You read that right – Bob Harras, Marvel’s EIC from 1995 to 2000 (and a man well known for making the X-Books the flagship books of the Marvel world), was named Editor-in-Chief of DC Comics today. As the DC: The Source post says:
Harras will oversee editorial for DC Comics, DC Universe, MAD Magazine and Vertigo and will be based in New York City, reporting directly to the Co-Publishers. Harras becomes the company’s first Editor-in-Chief in nearly 10 years since the position was held by Jenette Kahn from 1981 to 2002.
This is cool news, although it is interesting to note: he was EIC for Marvel during perhaps their most creatively bankrupt (and highest selling) period. Granted, he does have esteem with yours truly given his relationship with my beloved X-Books, but I’m a bit skeptical of this with the word Vertigo being in the picture. That scares me just a little bit. I feel like you need a fresh voice there especially, but overall DC needs a spark of vitality, as I personally feel their comic output has been a bit stale lately.
We’ll see how this plays out, but you can read more about it at The Source. Good luck to Mr. Harras…you have a lot of work ahead of you.
