Warner: To Publish or Not To Publish

[Jae Namkyoung]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/09/27/video-will-warner-keep-publishing-comics/

Will Warner, continue to publish Comics? Bleeding Cool has the story, comments, discussion here:

[Night Swordsman]

Despite being a major shareholder, i do NOT think DC Comics is going to stop publishing any time soon. Too much lost revenue. Also, if they DO sell, then Warner will NO longer have distribution rights to their own current product, and would have to negotiate with Time for them.

It would seriously hurt them worse to seperate than to stay together. Mom. Dad. Stop bickering and keep making comics. :biggrin:

[Free-Man]

Honestly, I can't see it being that big a loss for them. I mean, realisticly, comics are an incredibly small market. From a marketing standpoint, the real money for these characters is the money you can get from toys, video games, and movies and such.

[FeminineMystique]

I'll be honest, I'm fuzzy on the relationship between Warner and DC...so to calm my fears I've got to ask, if they stopped publishing would DC still be able to put out their comics?

[cactusmaac]

Didn't anybody catch the news last week?

DC Comics is a division of WB Movies now, as DC Entertainment. It was informally treated as such for years before Jeff Robinov pushed for an actual restructuring.

[NickThompson]

I'll be honest, I'm fuzzy on the relationship between Warner and DC...so to calm my fears I've got to ask, if they stopped publishing would DC still be able to put out their comics?
As I understand it...


Warner is DC as such, so if Warner stop publishing then DC stop publishing. On the other hand they could work out a deal where DC went solo, them publishing the comics while Warner keeps the rights for stuff they want.


End of the day, I'd think they would be safe. Provided that DC make money they might as well keep them around, if only for the great potential stories they could get out of it to adapt.

[Night Swordsman]

Honestly, I can't see it being that big a loss for them. I mean, realisticly, comics are an incredibly small market. From a marketing standpoint, the real money for these characters is the money you can get from toys, video games, and movies and such.

Exactly my point. For them to sell off Time, and DC with it, they would loose the guranteed exclusive access to DC Entertainment. Time could EASILY sell those rights to other companies now. It would be equivilant to killing and cooking the goose that lays golden eggs to have a nice dinner.

I'll be honest, I'm fuzzy on the relationship between Warner and DC...so to calm my fears I've got to ask, if they stopped publishing would DC still be able to put out their comics?

IF Warner SELLS off the Time division, both would continue. It is called Time-Warner, remember? Think of them as two married people who are thinking about divorcing, but both have their own jobs and revenue. Now, Time will have the harder time surviving due to publishing costs(Paper is exxxpensive!! So too Printing Costs! :eek: ) but they would have the option to partnering up with another company to help defray costs as well as to expand into new markets. Warner still would have a lot of pies in the oven, but to lose DC would effect them heavily. I am sure if they do try to seperate, they will place agreements of things Time can/can not do as well as exclusivity agreements for liscening of DC Characters for a set time.

[Lester C.]

I'll be honest, I'm fuzzy on the relationship between Warner and DC...so to calm my fears I've got to ask, if they stopped publishing would DC still be able to put out their comics?

When Warner bought DC, DC was billions in debt at least according to Chuck Dixon, so my guess would be no.

[cactusmaac]

Warner bought DC in the late 60s. Billions is probably off the mark.

[K-DoG7p7]

When Warner bought DC

.....



you know that never happened right?
the company that owened DC bought Warner Bros and a few years later they changed their name to Warner Bros

So in a way DC bought the struggeling WB

[Free-Man]

Exactly my point. For them to sell off Time, and DC with it, they would loose the guranteed exclusive access to DC Entertainment. Time could EASILY sell those rights to other companies now. It would be equivilant to killing and cooking the goose that lays golden eggs to have a nice dinner.


Ah, but what if the goose only lays one golden egg for every turd? I could totally see Warner trimming the fat on DC's line a little. I mean, let's look at ALL the books DC puts out, and then the ones that have actually made an impact on pop culture:

Batman and his related characters (Robin, Batgirl, the Joker, Batwoman, ECT)
Superman and his related characters (Lex, Lois, Jimmy, ECT)
JLA
Teen Titans
Green Lantern
Wonder Woman
Flash
Static Shock
Aquaman (but really more as a punchline to jokes)

So in all honesty, I can't see why Warner would also put out a glut of books that are selling poorly and have little chance of franchising (Checkmate, Rebels, Vigilante, ECT). There are a few exceptions like Blue Beetle, who has proven far more successful on the TV and toy front than he ever did in comics, but mostly, if I were an exec, I'd see a lot of books as being dead weight.

[Reptisaurus!]

So in all honesty, I can't see why Warner would also put out a glut of books that are selling poorly and have little chance of franchising (Checkmate, Rebels, Vigilante, ECT). There are a few exceptions like Blue Beetle, who has proven far more successful on the TV and toy front than he ever did in comics, but mostly, if I were an exec, I'd see a lot of books as being dead weight.

