novels) to books like the Sookie Stackhouse series are shelved under "Science Fiction and Fantasy."

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Yes, but to say 'there are too many superhero movies' is a bit silly, IMHO.

 

[Bad Bishop]

Congratulations to Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, new big kahunas at DC. As creatives, they will be strong advocates for maintaining the integrity of characters adapted for the screen.

Now I'd like to hear what DC and Warner Bros. actually plan to produce after Green Lantern and the next Batman film.

 

[S. Gomez]

That's the big announcement?

I'm feeling underwhelmed for some reason. Not being a reader of actual comic books, some of the names seem familiar, but none of them mean anything to me.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

That's the big announcement?

No, that's not the big strategy announcement. This is the announcement of DC's new executive team, which will have some impact on filmed entertainment, especially because of Geoff Johns's new role. There's still a strategy announcement coming that will lay out DC Entertainment's plans for some of their big film adaptions going forward.

 

[S. Gomez]

^Oh good.

 

[coolghoul]

I was actually surprised by how many times "All Star Batman And Robin, the Boy Wonder" was mentioned in the official press release?

Is it that successful?

 

[Mr Light]

Geoff Johns in charge of creativity?! HELL YES. My only fear is this means he'll write fewer comics, but he is the man.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

I would like to comment on the notion expressed on page 1 that DC will refocus on mining it's "deep catalogue" of characters for furture projects.

DC's catalogue is no different than Marvel's: a relative handful of bankable characters and a boatload of ones that, despite the wishes of many fans, will never have more done with them than possible walk-on cameos in the Big Guns projects.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There's more to DC than superheroes. A few movies have been "stealth" comics projects.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

There's more to DC than superheroes. A few movies have been "stealth" comics projects.

A VERY few, and hardly anyone would make the connection. Furthermore, there is the issue of whether or not they would do well.

Do you honestly expect DC's "lustre" as a catalogue of properties to be enhanced by a Kamandi or GI Combat project?

As the man on the street about DC and you'll get the same profile of answers as if you'd asked about Marvel: the "big guns" (Supes, Bats, etc) and MAYBE a select few of the 2nd tier (Guy Gardner, Nightwing, et al).

 

[The Lensman]

Geoff Johns is overated. He hasn't been a real writer since his old days of writing the Flash. Now he's an event writer and it shows. He's become formulaic and he's really not doing anything John Byrne wasn't doing. They both get the core characters, they both utilize little known or forgotten characters, or nearly forgotten tidbits to revise and retcon. etc, etc, etc.

Geoff Johns went from being a good writer to the master of fan wank.

Blackest Night has become Bloated Night and it needs to end already. Here's the deal, most comic book writers are comic book writers until something better, usually Hollywood, comes along. And Johns will be no different. And DC will be royally fucked because Didio acts like the only two people at DC who're worth a shit are Johns and Morrison.

We've all seen what happens when Johns leaves a book, JSA and Flash. What happens when he leaves an entire universe?

And if Barry is the Flash in a new movie, it'll only be because a couple of 40 something's like Johns and Didio want him in. For the current generation of readers who read The Flash for the last twenty years, or the kids who watched JLA, Wally is the Flash and Barry is some nobody.
Wally did something Barry NEVER did....he made being The Flash cool.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Geoff Johns is overated. He hasn't been a real writer since his old days of writing the Flash. Now he's an event writer and it shows. He's become formulaic and he's really not doing anything John Byrne wasn't doing. They both get the core characters, they both utilize little known or forgotten characters, or nearly forgotten tidbits to revise and retcon. etc, etc, etc.

Geoff Johns went from being a good writer to the master of fan wank.

Blackest Night has become Bloated Night and it needs to end already. Here's the deal, most comic book writers are comic book writers until something better, usually Hollywood, comes along. And Johns will be no different. And DC will be royally fucked because Didio acts like the only two people at DC who're worth a shit are Johns and Morrison.

We've all seen what happens when Johns leaves a book, JSA and Flash. What happens when he leaves an entire universe?

And if Barry is the Flash in a new movie, it'll only be because a couple of 40 something's like Johns and Didio want him in. For the current generation of readers who read The Flash for the last twenty years, or the kids who watched JLA, Wally is the Flash and Barry is some nobody.
Wally did something Barry NEVER did....he made being The Flash cool.

Nice job channeling Joey Q with the cheap shots against continuity and Old School fans!

I wish the board would ban the epithet "fanwank". It's crude and insulting to those of us who understand that continuity (in a tv series OR a comic book) is NOT a "dirty word"...

