DC Comics Has a New Editor in Chief: Marie Javins

DC Comics Has a New Editor in Chief: Marie Javins

It’s been a wild year for the comics industry, and perhaps few have had a wilder year than one of its biggest stalwarts, DC Comics. From battling fallout from the coronavirus pandemic to launching a major new distribution deal away from the industry’s most powerful distribution networks, to massive layoffs and restructuring, DC has been hit hard — but now it’s charting a new path ahead with a new editorial leader.

Variety reports that Marie Javins — who assumed the interim role of DC Comics’ co-editor-in-chief alongside Michele R. Wells in the wake of August’s restructuring — will now be the publisher’s formal Editor in Chief, replacing ousted EiC Bob Harras. Javins will work alongside the recently hired DC Comics senior VP and general manager, Daniel Cherry III, as well as Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee, as she helps shape the next generations of storytelling and creative teams at the home of some of the world’s finest heroes.

“As a young girl devouring comics of Wonder Woman, Nubia, and Supergirl, I never dreamed that decades later, I’d be at the helm of the mighty DC Comics,” Javins said in a statement. “I’m incredibly honoured by this responsibility, and will dedicate myself to supporting and challenging DC’s extended family of staff, talent, retailers, and partners around the world in our quest to tell innovative visual stories that both reflect and expand our world — and in some cases, our galaxy and multiverse.”

Javins has been a staple within DC’s editorial since her arrival in 2014 to help the publisher relocate its head offices from New York to California. As the publisher’s former Executive Editor of Global Publishing and Digital Strategy, Javins helped play a role alongside her former interim co-EiC, Wells, in DC’s recent focus on titles for a wider range of audiences beyond the typical monthly-singles reader. Javins and Wells (as DC’s Executive Editor on its Children’s/Young Adult lines) helped major pushes for graphic novels and YA fiction that emphasised DC’s wide roster of diverse heroes for younger audiences. Javins herself particularly shaped DC’s digital strategies in recent years, including its range of digital-first titles. That helped play an important role earlier in 2020 as the company began to adapt to the reality of publishing comics in a global pandemic.

Given Cherry’s own recent talk about pushing DC’s willingness to reflect its audience in its work and creative teams, Javins seems like the kind of person to help further that commitment as DC and the industry at large look to adapt to the ever-tumultuous future of comics.


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