Warner Bros. is in the process of conducting a major restructure at DC Comics - but they need to learn key lessons from Marvel's mistakes in the '90s. The coronavirus pandemic has been cruel to the comic book industry, with the shutdown of Diamond distributors essentially meaning there were precious few new comics released for months. Things became even more grim this week when Warner Bros. announced a major corporate restructure that particularly affected DC comics. A third of staff were laid off, including notable figures such as Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras, senior VPs Hank Kanalz and Bobbi Chase, and editors Mark Doyle, Brian Cunningham, and Andy Khouri. It's being described by old-school fans as the new DC implosion, evoking memories of a crisis in 1978 when the publisher canceled roughly 40 percent of its comics line.
According to SyFy Wire, this corporate restructuring has been in the works since DC's parent company Time Warner merged with AT&T back in 2018. As one source reportedly told them, "WarnerMedia doesn’t want to be in the comics business. It wants to be in the character business." WarnerMedia doesn't seem to think the comic book industry is worth it when there are far greater opportunities to make money from the intellectual properties than mere comics - notably movies and merchandise. As they note, this makes sense of the specific cuts to editorial, with WarnerMedia essentially getting rid of the staunchest defenders of the traditional comic book industry. There are also reports Warner Bros. is looking to bring in someone from the e-sports world to oversee DC publishing.
This entire strategy will naturally ring alarm bells for anyone who loves comics. There are striking parallels with mistakes made by Marvel Comics in the '90s, back when the company was desperately attempting to avoid bankruptcy. Marvel gutted editorial so they could dictate corporate goals directly to line editors, and they placed businessmen like Jerry Calabrese and Scott Sassa - unfamiliar with the industry, and disinterested in comics - in charge. They were only interested in leveraging the value of the character library, not making the most of comics. And they certainly didn't believe in taking risks, but rather in playing it safe story-wise. In his book, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Sean Howe recounts a tale of an irate Steve Gerber fuming in a tense CompuServe chat that Marvel was "unwilling to publish anything more potentially offensive than a Jell-O commercial."
It is true that the comic book market is a shadow of its former self. Although occasional controversial stories hit headlines, the reality is that a good comic will never perform as well as a blockbuster movie. But, in truth, that is partly because the industry itself faces underlying problems that it has been reluctant to resolve. The tragedy of this corporate restructure is that there were signs DC Comics was the one publisher willing to explore creative solutions to these systemic issues, with Mark Doyle overseeing the launch of DC's Black Label imprint. He's now been made redundant, a decision that seems particularly symbolic.
WarnerMedia's current approach makes business sense, but it is based on a fundamental error; it fails to understand that comics are not an ancillary part of the brands, but are central to them. That point is perfectly illustrated by the fact Marvel's popular MCU movies have included countless stories inspired by comics that were published after the near-bankruptcy, notably including the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: Civil War. If WarnerMedia restricts the comic book franchise, establishing a brand-oriented leadership who are reluctant to take creative risks, they will impoverish the very brands they want to dine out on. As things stand, at present the entire corporate restructure looks dangerously flawed, and bad for DC Comics and the entire comic book industry - and for WarnerMedia itself. They would be wise to do a course-correction.