The unstoppable rise of the internet has seen people lamenting the death of print media for close to two decades, but it hasn’t happened yet, although sales of physical newspapers, books and magazines have dwindled significantly. However, comic books have largely been safe for the most part, with the industry posting record sales figures in 2019, before the Coronavirus pandemic had a drastic effect on business last year.
It helps that the source material is responsible for inspiring some of the biggest and most successful movies ever made, which in turn has led to huge numbers of people checking out the comic books in return, as the system works both ways. However, insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that AT&T are willing to let DC Comics go out of business, so the media conglomerate’s focus can shift towards HBO Max.
“AT&T doesn’t care about the comics of DC so they’re going to let DC comics die and may sell them,” he says. “They only care about HBO Max and the movies.”
Of course, this immediately raises a number of questions, not least why AT&T would single out DC Comics from the companies under their umbrella to suffer for the sake of a streaming service, especially when so much upcoming HBO Max content is based on their output, and there’s still a huge disconnect between DC management and AT&T’s boardroom.
DC is a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary before you even get to the top, with DC Comics, Inc. reporting to DC Entertainment, an offshoot of Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences, which falls under the WarnerMedia empire’s Studio & Networks division. Not only that, but if the parent company were to theoretically let DC Comics die, then there would be an overwhelming backlash from all sectors.
It would be impossible to imagine The Walt Disney Company shutting down Marvel Comics to focus on Disney Plus, and while Richtman’s intel is often pretty reliable, there are definitely a whole lot of unanswered questions stemming from the tipster’s latest report.