 

[The Lensman]

Nice job channeling Joey Q with the cheap shots against continuity and Old School fans!

Uh-huh. I've been collecting comics since 1979...I'm about to turn 43. So these "Old School fans" you're talking about? I'm one of them. Don't assume that most people my age are happy to see things going back to the way they were when we were like, eight years old.

Some of us are happy moving forward.

Star Trek New Voyages first outing, is a perfect example of fanwank. It has the Guardian of Forever, an alternate timeline 'ala Yesterday's Enterprise, a whole fleet of Doomsday Machines, Captain Pike and the Cage era Enterprise, a Daedalus class ship, the movie Enterprise and a flimsy story to shoehorn it in.

That's fanwank and that's what Johns has been churning out. There's continuity, and there's fanwank. The term is more than fitting. If you like fanwank, your perogotive....but please drop the ole "why do you hate continuity" stuff. Again, if I hated it, I wouldn't have spent thirty years reading the stuff.

There's a certain segment of comic fandom who're my age who would really be better off just rereading the comics they read as a kid...instead of demanding that today's comics be those comics and paying for them twice.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Nice job channeling Joey Q with the cheap shots against continuity and Old School fans!

Uh-huh. I've been collecting comics since 1979...I'm about to turn 43, and I'll be first person to say that my generation is the single most pathetic generation of comic collectors ever. Comic Book Guy wasn't modeled on the generation that preceded mine.

And fan wank describes Geoff Johns output for the last several years perfectly. Or to put it another way: His old stuff was better. His new stuff is watered down pablum for the comic collecting masses.

So basically you've drank the "comic shop auteur" kool-aid and become a self-loathing comic fan...got it!

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

I would like to comment on the notion expressed on page 1 that DC will refocus on mining it's "deep catalogue" of characters for furture projects.

DC's catalogue is no different than Marvel's: a relative handful of bankable characters and a boatload of ones that, despite the wishes of many fans, will never have more done with them than possible walk-on cameos in the Big Guns projects.

Comic book characters and concepts don't have to be well-known to the general public to be salable as film adaptations given the right casting and cinematic approach. DC has a deep catalog of characters and concepts when you look at their properties across all of their imprints and think of approaches beyond standard superhero films.

Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Justice League are the obvious big blockbuster superhero franchises to aim for, but there's a lot of potential beyond that. Teen Titans, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow, Birds of Prey (done right, which the TV series wasn't), and Plastic Man could all be made into good, successful films. The War that Time Forgot has a great premise for a summer blockbuster. A Metal Men adaptation could make for a great family comedy-adventure, perhaps as a CG animated film. And Vertigo has a huge range of non-superhero properties ripe for adaptation.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Nice job channeling Joey Q with the cheap shots against continuity and Old School fans!

Uh-huh. I've been collecting comics since 1979...I'm about to turn 43, and I'll be first person to say that my generation is the single most pathetic generation of comic collectors ever. Comic Book Guy wasn't modeled on the generation that preceded mine.

And fan wank describes Geoff Johns output for the last several years perfectly. Or to put it another way: His old stuff was better. His new stuff is watered down pablum for the comic collecting masses.

So basically you've drank the "comic shop auteur" kool-aid and become a self-loathing comic fan...got it!

What a way to write off his opinion. That's right, it's just "kool aid."

And more likely than not, it's the "comic shop auteur" who is desiring of the fanwank...erm, excuse me, continuity....of old.

Comics themselves are becoming more and more isolated..."continuity" driven story telling...bringing back characters that have been dead for 20 years (who were not that interesting to begin with) isn't about expanding an audience (or creating anything new) it's about pleasing a dwindling fan base.

Comics are essentially now just a think tank to create movie pitches.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There's more to DC than superheroes. A few movies have been "stealth" comics projects.

A VERY few, and hardly anyone would make the connection. Furthermore, there is the issue of whether or not they would do well.

Do you honestly expect DC's "lustre" as a catalogue of properties to be enhanced by a Kamandi or GI Combat project?

As the man on the street about DC and you'll get the same profile of answers as if you'd asked about Marvel: the "big guns" (Supes, Bats, etc) and MAYBE a select few of the 2nd tier (Guy Gardner, Nightwing, et al).

Guy Gardener??? Seriously?

The idea is to make successful films or TV shows. Thats what DC Entertainment and its corporate master Warner Bros want. The Haunted Tank ( the main feature of GI Combat) is an interesting concept that combines a war film with the supernatural. So yeah in the right hands that could be a pretty good film. Kamandi. Maybe an animated series on the Cartoon Network. I happen to like Kamandi.