While we’re all wondering what the new Hollywood landscape will look like if Warner Bros.’s sale to Netflix goes through, DC Comics has recently made other moves, both personnel and theoretical.
On the human resources side, DC Comics has a significant number of openings in key positions, including manager of book market sales. Sounds like an exciting opportunity!
This position will be responsible for driving revenue and readership growth for DC Comics across bookstores, mass-market accounts, libraries, and education channels. This role is also responsible for executing sales planning and go-to-market strategies for retail accounts worldwide, supporting DC’s priorities of ‘One Team’ and ‘Best in Class Operations’.
Your role responsibilities…
Work with the Director of Book Channel Sales and DC’s global book distributors to create, develop, and execute sales plans for major retail, independent bookstore, library, school, and consumer accounts that feature and grow DC’s annual priority graphic novels and franchise-related activations. Identify new business opportunities for various audience targets, build and nurture relationships with key partners and vendors, assess risks and rewards, and provide leadership with recommendations for review and implementation. Work with the Director of Book Channel Sales to establish account-specific sales goals and KPIs for post-release tracking.
and so on. Interestingly, when I first flagged this listing, there was also a job listing for Director of Book Channel Sales, which has now been removed, but can be viewed here.
Your new role…
This position is responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding DC Comics’ global audience across book channels and retail accounts. As a subject matter expert, this individual will lead sales planning, develop and execute go-to-market strategies, and grow DC’s presence with both existing and emerging retail partners. This position will also oversee the leadership and development of the Book Markets team, foster collaboration across DC Sales & Marketing, and support WBD and DC’s shared priorities of ‘One Team’ and ‘Best in Class Operations’.
DC’s direct market sales division was disbanded in 2020 after several rounds of layoffs, with the last person holding a similar job being Spencer Simpson, who was hired in 2021 and retired in 2023. To be honest, I don’t remember who has been in charge of book market sales since then, but they are all under the direction of Nancy Spears, vice president of sales and marketing. DC’s masthead lists executives so concisely that it’s impossible to track specific positions.
Whether these positions are filling recently-retired talent or revitalizing your book channel, hiring people into your sales department is a good thing. DC is going to have a pretty great 2026 in the book market, with more Absolute collection launches, Fraction/Jimenez Baman, DC KO, all of their other 25 year hits, and the return of Vertigo. As I mentioned the other day, DC Comics is having a good time in Warner Bros.’ current corporate environment, and hiring is always a good sign in contrast to the very quiet days following the pandemic.
But that’s not all! Other job information:
• Warner Bros. is also hiring a director of public relations and communications to take charge of DC Comics. This person will be responsible for “global public affairs and communications for business units within WBD’s Revenue and Strategy division, including Global Consumer Products, Global Experiences and Studio Operations, Global Content Sales, Global Franchises, DC Comics, U.S. Advertising Sales, and Network and Streaming Distribution.”
• DC Comics is hiring a Senior Manager for Strategic Initiatives.
This position will lead cross-functional efforts to execute on DC Comics’ key corporate priorities and strategic initiatives. This role drives initiatives from development to implementation, shapes business strategy, and delivers measurable results. Provide strategic leadership and foster collaboration among internal stakeholders to maintain alignment and momentum, ensuring initiatives are executed effectively to deliver long-term value.
The DC Comics Product Manager will lead the strategy, development, and delivery of technology products and platforms that support DC Comics’ publishing, licensing, and digital initiatives. This role bridges business needs and engineering execution to ensure products are innovative, scalable, and aligned with business objectives.
On a separate issue, Bloomberg reports that Warner Bros. is considering partnering with Universal Theme Parks, and possibly other theme parks, to bring DC characters to the parks.
Warner Bros., which currently licenses DC properties including iconic characters such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, to Six Flags Entertainment Corp., is exploring the possibility of partnering with additional operators, said the people, who requested anonymity because the information is private. According to people familiar with the matter, negotiations are in the early stages and no contract negotiations have been reached yet.
The article went on to say that Universal’s owner, Comcast, was keen to bring DC’s intellectual property into its parks business and was in talks.
Which superheroes appear on scary theme park rides is a complicated question. Adding Marvel characters to Disney theme parks was a no-brainer, but they can only appear in Disney parks west of the Mississippi River. On the East Coast, Marvel characters have been licensed to Universal theme parks, including Marvel Super Hero Island in Orlando. For some reason Guardians of the Galaxy sometimes shows up at Disney World, but it’s a rights loophole.
DC’s deal with Six Flags has been in place for decades, but adding Batman and Superman to Universal’s parks would be an upgrade in terms of character visibility, as those parks don’t have the detailed worldbuilding of Disney or Universal.
Theme park journalists were pretty excited about this revealing report, but it sounds to me like Comcast is probably trying to make an accommodation for its own bid for Warner Bros. I’d like to believe that Arkham Asylum Tilt-A-Whirl at Universal in Florida exists even when I’m pissed about it, even just a split second ago. Whether these negotiations will keep the impending Netflix deal alive is another storyline to be tracked as the world of entertainment changes forever.
Something like this:
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