INSIDE THE DC-IPC DEAL

[MattBrady]

As announced at San Diego’s Wildstorm panel, DC Comics, through Wildstorm, has acquired the rights to the IPC library of characters, with Alan and Leah Moore, John Reppion, Shane Oakley and Dave Gibbons already teamed to create the first miniseries, Albion.

We spoke with DC’s VP of Sales & Marketing, Bob Wayne, and Wildstorm Executive Editor Scott Dunbier about how the whole deal worked out, and what got the ball rolling.

But before starting on the tale, no, you’re not in the Twilight Zone – the IPC characters are largely unknown outside of the UK and portions of Europe. “I don't think the awareness in the US and Canada is enough to even be called a cult,” Wayne said. “You're talking hardcore Anglophiles when you're talking about American readers who know that much about these characters.

“A couple of years ago, part of Time Warner acquired IPC, which is one of Britain's largest magazine publishers for the entire UK,” Wayne said. “When it was announced in the company newsletter telling us what's going on all around the Time Warner divisions, I went to Paul Levitz and told him that IPC had a bunch of comic books that they used to publish and still owned. I asked if it would be okay if I would try and figure out who we'd talk to at IPC. Paul said sure, to go ahead and do it the next time I was in England if I had a few minutes to spare.”

Wayne started asking around, but at the same time, two other parties had begun inquires as well. Andrew Sumner, who works on IPC magazines that have US distribution (Loaded, Uncut and Nuts) saw the same opportunity from his side that Wayne had seen from his, and started asking around. Meanwhile, Steve Moore and Alan Moore (no relation) had been talking about the IPC characters in light of the acquisition of the company by Time Warner, which got Alan talking to Dunbier.

From the Wayne-Sumner side first, then. “We were both seeking out the right guy to talk to who would know enough about the other guys' business and world to be able to have a conversation,” said the VP. “There were several people who pointed us in the right direction, and there are many people who still work at IPC who do work for us. So there were plenty of people that we knew in common, and it was just a matter of getting together and having some conversations and we started working through how this stuff might go, and how we might work on things.

“Andrew and I finally met up and did as much as we could, and then turned it over to the lawyers on DC's side and the solicitors on IPC's side. We both ended up in Las Vegas on the same weekend - him on vacation, me there for the Diamond Retailer Summit, so we met poolside at Mandalay Bay, going hours and hours with our umbrella drinks, working out every detail...or at least meeting as long as the guy kept bringing more drinks. The most recent meeting we had was in London, prior to the Bristol Convention. We met with some of the people on the IPC team, and brought Scott Dunbier along.”

Dunbier had been receiving more and more anxious word from Moore about the characters (well, as anxious as Moore gets at least) – after all, these were characters Moore had been reading before he’d ever seen his first American comic.

“To British comic creators, this really is the equivalent of DC’s silver Age characters – their versions of Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman and all of that,” Dunbier said. “If you talk about the original artist on Steel Claw, Jesus Blasco, he’s spoken about in hushed tones – everyone talks about whether or not his art was better on Steel Claw or on Return of the Claw.

“There are so many different characters like that – I’m a novice at it, and can be just amazed at how much material is out there. I never read the books as a fan, but the British creators, like Alan and Dave, just love those characters, and this represents a very, very exciting opportunity for them.”

For DC, the deal is a licensing one, similar, as Dunbier explained it, to another recnt license published by Wildstorm. “Think in terms of Thundercats,” the editor said. “Warner Brothers owns Thundercats. We license Thundercats from a different branch, so we’re licensing the IPC characters from a different branch of Time Warner.”

The characters are a somewhat diverse crew, made up of the likes of Steel Claw, who, following an accident is invisible, save for his claw; the Spider, a criminal turned crime fighter; Dolmann, who employs a virtual army of robotic puppets to do his bidding; Doctor Sin, a mystical expert; and Tim Kelly, a young boy given a mystic gem which grants him wondrous powers.

For more on the characters, check here.

As a side note, Moore did have a chance to write some of the IPC characters…in a way. Given their popularity with British creators, IPC characters didn’t really stay dead after their titles were no longer published – they…or wink-nudge versions of them showed up here and there in British titles. For Moore, several of the IPC heroes were cannon fodder for Fury, the extra-dimensional creature created by Moore and Alan Davis in the pages of Captain Britain who mowed down heroes on every world – including those similar to some of the IPC heroes (in the case of Steel Claw, Iron Tallon) - before being stopped. Grant Morrison also included a Steel Claw analog in the pages of Zenith Phase Three.

While some reprints of original IPC material showed up in the US in the ‘80s, those curious as to the early stories featuring the characters will be able to check them out in reprint volumes planned by Titan for late this year or early next, prior to the release of Albion #1.

For Moore, Wayne admitted that, in a way, this is another chance for the creator to start from the ground level and build up an entire universe, as he’s done before with worlds seen in Watchmen and the America’s Best Comics line.

