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DC Direct Shut Down By Warner Bros.


JayC

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News broke today that DC Comics was rocketed by major layoffs being made by it's parent company Warner Bros. which includes the likes of editor-in-chief Bob Harris, senior VP of publishing strategy and support services Hank Kanalz, VP of marketing and creative services Jonah Weiland, VP global publishing initiatives and digital strategy Bobbie Chase, senior story editor Brian Cunningham, and executive editor Mark Doyl.

Beyond that according to THR, DC Direct/DC Collectibles which has been the in-house merchandise and collectibles manufacturer arm for DC Comics for the past 22 years has been completely shut down. We are very sadden by this news and wish everyone who worked there all the best.
 
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Just heard this news on twitter, couldn't believe my eyes, at first I was maybe they are just confusing DCC turning into Dc direct but apparently no, ugh it's sad day for DC fans. Yes DC Direct had its problems but they still made some of the most best sculpted DC figures ever, and even learned how to make Super articulated figures, thats too damn sad.

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From what I'm reading they laid off like a third of their editorial staff, almost everyone at the DC Universe streaming service (not unexpected), Jim Fletcher and everyone at DC Direct, and Jim Lee is being "transitioned" out of his position as COO and publisher.  This is a stupid as F#*& thing to do two weeks AHEAD of their DC Fandome online event. If AT&T and WB felt like they had to do this, the right time would be two weeks after that.  Now it just puts fans in a weird mood going into it, and it basically guarantees that a number of people won't tune in.

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Damn I always thought DC Essentials were the best thing DC currently had going for them in terms of figures, that's a real bummer, I felt like the Line was doing well, people seemed to buy them or maybe I'm wrong, I was still buying them I had felt like I just got Cheetah and Knightfall Catwoman, my Girlfriend really collected Essentials they were her most collected line

now all we have is McFarlane...oh no

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18 minutes ago, Satam said:

From what I'm reading they laid off like a third of their editorial staff, almost everyone at the DC Universe streaming service (not unexpected), Jim Fletcher and everyone at DC Direct, and Jim Lee is being "transitioned" out of his position as COO and publisher.  This is a stupid as F#*& thing to do two weeks AHEAD of their DC Fandome online event. If AT&T and WB felt like they had to do this, the right time would be two weeks after that.  Now it just puts fans in a weird mood going into it, and it basically guarantees that a number of people won't tune in.

Almost forgot about DC Fandome in couple of weeks, yeah seems like bad way to do, unless they always planned to overshadow it with the event.

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10 minutes ago, SpiderS said:

Almost forgot about DC Fandome in couple of weeks, yeah seems like bad way to do, unless they always planned to overshadow it with the event.

And it might, but it's never a good idea to put a bad taste in people's mouths going into a promotional event. The only intelligent thing those dinks at AT&T have been doing with the DC brand since buying WB is the all-too-obvious-now transition of their streaming originals to HBO Max.  I'm honestly surprised there's still a DC Comics at all.

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That is unfortunate as hell :(, indeed DC direct wasn't perfect but it was a good DC figure company as i can tell and it's a shame it just died in such way.

Now i am worried as well about the DC brand being in danger as well, i don't want it to end miserably, i want to have faith that anything can save DC from becoming a flawed and dying franchise.

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I had a lot of friends at Warner and DC lose their job today and unfortunately there’s likely to be more losing their jobs as the consolidations of various film and television departments Shake out.  Even I’m a bit concerned since I have projects on the development slate at Warner where I was expecting renewal payments this year and with these big shifts some of those could get axed.  A very rough day in the middle of a very rough year.  

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The DC Fandom seems to be mainly focused on movies by having people like the Rock and other movie celebs on. My guess most of those people will care less about what has happened to DC Direct or even the comics.

