View Poll Results: How do you rate Dan Didio's tenure at DC Comics?

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  • A - It was the best period of the company!

    5 2.44%
  • B -They weren't all hits but it was mostly good!

    47 22.93%
  • C - It was generally average...

    33 16.10%
  • D - There were a few gems mixed in but mostly it was mediocre.

    80 39.02%
  • F - It was the worst time to be a DC fan!

    40 19.51%
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  1. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by Godlike13 View Post
    Honestly i think this one is on the Bat office's editors. The issue begin with an Editors note that makes no sense. The Bat office seems to be struggling to keep track simple details and the details of their on own work even.
    Even so, that shows the type of leadership that Didio was providing. It was under his watch that the editorial offices became essentially ineffectual, largely because he kept driving off so many competent editors.

  2. #62
    Three Legged Member married guy's Avatar
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    Dan's DC wasn't something I generally agreed with.
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  3. #63
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by godisawesome View Post
    He clearly wasn’t all bad, but as others have said, he was constantly pursuing seemingly contradictory goals. Silver Age revanchism really doesn’t work with 90’s era grit and grime, it doesn’t really make sense to pursue diversity while banishing a character like Cassandra Cain to protect Babs as Batgirl, or forbidding Batwoman’s marriage because “marriage = happy = bad,” and the whiplash in the goals between New 52 and Rebirth is only matched by how both eventually collapsed.

    He also had just odd preferences or other weirdly contradictory decisions. I mean, it doesn’t really make sense to hate Dick Grayson as Nightwing the way he did, since by the time he took over, Nightwing was already a very successful character, and Batman seeming older because of Dick’s age wasn’t exactly hurting his sales in any way, shape or form. And being angry at PAD for creating Slobo and then years later approving the New 52 Lobo? What?
    One shouldn't remember that DiDio wasn't working in a vacuum. He always worked with several people around him, that quite probably had different visions on what stories DC should tell, and how to tell them. Just because he was highly visible and had some publically held firm beliefs (like that comic book characters shouldn't be married) doesn't mean that he pushed for every element that DC published since 2002, or even 2010.

    As for the diversity angle, it's one that has many facets, and I have often found that people might be progressive and open-minded for some of them while being unable to see others. There is also an ocean of difference between wanting something in this area and being able to effectively push for it.
    «Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out» (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History [4.56.1])

  4. #64
    Incredible Member Ishmael's Avatar
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    I think I'd give his overall tenure a C. There were some things that happened while he was in charge that I really enjoyed - such as:

    Jonah Hex (by Palimiotti and Gray)

    Morrison's run on Batman

    Snyder's run on Batman

    Grayson

    Mike Grell's return to Warlord (which I never thought I'd ever see)

    Seven Soldiers of Victory

    52

    Kyle Baker's Plastic Man

    Booster Gold

    assorted gems from New 52 (e.g. Animal Man, OMAC, Dial H)

    Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen

    But then there were so many things I really, really disliked - to the point of actually dropping the majority of my DC books. Identity Crisis -- Infinite Crisis (which in retrospect undoes COIE the way Rise of Skywalker undoes Return of the Jedi) -- Heroes in Crisis -- virtually anything with the Justice League other than Darkseid War -- Truth -- pretty much everything Titans related -- and on and on. For everything that happened under Didio I liked, something also happened that I completely loathed or left me feeling completely indifferent. And that's not what should be going on.

    My overall impression of Didio's reign is that he's like a gamer who wants that perfect play through on a game, so he keeps hitting the reset button on level 1 even though he's already cleared it.
    Last edited by Ishmael; 02-23-2020 at 08:50 AM.

  5. #65
    Astonishing Member Adekis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gregpersons View Post
    I mean it's 20 years of comic books, it's a lot to consider.
    That's it in one for me. Didio became head editor in like 2002 or something, right? That's a really long period to consider. If I've ever bought a DC book as it came out, Didio had some sway in it.

    Hard to put a real judgment on that.

    If we're just saying since 2010, I still don't know what to say. The last decade has been so eventful for DC fans that I'm inclined to split it up into at least three different eras, not that history will have the attention span to see it that way.
    "You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."

  6. #66
    Mighty Member LifeIsILL's Avatar
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    There were many titles I enjoyed during his time.

    But the one thing I truly disliked was his treatment of Superman. He only had 1 defining run this whole time (Tomasi, maybe Pak). Sure he had good stories spread out throughout but come on....we're talking about Superman here.

