As we reported back in March, DC Comics has completed a long planned (pre-Discovery) move to office spaces in a new Frank Gehry designed building, known as the Second Century Project, located in Burbank, not far from the main studio. The move was signaled by private social media alerts, but Publisher-CCO Jim Lee made it Instagram official with an upbeat post.

 

He wrote:

First day back in the office to work since March 2020—just in time as we commemorate the new Second Century building designed by Frank Gehry. This new gleaming edifice off the 134 highway in Burbank, California will house many of Warner Bros Discovery divisions under one roof (including of course DC)! 
#dccomics #gbe #firstdayofschoolvibes #secondcentury #fortressofsolitude
The photos show a nod to DC’s primary business – the making of superhero themed comics – via a wall decorated with action figures.
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The space, like most modern ones, is an open plan, shared work space, although it does seem to have an office or two, with (as we predicted) a drawing board.
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Props to Lee for putting a good face on all this. Private social media posts that scrolled on our feed were a lot more elegiac about DC’s former offices at The Pointe, with Group Editor Jim Chadwick putting his own spin on moving out:

Former DC editor Andy Khouri, also raised a glass to the Pointe:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CemIFGAvLBv/?hl=en

He wrote:

DC Comics is saying goodbye to its offices of the last seven-eight years, but portions of the company have been there even longer. DC is moving into an extremely expensive and massive new space nearby, along with several other divisions of Warner Bros. The great work will continue. But for those of us who worked there, The Pointe will be unforgettable. It’s where I met some of my best friends and produced my most rewarding work. Everything I’ve done since saying goodbye back in 2020, and everything I’ll ever do professionally for the rest of my life, has and will come from the skills and relationships I forged in that beautiful office full of talented and inspiring people.

Insert sad face emoji here.

As we wrote in March, back in 2015 DC’s Pointe offices were the product of an ambitious vision, purpose built for the business of making superhero comics as it was then seen, a vital part of the entire future of Warner Media, with their heroes going toe to toe with the MCU. But that was two owners ago. A lot has changed on the lot. Just where DC Comics stands in the new Warner Bros. Discovery media conglomerate – and its mission to cut $3 billion in costs – is worthy of a post all its own.

The new building is quite beautiful on the outside – yay verily a true gleaming edifice! – and will house a number of WBD units, including animation, so it isn’t quite the dumping ground some have suggested. But it’s also generic, with desks assigned at random. I guess everyone who works there must now be a Jedi and avoid attachment to things.

On the face of it, such an arrangement seems antithetical to the quirky needs of the artistic process of comics making, but that’s the world we live in now – and open desk offices are the norm not a rarity.

I do mourn the idea of touring the colorful offices of a comic book publisher – a legendary and memorable event that holds a special place in many autobiographies – but then,  how many comics publishers ANYWHERE even have offices any more? The pandemic has made many of them go entirely virtual.

Anyway, we’ll end this on a cheerful note with this tweet from marketing manager Albert Ching – on the plus side, people are coming to the office again, so that’s kind of cool.

And there are tasty snacks. Life goes on.

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