Remake/Remodel: DC Rebirth so you don't have to

Looked it up; ABC was an imprint of Wildstorm which got acquired by DC

Not shedding any tears for Snake Man though

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WildStorm#Creator-owned_titles

ABC is listed under Wildstorm's creator owned titles. I know that several of these titles have nothing to do with DC now but where did ABC go wrong?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Best_Comics A little more info here, and on the LOEG page

The short version was that ABC was negotiated with Moore right before Lee sold Wildstorm, and Moore decided to compromise until DC pissed him off with movie business. He wrapped up his contributions and took League elsewhere, while some other series were continued for a while. I have no idea who owns the other characters or how the licensing and ownership stands for the other books

Listing them under Wildstorm is technically true, but only so much as they published the line

It's just weird that he didn't secure ownership of his characters when many other less experienced Wildstorm creators did.

I think he has ownership, but the publishing rights were (and likely still are) held by Wildstorm/DC

It’d be a very Moore move to not make more material in order to help kill sales of the existing material if it’s DC publishing it

DC shouldn't be able to incorporate ABC characters if Moore still owns them.

I think the reason he could do more League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is because they are public domain characters.

Whether it's ownership or publishing rights, it's weird that he didn't get this sorted.

If kids like J Scott Campbell and Joe Madureira can do it then why can't Moore?

What characters have they been using?

never mind, saw the Tom Strong mention

Here we go:
https://www.cbr.com/dc-rights-americas-best-comics-alan-moore/

Thanks. I'm sure it's all written somewhere but it still leaves the questions of why he didn't do a creator owned deal for all of ABC and why DC is allowed LoEG movie and reprint rights.

Because the market was in the dumper and he needed money, afaict

The short version was that ABC was negotiated with Moore right before Lee sold Wildstorm,

Lee specifically had Moore create an entire line to make the Wildstorm sale more attractive to DC - it was basically ABC and the colouring department that DC bought.

Lee and Dunbier flew to England the morning the sale was announced to mollify Moore in person.

and Moore decided to compromise until DC pissed him off with movie business.

and multiple incidents of censorship. He compromised for one reason only: he'd committed to a year of each title, and it would have been putting about ten artists and Klein out of work.

He wrapped up his contributions

He'd already gone two years beyond his initial plans, because he got so excited about the work once he was deep in it, tbf. (He originally thought that other writers of his stature would want to come in from the #13s.)

and took League elsewhere,

League was an Homage (Wildstorm's creator-owned imprint) book, not created for ABC. Lee muddied the waters by moving it under ABC at DC for bookkeeping purposes: Moore's cheques came from a separate company called Firewall, LLC, not DC/Warner.

while some other series were continued for a while. I have no idea who owns the other characters or how the licensing and ownership stands for the other books

??

― mh, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 5:51 AM (two hours ago)

It's just weird that he didn't secure ownership of his characters when many other less experienced Wildstorm creators did.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 6:10 AM (one hour ago)

He made the line WFH in order to get higher page rates for the artists. It's only weird if you ignore his entire publishing career, where he perpetually makes decisions based on the principle that he would prefer to assume he is dealing with honorable people who won't fuck him over, rather than ever pay attention to business matters. "Whatever you think is best, Steve."

I think he has ownership, but the publishing rights were (and likely still are) held by Wildstorm/DC

― mh, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 6:12 AM (one hour ago)

He has no ownership whatsoever.

I swear I've typed all this out on here every 18 months for the last 13 years.

i was gonna write 'in before sic' but juuuuuuust missed it

It's only weird if you ignore his entire publishing career, where he perpetually makes decisions based on the principle that he would prefer to assume he is dealing with honorable people who won't fuck him over

― Haribo Hancock (sic), Monday, 1 January 2018 21:21

Still very strange that he was willing to assume this.

not even sure why I postulate or google search instead of calling the sic hotline tbh

Still very strange that he was willing to assume this.

maybe if you finish reading the sentence it will explain it

Still very strange

‘taste’s very strange!’

you may have noticed that alan moore is strange

Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's being fucked over, or being a spanner, or hoping he'll get screwed so he can say "I told you so" afterwards, or all of the above.

Which is to say, I think it's amazing that he's so uncompromising, but I'm not always sure he's telling the truth, based on my experience with less-talented male blowhards of a similar age.

e.g. There's a really long-winded interview here where Moore keeps talking about wanting to be called up and "thanked for the money" by Dave Gibbons, which made me a little leery of him, at least with regards to his personal relationships with artists.

Doomsday Clock is bad

It is an indefensible work of terrible art, but I'm enjoying it.

i think DC made some good strides in 2017, generally

finally firing eddie berganza for example

Why comics stunk in the ‘90s, Pt. XXIXXIV:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DrlRzS-8AbI/Wldo-Epfo7I/AAAAAAABUCw/vjjNz4vREM4GFCbmJVJE7csteApw1FIvACLcBGAs/s1600/superboy45-1.jpg

because Rebirth hadn't started yet, obv

can't believe I'd never heard of Dr Mid-Nite's owl sidekick 'Hooty' before

https://i.imgur.com/a6dKRtF.jpg

can't get over how much this looks like a pixelated boat cartoon

I can’t stop thinking of the Sesame Street character Hoots, now

Where the Blowfish at, amirite?

i don't remember Hooty making it the early 2000s JSA run

someone get geoff johns on the line, time for a grim-n-gritty hooty reboot

and there's my new screen name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgLFKWy04eE

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/bagheera_san/2764318/60652/60652_original.jpg

whaaaaaaat

please tell me that they really did the cheesy "i shall become.. a bat!" thing in the original comics

it sounds like roy thomas retconning but it's apparently the real deal

AND THUS A LEGEND IS BORN

http://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Doctor-Midnite-DC-Comics-McNider-h1.jpg

i just pulled the whole page so here go:
http://i.imgur.com/sHd7gVI.png

bonus hooty:
http://i.imgur.com/2npjCXm.png http://i.imgur.com/Y6wIdfA.png

wonder is anyone ever worked out that Dr Mid-Nite, the superhero with an owl for a pet, is actually the alter-ego of "Dr McNider", the identical looking man with an owl for a pet

http://www.science20.com/files/images/clark_kent_and_superman.jpg

I have to say that golden age hooty is very expressive for an owl who doesn't say anything apart from variations on "whoo", i.e that heavy lidded look of disdain he's giving Dr Mid-Nite on the penultimate panel of the origin story, the question mark in the previous panel that indicates he's hooting in a quizzical fashion etc

love the loopy lateral thinking which leads dr mcnider to only barely rename himself after owl-based inspiration strikes rather than, y'know, calling himself owl-man

Dr. Mid-Nite is a much cooler name tbf

Who's that guy saying, "Gosh, Mid-Nite. I really identify with that"? That dialogue's so funny to me...