    Also his handling of New 52 was childish. 90% of the books looked the same, can't tell one book from the next, it was all dark and edgy, it felt like the Ultimate Marvel line but 10 years too late. It's a miracle in itself that half the titles came out to be decent.
    Last edited by LifeIsILL; 02-23-2020 at 04:09 PM.

  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ishmael View Post
    I think I'd give his overall tenure a C. There were some things that happened while he was in charge that I really enjoyed - such as:

    Jonah Hex (by Palimiotti and Gray)

    Morrison's run on Batman

    Snyder's run on Batman

    Grayson

    Mike Grell's return to Warlord (which I never thought I'd ever see)

    Seven Soldiers of Victory

    52

    Kyle Baker's Plastic Man

    Booster Gold

    assorted gems from New 52 (e.g. Animal Man, OMAC, Dial H)

    Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen

    But then there were so many things I really, really disliked - to the point of actually dropping the majority of my DC books. Identity Crisis -- Infinite Crisis (which in retrospect undoes COIE the way Rise of Skywalker undoes Return of the Jedi) -- Heroes in Crisis -- virtually anything with the Justice League other than Darkseid War -- Truth -- pretty much everything Titans related -- and on and on. For everything that happened under Didio I liked, something also happened that I completely loathed or left me feeling completely indifferent. And that's not what should be going on.

    My overall impression of Didio's reign is that he's like a gamer who wants that perfect play through on a game, so he keeps hitting the reset button on level 1 even though he's already cleared it.
    This is pretty much my position as well.
    There was the odd gem, but for the most part, it left me buying less DC than ever and as a Wally West fan - well, you know.....
    BTW, I absolutely LOVED 52. LOVED IT.
    But if rumours are true, it wouldn't have happened if Dan had his way. He hated it.
    He then arranged Countdown as "52 done right" and it was a complete clusterfuck.
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  8. #68
    Extraordinary Member Lightning Rider's Avatar
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    It's hard to judge not just because of the nature of the job, but because it's hard to suss out exactly what was his idea or someone likes Johns's. He was also heading things since the time I first got into reading comics around 2002. As was said though, some of the worst moves were clearly his ideas. I guess the easiest thing to is track what I remember feeling as a DC fan and going off that.

    I started my fandom by reading some classics like Red Son, Kingdom Come, The Dark Knight Returns, Johns on GL, and also Waid and Johns's Flash Run.

    From there, I jumped onto Infinite Crisis. I can see in hindsight why a lot of people disliked it, but I was a big fan of the multiverse and the vast array of characters being used in that event, along with Superboy prime as a villain, the Flashes' roles, and both Supermans having their moments. I would only read Identity Crisis years later, and while I love it, I can see how that type of story dominating left a bad taste for too many fans.

    One Year Later wasn't satisfying as a Flash fan, though I really enjoyed the JSA and JL runs. Bart's death and Wally's poor return weren't handled too well. It was clear they lacked vision for the characters, which is something that falls on editorial before individual creators.

    I loved 52. Shitting on 52 was really poor form and alienated Mark Waid, which sucked.

    Bringing Barry back was exciting for me, but letting Johns go through with his terrible Rebirth retcon squandered it, and erasing Wally was criminal. Trying to pass off Wallace as Wally was doubly so. The Titans also suffered in this time. Aquaman was kind of in limbo as well. Blackest Night and Brightest Day seemed to try for a new status quo but...

    Then the New 52 hit. I hated the idea at first, but saw the business angle as legitimate. I tried giving it a shot, but too much felt unrecognizable, and I stopped reading even Flash for the first time.

    Rebirth started out very promising, a lot of early storylines were fairly back-to-basics, but again Wally was sidelined and they lagged on delivering the JSA, along with many key friendships and relationships. There were lots of teases; the Button, the Price, the Oz Effect, Abra Khadabra. It's only now years later we're even getting the JSA and the history is still a mess. Letting Heroes in Crisis happen was a travesty, and now Doomsday Clock was practically ineffectual. Why am I supposed to invest my time and money into this world? Why should I trust 5G to work?

    Bendis on Superman has at least been interesting from what I've read. But it's not been without controversy.

    So yeah, anything really strong shining through (JL/JSA, Deathstroke, Hawkman, Mr. Miracle, Morrison & Snyder's Batman, GL) was down to individual creators, whereas many of the poor stories lacked first and foremost from a lack of planning or vision or even respect for the characters. Too much was thrown out, and not enough was brought back. And what was brought back was done so through mediocre half-hearted plots, on completely unsolid foundations, which are apparently about to shift yet again.

