What has Dan Didio done RIGHT as DC's Head Honcho?
Didio gets his fair share of criticism from DC fans and creators. His management style has been, shall we say, chaotic, to say the least. I know I haven't been fond of many of his decisions, to the point that I often wonder how he's managed to keep his job. That said, his many creative and editorial missteps at DC have been well documented, so let's set them aside for the time being. If you want to post something snarky on this thread just to show how much you dislike Didio, I really wish you wouldn't because that's not what this thread is about. We all get it. Didio has screwed up....a lot. So, let me thank you all now for not pointing out the obvious.
This thread is going to attempt to parse out what Didio has done right during his tenure as the leader of DC Editorial. Obviously, we can't know for certain what to give Didio credit for, just as we don't know exactly what to blame him for either, but we'll try to do our best to armchair quarterback given the information we have.
First off, I think Didio deserves credit for having an eye for young talent and being willing to take a risk on them. Few knew who Scott Snyder or Tom King were, but Didio put them both on DC's top book, Batman, to great success.
I'm not sure if this is Jim Lee or Didio's idea, but I will also give props for the recent push into diversifying DC's imprints beyond the traditional continuity-heavy line aimed at hardcore fans. This is long-term thinking that Marvel Comics still hasn't grasped yet.
The last one I can think of (and believe me, finding something positive to say about Didio hasn't been easy for me) is Didio's willingness to own up to his own mistakes. The way Didio publicly acknowledged the failings of the New 52, DCYou and the New Age of Heroes couldn't have been easy for him. I respect that Didio, as misguided as his decisions often are, always seems to be coming from a place of genuine love and enthusiasm for the DC characters.
Didio swings for the fences everytime. He may miss a lot of the time, but I'm glad he's always taking big risks. For what it's worth, that counts a lot.
All right, that's all I got. Let me now brace myself for the torrent of hatred and bile that this thread will no doubt degenerate into while also hoping that a few of you are able to embrace the intent of this discussion rather than take this as an opportunity to take some easy potshots at Didio.