The Great DC Comics Sell-Off

Months ago, former Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver became the first to talk about AT&T shutting down DC Comics publishing division with talks of the company being sold off. At first, many were dubious because the claim seems so wild, people could hardly imagine DC Comics taking such a tumble.

News of firings came out of DC in December, slashing more than one third of their staff.

News of their line being reduced by about a third from last year then followed.

And after that, Bleeding Cool reported there were indeed talks of DC selling off. the publishing rights to their characters, with several different parties looking like they were going to bid upon it, including Diamond Distribution, the company DC shunned to start their own failed distribution network last year. Since that time, comic shops have been frustrated and unable to get DC product into their stores because of their ineptitude. This has led to speculation about the nature of the sell-off of popular DC franchises by many.

On Monday, Van Sciver elaborated on a stream what he’s been hearing from people within the company. From what he’s hearing now, it’s not going to be a full-scale sell-off, but rather DC is going to be paying major comic forces to handle the characters, hoping they can do a better job with it than DC can do in house. Robert Kirkman, who runs the imprint of Image called Skybound, is one of the people reportedly being tapped to take over some of these characters. He’s made Skybound a success in independent comics both with his work on the comics ad by licensing TV properties.

Van Sciver likened this to Marvel’s Heroes Reborn in the 1990s where they licensed their characters to top image creators to try to revitalize their franchises.

So far, there’s been no confirmation of Van Sciver’s new claims, but seeing as his original comments on the topic appear to be right over the target, it appears as if he has an industry insider source giving him accurate information.

Regardless, DC Comics doesn’t appear long for this world.

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