    I have to give him a D. It can't be easy to run this big a company in this kind of industry, but it can't be that hard to tell good stories with planning that don't alienate fans, in a world that actually makes sense. For all their flaws, previous eras were able to make it work.

  9. #69
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    Overall I give his tenure a B, but most that last year was a great big poopy D.
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  10. #70
    Incredible Member astro@work's Avatar
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    I gave it an "average".

    Many things I really liked, as well as many things I disliked in equal measure.

    Loved:
    Grayson
    Infinite Crisis
    2000's JSA run
    Morrison's JLA
    Both nu52 and Rebirth Batman
    Rucka's Wonder Woman
    John's Green Lantern
    nu52/Rebirth Aquaman
    John's Shazam
    Bendis' Young Justice
    Rebirth Superman and the introduction of Jon Kent

    DIDN'T LOVE:
    Heroes in Crisis
    Forever Evil
    The treatment of Wally West, Dick (ugh, Ric) Grayson, Donna Troy (you had one job DC, fix that origin!), Roy Harper (R.I.P.)
    The state of the Teen Titans since nu52 (used to be a viable and important title)
    The long absences of the JSA and Legion
    The constant undoing of Diana's mythos
    The DC You books
    The "nobody can be married" rule (Arthur/Mera, the Hawks, and Barry/Iris were married for my entire chilhood reading...never made me bored).
    The long LONG wait for a new Shazam title

    I do credit Didio with trying new things and willingness to shake up the status quo. At the same time I was frustrated to see certain favorite/popular properties get ignored or consigning to limbo for such long periods (OG Titans, Shazam, JSA, Legion).
    Last edited by astro@work; 02-24-2020 at 01:03 PM.

  11. #71
    Extraordinary Member Zero Hunter's Avatar
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    I am giving him a D. It seems like for every really good idea he had he had 3 that were bad. From bringing in talent that was well passed their prime to his utter disdain for any real continuity and letting writers just do what they wanted with no real oversight or thinking about what it could mean going forward. Didio was always struck me as someone who never looks long term and was always going for the short term fix which is why DC is in the mess it is now.

  12. #72
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    New 52 was a great idea but it was handled so poorly. It should have been an Ultimates line. I do give him credit for at least making the effort to reach out beyond the traditional comics reader and expanding into other lines like Earth One and Black Label.
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  13. #73
    Fantastic Member dimo1's Avatar
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    Difficult, never been a huge DC fan, but New 52 pulled me in. Snyder started strong on Batman only to plummet dramatically.
    I like the Green Lantern Rebirth era and also Flash.
    Overall I‘m not too involved so my perspective is really not that deep.

    Couldn‘t really get into King‘s work, I tried his Bats for a few issues and even read HiC, well one issue, plus, not the biggest Bendis fan, though the first issues of hie Superman were good.

    For me his tenure was average, as I stopped buying current DC issues pretty much years ago.

  14. #74
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    I give him a B-, It was New 52 that originally made me excited about comics again, before that almost all of the solo books being produced were of Caucasian heroes, mostly males from both Marvel and DC. POC's was relegated to team books or background cast members and occasional press for diversity were often met with hostile resistance (You only need to see Dwayne's McDuffie youtube comments for examples.) In fact, before new 52, Gail Simone, Dwayne McDuffie and more revealed at SDCC that over 87% of the readership was white males over the age of 28. It was a sad state of comics to be honest. Then New 52 came forth which started a massive changes in regards to representation. Cyborg got move to a founding member, DC was releasing 4 POC solo books at the time, it was like finally one of the big 2 got with modern times. Sadly the execution of some these fantastic ideas were often lacking, but I'd say it was New 52 that caused Marvel to make it's shift with Miles Morales, and eventually ANAD, which helped usher the next generation of superheroes that Marvel so desperately needed (and DC failed to didn't capitalize on)


    New 52 and DCYou were great times, and then came Rebirth, which for the 2 steps that DC move forward with progressively caused it to move 4 steps backwards. Almost all of my excitement for DC comics was gone, and with Marvel pushing out books like Spider Man, Ms.Marvel, etc, it didn't take look for me to be a mostly Marvel Reader.

    Now with 5g, DC has another shot to make up for the mistakes it made with New 52, coming out with star quality diverse heroes that can be exposed to the larger general audience, and I'm presuming that 5g was partially Dan Didio's idea.


    So I give Dan Didio a solid B-, he help started the revolution that comics desperately needed with New 52, and even though it's Marvel mostly reaping the benefits, I don't believe Marvel would be in that position today if it wasn't for DC's New 52 push.

  15. #75
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    I'd give him a D. Not the worst he could have been, but pretty bad.

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