Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett looks at the world of comics in the wake of the big deals by the Big Two:

Over the last few weeks we have been hit with one game-changing comic-related story after another, but "Warners Forms DC Entertainment" is really more of an "it's about time" one.  I confess that I can barely handle the day-to-day operations of a small business, let alone the inner workings of one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the world.  So I won't presume to understand what possibly could have taken Time-Warner so long to do what seems (from my admittedly limited armchair perspective) so obvious.  Beyond corporate inertia, I mean.

Not that there aren't a few interesting aspects to the reorganization, like the possibility DC might relocate to the LA Time-Warner offices.  Consolidation usually makes sense in business, but as a cost-cutting move, I'm really not sure how much savings there would actually be to their bottom line.  In the 90's when comic book publishing was in one of its periodic depressions and mid-sized American cities were offering businesses all kinds of incentives to get companies to relocate there, I often wondered exactly what it would take to get Marvel or DC to move to, say, Gary, Indiana.

On the other hand the announcement Paul Levitz was "transitioning" from President and Publisher is very much an "I never thought I'd live to see the day" moment.  Having been at DC for thirty-six years, here's been there effectively forever, at least for two generations of comic book readers, he operated mostly from behind the scenes which will undoubtedly soften the blow of his absence.

But me being the very embodiment of an old school superhero fan what I'm looking forward to most is seeing Paul Levitz writing comic books again, and seeing him on Legion of Superheroes in Adventure Comics is basically a dream come true.  That is, if they actually let him do it without the kind of noxious editorial interference which unfortunately has become the industry status quo (I've not forgotten Jim Shooter's recent Legion run).  And since it has been a while since his last regular writing assignment, there's part of me that worries how easily he'll adapt to how superhero comics are written now (i.e. the Bendis Method).

But when it comes to choosing his replacement, I do like how new President Diane Nelson answered that question in her recent ICv2 interview:

ICv2: That brings us to our next question, which is that you've said you're looking for a new publisher.  What are you looking for in a new publisher for DC?  

Nelson:  A passion for, and knowledge of, and integrity about the publishing business.  

Which is exactly what we need, someone who can shake things up, knocking the company out of its comfort zone.  People have wondered/worried over Diane Nelson's lack of interest in and experience with comics, when what our industry could really use right now is the viewpoint of an outsider.

It has long been one of my private little fantasies that one day Time-Warner would wake up to the fact they actually own DC Comics, and someone very much like the character Blake (played by Alec Baldwin) from the movie version of Glengarry Glen Ross would saunter over from Corporate and give the company a version of his famous "pep talk" (known as the "Leads Are Weak" speech; if you don't know it Google it or, better yet, go watch it on YouTube).

"Humorously" I've often called comics a unique institution, but what else could you call a business where every ten years or so your circulation goes down and that's ok, with no one ever considering the possibility they might actually be doing something wrong.  I honestly don't know, maybe there isn't anything anyone can do about what sure seems to be inevitable cycles of readership contraction (especially now when the entire publishing field isn't doing so hot).

But I'd sure like to see somebody try to expand the market and get the characters out there in front of people -- in comic book form, not merchandise.  But as with the Disney Marvel acquisition, now at least no one can ever trot out the venerable excuse of "we just don't have the money" to do this or that; at least not with a straight face anyway.

And finally, on an unrelated note, while not exactly a 'game changer' I was still pretty impressed by the news that starting next month Disney XD will air Naruto Shippuden, the sequel to the incredibly popular Naruto anime.  It just goes to show you just how hungry Disney is for that key demographic of boys 6-14 since Naruto frequently has some pretty harsh content, at least by Disney standards.   It makes me wonder if Naruto's older fans will follow it there and whether we'll be seeing more anime on Disney XD in the future.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.