Should DC just sell WildStorm to another company?

[jetengine]

Realistically DC should probably set up an Alt-Earth series of books dedicated to the franchises they own but wont put in mainline Dc, so Wildstorm and Milestone.

[comeatmebro]

The Wild Storm fucking sucks compared to anything Wildstorm related that came before, Ellis is old and washed up and boring now, polar opposite of what the line is supposed to encompass, the entire line is a failure, there was supposed to be multiple spin-offs by now but nope, such a complete disaster line every other one of DC's new imprints

[Sutekh]

It's often good business to keep control of IP's even if you're not using them at all. Better to have a IP and not use it, than have that IP used against you.

Yeah, I've accepted that I'll probably never see my favorite Wildstorm characters like Taboo, Serge, Winter, Jackson King and the kids from DV8 again, and that DC basically bought the line to kill the competition and plunder the least interesting parts of it (get the whole bunch, and use only the second-rate Batman and Superman clones? Ugh!).

[Flash Gordon]

Nah, but DC should put out a wild Mr. Majestic book for me.

[Bruce Wayne]

They did that with Abnett and Lanning. IIRC the numbers for that book weren't so great.

[MRP]

The Wild Storm fucking sucks compared to anything Wildstorm related that came before, Ellis is old and washed up and boring now, polar opposite of what the line is supposed to encompass, the entire line is a failure, there was supposed to be multiple spin-offs by now but nope, such a complete disaster line every other one of DC's new imprints

That's one opinion. Personally I found the Wildstorm stuff largely unreadable until Ellis took over Stormwatch which then became Authority, and for me, Planetary and Brubaker & Phillips Sleeper are the two best things ever produced under the imprint. So, I would rather have on or two well executed books than a line of mediocre comics or worse unreadable dreck. I am a bit behind on the current Wildstorm series as I am reading it in trade, but I have thoroughly enjoyed what I have read and find it to be better than the bulk of other Wildstorm stuff I sampled pre-Ellis Stormwatch.

-M

[Darthfury78]

Who feels that Jim Lee made a terrible mistake in selling his company to DC Comics rather than stepping down as publisher to concentrate on illustrating at the time. I always loved the old Wildstorm Comics format; but when I learned the Jim had sold the company, I thought that it was the beginning of the end as DC Comics would kill off the brand slowly as Marvel had done the Malibu Comics.

Now that Wildstorm is just a shell of its former self, I want to know if there's someone else would consider buying the company back from DC Comics and make the brand independent once again to how it was before it got sold in 1998?

Afterall, the founder of Saban Entertainment bought back the rights to the Power Rangers from Disney while and investment company got the remains of Valiant Comics from the bankrupt Acclaim Entertainment. I never felt that DC was ever going to do right by Wildstorm at all. The Wildstorm Brand had a lot of untapped potential if only Jim Lee had seen that before selling off his company.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/rece...led-wildstorm/

[Sutekh]

Who feels that Jim Lee made a terrible mistake in selling his company to DC Comics rather than stepping down as publisher to concentrate on illustrating at the time. I always loved the old Wildstorm Comics format; but when I learned the Jim had sold the company, I thought that it was the beginning of the end as DC Comics would kill off the brand slowly as Marvel had done the Malibu Comics.

Now that Wildstorm is just a shell of its former self, I want to know if there's someone else would consider buying the company back from DC Comics and make the brand independent once again to how it was before it got sold in 1998?

Afterall, the founder of Saban Entertainment bought back the rights to the Power Rangers from Disney while and investment company got the remains of Valiant Comics from the bankrupt Acclaim Entertainment. I never felt that DC was ever going to do right by Wildstorm at all. The Wildstorm Brand had a lot of untapped potential if only Jim Lee had seen that before selling off his company.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/rece...led-wildstorm/

Jim Lee made a good decision for Jim Lee. And that's perfectly fine. Running your own company from the ground up is grindingly hard, and definitely for those with a certain fire in their belly, which doesn't last. So he transitioned to a more comfortable (and less financially perilous) perch.

I absolutely loved some of the Wildstorm lines, like the original Stormwatch (before the Authority, which I loathed and everyone else in the world seemed to love), DV8, Gen 13, WildCATs and Wildcore. But Jim Lee doesn't personally owe me anything, and it surprises me not at all that DC would catch-and-kill Wildstorm the way it caught-and-killed the Charlton characters or Marvel family or various other competitors, only dragging them out when they can extract a dollar from them. But that's how capitalism works, and it's like being mad at the rain.

[GreyFox]

When it comes to the Charlton characters, most of them had very short runs with Charlton before being dropped. With the possible exception of Captain Atom, I would say they were better off under DC.

As for Wildstorm, the imprint was shut 12 years or so after DC acquired Wildstorm. That is not really catch-and-kill.

[Stanlos]

I think they should sell it to Netflix so that their studios can follow the immaculate template set out by Ellis and company with THE WILDSTORM 1-24 and connecting minis like MICHAEL CRAY. Those would make PHENOMENAL streamers with a broad set of directions for subsequent creators to pursue and at variable budget tiers.

[Dataweaver]

Part of the issue is that the books won't sell if the audience doesn't like the product. There was a recent effort to bring it back, reintroducing Grifter in Batman Urban Legends, leveraging that into an introduction of the WildCATS. I lost track, but I don't think it lasted.

[numberthirty]

Who feels that Jim Lee made a terrible mistake in selling his company to DC Comics rather than stepping down as publisher to concentrate on illustrating at the time. I always loved the old Wildstorm Comics format; but when I learned the Jim had sold the company, I thought that it was the beginning of the end as DC Comics would kill off the brand slowly as Marvel had done the Malibu Comics.

Now that Wildstorm is just a shell of its former self, I want to know if there's someone else would consider buying the company back from DC Comics and make the brand independent once again to how it was before it got sold in 1998?

Afterall, the founder of Saban Entertainment bought back the rights to the Power Rangers from Disney while and investment company got the remains of Valiant Comics from the bankrupt Acclaim Entertainment. I never felt that DC was ever going to do right by Wildstorm at all. The Wildstorm Brand had a lot of untapped potential if only Jim Lee had seen that before selling off his company.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/rece...led-wildstorm/

The characters are currently a part of the "Mainstream..." DC comics universe, and a "The Authority..." film will apparently be a part of the new "Film/Animation/Television..." DCU.

While I know that you have posted some version of this on at least a few separate occasions?

What about the above leads you to believe that anyone else is looking at what DC is currently doing with the IP, and thinks "Yeah, We Ought To Make Them An Offer...."?

[numberthirty]

Past that...

The Wild Storm was the best that any company ever could have done by the IP.

[numberthirty]

Part of the issue is that the books won't sell if the audience doesn't like the product. There was a recent effort to bring it back, reintroducing Grifter in Batman Urban Legends, leveraging that into an introduction of the WildCATS. I lost track, but I don't think it lasted.

That title is currently running...

Like "Right Now..."

[Stanlos]

Past that...

The Wild Storm was the best that any company ever could have done by the IP.

I very much concur. I think that entire set of characters would be better off bundled and sold to Netflix so they can pump some dough into it and produce the Wild Storm and Michael Cray series while planning out the others.