If rumors are true, would you like to see DCU absorbed into 616 universe?

[shooshoomanjoe]

MARVEL RUMORED TO TAKE OVER DC COMICS

It is claimed that what AT&T is also contemplating, is getting out of the publishing side of things altogether and farming DC Comics out, possibly to Marvel (note: Ethan Van Sciver said AT&T will close down DC Comics if 5G fails). It's said AT&T doesn't want to sell DC Comics because they see the value in the various intellectual properties (i.e. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman)

If true, I think it would be cool to see DCU characters interacting with 616 characters but I'd rather Marvel not attempt this given how they've screwed up the Ultraverse and the Sigilverse.

[Shadowcat]

No. They don’t utilize the other universes (Malibu, and CrossGen) they already have, and really dropped the ball with MarvelMan/MiracleMan.

[Riv86672]

^^^what he said.

[SuperiorIronman]

DC getting out of the publishing side of things and under Marvel's roof would create a weird era for the industry because now your former competitor's products are under one label which already goes through one distributor. I'm not sure if Marvel would be allowed to even do that.

I'm more concerned at the power vacuum this would create because if nobody reasonably can take on Marvel at that point, they aren't going to. Companies like IDW and Darkhorse or even Boom are going to come at the market in a way that Marvel just can't. Marvel would be the thing that basically would be keeping the industry afloat so the lower level companies are going to go wild in response. They'd no longer have to worry about competing for shelf space with some titles as Marvel would reasonably be unable to put out DC's whole catalogue. So companies like Boom would be able to put out there own stuff without fear of seven Superman books.

[starduck]

Nope, though I wouldn't mind a crossover between the two

[Prof. Warren]

Well, the rumors are not true so there's no 'if' to debate.

But if the possibility that Marvel could own DC ever were real, I would not like to see that happen.

I don't like the idea of a monopoly and I think it's competition that drives both Marvel and DC to try harder.

[Chris0013]

Even if...in the unlikely event...Marvel took control of DC....they should be in separate universes. But I would not be against the occasional cross-universe cross over.

[Rosebunse]

Honestly, even Disney might find that proposal too rich. The idea of a crossover is fun and all, but the far reaching implications of this are horrible.

Also, DC just shouldn't be with Marvel.

[Digifiend]

Cosmic Book News... not the most reliable source in the world, to say the least!

DC getting out of the publishing side of things and under Marvel's roof would create a weird era for the industry because now your former competitor's products are under one label which already goes through one distributor. I'm not sure if Marvel would be allowed to even do that.

They would be allowed. Do you know why Diamond gets away with their monopoly? Because the government just sees them as one of many magazine distributors. They make no distinction between comic books and other periodicals. For the same reason, while Marvel and DC together dominate the comic book industry, they certainly don't dominate the magazine industry overall. Hence, they wouldn't fall foul of the competition watchdogs. Disney can't take over Warner Brothers, as their recent takeover of Fox was already pushing it. However, they could buy DC. But they won't, because it's not for sale.

[XPac]

MARVEL RUMORED TO TAKE OVER DC COMICS



If true, I think it would be cool to see DCU characters interacting with 616 characters but I'd rather Marvel not attempt this given how they've screwed up the Ultraverse and the Sigilverse.

THe thing is, I think it would be tough for marvel to screw up Batman, Superman and Justice League. Odds are those books would sell no matter what. If fact I think the initial books at least would get a massive bump from collectors.

Creatively marvel may drop the ball... but odds are descent it'll still sell.

I wouldn't say I necessarily prefer Marvel publishing DC... but I think they could make it work. And I'm actually curious what Marvel might do and how they would handle it. Presumably they wouldn't merge the universes.. it would be like another Squadron Supreme earth.

[Username taken]

Those rumors aren’t true.

And no, i don’t want to see the DC universe absorbed into the 616.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Over the years, there have been numerous Marvel will buy DC or DC will buy Marvel rumors depending who was in financial trouble at the time.

The only really reliable story that actually went somewhere was the 1984 proposed licensing of DC characters to Marvel.

Jim Shooter talks about it in his blog and even shows a pic of an internal memo from him to James Galton who was president of Marvel at the time. The deal was actually initiated on the Warner side, so it wasn't just a wish.

However, when it got down to it, Marvel wouldn't pull the trigger because they were sued by First Comics for having too much market power, and so Marvel didn't think it was the right time for them to control the comics publishing of their closest rival fearing antitrust action.

Bruce Timm commented on Shooter's blog that he suggested Warner to buy Marvel in the early 90s when Marvel was having financial troubles. Again, antitrust fears made this never get past the talking/daydreaming phase.

In Shooter's blog, he quoted the figure of having 70% control of the market as something that might trigger antitrust, and Marvel and DC together would be about that amount, so I don't think it would be something Disney would want to get into when there's not much money in comics to begin with because any publishing deal for DC characters would NOT include merchandising or movie/TV/animation projects, so why would Disney want a second comics publisher even if they could get away with it when the one they own doesn't really perform all that well?

I also don't think another company, whether Marvel or not, would want to license the DC characters for publishing because they'd have to pay Warner a fee plus Warner would want editorial control of what saw print. Of course, licensing deals happen all the time, but they tend to be difficult and lower margin than just publishing your own stuff. Marvel stuff was licensed to both Archie and, I think, IDW, for a kids' line, but as far as handling the primary publishing of DC? That's a tall order for any company, and it wouldn't be good for us as fans because there's no way Marvel or any company would put the same TLC into DC's characters that they would into characters they own.

It would also be bad for talent as there would be no big 2 to play against each other, so writer and artist fees would likely go down. Plus, Marvel wouldn't publish dozens of DC product, so there would be fewer opportunities for talent to get work. In Shooter's blog, he states that in the 1984 deal, he proposed publishing 7 DC titles to start (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Teen Titans, Justice League, Legion). Well, that's a lot of titles left UNpublished, and a lot of talent out of work.

No, Marvel publishing DC or DC publishing Marvel (or any other comics company trying to publish one of the big 2) would be bad for the market, for fans, and for talent.

But, yeah, inter-company crossovers are always a good thing and always get fans excited no matter how they turn out, so maybe with DiDio gone, Jim Lee will mend fences with Marvel, and we'll see some renewed cooperation between the big 2.

[GenericUsername]

No, I want them to stay separate. And I don't think the fan rumors are true.

[Cowtools]

Really? We’re taking the word of Ethan Van Scriver now?

[Prof. Warren]

Really? We’re taking the word of Ethan Van Scriver now?

No one serious is, no.