“I think one of the things that seemed to appeal to Alan - he was a big fan of that generation of characters, and now he's going to be able to have the chance to do the next generation's interpretation of them, along with the next generation of Alan Moore, literally,” Wayne said. “So there's a nice symmetry on that. I've been a huge fan of Alan's comics since his Warrior days, and of another book by Alan, writing some classic characters - I'm not tired of that yet.”

According to Dunbier, Albion (with interiors by Oakley and covers by Gibbons) is targeted for a summer 2005 release. “Alan did a very inventive plot for the miniseries that the IPC group was very pleased with, and we’re going to move ahead from there,” Dunbier said. “Alan’s story will bring things up to date – it will acknowledge things that happened in the past, and bring it to the modern day.”

The miniseries will be one story, rather than an anthology, Dunbier explained, and while Alan has the lead, the final work will very much be a collaboration. “When we first started talking about this, from the very beginning, Alan wanted to write this with Leah,” Dunbier said. “She’s writing Wild Girl for us with John Reppion, and she’ll be working with John on this as well. Basically, it will be Leah, John, and Alan, and the different camps with be throwing ideas back and forth and working on it all. From talking to Alan, it seems like this will be a much closer collaboration than some of his other collaborations have been. That’s my impression now, but we’ll see what happens.”

In closing, Wayne said that the end result of the DC-IPC team up will be something unique – a chance to experience established characters for the first times at the hands of a master storyteller. ”These are characters that, to Americans, you've never seen before. These could be entirely whole cloth, if you didn't already know that they existed. I feel very comfortable saying that with Alan writing, you will not have had to have read the earlier stories to appreciate what's going on. He has more than enough skill to tell a story that way.”

[gwangung]

Well, very cool.

More superheroes on an oversaturated market, but with Alan Moore in the mix....

[Halapeno]

I'm not familiar with these characters, but with Alan Moore attached, they could be Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese for all I care.

[mr_toad]

What does this mean for Jack Staff if anything? It seems that Paul Grist was using a few of these guys in his superhero tale.

[Rockin' Rich]

I thought Alan is quitting super heroes or comics or somethin'.... Guess not! That's nice.

[Scavenger]

Originally posted by Halapeno
I'm not familiar with these characters, but with Alan Moore attached, they could be Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese for all I care.

I'd so want to see this!!

[The_Adventurer]

And DC's aquisition of Eurasia's Comic possessions continues to march forward.

DC is just bling bling all over the place arn't they?


Very cool, but Jack Staff is still Britian's Greatest hero.

[Rockin' Rich]

Very cool, but Jack Staff is still Britian's Greatest hero.

When they Americanize it, they'll rename him Jack Schitt, I'm sure (as in "You don't know Jack Schitt").

You read it here first...

[grphxkindaguy]

Originally posted by Halapeno
I'm not familiar with these characters, but with Alan Moore attached, they could be Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese for all I care.

What about Grimace? Are you excluding him b/c he's fat and purple? WTF?!?

LOL

[Rockin' Rich]

Kurt Busiek did a Kool-Aid Man™ story once, I think. Wonder if he's part of that, er, multiverse...?

[Aaron]

Very cool. These look more like the kind of superheroes I'd read about as opposed to the Devil's Due stuff.

Aaron

[Jed Saxon]

OMG! "Crappy Comic Book Characters United" are back!!!

Mytek, Archie, the Spider...

[SpyGuy]

Originally posted by grphxkindaguy
What about Grimace? Are you excluding him b/c he's fat and purple? WTF?!?

LOL

Hey, it's been widely reported elsewhere that Grimace is currently involved in litigation following his recent arrest for stalking Master Shake from AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE. On a more positive note, Grimace is reportedly under consideration for the role of Kilowog in the new GREEN LANTERN movie starring Jack Black, and is scheduled for screen-tests next week along with Brad Garrett, Carel Struycken, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Scooped you again, LITG!

[CapPixel]

but... wasn't Alan Moore supposed to be retiring?

(don't get me wrong... I'm happy Moore's still on the writing machine. )

[Agent Wax]

Alan Moore, Alan Moore,,......hmmm. that name rings a bell with me....OH YEAH, hes that guy who was writing TOP TEN, and then stopped.........And I should get invested in his future projects why? So I can have a half a run of comics with no end to any of the story? PSssssssssshhhhhhhhhh. We'll see.
-Wax-
xxx

[majorjoe23]

Originally posted by Agent Wax
Alan Moore, Alan Moore,,......hmmm. that name rings a bell with me....OH YEAH, hes that guy who was writing TOP TEN, and then stopped.........And I should get invested in his future projects why? So I can have a half a run of comics with no end to any of the story? PSssssssssshhhhhhhhhh. We'll see.
-Wax-
xxx

He wrote 12 issues of Top 10, a 12 issue miniseries. He revisited the characters in Smax and the upcoming 49ers, which will be published when Jim Lee has the time to draw it. It's not like he just stopped doing the stories.

Yes, there was talk of a second season of Top 10, but it's not like it was an incomplete story.

