Comic Book Resources

Sad to hear this news as Bob was a great driving force in DC’s editorial. Personally, they let go of the wrong editor (and other editors) but that’s another story. I’m sure Bob will land on his feet shortly with a good company, like Marvel or a Boom!

Yeah, that seemed a bit weird and sudden. I’m sure someone will snatch him up, though.

Really weird. He was a talent magnet. He was also responsible for bringing Matt Wagner and Mike Kaluta to Madame Xanadu… Don´t understand what the criteria was. There might be something else, like a deal in which he could go back to an indie press or so…

He’ll bounce back. He’s too good to be out of comics for long.

Doesn’t bode well for DC’s future, though.

Typical corporate mismanagement. Fire the most professional and respected party you have on staff, instead of the jackasses who are running the company into the ground.

Layoffs are always sudden and pretty much come down to dollars and cents. If it’s between two guys essentially in the same role, the guy making more is usually the one to go.

qft Carl. Bright-Raven needs to think of the decision from a business standpoint, not a fanboy’s.

Maybe he’ll get a job with Dark Horse Comics.
Or with Image.
Or with Dynamite Entertainment.
Or ….
Or ….

Good luck.

“Bright-Raven needs to think of the decision from a business standpoint, not a fanboy’s.”

Well, no, he doesn’t really “need to.” As he’s not on DC’s payroll, and comments here aren’t some kind of power-wielding official memo, he can feel free to be as big a fanboy about it as he pleases.

Maybe, they should’ve fired Didiot instead of Schreck.
They might have saved a truckload of money then.

Didiot is probably much better at schmoozing & related activities. I can’t imagine anything else he’d be better at …

Yeah, I gotta agree with BR, despite the salary concern, you don’t toss out that much experience in a business where you’re looking at putting the best talent on each title and sell as many copies as you can based on quality and entertainment. Schreck’s track record speaks for itself.

Ryan:

“Bright-Raven needs to think of the decision from a business standpoint, not a fanboy’s.”

Ryan, I’m a fifteen year professional in the comics, RPG, science fiction and fantasy fiction industries. I have been an Art Director, Submissions Editor, Editor, published writer, penciler, and inker and I have also run two different art studios during that time. Not to be snarky, but I probably know a whole lot more about this industry than you do. And my commentary IS from the business standpoint.

But to illuminate it for you:

So, I’m Time-Warner Management, and I need to cut staff / costs.

Do I fire an editor with twenty five years experience between multiple publishers, who has a nigh irreproachable track record of handling his business with complete and total courtesy and respect for his employers, the creators he has handled, and the creative community on the whole?

OR…

Do I fire the editor(s) who have proven time and again that they work under their own personal agendas: Repeatedly hiring creators with bad track records either in meeting deadlines, have low sales, or both. Unable to enforce proper scheduling on their books. Who try to use their editorial position as a springboard to their own creative endeavors (usually to the detriment of the books they edit). Who fire creators under them who are handling their obligations correctly in favor of hiring personal friends, causing strife and discontent amongst the ranks of the creative talent. Who are afraid of getting their hands (and reputations) dirty and dump all the nastiness on their assistants to make THEM unlikeable within the creative community, thereby undercutting the supposed competition from getting a leg up.

This is not about dollars and cents, but about common sense. You don’t fire the best you have to cut costs. You fire the incompetents and the backstabbing politicos, and replace them when you have the means to do so. That’s just good business, Ryan. Not that anyone at a megacorp like Time-Warner will take that worldview, because they lack the comprehension that having honesty and personal integrity as your trademark is more valuable in the public eye than any dollar amount you “save”, because inregrity is what builds trust – trust in your brand, trust in your product, trust in your people.

We are in a period in our history in this business where the trust between any given facet of the industry, from corporate to creative, publisher to distributor to retailer, from publisher to fandom, has been consistently shrinking, and all sides have a deep seated sense of jadedness and disenchantment with each other. The only way to combat this problem is to recognize that which holds integrity and support it.

Time-Warner failed to do this in this instance. And they will likely suffer for it in the long run.

Yeah, uh, he might want to leave DK2 off the resume.

>>You don’t fire the best you have to cut costs. You fire the incompetents and the backstabbing politicos, and replace them when you have the means to do so.

I’m not surprised, Bright-Raven, to see that your experience does *not* appear to include working in newspapers … else you would never have made such an outlandish statement.

(Why, yes, newspapers are in dire straits right now, come to think of it.)

Da Fug? So even though he’s worked in the industry we’re discussing, but has never worked at a freaking NEWSPAPER, his opinion is invalid?

Mr. Bailey’s posts have just jumped the proverbial internet shark.

Good god, Stealthwise — please go buy a new irony meter, assumng you ever had an old one.

All I was saying was that the scenario of corporate stupidity that Bright-Raven laments is, unfortunately, tragically common in at least one industry (& no doubt in others, of course — comics unfortunately included).

I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt & assume that you’re drunk or really, really tired, as opposed to really, really dense.

I too also think DC has let go the wrong editor. I don’t see how this is going to help DC. On the other hand, if Dan Didiot was the one to get the boot… Ah well, an old DC fan can only dream…

Yeah, uh, he might want to leave DK2 off the resume.

Why?

That motherfucker sold!

And still sells today…

Schreck’s the guy who can get Miller to come back to Batman after 20 odd years, and was there for Sin City at the start – you put that up the front of your resume.