Wednesday Comments – DC Comics is Moving to Cali?!

Top Story

A year ago I moved to New York City. It was the culmination of a lifelong dream; to live in a city where driving is more trouble than it’s worth. As someone who never learned how to drive, I’ve always viewed New York City as the place to be for me.

I mean New York City has plenty of other things going for it. It’s the city that never sleeps. It’s got a proud legacy of sports, arts and culture. And for a little while longer it’s got DC Comics.

As I’m sure everyone’s heard by now; DC Entertainment is beginning the process of moving it’s publishing operation to Burbank, where Warner Bros has plenty of space. The announcement yesterday and the reactions were varied.

For me it’s a sad thing.

I’ve never really given any serious effort into becoming part of the publishing world. Sometimes when I see an opening in DC’s editorial I’ll sent in a resume on a whim, but mostly I just let them pass by. Still, I always pretended that I’d be part of DC’s editorial team on day and that it’d be in New York City.

I’m a guy who reads the credits box in comics. When I read a comic I read it thoroughly. Quite a few of my favorite creators were DC editors. Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn were two names I was familiar with as editors of books that I loved before they were writing stories that I really enjoyed. Before Tom Peyer wrote the criminally underrated Hourman he edited Sandman. Peter Tomasi spent years editing some of DC’s strongest title before he was writing them. And before Cliff Chiang was one of my all time favorite artists, he was an assistant editor of one of my all time favorite books, 100 Bulllets.

So part of me hoped that I’d be able to follow in their footsteps of working in DC’s hallowed halls and then becoming a creator for the company. It wasn’t a realistic thought by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still something that I thought “eh, maybe one day.”

To me California feels like where culture goes to die. I’ve never been to California, the closest I ever got was spending four and a half years in Las Vegas. And when I tell you that Las Vegas is easily one of the most shallow places in the world and a place that filled me with a creative vacuum, I mean it from the bottom of my very core. And in my mind Las Vegas is just the worst aspects of California, magnified only slightly.

I would have totally worked in DC Editorial in New York City. It would have been a dream come true. But working for DC Editorial in Burbank would be a total compromise and probably a fifty/fifty split in terms of reward and sacrifice.

This news is a total blower. I finally get to New York and DC announces that they’re leaving. I can’t wait to see what else this week has in store for me.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday; go out and buy some fresh new comics from your friendly local comic shop. I’ll catch you next week.