The move to completely shut down DC Direct is surprising and not surprising all at the same time. Its shocking to hear a company that has been around making action figures for 20+ years just suddenly closed down seemingly overnight. However since AT&T bought out WB and they started restructuring DC Collectibles over a year ago, it seems like they've been heading towards this. Fletcher while publicly always seemed to try and put a happy face on it, my impression is that he was anything but. Product lines where shut down or canceled, they had essentially been regulated to nothing more than a limited statue company. Months would go by without any new DC Direct solicitations. 

I don't know if Jim knew the exact day and time the axe would finally drop but I suspect this wasn't something just totally out of the blue that took him by complete surprise either.

 

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Sorry for the job loss, that's a given. When the AT&T went after Time Warner and got them. You knew there would be shake out.

Just with HBO MAX and them pushing Digital Comics. That alone would put the smash on the DC Universe. DC Direct got caught

in the cross fire, I think. Can't say for sure. That's what I think IMHO. DC Direct closing is the real Bummer to me. That's life

 

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I didn't even know that AT&T now owned DC. Haven't  collected DC figs since the 4HM  sculpted DCU line. DC figs skewered in the 7' scale for the vast majority of it's action figure run or were limited in articulation per the DC Direct line or were then done in a smaller scale ala DC Icons. My condolences to those of you that did though. So does this also threaten the existence of DC comics as well? 

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Ouch! Honestly, the news about DC is WAY more troubling than DCC. I came up in the 80s when they INVENTED the hostile takeover, and this has all the classic signs. Buy the company, hand the officers their walking papers, and sell off everything from the publishing catalogue to the toilet paper in the executive john.

That's the way they did it at Filmation. Friday night Lou Scheimer makes a deal with Maybelline for them to buy in to Filmation to cover some operating costs and capitalize a couple projects. At the staff meeting that Monday morning, Maybelline lawyers tell everybody to stop work, leave everything but personal items, and go home. BOOM! The company that single handedly invented the modern animation industry is cut to peaces and spread to the four winds.

Nice.

 

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8 hours ago, K9K1N6 said:

That is unfortunate as hell :(, indeed DC direct wasn't perfect but it was a good DC figure company as i can tell and it's a shame it just died in such way.

Now i am worried as well about the DC brand being in danger as well, i don't want it to end miserably, i want to have faith that anything can save DC from becoming a flawed and dying franchise.

The DC brand is just fine.  It's iconic and WB needs it for some of its hottest movies and tv shows.  DC Comics, the publisher, however, that's been in danger for a while, and while it will survive this latest "streamlining" or "restructuring," or whatever they want to call it, there's a real chance, unfortunately, that AT&T's next step could be to wind it down.

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Both DC & Marvel need to seriously cut down on the number of monthly titles. There's no need to have 5 different Spiderman, Batman, X-men, Superman, related titles out on the stands on a monthly basis. Majority of the art & storylines are pure caca/ drivel. Also, the countless & lame spinoff title/characters that have come out in recent years.

Both companies need to go back to having like 20-25 titles max on the comic stands. 1 Batman titled ongoing series, 1 X-men ongoing series, 1 Spiderman series & bring back the Spiderman team up title again. 1 Superman title. And stop pushing the SJW PC crap down our throats! I used to buy n read comics to see the Avengers fighting the masters of evil or Batman throwing down with Any of his rogues gallery of villians, not read bout social/ political issued going on today. I can check out the local news for that. Comics were meant as an escape from the world's problems/issues for a handful of hrs, not to read about em in the latest X-men, Batman issue.

I don't need to know, nor give a crap bout the writers personal beliefs nor political beliefs. They don't need to inject that into a comic of make believe imaginary super powered characters. I don't care to know who's straight, who's gay, etc. I stopped collecting comics yrs ago due to seeing all that being injected into various titles & storylines. It seems as though both companies are pandering to a very small percentage of their fan base at the expense of the larger percentage & it's pretty evident with the rash of cancellations of various titles these past few yrs.

