What has Dan Didio done RIGHT as DC's Head Honcho?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

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.

[Raijin]

Meh. Everyone who has ever ran a comic book publisher over the years has made both great and poor. NOT UP FOR DEBATE! A person of his position isn't going to get it right 100 percent of the time, that's just how it is.

Most of my favorite titles and characters appeared during Didio's tenture. So going by my interests and what appeals to me, he's alright in my book.

But the nasty and rude comments people make against him is unnecessary.

[Raijin]

Meh. Everyone who has ever ran a comic book publisher over the years has made both great and poor. NOT UP FOR DEBATE! A person of his position isn't going to get it right 100 percent of the time, that's just how it is.

Most of my favorite titles and characters appeared during Didio's tenture. So going by my interests and what appeals to me, he's alright in my book.

But the nasty and rude comments people make against him is unnecessary.

[married guy]

I think Dan cops more crap than is warranted. Let's face it, it's a pretty tough gig.

That said, I hate, and I mean I absolutely LOATHE what he's done with the Flash family.
I think his treatment of those characters has been pretty ****ing awful.

I just wish he's get over his fear of legacy characters and embrace the history of the DCU instead of trying to pretend it never existed.
For me, it's the history that makes the DCU so much better than Marvel.
Wally, Dick, Kyle, Conner, Connor, Cassie, Donna etc. all inspired by and following in the footsteps of and inspired by their mentors/parents.

Blackest Night, Sinestro Corps War, Infinite Crisis, Mutiversity were all big hits.
Even the New 52 generated an enormous amount of interest in it's first few months.
Batman is the strongest it's been in 20 years.
Superman is married to Lois and the have a son!
The new Justice League is a BIG hit too.
You can also argue his stance on the Flash is a success - it's currently selling in very healthy numbers.

[oasis1313]

Give me a few years and I might think of something.

[Hilden B. Lade]

If Didio was the guy who let Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray do their Jonah Hex + All-Star Western run and kept it from premature cancellation than I say that counts as a good thing.

[RepHope]

Pretty sure he’s the guy who brought Morrison over, to both Batman and Superman’s benefit.
He supports the Hanna-Babera line which gave us modern classics like Russel’s Flintstones.
Overall I’ve greatly enjoyed the New Age of Heroes, and am grateful for Sideways in particular from Dido. Derek is an awesome character.
He’s helped DC achieve success in the trades market, and Black Label is a great idea imo.
He somehow got Azz on New 52 WW which I greatly enjoyed even though I respect that others disliked that run.

I’m sure he’s done other stuff behind the scenes that we don’t know about.

[Buried Alien]

Lifted the Post-COIE embargo on using (or even referring to) the Multiverse.

Lifted the Post-COIE embargo on Pre-COIE continuity.

Lifted the "eternal death" edicts on Barry Allen and Jason Todd.

Of course, some fans dislike Mr. Didio for the very same reasons.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Trey Strain]

We don't know which decisions are his and which are not. All we can do is look at the sales, which compared to Marvel are not bad.

[Johnny]

People gave some good examples here, so I'd just say that what I do like about Didio is that he seems to be more of the "fan" type, than the "executive" type. Dan Didio is not really a corporate guy in my view, he genuinely does seem to care about the DCU and isn't above scouting the best talent to help realize his vision. I never agreed with his stance on legacy or the marital status of most heroes, among many other things, but there's no question in my mind that he cares about the DC brand and his passion, if not his methodology, is appreciated.

[The Darknight Detective]

But the nasty and rude comments people make against him is unnecessary.

Yes, which reminds me: everyone, please watch you post about Didio here.

[bob.schoonover]

He was in charge for the lead up to Infinite Crisis, perhaps the most fun time to be a fan of the DCU as a whole, and probably the last time reading many titles was a truly immersive experience where everything seemed to be moving towards something. He greenlit the return to weekly titles (both good and bad - btw Trinity was totally underrated). He mostly let good runs move along on their own - Johns on GL and Flash, Morrison on Batman and Superman, Snyder going nuts w/Metal then JL - nothing about those runs really screams "editorial interference" or "we kept getting told 'no'" (granted, this can be turned around to point out how much ancillary books get jerked around because of these main ones). Most books with new(er) characters get a reasonable amount of time to try to catch on.

[jump]

I listened to a podcast he did a few years ago on Fatman on Batman and seems like a decent enough guy but one of the things that have stayed in my head was when he was talking about the importance of expanding the medium. To him as one of the Big Two it's up to them to lead the charge and go after big numbers for the sake of comics in general which is more important than doing smaller boutique titles as there's other that can do that.

[Vinsanity]

I would say as a fan, New 52. While it probably didn't do as well as expected, it did usher in new creative teams, new visions of characters, new types of stories (we've had some great non-traditional type stories in different tones), and getting some good talent.

Other stuff I would say is expanding the medium as others pointed out.

And he's a fan which is really important.

[Cmbmool]

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.

You say Didio owns up to his mistakes, but you may want to see this Youtube channel as it seems that even though he owns up to his mistakes Dan Didio keeps on making them: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb1...DrUoEYW1yiO-tQ