Warners create DC Entertainment

Check out THIS LINK to read the news for yourself: Warner Bros., DC's parent company, is taking firmer control of their comic-creating pals by folding the publishing division under a new division called "DC Entertainment."

This news has a two-headed impact.

1) You know, last week when discussing the Marvel/Disney merger, I used the 40-year-old DC/Warner Bros. partnership as an example of a parent company leaving a comic publisher alone to do what it knows best. Well, I guess the Warners didn't realize they were the example of the right way to do it.

It seems to me this is a move based out of fear, a knee-jerk reaction to compete with Disney's acquisition. And normally I would think this restructuring was just a cosmetic sort of move made just to take away some of Marvel's headlines. But the Warners did something the Mouse did not — remove the publisher.

The fact that Paul Levitz was demoted worries me. Again, I am taking the same opinion I had when Marvel went through this — that we're going to have to wait and see before making judgements — but Levitz's removal is like firing a warning shot, so all of this talk about simply trying to maximize properties seems more hollow now than it did when Disney said it.

The best we fans can hope for is that Levitz was not "fired" like many of us are assuming he was, but rather he simply wanted to make a change, as he said in THIS STATEMENT.

2) Levitz is the man taking over "Adventure Comics." While I stick by the words I used last night, as it does seem DC tends to use Johns' name for nefarious reasons at times, this is very, very good news.

The man was responsible for the Legion of Superheroes' best stories for most of the 1970s and 80s, so if anyone is going to take the reins from Johns, and be given the proper respect and time to develop stories, it's Paul Levitz. And while you may argue the Legion is a team built for a younger writer to handle, I argue the team's complexity makes it necessary for only the most detailed and DC-knowledgeable writer to handle. Writing the Legion is all about juggling a large cast, all with their own specific personalities, and making stories flow back and forth from the 31st century to present-day DC.

What is unclear right now is whether "Adventure" will turn into a Legion-dominated book with Superboy taking a backseat or if we're going to have to wait longer for full-on monthly Legion. Still, no matter what DC has planned for the immediate future, this is the best-case scenario in Johns' absence.


If you'd like to read a fantastic recap of Levitz's career so far, head to THIS LINK.