One of my big thrills while checking out the board is hearing JB's tales of the inner workings of Marvel and DC's offices over the last thirty years. It's also neat to see pics like Mike-O's posing with the DC History wall. Nowadays, though, I wonder if New York office space is really required or if it's more of a luxury for the big two.

The main bonuses I can see are:
1. Efficiency) Huge benefit in the days where all the writers and artists commuted in and worked under the same roof, but not so much nowadays. With most guys working out of their studios and faxing or e-mailing work in (a good portion from overseas), and the "production gnomes" and editorial being the only in-house staff, is there a difference in an office in NY and one with a lower lease?

2. Prestige) Probably the biggest current factor. It has to help in recruiting talent and closing deals, but is it cost effective? In Marvel's case, the view from Avi Arad's office in LA is probably more important (dollars and cents wise) than any NY marvel office. I imagine the nature of the work and the company's stable of characters would be the big draw for the creators, not the location of the offices.

3. Tradition) Sentimentality is nice, but are the offices even still in the same space they were 30 years ago?

It seems off to me to hear these companies having to raise prices on a $2 comic book to balance a budget and then seeing interviews with office walkthroughs and boardroom views that would put some Fortune 500 companies to shame. Seems a little weird. Does anyone more versed in NY real estate or either of the big two have some insight I am missing?

The title of this topic got me all excited -- I thought you were going to discuss the movie, "Office Space."



-- JCB

======================

Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn't Michael Bolton.

Samir: You know there's nothing wrong with that name.

Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it... until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.

Samir: Hmm... well why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?

Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.

It is a sad fact that a "New York Address" is still deemed important. If I owned Marvel or DC I would move them to Stamford or Mamaroneck (home of Archie Comics, who do not seem to suffer for it) and into a cheap old warehouse of a building (again, like Archie) faster than you could blink! There's no reason to spend a fortune on office space in a business in which the "clients" (that would be you folk!) never see the offices!

JB, is this practice a holdover from when comics were just another periodical and New York City was the place to run a publishing business? Also, do you think it's a case of the board that runs Marvel and/or DC just not wanting to give up on the prestige of a NY office?

I didn't know where Archie Comics calls home; that's neat. I know about the Crossgen compound in Florida, but where are some of the other publishers based? Dark Horse? Image?

Dark Horse is based in Portland, Oregon. Image -- well, image is smoke and mirrors, these days.

I'm really surprised Marvel hasn't moved to California yet.It seems that is where they want to wind up.