Tag: Jim Lee

Anne Leung DePies replaces Daniel Cherry as DC’s general manager

DePies will be responsible for the operations, revenue, legal, marketing, brand management, and strategic planning of the DC business, with a special focus on driving DC’s international and digital expansion.

DC has announced via press release that Anne Leung DePies has been named senior vice president and general manager, following the departure of Daniel Cherry III earlier this month. DePies will report to Pam Lifford, President, WarnerMedia Global Brands and Experiences.

“Anne’s deep knowledge and appreciation of the DC business, legacy and people will be invaluable in this new leadership role,” Lifford said “She understands our fans, characters and stories, and along with Jim, will passionately build our DC publishing business to even greater heights.”

DePies has been with DC since 2011 and was most recently SVP of global brands and franchises. Prior to DC, DePies worked on acquisitions across Warner Bros. theatrical, television and video games units.

“It is incredibly humbling to step into this role at a place I’ve been for a while now,” DePies said. “I feel like I partially grew up at DC, and I’ve seen how important we are to our fans. To get the chance to lead our company to do even more for them is a dream come true.”

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Superman will fight for ‘a better tomorrow’

Superman’s new motto drops ‘the American Way’ in favor of a phrase that ‘will better reflect global storylines.’

DC’s Jim Lee introduced an “evolved” motto for its most icon superhero during DC FanDome today.

The publisher and chief creative officer said Superman would now be fighting for “truth, justice and a better tomorrow,” a tweak to the “truth, justice and the American way” big blue has been fighting for for, well, ages.

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‘Batman/Fortnite: Foundation’ will include The Batman Who Laughs skin for Fortnite

Jim Lee shares more information on the next collaboration between DC and Epic Games.

The day before DC FanDome kicks off, Publisher and CCO Jim Lee took to YouTube to reveal more details about the upcoming Batman/Fortnite: Foundation one-shot that arrives Oct. 26.

The one-shot follows the fun Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point miniseries from earlier this year, which was written by Epic Games Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard and comics writer Christos Gage. This time around, they’re being joined by Scott Snyder of Batman and Death Metal fame, along with artists Joshua Hixson and Roman Stevens.

And yes, like the previous miniseries, the one-shot will include a code for an in-game Fortnite item — a skin and loading screen for The Batman Who Laughs, a character Snyder knows quite well.

Here’s the video, which also features a guest appearance by Kevin Conroy voicing Batman:

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DC announces three digital-first Milestone Media series

‘Static,’ ‘Icon & Rocket,’ and ‘Hardware’ will all return in 2021.

DC Comics has revealed more details on the planned Milestone Media relaunch, which includes plans to re-release the Milestone Returns #0 comic released during DC FanDome with additional material, as well as digital-first series featuring Static, Icon, Rocket and Hardware.

“Since the FanDome panel, Reggie , Denys , and our editorial team have been working incredibly hard to bring this new Milestone to life,” said Jim Lee, DC publisher and chief creative officer. “It’s been exciting to see fresh and contemporary takes on the Dakota universe coming together; I think that both new fans and old will be pleased with the results.”

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The Justice League at 60, Part 9: High collars and wide screens

It’s time for a relaunch: take a look back at the Geoff Johns-helmed New 52 relaunch of ‘Justice League.’

Check out part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven and part eight of this series!

When the comprehensive history of DC Comics is written, I hope it goes into exhaustive detail on the conception, execution and ultimate retraction of the New 52. Let’s be clear right from the beginning: I did not love the New 52, but I didn’t hate it either. It represented DC’s willingness – although maybe not its best efforts – to try new approaches with key characters and to revive non-superhero genres.

As the spring of 2011 wound down, DC was wrapping up a couple of year-long biweekly series, Brightest Day (co-written by Geoff Johns) and Justice League: Generation Lost. The former followed a handful of superheroes who had been revived in Blackest Night – including Justice League stalwarts Aquaman, Hawkman, Firestorm and Martian Manhunter – while the latter was a Justice League International reunion that saw them trying to stop their old buddy-turned-baddie Maxwell Lord. Meanwhile, the Bat-books, Superman and Wonder Woman were each in the middle of altered-status-quo storylines.

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DC announces changes for its ‘DC Universe’ app

As video content moves to HBO Max, ‘DC Universe Infinite’ will focus on comics.

As expected, DC announced changes this week to its DC Universe app, as it shifts from an “all-in-one” video/comic delivery system into one that focuses mainly on comics. The service was launched in 2018.

Original TV shows like Titans, Young Justice, Doom Patrol and Stargirl were once the big selling point of the platform, but all of those properties are finding new homes now, mostly on HBO Max, but also on The CW, in Stargirl‘s case. The release states that original shows and “classics” — as the app included many older DC movies and shows as well — will migrate to places like HBO Max, but the price point will stay the same. The service costs $7.99 a month, or $74.99 for one year (even with the loss of content).

