If it had been, the comics industry as we know it would be completely changed in less than two weeks.
On the other hand– Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, is also the largest shareholder of Disney. Which now owns Marvel. Which makes comics that would be perfect to display on any hypothetical Apple Tablet.
Hang on tight, folks. The ride does not get slower.
It’s ironic that on a day that many people in the world are talking about the Beatles in one form or another, people in the comics industry are asking if Paul is dead.
Certainly, you don’t see this amount of coverage of a man’s life until his funeral. It reminds one of Twain: “They say such nice things at a man’s funeral that it’s a shame I’m going to miss mine by only a couple of days.” Paul Levitz has had many, many nice things said about him. Mark Evanier may have the best post placing Paul’s place in historical context so far:
DC and Marvel could not now interface with Time-Warner and — assuming the deal goes through — Disney if they had not evolved from hot dog joints into real businesses.
Many have taken credit for that evolution, including some who fought it until it became inevitable and a few who resisted even after that time. Among those who honestly do deserve great credit is Paul Levitz.
Paul has been at the forefront of just about every industry
development of the last couple of decades, and has been key to how the
industry’s shaped itself over those years. Shifting from a
periodicals-only business to a strong backlist-oriented business with
trade paperbacks and hardcovers, adding imprints like Vertigo, creating
new opportunities for creators and for creator ownership, seeing that
DC gave a fair (or at least fairer) deal to the creators who originated
the concepts that turned up in DC-based movies, from Arkham Asylum and
Lucius Fox to Robin’s motorcycles (yeah, because they called Chris
O’Donnell’s ride the “Redbird” in one of the movies, Paul Levitz saw to
it that Chuck Dixon got money) and more, Paul was an important part of
a huge number of changes that DC’s seen, and that the whole industry’s
seen. Some of them big changes everyone’s noticed, some of them
behind-the-scenes stuff few people know about.
Heidi MacDonald, another one of us who toiled in the vineyards under Paul, said: “Paul is one of the smartest, kindest people I’ve ever worked with. He changed comics for the better in such vast ways that it’s hard to imagine where the industry would be without his stewardship. I wish him all the best.”
Marv Wolfman said:For years now, Paul has talked about retiring someday soon and
returning to writing, his first love. For that reason alone I am so
happy for him because I know that’s what he deeply cares about and has
been wanting. As readers, we are in for some major treats. I
can also say, without fear of rebuttal by anyone who is in the know,
Paul is probably the best, the smartest, the most creative and the most
moral Publisher the business has ever seen. Most fans have no idea how
important Paul is, not only to DC, but to the entire industry. I have
often said, and mean, that without Paul there very well might not be a
comics industry today. I am not speaking in hyperbole. I am being
literal; I mean exactly what I wrote.
One more thing that I’ve been told that I haven’t seen mentioned: Paul contributed tremendous numbers of comics to Len Wein when he lost his collection in the recent fire. Huge numbers.
So now what? Me, I’m just waiting for those great Legion stories… hey, and what is it with guys who write Legion going on to become head honchos at comics companies? Paul Levitz, Jim Shooter with Marvel, Valiant and Defiant, Mark Waid at BOOM!… what makes it such a prerequisite?
In a not-unexpected move, Warner Bros. has taken complete control of DC Comics, renaming the company DC Entertainment and promising to integrate the publishing house’s work into its existing divisions.
President and publisher Paul Levitz, an employee of the company for nearly four decades, is relinquishing those roles and will go back to writing comic books for the company. He will also be serving as both an editorial consultant and as a transition consultant for the new operation.
Rumors, of course, run rampant, the most persistent being DC’s possible move to Los Angeles. Levitz has had an “I don’t have to move west” clause in his employment contract, which adds fuel to this fire.
Unlike the Disney / Marvel situation, Warner Bros. is clearly moving DC’s various operations into its mainstream, so it is logical to expect that a great many changes lie ahead. When Disney announced its purchase of Marvel, they said they were leaving its management team in place.
Full details from Warner Bros’ official press release follows.
WARNER BROS. CREATES DC ENTERTAINMENT
Diane Nelson to Serve as President, DC Entertainment
Paul Levitz to Segue from President & Publisher of DC Comics To Writer, Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant to DC Entertainment
(Dateline – Burbank, CA) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.
DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.
In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment’s theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.
Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years’ experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment’s dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.’ resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material. Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio’s interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division. (An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)
Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE. This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC’s business operations.
In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive. Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media. Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry’s creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment’s goal of maximizing the value of DC properties. Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.
Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.
“DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties,” said Meyer. “Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We’re also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we’ll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business.”
