Is it time to boycott DC Comics?

It hasn’t been a good several months for DC Comics. After a successful relaunch in 2011, the publisher of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman seems to have lost all momentum in exchange for much-publicized controversies. With creators leaving DC due to lack of editorial support, we have to ask ourselves, is it time to boycott DC as well?

We’ve been reading DC Comics for more than a decade now. We’ve seen it rise from perpetually being second to Marvel to becoming the home of some of the industry’s best like Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, and superstar artist, Jim Lee, and even beating Marvel in sales and awards at one point. Jonty has always been a proud DC fan boy but he’d be lying if he said he was okay with the stuff happening within the publishing house.

The most recent news centered on the critically acclaimed Batwoman title. The comic’s main creator, JH Williams III, publicly said he is leaving the title he made famous because of lack of editorial support. In a statement he posted on his blog and co-authored by his Batwoman partner, W. Haden Blackman, Williams revealed he was leaving and added: “Unfortunately, in recent months, DC has asked us to alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines in ways that we feel compromise the character and the series…  All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end.”

A number of surprise firings by DC have also shocked a large part of the comics community. Most notably, the weird firing and subsequent rehiring of fan-favorite creator, Gail Simone, which she said was both “baffling and sad.” Also due to editorial disagreements, with Simone confirming what was first hearsay, “The rumor is true, my new editor fired me on Wednesday. It was a crappy day. I tried to save it, it seemed to me to be an easily fixable situation.” It seems she was taken out unceremoniously as the writer of Batgirl, a comic and character she has had much success with. The sudden firing suggested that DC’s upper management didn’t value their creators as much as they claimed. This led to a backlash from fans and DC almost instantly rehiring Simone. While it’s great Simone is back on the title, it also shows that DC only did it in large part because of extreme pressure from the industry.

Adding fuel to the flame is the exodus of creators even before their comics were published like Andy Diggle with Action Comics and Joshua Fialkov leaving Green Lantern, with the latter’s statement strengthening the case that there might be something wrong with DC’s relationship with its creators, saying, “There were editorial decisions about the direction of the book that conflicted with the story I was hired to tell, and I felt that it was better to let DC tell their story the way they want.” There seems to be a trend of bad breakups between creators and DC editorial. As fans, we obviously side with the creators, the writers, and artists whose vision and work on titles are what make us stick with the comic. So for editorial/publishers to show an unfair handling of the concerns of the creators is something we can’t easily ignore.

DC Comics is a business, and like all businesses, its main goal is to generate profit. We get that. But their profit comes from the hard-earned money of fans and most of all, the blood, sweat and tears from the work of the creators. For a publisher to not listen to its fans and to not trust the vision of the creators they hire would sort of suggest that the powers that be at DC really do only care about making money and not the quality of their product.

All hope is not lost for DC. Titles like Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chang have been going well both critically and commercially, along with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman. Their success is greatly due to DC trusting their creators with their property. And so we ask, why can’t they do that for all their comics? Both Batman and Wonder Woman are titles that have taken risks and have won big in their creative gambles, yet not all titles have been as lucky with their support from editorial.

Maybe DC should look to its competitors for inspiration. Marvel has done well in nurturing its creators and letting those it hires grow creatively as the publisher encourages the creators to make the titles their own. Just like with Jonathan Hickman’s recent Fantastic Four run as well as Brian Michael Bendis’ Daredevil opus. The creators aren’t treated as mindless bodies who just write and do what upper management orders. It wouldn’t be a surprise if DC’s current writers and artists see this and transfer to the other side.

Creators leaving DC shouldn’t be the solution though and neither is boycotting DC. The publisher still has greatness in them but they need to start paying attention to the successes of their competitors and the complaints of their creators. A good comic book industry is one with all sides doing well, not just financially but creatively. As fans, we want the industry to continue but not at the expensive of its quality and more importantly, its creators. It’s time DC drops its bad habits and once again becomes the “Distinguished Competition.”