DC Speculation -- how will layoffs affect the Bat books?

[Korath]

Batman and Detective are obviously safe.
Harley will probably be relaunched.
A Batgirls book is quite probable.

The rest is up in the air. Quite frankly, if I were at DC I'd push for the rest of the Batfamily having each an OGN per semester/trimester. Kind of like :

Nightwing -> [Batwoman? ->]Red Hood -> Red Robin/Robin -> Damian -> The Signal [-> Batwoman?]

[Bat-Meal]

Just judging by potential media synergy
Batman, Detective and Harley stays
Batgirl gets a new direction for young girls
Nightwing and Red Hood are going to Titans
Batwoman's getting a relaunch with the new main character
Cass Cain will join in Harley and Birds of Prey
Tim and Steph remain in Young Justice

What is this theory going around that just because the CW are (IMO) idiots, that the comics will do the same and toss Kate Kane out. If they toss her out they either have to kill her or find a new mantle for her - and on top of that we get yet another new Batfamily member that no one (other than Berlanti) asked for.

[scary harpy]

I think you’re all being very optimistic.

What do I mean? I can forsee Batman reduced to:

• Alfred
• Jim Gordon
• Bruce Wayne
• Barbara Gordon
• Richard Grayson

I hope Grayson will be Nightwing and not Robin. I can envision Damian as the only Robin.

I am unsure what will become of Batwoman and Red Hood.

As for Tim, Stephanie and Cassandra? I see the latter 3 disappearing into comic book limbo… along with a lot of history. (They are not erased; they're just ignored...along with many 1000s of other characters.)

I been told Cassandra may appear in some OGNs. I'm glad for her…but I can’t see this happening with Tim, Stephanie or Bette Kane. Tim’s only identity is ‘third Robin’ and Stephanie is a relatively minor character. DC loves to ignore Bette.


The stories we will get: Batman & an ally versus the villain-of-the-issue/story arc.

Simple, straight-forward and kid-friendlier stories…similar the comic version of Batman TAS.

I maybe wrong. This is just my feeling.

[Pohzee]

I think you’re all being very optimistic.

What do I mean? I can forsee Batman reduced to:

• Alfred
• Jim Gordon
• Bruce Wayne
• Barbara Gordon
• Richard Grayson

I hope Grayson will be Nightwing and not Robin. I can envision Damian as the only Robin.

I am unsure what will become of Batwoman and Red Hood.

As for Tim, Stephanie and Cassandra? I see the latter 3 disappearing into comic book limbo… along with a lot of history. (They are not erased; they're just ignored...along with many 1000s of other characters.)

I been told Cassandra may appear in some OGNs. I glad for her…but I can’t see this happening with Tim, Stephanie or Bette Kane. Tim’s only identity is ‘third Robin’ and Stephanie is a relatively minor character. DC loves to ignore Bette.


The stories we will get: Batman & an ally versus the villain-of-the-issue/story arc.

Simple, straight-forward and kid-friendlier stories…similar the comic version of Batman TAS.

I maybe wrong. This is just my feeling.

Honestly, I'd be fine with that. I'd enjoy some smaller stakes stories and one-and-dones than the Joker Wars and City of Banes we have back to back to back now.

[scary harpy]

Honestly, I'd be fine with that. I'd enjoy some smaller stakes stories and one-and-dones than the Joker Wars and City of Banes we have back to back to back now.

Honestly, so would I.

[SiegePerilous02]

Honestly, I'd be fine with that. I'd enjoy some smaller stakes stories and one-and-dones than the Joker Wars and City of Banes we have back to back to back now.

Honestly, so would I.

Streamlining the line back down so there are less Bat-books and less big, stupid events sounds good to me too.

Ideally, it wouldn't have happened the way it will though.

[Konja7]

Streamlining the line back down so there are less Bat-books and less big, stupid events sounds good to me too.

Ideally, it wouldn't have happened the way it will though.

There will be less Bat-books, but the affected by this will be the other Bat-family member, not Batman.

Batman is a good sellers, so he will mantain his solo, Detective Comics and maybe other Batman title.


It will less DC monthly comics, but the biggest names won't be so affected.

[SiegePerilous02]

There will be less Bat-books, but the affected by this will be the other Bat-family member, not Batman.

Batman is a good sellers, so he will mantain his solo, Detective Comics and maybe other Batman title.

I'm not that bothered by it. Whether it's Batman himself or one of his family members representing his brand, there were too many titles.

Creatively, Batman himself doesn't warrant appearing in as many books as he does (I don't think any character does). Having his solo and Detective are all that are really needed.

[Restingvoice]

What is this theory going around that just because the CW are (IMO) idiots, that the comics will do the same and toss Kate Kane out. If they toss her out they either have to kill her or find a new mantle for her - and on top of that we get yet another new Batfamily member that no one (other than Berlanti) asked for.

Because WB is an idiot too. Snyder just wanted to make a 5 part story of his verse and they force him to change it to compete with Marvel resulting in a mess.

[scary harpy]

I found this interesting.

...