“It’s no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters,” said Horn. “While we’ve had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrit
y and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win.”
“Based on the great success we’ve had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I’ve long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.’ businesses with this great body of characters and stories,” said Robinov. “The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group. There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series. Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics.”
“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”
“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage,” said Levitz. “It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”
DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment’s corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.
Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:
– “Human Target” is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.
– “Midnight Mass” is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.
– “Jonah Hex,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.
– “The Losers,” Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.
– “The Green Lantern,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.
– “Lobo,” based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
– Warner Premiere’s direct-to-platform DVD animated release of “Green Lantern: First Flight” debuted July 28.
– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which airs on Cartoon Network.
– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released “Batman: Arkham Asylum” on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.
Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006. Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category. Under Nelson’s leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio’s mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.
Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio’s signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis. In this post, Nelson’s primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand’s launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.
At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “Happy Feet,” “Polar Express” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” among others.
Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had
served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.
Nelson came to the Studio from Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.
My question: does that kill fee have to be paid if government scuttles the deal? Say, if antitrust in the US or Europe says no? I gotta read the SEC filing more when I have a chance to breathe…
Since we haven’t picked on Disney in hours, and since we’ve heard people wondering if Disney is going to have trouble with potentially adult situations coming from Marvel, we’d just like to refresh people’s memory of the Disney character from the 90’s, Marsupalami…
Disney just picked up Marvel, and already owns the assets from CrossGen.
AOL Time Warner, through Warner Bros., owns DC Comics and subsidiary imprints Wildstorm, Vertigo, and CMX; and has a distribution and publishing arrangement with Archie for some characters.
IDW is 50% owned by Starz.
Dark Horse has a first look deal with NBC/Universal.
Who’s left on the table?
On the movie studio side: Viacom/Paramount, Fox/NewsCorp, and Sony/Columbia. MGM and United Artists are a bit small to go shopping for their own comics company, although they could set up first look deals.
On the comics side: BOOM! must be looking very tempting. Dark Horse could still be bought. Image– who would you deal with? Top Cow, possibly. Dynamic Forces licenses stuff from movie studios, not the other way around. Avatar is mostly writiers who probably control their sub rights, so there’s little to be gained in an acquisition. Who after that? Slave Labor? Archaia? Aspen? Archie? Radical? Top Shelf?
My guess for a sleeper acquistion? Oni probably looks tempting to somebody.
But that’s just my take on it. What about you? What do you think the next big move is going to be?
The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark may not be as dead as previously thought.
According to a report in Variety, the rumor mill is spinning with word that the financially troubled production will resume production this week or maybe next, with at least some folks being called back to work. The production stalled earlier last month due to “cash-flow” issues. There is no official word as of yet.
They’re saying there is no connection to production on the musical picking up again and Disney acquiring Marvel, but I don’t believe that for a minute. Disney has tremendous experience working on Broadway, including Julie Taymor’s previous adaption of The Lion King for Broadway.
No word yet on if the musical will open on time… it had been set to begin previews on February 25, 2010, and officially open in March.
Every year, Beloit College puts together a list of facts regarding the mindset of the class entering college this Fall—the Class of 2013. Their list, as always, is well worth a read, but this is ComicMix, and we’re here to talk about comics, by gum.
So as we get ready to send them off to college, we wondered: what constitutes the comics status quo for them? What’s normal to these kids born in 1991 (he asks, knowing that being born in 1986 puts him in largely the same boat)? So glad you asked.
The guy who did the above strip had already ended his daily strip and retired by the time these freshmen started reading newspapers.
There has never been a Miracleman (or Marvelman) comic published in their lifetime.
They have no idea who Don Thompson or Carol Kalish were.
Gambit has always been on the X-Men.
Spider-Man was always married to Mary Jane… until One More Day.
There wasn’t a DC multiverse until the end of Infinite Crisis.
Wally West was always the Flash, and his first sidekick was Impulse.
Adam West has never been Batman—he’s best known as the mayor on Family Guy.
Wolverine never wore a brown costume, and has always had a solo book.
Barbara Gordon has always been in a wheelchair.
Sandman has always been that pale-skinned goth guy with the hair.
Batman has had three Robins: Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne.
Lex Luthor has always been a businessman.
Image Comics has always existed.
So has Wizard Magazine.
New Mutants was a short-lived series from 2003-2004, until the recent relaunch.
Hank McCoy’s always been blue and furry.
Elektra has always been dead.
Frank Miller is the guy who did Sin City, and he never worked with Klaus Janson.
There’s never been a character named “Streaky the Supercat.”
