Reminiscent of the shake ups that seem to be more commonplace that most comic book readers would like to admit, DC Entertainment is experiencing a consolidation of universes right here in the real world. In an email to all DC Entertainment employees in the New York offices, DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson, plans were revealed to move the comic book publishing arm of the business from their location in New York to their offices in Burbank, CA, during the 2015 year. the email is posted below.
[quote]
Dear DCE Team,
As I hope you know, I and the entire DCE exec team work hard to offer transparency about as much of our business plans and results as we possibly and responsibly can. In an effort to continue to do that where possible and to ensure you are hearing news
from us, rather than a third party, I am proactively reaching out to you this afternoon to share news about our business.
I can confirm that plans are in the works to centralize DCE’s operations in 2015. Next week, the Exec Team will be in New York for a series of meetings to walk everyone through the plans to relocate the New York operations to Burbank. The move is not imminent and we will have more than a year to work with the entire company on a smooth transition for all of us, personally and professionally.
Everyone on the New York staff will be offered an opportunity to join their Burbank colleagues and those details will be shared with you individually, comprehensively and thoughtfully next week. Meeting notifications will be sent tomorrow to ensure the roll out of this information and how it affects the company and you personally.
We know this will be a big change for people and we will work diligently to make this as smooth and seamless a transition as possible.
Best,
Diane
[/quote]Source: http://www.newsarama.com/19425-dc-comics-moving-to-burbank-to-join-dc-entertainment.html
This seems to comes as no shock to many in the industry who have been following the changes that DC Entertainment has made in prior years. This move consolidates the offices, brings the operations under Dan Didio and Jim Lee, and allows full integration of the comic book publishing functions with the animation, toys, V, film, and video game development. From a business perspective there is surely the concern of maintaining two locations, travel, and communications, which is all eased by this consolidation, but that is just speculation.
How do es the competition react? Joe Quesada,Cheif Creative Officer at Marvel responded to the news in a quote from Newsrama.
[quote]
“To me, comics are New York City and New York City is comics. We all know that the first character to put his underwear on over his pants was created in Cleveland, but it was New York City that gave him his start. It was New York City that provided the spotlight and it was here that he and all those that followed in his footsteps became famous. So to see a piece of that publishing tradition shift to the West coast saddens me, because it’s the end of an era and yes, while I’ve always loved to tweak our crosstown pals, New York City will admittedly be a little diminished by DC’s absence.”
– Joe Quesada
[/quote]Source: http://www.newsarama.com/19433-joe-quesada-reacts-to-dc-s-comics-nyc-exit.html
Interesting developments in the world of DC Entertainment. Maybe this will be the thing that helps them to begin to be a force in film and show the fans that Justice League movie they have been screaming for. Maybe they could even knock $0.25 of the cover price of their books. Not likely, but good luck DC, may this be the start of a bold new chapter.
