Going Down at DC

In what may well come to be known as the "Monday Massacre," about one-third of the staff of DC Comics and the DC Universe streaming service were "laid off" yesterday. (In this case, "lay off" is simply a euphemism for "fired," as it is unlikely that any of these people will be asked to come back at some later date.) For more on what and who, I recommend this report:

DC Comics, DC Universe Hit By Major Layoffs

Many in the comics world had been expecting something like this since DC's corporate owners, Warner Entertainment, were acquired by AT&T last year. It is widely thought that AT&T sees Warner and DC in particular as simply a collection of valuable intellectual property and copyrights, with no real interest in creating new material to add to that collection.

So, what is likely to happen to DC's properties now? Though I have not been active in comics journalism for two decades, I keep my eyes and ears open, and here's my prediction.

AT&T will, within a year, license all the publishing of DC-owned properties to other publishers (notably not Marvel, IMO), while maintaining ownership of said properties. I can even see that these properties might be parceled out to more than one publisher (why put all your eggs in one basket?) And, again IMO, I could see that only the big three--Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman--are licensed for long-term, ongoing titles or projects, and maybe each to a separate publisher: Superman to IDW, for example; Wonder Woman to Dynamite, Batman to Image (that last is because I think the Image brand best fits the current attitude toward the Dark Knight).

The others? Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, etc.? They will be licensed for occasional projects, timed to coincide with other media versions: when there's a new movie or TV series about to debut, for instance.

Time will tell if I am right.