The news from DC Comics is not good.   Warner Brothers/AT&T have decided that this in the middle of a pandemic, is the perfect time to make sweeping changes and have come in and laid off a staggering amount of people.   Reports are it’s somewhere in the range of 600-800 people.   Word has come out that departments such as DC Publishing and the DC Universe streaming service were all hit hard.   But, the news that concerns us the most is that the entire DC Direct team has been given notice.

From the Hollywood Reporter: “Also a victim of the layoffs: DC Direct, the company’s in-house merchandise and collectibles manufacturer. The division has been shuttered after 22 years, another move that was rumored when Warner Bros. Consumer Products began taking a more active role in DC merchandising.”

This is devastating news, not from a collector standpoint, but because it impacts so many friends that work there.  They have been given 90 days to wrap up their work and maybe find other roles somewhere in the company.

There have been a lot of changes for the DCD team over the past few years including the loss of Kevin Kiniry, being moved under Warner Brother Consumer Products and their recently announced break with Diamond Distribution, but through their 22 years the DCD team has manged to reinvent themselves and put out some great looking, innovative product from across the DC catalog.

Many people have asked what is still shipping from them.  I’m sure we will know more in the coming weeks.

For now we just wish the team the best, we thank them for all of their hard work, and we will do anything we can to help the team find new roles to continue their great output at different companies.