“Our fans love the platform’s robust library of comic books and, with the transformation, we will not disappoint,” said DC Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee. “I’m excited to share that not only will DC Universe Infinite members still be able to read all of the great comics that they’ve enjoyed but new issues are debuting on the platform quicker than before, digital first exclusives are being created, and the members-only events will begin as soon as possible. There has never been a better time to be a DC fan!”

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DC FanDome: Reaction + news round-up

Although there weren’t any big comics announcements during the second day of DC FanDome, the company did reveal a few small tidbits.

This weekend DC presented the second round of their DC FanDome event, which featured pre-recorded virtual panels on their comics, movies, TV shows, video games and much more.

Although some viewers complained of technical issues when everything went online on Saturday morning, the event this time was much smoother and easier to absorb than the first day of the event, which took place back in August. For that one, everything was streamed on a continuous loop, which made it difficult to figure out when certain panels were going live — and if you didn’t have eight hours to dedicate to watching it, you were going to miss something.

This time around everything was posted on-demand style, so you could easily pick and choose what you wanted to see. If you just wanted to see the comics panels, you could pull those up and watch them without having to sit through a panel on the Flash TV show, for instance. Across five different channels, they had a LOT of content, and like before, it was only up for 24 hours. Which is a bummer — if you missed it, it’s gone, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. They could easily put at least some of it up on their YouTube channel.

If you did miss FanDome, here’s a round-up of some of the comic news that came out of the event.

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DC names Daniel Cherry III as SVP and general manager

The hire will allow Jim Lee to focus on ‘the overall DC brand.’

DC Comics has announced that they’ve hired Daniel Cherry III, who previously served as Chief Marketing Officer for Activision Blizzard Esports, as their new SVP and General Manager.

This is a new role for the company, but one that Jim Lee referenced a few weeks back. According to the report, Cherry will be responsible for business affairs, editorial, talent services, marketing, sales, brand and direct to consumer for DC. Like Lee, he’ll report to Pam Lifford, Warner Bros. global brands and experience president.

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DC reveals some of their Milestone plans at FanDome

New comics featuring Static, Icon, Rocket and more return next year.

During today’s FanDome event, DC’s “surprise” comics panel focused on Milestone Media, as Denys Cowan, Reggie Hudlin, Phil LaMarr, Jim Lee and moderator Marc Bernardin discussed the imprint’s past and future.

At the panel, they confirmed:

  • A new Static Shock original graphic novel by Hudlin and artist Kyle Baker.
  • A new Static Digital First series by an unnamed creative team.
  • New Icon and Rocket by Hudlin and Cowan.
  • The re-release of classic Milestone comics on comiXology and other digital platforms, starting in September.
  • On day two of FanDome, coming up in September, they will release Milestone Returns #0, a 17-page sampler, that you can read for 24 hours online. Written by Hudlin with Greg Pak and cover by Denys Cowan and Chris Sotomayor, the sampler will introduce and re-introduce fans to Milestone characters such as Static Shock, Icon, Rocket, Duo and others. The sampler features art by Cowan, Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, Khoi Pham, Scott Hanna, Bill Sienkiewicz, Don Ho, Alex Sinclair and Deron Bennett.
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DC splits ‘FanDome’ event in two

Much of the planned content has moved to Sept. 12.

DC’s upcoming FanDome virtual event will now take place over two separate days, the publisher announced.

The bigger panels for upcoming movies and other properties, which are billed as “Hall of Heroes” panels, will take place this Saturday as planned. They will encompass eight hours of content and include the Wonder Woman 1984 movie panel, the Jim Lee portfolio review and the video game announcement that Montreal Games has planned, among others. Each panel will be replayed three times during the 24-hour period.

All of the other content, which will be “100 hours of on-demand content,” will now take place Sept. 12.

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Jim Lee addresses rumors, future of comics publishing at DC

DC’s publisher talks about the past week and the future of comics in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

A week that started with layoffs at DC Comics ends with Publisher Jim Lee discussing many of the changes and rumors that sprang from Monday’s news.

Lee confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that he is indeed still in the role of DC’s publisher, noting that he has “more responsibilities and more expectations than ever before.” As a result, he’ll focus on creative content while a new general manager position will “focus on the operational side.” While he didn’t mention a name, he said that person will start in September, suggesting they’ve already been hired.

Here’s a rundown of what else Lee said:

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DC lays off several in editorial, shutters its collectibles division

Jim Lee will reportedly move to a new role as many employees have been laid off as part of a larger cut in staff by WarnerMedia.

Several outlets including ComicBook.com and The Hollywood Reporter are reporting that DC Entertainment has laid off several staff in editorial and other departments, including Editor-in-Chief Bob Harris and Hank Kanalz, SVP of publishing strategy and support services.

Other staff who have been said to be affected by the cuts include VP of marketing and creative services Jonah Weiland, VP of global publishing initiatives and digital strategy Bobbie Chase, senior story editor Brian Cunningham, executive editor Mark Doyle and editor Andy Khouri.

Jim Lee remains as chief creative officer, but will no longer serve as publisher.

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