Rumors persist that the end of DC Comics publishing physical comic books is near.  My take is that it is not the end but could lead to a new beginning.  All that you need is two current parties involved with the comic book division to be bold.

The Iron Age of Comics

As consumers, we had to know the end of a comic book company could happen.  Read most of the blogs on GoCollect and you will find that the MCU and Marvel dominate the boards.  At the same time, the total number of issue runs published for comics, in general, is very low.  Eventually, something had to happen.  In a previous article, I addressed what I called the Iron Age of comics.  It is an age where comic books are not as important as the characters that appear in them.  Warner Brothers are in business to make money and the comic division is not as lucrative to them as it was years ago.  I hypothesize the end is near for DC Comic books being published by Warner Brothers, but.....

 

Jim Lee....DC Comic's New Hero?

I read Mike W's column about the end of DC Comics.  Mike W reports Jim Lee is now the only publisher left at DC Comics, but that his future there is still uncertain.  It was something else Mike reported that caught my attention. If Jim Lee was considering starting a new comic book company, why not license DC Comic properties?  Warner Brothers license out DC Comic properties all the time.  It is why you can buy a Superman tie to go along with your Batman belt.  Lee understands the titles and the comic book world.  It may be a legal quagmire, but as an attorney, I can tell you it can be done to protect both Warner Brothers' interest in the characters and the ability of Jim Lee to run a productive comic book company that could be considered the new DC Comics.

 

 

Show me the money!

The biggest obstacle to this deal would be financing.  Lee would have to line up investors.  I can tell you professionally that investing in a new start-up company may be a long shot.  Investors may be much more willing to invest in a known commodity like DC Comics.  Warner Brothers could even reverse license new characters created by Jim Lee in comic titles for other products in an ancillary deal to encourage the creation of new characters to the line. These characters could one day be used by Warner Brothers to expand their character base.

Jim Lee would not be buying the characters, but rather the right to publish the characters in comic books only.  That means all profits and losses would be wiped from Warner Brothers' ledger and appear on Jim Lee's new company.  Jim Lee has experience with the titles and knows where the wastes are occurring.   He can trim those areas from the budget to increase profitability.  He can also streamline some of the titles to make it much more manageable.

Finally, I would advise him to think like automotive companies do when it comes to trimming costs.  Some companies share research and development expenses, so why not talk to other publishers to combine logistics and printing contracts to save on costs. Marvel may be the big dog in the universe but the new DC Comics working with other publishers may put them all in a better position to negotiate contracts.  I know this idea is feasible and has been done before in other industries.    Attorneys draft contracts like this all the time.

So Why Not

The only reason that I could foresee this deal not going through is because of the attorneys and accountants.  The comic book division is small and thus something both of these professions could see as not worth the time.  The WB could also see a future in online comics and not see licensing their titles as worth the time and man-hours to craft such a deal. Maybe they then should look at their rivals for insight into profiting from their characters.

Marvel Comics is using its comics to create characters that might one day appear in different media in the most cost-effective way possible.  Comic books still have a purpose but only if you can adapt to the times.  Licensing the entire comic book line in a carefully drafted legal document might be one way to still preserve the line and allow for character research and development.  This process could one day earn even greater profits for Warner Brothers in other media while allowing Jim Lee to run a successful new comic book company.  What do you readers think of my hypothesis to save DC Comics?