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https://twitter.com/gerryconway/stat...26593997873152

Originally Posted by Gerry Conway

What happened at ⁦@DCComics yesterday was probably inevitable once ⁦@WarnerMedia became a subsidiary of a tech company uninterested in creating new creative content, and planning only to strip mine existing IP for streaming. It should have been clear when the incoming AT&T management told the management of the highly successful and profitable @HBO that they needed to upend their corporate culture in order to feed the AT&T cable pipeline with continuous streaming content a la Netflix. It should have been clear when AT&T replaced the successful management team at @HBO that AT&T didn’t see value in @HBO’s content— only value in @HBO’s *brand*.

The content currently produced at @DCComicsor @dcuniverse is of no interest to the tech bros of AT&T— only the brand. Publishing comics is a low profit margin business— the value lies in the IP, and only the IP. Expect AT&T to do the absolute minimum necessary to keep the @DCComics brand alive for its IP value. Some of the decisions AT&T will make are probably long overdue for a business model that’s been marginal for decades; this will be brutal and bloody.

This time next year, I predict @Marvel will own about 90% of the new monthly comic market— in which case, retail comic shops are done. @DCComics will probably publish reprints and a handful/dozen of new digital-only monthly series intended for graphic novel release. When the comic book retail market collapses, @Marvel too will have to turn to a digital monthly/print graphic novel format for a reduced number of titles. It’s simple economics. The business has relied too long on a fragile distribution model. COVID-19 and AT&T have broken it.

In the long run, despite the tremendous personal loss of the people affected by this— and my heart breaks for them, it really does; these are good, worthy people who deserve better— this may be for the best, creatively. Storytelling in superhero comics has been in a creative, market-driven straitjacket for decades. Pandering to the tastes of a diminishing comic shop readership, relying on marketing gimmicks like variants, reboots and bi-annual “events” to temporarily boost sales—

It’s all had a cost, creatively. A long time ago, in my naïf youth, I once argued with Marvel’s head of production at the time, Gentleman John Verpoorten, that some production decision he’d made would have a negative effect on the creative value of the book I was working on. At the time Marvel was publishing 40 titles or more a month. John gestured at the wall of covers behind him in his office. “Hell,” he said. “If you want to talk about creative value, from a creative point of view we can justify maybe six of these.”

It was true then, and it’s true now. Maybe a diminished superhero comic book market would be a more creative one.

Guess we’ll see in 2021. Till then...

F**king 2020.

[Konja7]

Yeah. In other threads, I read the new boss in DC doesn't have much interest in comics (especially monthly floppies).

They want to expand the market with OGN and digital.

[scary harpy]

Yeah. In other threads, I read the new boss in DC doesn't have much interest in comics (especially monthly floppies).

They want to expand the market with OGN and digital.

I've read that too.

Makes you wonder what kind of floppies we will be reading within a few years.

[sifighter]

Yeah. In other threads, I read the new boss in DC doesn't have much interest in comics (especially monthly floppies).

They want to expand the market with OGN and digital.

Yeah honestly I would not be surprised if we start to see more stuff like Gotham Knights, Batman: Adventures Continue, DCeased: Hope at world’s end or Injustice Year Zero. Granted that’s not such a horrific thing, little personal bias as I actually quite like the array of digital comics that dc is currently putting out and it’s more a question of the quality of the comics.

[kevink31593]

I think Batman and Detective Comics should be the only ongoing Batman related comic book series. I think they should only do mini or maxiseries with a predetermined number of issues (12 max) for any of the side characters. Like the Superman books just did with Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, for example (those were great, btw imo). I think we’d get better quality storytelling that way. They can rotate which characters have a series at any given time.

[Ascended]

Creatively, I have no idea what direction they'll take; I haven't been reading any Bat books for a while (I'll grab Tynion's trades), and who knows what direction the new bosses will want to take, though with Lee being the CCO things might not change much, as far as this goes.

As far as floppies go, I expect Batman and 'Tec to remain. I mean, obviously those books aren't going anywhere. 'Tec will likely keep its numbering, Batman might get a new #1.

Harley is almost certainly getting a relaunch of her solo.

Past that, I'm not sure. It'll depend on how many books DC cuts and how big their publishing line is afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if Nightwing and Batgirl's solos survive, but it wouldn't surprise me if those characters end up in a team book or as supporting characters in a Batman book either. They'll be around somewhere, just not necessarily in their own books.

Damian will stick around, either with Bruce or a teen team title (probably, but not necessarily, Titans).

Jason, Kate, Cass, Tim and all the rest? I'd be surprised to see any solo books for any of them, which means they'll be supporting characters for Bruce or they'll be in teams, or limbo.

Beyond the LCS, in bookstore OGN's and digital, I think almost anything is fair game. DC will want to experiment and try new things, hoping to expand their audience in those markets (if reports I've read are true). Characters like Raven and Cass have proven that OGN's can do well without one of the Big Name Characters, so I think it'll all depend on who has a good pitch. Maybe we get a Red Hood digital series, maybe we get a Flamebird OGN. The hierarchy and history of DC means basically nothing outside the hobby shop so anyone could get a OGN or digital series if a creator can sell it.