DC gets a new editor-in-chief

[arbre_rieur]

And Detective Comics Comics' new editor-in-chief is...

Bob Harras, who was the previous Marvel E-i-C before Joe Quesada. To make things clear, he's not just heading the DC Universe books. As editor-in-chief, he'll also be in charge of Vertigo and MAD Magazine (which I'd forgotten DC owns).

This news makes Mark Waid writing for DC again even more unlikely. I don't know if he dislikes Harras personally or only as an editor, but I know he really dislikes the guy.

Saw the news at ComicBookResources: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=28543

Comments

[angelophile]

That's somewhat unexpected. To me, at least. Curious.

[thokstar]

So, the person we think is Bruce Wayne is actually a clone, and Tommy Eliot is the real Bruce Wayne?

[fifthie]

Personally I'm looking forward to Superman slapping his pregnant wife around.

[jaybee3]

Could this mean Didio will no longer be making almost all the major Editorial decisions. If so, I see it as good news.

[bluejaybirdie]

Motto.

[shadowpsykie]

im cunfused... half the people here seem to think this is good, the others think it is very very bad....

[thokstar]

No. 1/3 think it's good, 1/3 think it's bad, and 1/3 are checking their calendar to see whether or not it's April 1st.

[newnumber6]

So does this mean we'll finally be allowed Marvel/DC crossovers again? Or was that a President thing and not an EIC thing?

[icon_uk]

That was usually a lawyer thing IIRC

[k_red]

If he likes the 90s, maybe he'll bring Ted and nice!Max back...

[ebailey140]

No, Harras was the main champion of Grimdark. This was the guy who made it policy that the Days of Future Past alternate future, established in the very story it was introduced in as averted, was "the real deal," and inevitable. This, of course, made everything heroic the X-Men were trying to achieve completely pointless. Harras wanted no hope, no optimism, just a Grimdark Dystopian future.

If he were to bring back Ted, it'd be as a vengeful cyborg with red, glowing, eyes, a gigantic gun, and armor with really huge spikes. Oh, and Ted would have absolute contempt for humor of any sort.

[cypherfdp]

Don't care until Joe Quesada gets sacked

[queenrikki]

Motto.

[whitesycamore]

Ding Dong, Didio's (metaphorically) dead.

[fifthie]

Didn't he get, you know, promoted?

[sigma7]

"You want to know the truth? In my humble =koff= opinion, Bob did as much to help destroy the comic book industry during the 1990s than any other single human being alive. Yes, even more than Gareb. I’d even let Ron Perlman out of Hell before I’d pardon Bob."

Mark Waid, ten years ago.

It's an interesting statement that Bob Harras is the one person in the industry DC would like to see with editorial oversight. He wouldn't be my last choice, but he wouldn't be in the first thousand.

[q99]

Wait, Ron Perlman? The actor?

[zechs80]

Well on the plus this is the guy who got Kurt Busiek and George Perez on the Avengers. But he's also the guy who gave us Spider-Man: Chapter One, the Howard Mackie/John Bryne era of Spidey, the later half of the Clone Saga, the revolving door on the X-Men books, and of course my personal favorite.. Avengers: The Crossing.

[stolisomancer]

Yeah. If he hasn't learned from past mistakes, this was a distinct downward move.

[mullon]

I don't know enought about Bob Harras or the job of editor-in-chief to know if this is good or bad.

[uadlika]

You know, I've always wondered what DC stood for but never cared enough to find out. Detective Comics makes sense.

[starwolf_oakley]

Dan DiDio, who hates you, me, and all comic book fans everywhere is out the door.
...
THE WORLD FINALLY MAKES SENSE AGAIN!!!
Of course, Bob Harras made the mistake of trying to turn every Marvel hero/villain rivalry into Professor X and Magneto, especially Spider-Man and (the first) Green Goblin.

[psychopathicus_rex]

He's not 'out the door' - he's just elsewhere in the building. He still works for DC.

[punishermax]

I will always think to Dido calling Countdown "52 done right" as my little zen moment.

It's like, the level of disconnect there is about the same as the baby sitter shoving the baby in the oven and the turkey in the crib. Yet to extend the metaphor to encapsulate the whole debacle, the babysitter defends herself from the parents by telling her that the neighborhood kids (tie ins) will be just as good.

[halialkers]

[hexiva]

I've always wondered . . . what exactly is that a picture of, and where did it come from?

[big_daddy_d]

The more I find out, the less I'm confident in this Bob Harass...yeaaa...I'm sticking with the devil I know and would rather have Didio than a guy who apparently is a king of grimdark.

[big_daddy_d]

*H...ahhh screw it I don't care enough to correct the spelling of his last name.

[star_of_airdrie]

Now coming from more of a business and social science perspective as I learn the comics world....

It would seem that this doesn't get DiDio out of the creative end necessarily, it just gets him messing with it nearer to the end, and late edits, as many of us have seen, usual get things completely out of context.

Also, this guy allegedly never liked DC. Now I understand artists and some writers playing for different teams, but the editorial staff? It's like a Princeton man running the University of Pennsylvania (or, a Yalie running Harvard, or, a reference more would understand, a long time Coke person running Pepsi) : I can't trust them

And, my icon, another example of a great corporate decision... (Actually Hostess used Glo-Balls for bright orange cakes in the past...)

[arbre_rieur]

"Also, this guy allegedly never liked DC."

Where'd you hear that? This is the first I've heard of that.

[stig]

"SAVIOUR OR DESTROYER...of this guy's prostate?"

I'm sorry, Mark, but I can't think of anything else when I see a man thrust dramatically forward in two directions with the word 'BREACH' dangled overhead.

[aelflar]

Well, that was..unexpected. But not unwanted, mind you. Who knows, maybe Bob did the whole grimdark thing because that was the face of the industry ten years ago. Maybe he`s woken up and smelled the overall desire for less grimadrkery and he`ll do a decent job. I mean, his job is to run the business, why would he run it to the ground?

*shoos off Blue Lantern ring idly floating about*

[savok]

This is going to be one of those things that ends up on TV Tropes under "It Got Worse" isn't it?

[cuntfucius]

Not enough D8 in the world

[crabby_lioness]

Okay, no need to look a another DC book until 2020 then.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I don't really know enough about Harras to either denounce or promote him. It sounds like he's taking Didio's old job, which could be good or bad. Basically, I say give the guy a chance to show what he can do, and if it's bad... well... THEN start howling in despair.

[pepperspray101]

hrm....while this may bring in more ughness to the DCU...I have to wonder what will happen with Jason and Cass. Cass who is considered a 90's type character (tho she came in at the end of the 90's) and Jason Todd whose current violent anti-hero character is reminiscent of many a hardcore 90's character...

hm...yeah. This might go two ways, but I'm guessing overall there will be more violence is in their future. Hm...

[recognitions]

As someone who jumped off the Marvel train around the Age of Apocalypse, all I can say is hoo boy, it's going to be a long cold lonely winter.