Comics ain't cheap nowadays, going for $4-$5 an issue, so it isn't kids under 18 buying comics, t's working adults like me that were probably buying comics since they cost 25 cents & back when there were way fewer comics on the stands. With $10, I would leave the comic store with a stack of comics to enjoy, today $10 maybe gets you 2 comics if that. Truth be told, if it wasn't for the MCU/DCU movies, both comic companies might have gone under yrs ago. 

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48 minutes ago, Satam said:

The DC brand is just fine.  It's iconic and WB needs it for some of its hottest movies and tv shows.  DC Comics, the publisher, however, that's been in danger for a while, and while it will survive this latest "streamlining" or "restructuring," or whatever they want to call it, there's a real chance, unfortunately, that AT&T's next step could be to wind it down.

The problem isn't the brand, its the company. Batman won't go hungry because he's been fired during a global crisis, he's a fictional character. Ask the dudes in the mailroom if the same could be said for them.

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1 hour ago, mako said:

The problem isn't the brand, its the company. Batman won't go hungry because he's been fired during a global crisis, he's a fictional character. Ask the dudes in the mailroom if the same could be said for them.

Exactly right
 

 

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2 hours ago, Satam said:

The DC brand is just fine.  It's iconic and WB needs it for some of its hottest movies and tv shows.  DC Comics, the publisher, however, that's been in danger for a while, and while it will survive this latest "streamlining" or "restructuring," or whatever they want to call it, there's a real chance, unfortunately, that AT&T's next step could be to wind it down.

The strength of the brand IP isn’t the issue.  It’s the loss of the people and crippling of the company (which can eventually have a trickle down effect that hurts the brand).  This massive restructuring and layoffs at Warner are occurring 1 year after Fox had an even bigger massive restructuring and layoff that the industry had yet to recover from.  And now we’re in the middle of a pandemic where a large portion of the industry is halted and unemployed on top of being at the current epicenter of illness.  And keep in mind this is an industry where most of the people who depend on income from the company aren’t considered employees, they are considered freelancers and independent contractors.  So it’s a situation where several hundred employees, the majority of whom live in one of the most expensive city’s in the country where rent (not mortgage—rent!) on a small 1 bedroom apartment is $3000 per month will now be lucky to collect $400 per week in unemployment and those independent contractors will collect $0.  The brand might have been fine but as resources get taken away and the people who supported, maintained, and created that brand get the rug pulled out from under them all things will suffer—most notably —people.  

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3 hours ago, mako said:

The problem isn't the brand, its the company. Batman won't go hungry because he's been fired during a global crisis, he's a fictional character. Ask the dudes in the mailroom if the same could be said for them.

Nail on the head. 

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From everything I have heard, the publishing arms for both DC and Marvel have been money losers for years. These big corporations didnt buy Marvel and DC to make comic books.  The money is made with the movies and licensing out of these iconic characters, but it would look bad from a PR perspective if you totally shut down the medium that started them all, so they've up until now at least kept them around. I would still be fairly surprised if WB/AT&T completely shut down DC Comics, but I def don't see them putting much in the way of real resources into it any more either, especially in these trying COVID economic times. It's very sad to see happening as it always is when people's lively hoods are damaged when major job losses like this happen.

I've been hearing words like blood bath used when describing what's been happening within the halls of DC this week with the layoffs.

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I was shocked when I heard the news the DC Direct was completely shut down.    This was totally unexpected as they recently rebranded themselves as DC Direct from a stint as DC Collectibles.  Additionally, from the people that covered the DC Direct toy booth as this year's Toy Fair, it looked like the brand was going strong with not only their action figure line, but the various statues, busts and other products.

It's also very saddening for everyone that has lost the jobs; even more so during the time of the pandemic.  Perhaps they'll be rehired into the company or find a better opportunity elsewhere. 

And for me personally, as a long time fan and consumer of DC Direct products, it was like hearing the news that Toys R Us would be closing its store.  Roughly 85%-90% of my DC figures are made by DC Direct.  I thought many of their figures we nicely detailed and faithful to the source material.   As such, this news will certainly make me appreciate and cherish my DC Direct figures and statues all the more. 

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