Co-Publisher Dan DiDio is no longer at DC

The Beat has confirmed that Co-Publisher Dan DiDio has left DC.

ComicBook.Com is also reporting his exit.

While details are still emerging, it appears that DiDio’s long run at the company has reached an end.

DiDio joined DC to develop new projects but was named co-publisher following the departure of President Paul Levitz in 2010. He had previously served as vp executive editor, overseeing the core DC line with a variety of initiatives, including Secret Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Black Metal, 52, the New 52, and the recently announced New Generations books at DC…which were widely believed to be part of the 5G plan we’ve been talking about.

The New 52, in particular, was a hit, resurrecting DC and the rest of the industry at a down time, with new energy, but running into its very own retcon of a retcon with the Rebirth launch a few years later. Generation Five, or whatever it was to be called, would have been the most radical relaunch yet, it is believed, rewriting much of DC”s past history yet again.

DiDio was also a writer, working on such titles as The Phantom Stranger, The Outsiders and Sideways over the years. Currently he’s writing a Metal Men mini-series with artist Shane Davis. (Metal Men has always been a particular DiDio favorite.)

DiDio was, without question, one of the most passionate and and energetic executives in comics. His work was controversial, and he made a lot of enemies along the way….but he also believed in comics as a medium and the DC characters in particular. Its what he did with those characters where the arguments will start and keep going as his legacy is assessed.

And assessed it will be – the industry has been reacting on social media in overdrive since the news broke. All agree: it’s the end of an era.

Developing.