For nearly eight decades, both of the two biggest comic book companies in the world have made their homes in New York City. Both Marvel and DC Comics were founded in the City that never sleeps, and have made their hometown a central location in their respective universes. But that’s going to be changing. It was announced yesterday, that DC Comics will be relocating to Burbank, California.
Diane Nelson, the president of DC Entertainment, announced the news yesterday through a letter to all DCE team members, informing them that they will be joining the digital and administrative offices in Burbank. The full contents of said letter are enclosed below.
Dear DCE Team,
As I hope you know, I and the entire DCE exec team work hard to offer transparency about as much of our business plans and results as we possibly and responsibly can. In an effort to continue to do that where possible and to ensure you are hearing news from us, rather than a third party, I am proactively reaching out to you this afternoon to share news about our business.
I can confirm that plans are in the works to centralize DCE’s operations in 2015. Next week, the Exec Team will be in New York for a series of meetings to walk everyone through the plans to relocate the New York operations to Burbank. The move is not imminent and we will have more than a year to work with the entire company on a smooth transition for all of us, personally and professionally.
Everyone on the New York staff will be offered an opportunity to join their Burbank colleagues and those details will be shared with you individually, comprehensively and thoughtfully next week. Meeting notifications will be sent tomorrow to ensure the roll out of this information and how it affects the company and you personally.
We know this will be a big change for people and we will work diligently to make this as smooth and seamless a transition as possible.
Best,
Diane
As iO9 pointed out, it makes complete sense for the company to consolidate in one location, but it’s very weird to imagine DC Comics operating somewhere other than New York City. They’ve been there nearly eighty years, and it’s obvious that they modeled both Metropolis and Gotham City after the different boroughs of NYC. They’ve also made the city home to many of their other heroes, like Kyle Rayner and Wonder Woman as well as others.
On one hand, I like the idea of one central DC complex operating in Burbank, because this means that they’ll be better able to work towards the future of DC movies. Having all the writers and historians right there in Hollywood is sure to be a benefit as they move towards building the shared DC universe. On the other hand, this does mean that the writers are all the other NYC staffers are going to have to make a choice between uprooting their own lives, and leaving the jobs they love. That’s always a tough choice.
What do you think about DC Comics relocating? Why don’t you just tell us what you think in the comments below?
Source: iO9