The only composite Batman-Superman was a giant robot.
The original Dove has always been dead.
Thanos has always been searching for the Infinity Gems, so he can impress Death.
Death has always been a goth chick.
Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes has always been War Machine.
S.H.I.E.L.D. has always stood for Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate.
Kyle Rayner has always been a Green Lantern.
Starman has always worn goggles and a leather jacket.
John Romita. Jr. has always been known as a regular penciller for Amazing Spider-Man. John Romita, Sr. never was.
Ghost Rider was Danny Ketch.
Jean-Luc Picard was the first captain of the Enterprise.
Cerebus the Aardvark was always a classic.
Grendel has always been a Dark Horse title, except for that DC crossover.
Cassie Sandsmark was the first Wonder Girl.
Roy Harper was only known as Arsenal up until the current volume of Justice League of America.
There’s never been a First or Eclipse Comics. Comico only did some of those soft-core Elementals books.
There were originally four Justice League titles on the stands.
The original Teen Titans were comprised of a de-aged Atom (Ray Palmer), Risk, Argent, Captain Marvel, Jr., Omen, Prysm, Fringe, Arsenal, and Joto.
Julia Carpenter was the original Spider-Woman.
The two Avengers teams were the East Coast and West Coast branches. None of this New, Mighty, Dark, Pet, and Caramel Covered.
There’s always been a comic called Love and Rockets.
The superhero cartoons of choice were Darkwing Duck and Fox’s X-Men. For live action, it was all about the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
Kraven the Hunter has always been dead.
Northstar has always been out of the closet.
Kevin Conroy has always been the animated voice of Batman.
Jim Shooter was the guy behind Valiant, then Defiant, and then he wrote the Legion for a while. Wait, he was at Marvel, too?
Phoenix is Rachel Summers, not Jean Grey.
Karate Kid was Ralph Macchio, and Ralph Macchio was the guy editing X-Men.
There have always been Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novels.
Disney never had a major successful comic book franchise.
What’s yours?
(Alan Kistler and Glenn Hauman contributed to this list.)
Well, if I’m reading these stock forms correctly, Avi Arad’s stock holdings jumped about $10 million dollars yesterday with the stock bump.
And Issac Perlmutter’s stock holdings went up about $282 million, with his total holdings worth about $1,391,049,355. Put another way, when they say that Disney bought Marvel for four billion dollars, over a third of it goes to Issac. And since this is a 60% cash/40% stock deal, Issac pulls in $830 million in cash.
How big a deal was it? I don’t think Marvel sent out a single press package today hyping their comics. Usually, we get two or three of them a day.
The Beat has an excellent roundup of what we do and don’t know by now. But they don’t say much about other reactions. So what does the Internet think? Twitter, as might be expected, has gone crazy with the #disneymarvel and #disneybuysmarvel hashtags. Reactions can be broken down pretty easily into three categories, in order of increasing rarity:
People Trying to Be Comedians
poohbear151: So is everyone ready for the spider-man/fantastic four/x-men/high school musical crossover event?
smmEBob: Buzz Lightyear and the Guardians of the Galaxy
Warren Ellis (Writer, Astonishing X-Men): so I got this phone call from Joe Quesada and it was just the sound of him rubbing himself with money and now I am confused
(Broken Frontier has a strong round-up of other professional’s reactions in somewhat longer form.)
People Who Might Actually Know What’s Going On
C.B. Cebulski (Marvel talent liaison/editor/writer) Allow me to reassure you right now, guys, that Marvel’s going to continue to produce great comic books the way we always have.
Joe Quesada (Marvel Editor in Chief) If you’re
familiar with the Disney/Pixar relationship, then you’ll understand why
this is a new dawn for Marvel and the comics industry.
Marv Wolfman: Because I was both the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel as well as one of the
two founding editors of Disney Adventures Magazine, I’ve already gotten
numerous phone calls, including one from Forbes Magazine, asking what I
think about Disney buying Marvel. The easy answer is – nobody knows.
Certainly I don’t.
We’ll keep more stuff coming– we don’t think this story is going away any time soon.
It’s ironic that on a day that many people in the world are talking about the Beatles in one form or another, people in the comics industry are asking if Paul is dead.
In a not-unexpected move, Warner Bros. has taken complete control of DC Comics, renaming the company DC Entertainment and promising to integrate the publishing house’s work into its existing divisions. 
I’m a sucker for extra details like this, and ICv2 picked up a doozy:
Let’s review the scorecard:
The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark may not be as dead as previously thought.
Well, if I’m reading these stock forms correctly, 
