When Dan DiDio was abruptly relieved of his duties as Co-Publisher at DC Comics a few years ago, a number of people were happy to see him go. Ethan Van Sciver is one notable exception but, love him or hate him, DiDio had one of the longest and most eventful tenures at the head of a comic book company in recent memory.
Under him, and later alongside Jim Lee, readers were treated to 52, The New 52, and DC Rebirth among other sagas and relaunches. Each of those phases was an event in its own right and each changed the comics landscape as we all knew it, no matter how polarizing any of them was. And DiDio has a favorite.
Out of all the phases and reboots during his time, DiDio spoke most highly at a recent convention of Infinite Crisis — the 2005-06 crossover limited series written by Geoff Johns and co-created with Phil Jimenez. Talking to Comics, Beer & Sci-Fi at the Great Lakes Comic-Con, DiDio said creativity in the company at that point was firing on all cylinders.
RELATED: James Gunn Confirms Plans For Milestone Characters In The DCU
“2002 was a great year for DC [because] I just got there,” he quipped. “When you do a lot of shows like this, people bring back a lot of old comics, and you start to remember the different things you did. But honestly one of the sweetest times for me was when I was working on the period [of] Infinite Crisis.”
This includes work put into the 52 weekly series that followed. DiDio added, “I feel that’s when we really had our creative energies really in sync, in unison, that the entire company felt they [were] working together. And I don’t think we could do better books than we did at that particular time. I’m always most proud of that period.”
RELATED: Rumor: James Gunn To Adapt Classic DC Story ‘Kingdom Come’ As Crisis-Level Cinematic Event
DiDio also offered the caveat that it’s hard to choose a favorite time when there is so much work he’s proud of, but the “first moment” the publisher “achieved what he set out to do” is the one he remembers best. He expressed a similar feeling toward DC Animated movies which were more heavily influenced by the comics back then.
“I guess there’s a lot to be gained from those DVD things that we did,” he said. “Those animated movies are just awesome, some of the best stuff DC’s put out…I think that’s when DC…was more intimately involved in a lot of the formation of the ideas.” That the animators were fans too helped a lot, DiDio continued, and it showed in each project.
Now working with Frank Miller in a new venture — Frank Miller Presents Comics — DiDio says he’s excited to be more hands-on than he was in a corporate environment with material that he and Miller are choosing themselves.
NEXT: Frank Miller And Dan DiDio Teaming Up For Independent Comic Publishing Venture