[Banana_Oil]

Originally posted by majorjoe23
He wrote 12 issues of Top 10, a 12 issue miniseries. He revisited the characters in Smax and the upcoming 49ers, which will be published when Jim Lee has the time to draw it. It's not like he just stopped doing the stories.

Yes, there was talk of a second season of Top 10, but it's not like it was an incomplete story.

Give him a break, the dude named himself after a character from the now-cancelled Wildcats 3.0...obviously got some abandonment issues he needs to work out....

[moorefan]

Originally posted by majorjoe23 He wrote 12 issues of Top 10, a 12 issue miniseries. He revisited the characters in Smax and the upcoming 49ers, which will be published when Jim Lee has the time to draw it.

Close, but no cigar. . . while a Jim Lee 49ers would indeed be quite lovely, the incomparable Gene Ha is doing the art for the graphic novel (and the pages I've seen are truly awesome). Jim is, however, doing the art for Alan's Space Ranger GN. . .someday. . .

[alistairUK]

Originally posted by Jed Saxon
OMG! "Crappy Comic Book Characters United" are back!!!

Mytek, Archie, the Spider...

As a Brit I could say in the old Newsarama f@#$ You!! But I am much more polite now. So go firnicate with yourself and REMEMBER MARLVELMAN (Miracleman to those that don´t know). Hopefully you´ll get to see Roy of the Rovers...now that´s REAL football.

[Santo]

Originally posted by moorefan
Close, but no cigar. . . while a Jim Lee 49ers would indeed be quite lovely, the incomparable Gene Ha is doing the art for the graphic novel (and the pages I've seen are truly awesome). Jim is, however, doing the art for Alan's Space Ranger GN. . .someday. . .

Actually I believe it's Comet Ranger... and to respond to the earlier posts about the Hamburglar and Kool-Aid Man, Alan Moore DID actually write a Kool-Aid Man story..."The Hasty Smear of My Smile" in Hate #30!

[Brimstone]

remember the days when Alan Moore hated DC? remember when he told us he was quitting comics? im ok with people not having principles, but id rather them be honest and just not pretend to have them in the first place.

[The_Adventurer]

Originally posted by Brimstone
remember the days when Alan Moore hated DC? remember when he told us he was quitting comics? im ok with people not having principles, but id rather them be honest and just not pretend to have them in the first place.

Well to be fair moore did get swept into DC not by choise, he was working with Wildstorm to get his ABC line set up when Wildstorm merged with DC. He got swept along with the merger.

[Brimstone]

Originally posted by The_Adventurer
Well to be fair moore did get swept into DC not by choise, he was working with Wildstorm to get his ABC line set up when Wildstorm merged with DC. He got swept along with the merger.

Agreed--but . . . one would think that if his disdain was as strong for the big two as he once made it seem, then he would choose to take his books elsewhere. But, understanding this point, I also admit that he didn't compromise as much as others might since he managed to keep DC's nose out of the ABC line for the most part, and their logo off the books themselves.

I think the part that seems ridiculous to me, is that now that DC owns characters that he wants a chance to play with in an American market, he is eager to play ball with them again. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense coming from a man who was at all reluctant to continue his ABC line with Wildstorm when it was swallowed up by DC.

To clarify, because I know people will complain about this: This isn't an issue of selling out, I see nothing wrong with that. "Selling out" means more money, and more exposure for ideas and work that might not have gotten any otherwise. The reason it bothers me is because for whatever reason, Moore thinks that now is the time to wink at and ignore the disdain he used to hold DC in, just seems fishy. I think it's shady whenever someone tries to court mainstream success and maintain indy credibility by spouting off about their principles and then forgetting them when convenient.

An a somewhat unrelated note, Moore strikes me as the KISS of the comic book world: every few years launching a new "Farewell Tour." It's not that I mind having KISS around, I just wish they would be more honest and stick to their guns when they make such statements.

[beta-ray]

Originally posted by grphxkindaguy
What about Grimace? Are you excluding him b/c he's fat and purple? WTF?!?

LOL

No he was just scared off by the multiple arms thing...

Well, before they mysteriously... disappeared...

[Babbster]

Originally posted by Brimstone
remember the days when Alan Moore hated DC? remember when he told us he was quitting comics? im ok with people not having principles, but id rather them be honest and just not pretend to have them in the first place.

"Having principles" and holding grudges are two entirely different things. This is especially true if you let said grudge get in the way of doing something you really want to do. If we went back over the years, we could find any number of famous comic creators who've pledged things like "I'll never work for them again" or "I'll never write a story about that character" or...(you get the picture)...and when circumstances change, companies are sold or hatchets are buried, that creator ends up doing something he said he'd never do.

I'm glad of it. If these people never changed their minds, then we'd miss out on any number of good, and sometimes great, comics. I'll be watching for this IPC material since I've known nothing about it until now and am fascinated to see another comic book universe which others have previously enjoyed - great creators who care about the work just makes it all the more interesting.

edit: "Hatches" are battened while "hatchets" are buried...or something like that.