DC Comics Promotes Marie Javins to Editor-in-Chief

DC Comics has named Marie Javins as its new permanent Editor-in-Chief. Javins replaces previous EiC Bob Harras, who was among a number of DC editorial staff laid off as part of WarnerMedia's recent corporate restructuring. Javins will report directly to Daniel Cherry III, who recently joined the company as Senior Vice President and General Manager. Javins had been serving as interim editor-in-chief alongside Michele Wells. Prior to that, she served as DC’s Executive Editor of Global Publishing and Digital Strategy. Javins' past editing work includes titles like DC Super Hero Girls, Justice League, Dark Nights: Death Metal and Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles. According to DC's press release, Javins will work closely with both Cherry and Publisher/Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee to chart a new direction for DC in 2021. Her responsibilities will include "developing and overseeing the execution of the company’s annual publishing schedule to grow all DC imprints. She’ll also lead the strategy for expanding worldwide consumer reach of DC Publishing content and provide editorial and creative direction for DC imprints." “As a young girl devouring comics of Wonder Woman, Nubia, and Supergirl, I never dreamed that decades later, I’d be at the helm of the mighty DC Comics,” said Javins. “I’m incredibly honored by this responsibility, and will dedicate myself to supporting and challenging DC’s extended family of staff, talent, retailers, and partners around the world in our quest to tell innovative visual stories that both reflect and expand our world—and in some cases, our galaxy and multiverse.” It's unclear exactly how much DC's publishing strategy will change in the months and years ahead. But as we've previously explored, all signs point to DC undergoing major changes in 2021. Javins' prior editing experience suggests DC may be shifting away from traditional, monthly superhero comics in favor of more self-contained graphic novels and digital-first releases. That certainly gels with Lee's earlier comments about DC streamlining its publishing lineup going forward. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=future-state-every-comic-in-dcs-massive-2021-crossover&captions=true"] "We will be reducing the size of the slate," Lee told The Hollywood Reporter. "But it’s about looking at everything and looking at the bottom 20 percent, 25 percent of the line that wasn’t breaking even or was losing money. It’s about more punch for the pound, so to speak, and increasing the margins of the books that we are doing. It was about aligning the books to the franchise brand content we’ve developed and making sure that every book we put out, we put out for a reason." We do know that DC is gearing up for Future State, a two-month-long crossover in January and February 2021 that will reveal the future of the DCU ten years into the future. Future State will feature Jon Kent taking up the mantle of Superman and introduce a new Wonder Woman named Yara Flor, while 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley will be chronicling the adventures of a brand new Batman. The company has hinted at big plans for March 2020, likely involving a line-wide relaunch building on the fallout of Dark Nights: Death Metal, but what exactly they have in store remains to be seen. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/13/dc-showcase-batman-death-in-the-family-review"] What to you hope to see from DC in 2021? let us know in the comments below. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

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