Today on the official DC blog, DC announced their plans to pack up and move from their Manhattan offices to Los Angeles in order to achieve a greater focus on film, while ending the WildStorm Universe and absorbing its characters under the DC banner.
From the press release over at The Source:
DC Entertainment, as part of its ongoing strategy to integrate the DC Comics business, brand and characters into Warner Bros. Entertainment’s content and distribution operations, will relocate its business functions related to and supporting multi-media and digital content production to Burbank, California. DCE’s publishing operations will remain in New York, continuing DC Comics’ 75-plus year legacy of leadership in the comic book arena. These announcements were made today by Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment.
“These organizational changes reinforce the strengths of DC’s greatest legacies – most importantly its people and its creative talent – and offer greater opportunity for maximum growth, success and efficiency in the future,” said Nelson. “Our two offices will stretch and build their respective areas of focus, while prioritizing and aggressively striving to connect and cooperate more strongly than ever before between them and with their colleagues at Warner Bros.”
What this could mean for comic fans is that there’s a chance DC may adapt a “movies over comics” mentality, though Marvel has proven it’s possible for a comics publisher to churn out the movies and still focus on its comic branch, so comic fans need not worry as of yet.
Following the announcement of the move, DC also said that they’ll be ending the WildStorm Universe line of comics, featuring Stormwatch and The Authority, and absorbing the characters under the DC banner.
After taking the comics scene by storm nearly 20 years ago, the WildStorm Universe titles will end this December. In this soft marketplace, these characters need a break to regroup and redefine what made them once unique and cutting edge. While these will be the final issues published under the WildStorm imprint, it will not be the last we will see of many of these heroes. We, along with Geoff Johns, have a lot of exciting plans for these amazing characters, so stay tuned. Going forward, WildStorm’s licensed titles and kids comics will now be published under the DC banner.
Now trying to better integrate itself into Warner Bros. Entertainment, DC may once again rise to the forefront of film and television that they once occupied in the ’70s and ’80s with their Superman and Batman franchises, but which they have ceded to Marvel in recent years.
(DC Universe: The Source via io9)
