DC Comics move to the West Coast

[mrbrklyn]

I was suprised to read recently that DC Comics moved to the West Coast which was a great suprise to me. Historically, the creative community has been deeply ingrained with the streets and expereinces of artists and writers that came out of New York. And this is not just true of DC, but also Marvel. I can't see how the story telling and creativity that produced the classic comics can be sustained in Los Angeles. LA is so detached from any urban root. And this is, IMO, refecting in the quality of our comics which are no longer driven by dialog, but glamerous full page single panel spreads, in bright glaring color. Story telling is in the tank and costs keeps rising.

The type of creative energy that works to make movies just isn't going to work for comics... and maybe it is no longer working for movies either..but I leave that for another debate.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I don't think it really matters one way or the other. I'm pretty sure DC still has an office in New York, but the main headquarters is just now in L.A. But, either way, its not like the writers that DC hires have to be living in L.A. Geoff Johns lives in L.A., but Scott Snyder lives in New York, and teaches writing at Columbia and NYU. I'm sure there are more NY writers on their payroll.

But, I mean, its not like talented comic book writers aren't in L.A. Again, GJ is out there.

[Trey Strain]

I was suprised to read recently that DC Comics moved to the West Coast which was a great suprise to me. Historically, the creative community has been deeply ingrained with the streets and expereinces of artists and writers that came out of New York. And this is not just true of DC, but also Marvel. I can't see how the story telling and creativity that produced the classic comics can be sustained in Los Angeles. LA is so detached from any urban root. And this is, IMO, refecting in the quality of our comics which are no longer driven by dialog, but glamerous full page single panel spreads, in bright glaring color. Story telling is in the tank and costs keeps rising.

The type of creative energy that works to make movies just isn't going to work for comics... and maybe it is no longer working for movies either..but I leave that for another debate.

Um, wrong.

New York dominated the early days of television, but then it moved out here. It was just a natural process, and television didn't crash and burn.

Tech dominates today's world, and it's chiefly a West Coast phenomenon. In fact I can't think of anything that New York still leads in. Some folks in New York still think to this day that the outworlders can't get along without them, but somehow we muddle through.

And your AIM account is still working? How did you manage that? I have to admit it was pretty creative.

I don't think it really matters one way or the other. I'm pretty sure DC still has an office in New York, but the main headquarters is just now in L.A. But, either way, its not like the writers that DC hires have to be living in L.A. Geoff Johns lives in L.A., but Scott Snyder lives in New York, and teaches writing at Columbia and NYU. I'm sure there are more NY writers on their payroll.

But, I mean, its not like talented comic book writers aren't in L.A. Again, GJ is out there.

The first time I read that, I thought you said OJ is out there. Nah, he's in Vegas.

[LordMikel]

I was suprised to read recently that DC Comics moved to the West Coast which was a great suprise to me. Historically, the creative community has been deeply ingrained with the streets and expereinces of artists and writers that came out of New York. And this is not just true of DC, but also Marvel. I can't see how the story telling and creativity that produced the classic comics can be sustained in Los Angeles. LA is so detached from any urban root. And this is, IMO, refecting in the quality of our comics which are no longer driven by dialog, but glamerous full page single panel spreads, in bright glaring color. Story telling is in the tank and costs keeps rising.

The type of creative energy that works to make movies just isn't going to work for comics... and maybe it is no longer working for movies either..but I leave that for another debate.

The move happened 4 years ago and you are just now reading about it?

[Trey Strain]

The move happened 4 years ago and you are just now reading about it?

As I mentioned, his AIM account also seems to be working. Maybe Doctor Manhattan messed with his timeline.

[Doctor Bifrost]

I was suprised to read recently that DC Comics moved to the West Coast which was a great suprise to me. Historically, the creative community has been deeply ingrained with the streets and expereinces of artists and writers that came out of New York. And this is not just true of DC, but also Marvel. I can't see how the story telling and creativity that produced the classic comics can be sustained in Los Angeles. LA is so detached from any urban root. And this is, IMO, refecting in the quality of our comics which are no longer driven by dialog, but glamerous full page single panel spreads, in bright glaring color. Story telling is in the tank and costs keeps rising.

The type of creative energy that works to make movies just isn't going to work for comics... and maybe it is no longer working for movies either..but I leave that for another debate.

Oh, please. You can find good comic book writers and artists in lots and lots of places, including NY, LA, and Minneapolis. And, since the advent of FAX machines, e-mail, and the internet, they don't need to live where the company is headquartered.

The population of LA isn't actually a monolith. There are all sorts of people living there.

I think you'll have to look elsewhere for why comics these days aren't more like what you want them to be. A lot of them aren't like what I want them to be, too, but I don't think the differences in the nature of "creative energy" in LA vs. NY has anything to do with it. And a lot of my concerns (as well as the concerns you mention) predate DC's move to the West Coast.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

DC was moved to LA because the comics are, from a financial point of view, nothing but new IP generators for more profitable media. Keeping them closer to the rest of the entertainment industry only makes sense

[MajorHoy]

. . . And, since the advent of FAX machines, . . .

Aren't FAX machines, like, sooooooooooo last century?

[Digifiend]

As I mentioned, his AIM account also seems to be working. Maybe Doctor Manhattan messed with his timeline.

That's odd. It shut down six weeks ago, so yeah, that button on his profile here, if you try to use the popup, it should fail.
https://help.aol.com/articles/aim-discontinued

[Trey Strain]

That's odd. It shut down six weeks ago, so yeah, that button on his profile here, if you try to use the popup, it should fail.
https://help.aol.com/articles/aim-discontinued

And he created his profile after AIM shut down!

[Doctor Bifrost]

Aren't FAX machines, like, sooooooooooo last century?

Part of my point. Comics creators have had less necessity to live near HQ for a while now.

(Bizarrely, certain corporate interactions still require me to "send a FAX." Fortunately my laptop can simulate that.)

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Part of my point. Comics creators have had less necessity to live near HQ for a while now.

(Bizarrely, certain corporate interactions still require me to "send a FAX." Fortunately my laptop can simulate that.)

Pretty much. Again, Scott Snyder, DC's current "it" writer lives in New York City, even with the company headquartered in LA now. Writers all send in their scripts over email nowadays, don't they?

[Toreador]

With the internet and delivery services like FedEx writers, artists and editors no longer have to be concentrated in one spot. Writers can e-mail scripts to their editors and artists and artists can e-mail/overnight express their pages to their editors. I think there was one artist from Singapore who was a regular on a Doom Patrol series, I doubt he commuted to NY every day to work on the book.

[Digifiend]

And that's why you get so many foreign creators now. You used to have a few, like Claremont on X-Men in the 1970s. But nowadays they're all over the place.

[MajorHoy]

And that's why you get so many foreign creators now. You used to have a few, like Claremont on X-Men in the 1970s. But nowadays they're all over the place.

They also had them back in the 1970s, and not just people from Canada. There were quite a few artists on DC projects with roots / lives beyond North America.