Warner Bros Gobbles Up DC; Levitz Out

Mike Gold

ComicMix's award-winning and spectacularly shy editor-in-chief Mike Gold also performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com (search: Hit Oldies) every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information.

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25 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    It was inevitable… both DC and Marvel will head west at some point and comic books as the focus of each will become a very minor part of the 'entertainment' concern.This reminds me of the time Dylan went electric…

  2. Tom Fitzpatrick says:

    Here's to hoping that the unpublished stories of Swamp Thing meets Jesus Christ in a swamp by Rick Veitch and Hellblazer story "Shoot" by Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez gets published, now that Paul Levitz is no longer president of DC Comics.

    • Mike Gold says:

      Yeah, Tom. Good luck with that.For the record, Paul wasn't president at the time of the Swamp Thing story, it wasn't his decision and I believe he opted out of the decision because it wasn't his spiritual ox being gored. So to speak. The story offended another DC veep who wasn't in editorial.

  3. Glenn Hauman says:

    Yowza. The stock market is pretty quiet about it, only a small tick up today for Time Warner and Disney. It'll be interesting to see what the reaction is like in a day or so.

  4. Russ Rogers says:

    It's been my understanding that DC was already owned by Warner. So isn't this more of a "DC gets gobbled up" as a "DC gets restructured" story? I can only think that this was brought on first by Marvels success at creating their own film distribution company and then Disney's interest in buying Marvel. Warner wants the public to believe that DC is as vital, cutting edge and filled with as many marketable characters.

    • Mike Gold says:

      That's a good question, Russ. Until now, DC was a fairly independent company that reported to Warner Premiere (and, before that, Warner Bros. and, before that, Warner Publishing; Warner Premiere is another separate entity within Warner Bros. and WarnerBros. is an entity within what is now Time Warner). If Paul wanted to, he could have sold you Batman lock, stock and barrel. They cut their own licensing deals, did their own sales and marketing, and so on completely separate from the studio. Now, they've been brought into the mother-company and they lose a lot of their independence. The soon-to-be-former president and publisher will be a writer and transition consultant (and, my guess, a happy one), and other staffing changes will become evident over time. Just how this transition works remains to be seen, but they spell things out pretty clearly in the press release.Hence the phrase "gobbled up." Yep, DC was already on Warner Bros. table. Now, they're in Warner Bros. tummy. It remains to be seen just how much of Superman gets digested.Marvel is more-or-less in the position DC was in before now. Management remains the same, the movie deals remain in tact: Paramount will continue to distribute Marvel Films for another five pictures, unless Disney chooses to pay Paramount a shitload of money. Which, of course, is possible. At the very least, the redundancy in DC's corporate name has now been eliminated.

  5. Rick Taylor says:

    I guess this means the 'gravy train' will come to a stop for some at DC…ABOUT TIME!

  6. Rick Taylor says:

    Do I sound relieved?Just stating reality!:)

  7. Rick Taylor says:

    Bet they REALLY negotiate to keep Superman now!

  8. Tony Isabella says:

    I don't think Levitz was the problem re: negotiating with the Siegel family.

  9. Rick Taylor says:

    I didn't mean to imply that. With the recent purchase of Marvel, Warner may finally 'get off the pot' and acknowledge that to the world DC and Superman are considered the same thing.

  10. Michael Davis says:

    All those people that Paul had a personal (let's call it an issue) with will still be out in the cold if the powers that be listen to him regarding those people in his new role. Ms. Nelson, (whom I have met and think is really smart) just may be able to bring those creators who dared to voice an opinion when wronged back in.I hope that DC becomes a place again where that petty High School shit is forgotten. For more deep provoking thoughts on the matter please check out my Straight No Chaser column this Friday at: michaeldavisworld.com

    • MARK WHEATLEY says:

      Wow, Michael – if you take out the petty High School shit – will it still be comics?

      • Michael Davis says:

        Read my piece on Friday dear friend…

        • MARK WHEATLEY says:

          You mean I should read your Straight No Chaser column this Friday at: michaeldavisworld.com?

          • Mike Gold says:

            You mean the same michaeldavisworld.com that carries Mike Gold's weekly column Brainiac On Banjo and Martha Thomases' weekly column Brilliant Disguise, as well as a bunch of other swell columns that didn't ussta be on ComicMix? THAT michaeldavisworld.com??Next thing you'll be telling us is that getthepointradio.com is carrying Mike Gold's daily WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE GOLD MIND commentaries and his weekly two-hour kick-ass multi-genre but mostly rock and blues music show WEIRD SOUNDS INSIDE THE GOLD MIND, at 7 PM Eastern on Sundays with a rebroadcast at 10 PM Thursdays. Gee, Mark, you can't keep a secret!Mike Gold

          • MARK WHEATLEY says:

            Mike, we should be producing ads for old time radio.

          • Mike Gold says:

            Sometimes, I think we do that for a living…But you're right.

          • Marc Alan Fishman says:

            And when you're not listening to Mike at getthepointradio.com or reading his articles at michaeldavisworld.com, or reading "Straight No Chaser" at michaeldavisworld, be sure to drop by back at comicmix.com to read Tinnel and Wheatley's epic FREE online comic Lone Justice: Crash, which itself is taken right from the FREE and AWARD WINNING "Easy Street" online comic available for you to read FREE at comicmix.com!!!Unshaven Comics is semi-awesome.

      • Mike Gold says:

        I always thought respectability would be the death of comics.

    • Mike Gold says:

      Hey, if you can't bank on pulling some petty shit, why take the job? There's no fun in being king of a diminishing marketplace. Cutting Mad back must have been like cutting off a finger. Sure, there's lots of people who will hope that Paul's leaving will open or reopen doors for them, and there's lots of people who would follow Paul someplace else. He's a good writer; the only reason I'm disappointed that he's got a deal with DC — other than the fact that I can't call him up and ask him to work with ComicMix — is that I'd really love to see him writing The Avengers.

  11. Mike Gold says:

    Yeah, well we survived that pretty well, and we've been surviving this for quite a while.The Warner Bros. and Disney moves are just acknowledgements of what has been going on for a long time — nearly 20 years, in DC's case, and I dunno how long in Marvel's with all those hostile buyouts and such. America is interested in legacy superheroes, and corporate America steps up to the plate to take control. But, as I'm just about to tell Marty Pasko (I'm such a name dropper), America is interested in legacy superheroes but not in superhero comics publishing. Both DC and Marvel, as publishers, have been the heart and tail of their divisions, but neither have been much more than the tail of their corporate empires. Levitz, to his great credit, worked this out to provide the publishing side with ground cover: if the Studio couldn't care about more than return-on-investment, he could support the print side. Marvel has come to this realization more recently, but they didn't need the subterfuge. Now, under Disney, they probably will. But it won't matter — Marvel, like DC under Paul, could increase their publishing revenues five fold and not get a fart out of Disney's bottom line. Or they could post what would, in publishing terms, be a significant loss and not approach the cost of the average failed ABC-TV dramatic series (ABC is owned by Disney as well).There can be some freedom in that if the publisher plays his or her cards right, as Paul has shown. But the most important person on the print side is the person who runs editorial. Without somebody absolutely great in that position, it won't matter how much either Warners or Disney "interferes."

  12. Nicky Wheeler-Nichol says:

    I've been careful to stay out of discussions involving the financial and legal DC issues for obvious reasons (yes, he's my grandfather) but I find your comments well-informed. The current intra and ultra office politics are out of my league but not the ancient feuds. The phrase that has my sixth sense tingling is– "It's no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters," said Horn." I'd love to know what your thoughts are on this.