Comic Genius

Over the last few days there has been quite a bit of talk on the Internet about the safety of the job of DC Comics’ Editor-in-Chief, Dan DiDio. The talk is not only from message boards, but also on blogs of other comic book writers and editors who question his ability to do the job. From the sound of the rumors, it’s possible that either DiDio’s contract won’t be renewed when it expires in October, or he will be let go even before October rolls around.

At this point, I’m really unsure how I feel about the possibility of this happening. Most people (comic fans) seem to severely dislike him for ruining the book they’ve been reading since they were kids or making decisions that are preposterous. But as someone who has only known the DiDio era at DC Comics, I’ve seen many things that have been done right. The main problem, to me, is that he goes to the well too often. In other words, once he sees something work, he tries to make it work for EVERYTHING–even if it won’t.

Case in point is 52. A weekly comic? Up until a few years ago it was unheard of, simply because of all the work that goes into creating a comic in a month, let alone in a week. But 52 was an amazing success, proving that weekly comics were possible. The problem here is that now he seems to think that a weekly comic is a necessity. And really, it isn’t.

In a way I feel sorry for the guy, because he automatically gets blamed for anything that goes wrong at the company. Action Comics Annual is six months late? DiDio’s fault (even though it was an art delay, explained by the sickness of Adam Kubert). True, he should have, when it was apparent that Kubert would be out for an extended period, assigned the book to someone else, but I wouldn’t want to be the person in the position to make that decision. If he hadn’t changed artists, he would be the scapegoat. And if he did change the artist, he would have been blamed for messing with the flow of the storyline.

My thought: Give the guy at least one more year, outlining to him exactly what should be improved during that year. Increase sales, make talent accountable (especially for lateness of work), and improve communication within the company. If he can’t make those improvements, then DC has my permission to fire him.