According to breaking news yesterday,
DC Comics is down to just one publisher as Dan DiDio has left the company. Per Bleeding Cool (who has a pretty solid track record when it comes to comic book insider scoops),
DiDio was apparently fired for "fostering a poor work environment" (this will indeed get you fired in corporate America).
With Geoff Johns having departed the comic book side for film and TV and eventually leaving DC altogether to form his own production company, the former brain trust of DiDio, Johns and Jim Lee is now down to just Lee.
It's reported that DC is headed to a big overhaul in October that's rumored to be titled
5G or
Generation Five that resets the DC Comics timeline by restoring all of its previous continuity. The catch is that these events will largely be regulated to the timeline they were originally published. That means, DC will no longer be attempting to modernize key comic book events to account for the fact that their characters don't age - so if an event occurred in the '50s,'70s,'90s, etc. that's where it will be firmly cemented. ey events and certain characters will be firmly planted within their respective generation:
-
Generation Zero - A Free Comic Book Day special issue set for release in May that lays the groundwork for 5G
-
Generation One- the emergence of Wonder Woman, the first superhero during World War I
-
Generation Two - the first appearance of Superman
-
Generation Three - Crisis on Infinite Earths (1986) to Flashpoint (2011)
-
Generation Four - the current, real-world timeline
-
Generation Five - where Legion of Superheroes adventures will take place
DC has been planning to organize their history and revolutionize how comic stories are told for years (just Google
5G DC Comics for the time frame). This plan has understandably made comic book retailers extremely nervous as they're unsure how well Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman titles will sell without Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Diana Prince and Arthur Curry in their respective costumes for the foreseeable future. This was apparently the crux of DiDio's dismissal. There's been a lot of turnover in the editorial department recently and it's believed to be in response to 5G.
DiDio was also said to have clashed creatively with Scott Snyder at nearly every turn. More recently, Snyder is said to have wanted to keep his
Death Metal plans as far away from 5G as possible. Snyder is also said to be the face of the faction at DC Comics who think 5G will harm the industry.
With DiDio now out, the biggest question that remains is whether DC Comics will still move forward with 5G?
With DiDio out, Jim Lee is now the sole individual calling the shots at DC Comics. Lee and DiDio were co-publishers and had collectively set DC's agenda since February 2010.
Scott Snyder has weighed in on the matter, admitting that he and DiDio had some "nuclear fights" over the years but still considers him a friend.