But they probably make money, and some of 'em could generate (like Blue Beetle, or Static Shock) Intellectual property that translates well to other media.

[K-DoG7p7]

you all know that DC Entertainment is under Warner Bros. Entertainmen. inc not Time inc.

[Night Swordsman]

you all know that DC Entertainment is under Warner Bros. Entertainmen. inc not Time inc.

So is Time Publishing. There is a lot of murkiness to this, as who would REALLY have the rights to DCE. Right now, this is all speculation, and no cause for worrying. It is the equivilant of a relative whispering into the ear of a married couple to split up the marriage. It hasn't taken into effect yet, and is likely to be a instant seperation. It would probably take months,maybe even years to seperate out the "house,property and kids".

[K-DoG7p7]

So is Time Publishing. There is a lot of murkiness to this, as who would REALLY have the rights to DCE. Right now, this is all speculation, and no cause for worrying. It is the equivilant of a relative whispering into the ear of a married couple to split up the marriage. It hasn't taken into effect yet, and is likely to be a instant seperation. It would probably take months,maybe even years to seperate out the "house,property and kids".

Time Publishing does not exsist.. its called Time Inc

Look you have Time Warner on top.. and under that you have 6 subsidiarys
AOL LLC
Time Warner Cable
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Home Box Office
Turner Broadcasting System
Time Inc.

DC Entertainment is under Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. along with Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema and TheWB.com

Selling off Time Inc would have ZERO effect on DC Entertainment

[Night Swordsman]

Time Publishing does not exsist.. its called Time Inc

Look you have Time Warner on top.. and under that you have 6 subsidiarys
AOL LLC
Time Warner Cable
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Home Box Office
Turner Broadcasting System
Time Inc.

DC Entertainment is under Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. along with Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema and TheWB.com

Selling off Time Inc would have ZERO effect on DC Entertainment

Ok. So in otherwords this whole discussion is a non-issue. Gee. WAY TO GO BURST OUR FUN! <Throws rotten apples at you>

[K-DoG7p7]

Just trying to inform the uninformed masses..

but yeah.. as far as DC is conserned, its a none issue. Rich just didn't do his reserch as to how a sale of Time would effect DC ..

[FeminineMystique]

*Breaths sigh of relief* Okay, I can stop panicing. For a minute I was worried I was going to have to pull a "Misery" on my favourite DC writers to get them to keep putting out comics

[Night Swordsman]

*Breaths sigh of relief* Okay, I can stop panicing. For a minute I was worried I was going to have to pull a "Misery" on my favourite DC writers to get them to keep putting out comics

Oh GAIL! ...When IS your next trip to jolly ol' England again? :biggrin:

[FeminineMystique]

Oh GAIL! ...When IS your next trip to jolly ol' England again? :biggrin:

Oh that's just cruel. Now every time a fangirl comes up to her and says "I'm your biggest fan" it's going to be plain creepy. :eek:

[Night Swordsman]

Oh that's just cruel. Now every time a fangirl comes up to her and says "I'm your biggest fan" it's going to be plain creepy. :eek:

<grin> He. He. He. So? Much snow up there? I'm sure Gail would not get caught in a snowstorm anytime soon....

[FeminineMystique]

<grin> He. He. He. So? Much snow up there? I'm sure Gail would not get caught in a snowstorm anytime soon....

True, we don't have many of those up here. British weather is surreal...none of the seasons ever seem to be the way their meant to

[Night Swordsman]

True, we don't have many of those up here. British weather is surreal...none of the seasons ever seem to be the way their meant to

I live in a very deep valley in southern oregon. We rarely get snow on the floor( in town), and the motto here is if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes, it will show up.

Usually clear skies, but we had some wildfires happen(one right literally in my own backyard,so to speak) last week. Still some smoke in the air. Waiting for a good rainstorm to blow it out.

[Village Idiot]

When Warner bought DC, DC was billions in debt at least according to Chuck Dixon, so my guess would be no.

If true, Warner probably wouldn't have bought them.

[Village Idiot]

Leave it to Rich Johnston to take a (possible) story and blow it all out of proportion in order to enhance his blog hits.

A lot of times, Rich does a fair amount of good work. Other times, it is common blog-wank.

[Sean Walsh]

I remember reading a report a year or so ago where it was stated that of all WB's divisions, DC was the only one that was always in the black (profitable).

So if WB is dumb, they'll stop. But I don't believe this recent restructuring was done so that they can phase out comics...

[FeminineMystique]

I remember reading a report a year or so ago where it was stated that of all WB's divisions, DC was the only one that was always in the black (profitable).

So if WB is dumb, they'll stop. But I don't believe this recent restructuring was done so that they can phase out comics...

Well I don't have huge amounts of confidence in their intelligence but yeah, it looks like we've got nothing to worry about