Artist/writers at DC comics

[samurainoir]

Interesting to see someone break silence on what appears to be the editorial methodology currently at DC of giving artists more leverage and influence on books.
John Rozum.com: Why I Quit Static Shock
I know folks have been comparing new DC 52 to Image comics from the nineties, but I think the better comparison is Marvel of the nineties under Bob Harras, where writers were routinely over ridden by superstar name artists as well as editorial. The best example f this of course was Chris Claremont leaving X-men after steering the ship for decades. His collaborators at the time were JimLee and Bb Harras, who are currently at the helm of DC.

Of course there is probably room to speculate that this might e occurring on other titles where an artist has a writing co-credit... Firestorm comes to mind. Particularly since Gail Simone has much higher than average track record as a writer. And how many titles is she writing now compared to Rob Liefeld? Once again there seems to be a great deal of short sighted Flash in the Pan compared to consistent long term readership investment... Which was exactly what Birds of Prey and Secret Six had prior to the reboot.

[thunderbolt]

Seems to me like DC is going for a quick buck and not trying to rebuild its long term readership.

[kingdom warrior]

Rob Liefield shouldn't be writing nor drawing anything.........nice to have people you know in high places....

After reading the article... DC sounds like Marvel from the 90's and that didn't go so well.............

[The Toyroom]

Rob Liefield shouldn't be writing nor drawing anything.........nice to have people you know in high places....

After reading the article... DC sounds like Marvel from the 90's and that didn't go so well.............

Bob Harras is to blame for both points...He doesn't belong at DC IMO...

[emeraldknight47]

Rob Liefield shouldn't be writing nor drawing anything.........nice to have people you know in high places....

After reading the article... DC sounds like Marvel from the 90's and that didn't go so well.............

Agreed. Rob Liefield should be kept as far from the comics field as possible! Heck, maybe out of art in general!! He is certainly NOT a man who has ANY discernible knowledge of realistic body structure....

[madmarva]

This is interesting because at least for the last decade it's been the writers and editors running the show at DC.

Obviously the door to DC has been opened to Liefeld through his relationship with Harras, but Liefeld's books are being canceled and no doubt they are moving him to other titles likely because of him being under contract. If the books he's moved to also fail then when his contract is up the work will likely dry up, too. If the books succeed, well then DC'll probably keep giving him work.

It's not like DC's turning a Superman, Batman, Justice League or Green Lantern title to Liefeld. He was working on fringe books and has moved to fringe books.

It appears to me DC is calling upon guys who deliver on deadline. As crappy as Liefeld's work is, getting it out on time is important and maybe he does that.

As for the Rozum situation, it appears the editor choose to align with the artist Tony Daniel (it's actually Scott McDaniel as Samurainoir pointed out), who has been a key DC artist for quite a while, rather than the writer in defining the direction of the series. Can't blame Rozum for exiting, and in light of the book failing, it certainly doesn't seem to be a good decision on the editor's part, but Static Shock is a title that has never sold well enough to stay alive for very long. DC needs to put the character back in Teen Titans and feature him there.

I thought it was odd that Harras was promoted to the chief editor spot from overseeing DC's reprint programs. I would have rather seen Eddie Berganza get it or DC pilfer Stephen Wacker from Marvel. I'm guessing Harras' experience at Marvel probably impressed the suits at Warners when they were making the hire. Harras was a part of selling a lot of comics in the early to mid 1990s before the industry bottomed out and he was let go, but DC also demoted Mike Carlin, who was a part of selling a lot of comics in the 1990s, too, in favor of Diddio in an effort to turn things around.

Saying that, I'm not a fan of Harras or for that matter Liefeld. Liefeld co-plotting Hawkman, a character I've liked in the past, doesn't make me want to buy the book and I'm guessing the book will get the ax pretty soon. I feel sorry for the Slade Wilson fans.

[samurainoir]

^^^
just a point f clarification, the artist discussed drawing Satic Shock is Scott McDaniel, not Tony Danel.

But yeah, Liefeld has really reinvented himself as an artist who can hit a deadline. Shockingly. I'm still waiting for that final issue of Youngblood Bloodsport, but only because I'm such a fanboy for anything Mark Millar.

Not sure if Wacker would ever win hs way back over to Didio's DC after jumping ship to Marvel halfway through the weekly 52 series. Poaching his 52 writers Greg Rucka and Mark Waid over to Marvel might not add to any Lack of hard feelings either.

Incredible to see the reversal f Marvel and DC in terms if writer driven and artist driven. Seems like the main leverage DC has at keeping artistic talent these days is the option to write their own stuff. It's just that there really hasn't been a Frank Miller or John Byrne or Walt Simonson or Howard Chaykin or Mike Mignola in this generation of artists as far as I can see. True Tony Daniel started off writing his own creator owned stuff, but the Tenth or Spawn or even his Batman hardly stands anywhere near the giants of the industry who jumped from art chres only to writer/artist credit.

[torgospizza]

I just hope Rozum's not penalized by DC for his candor. He seems to have tried both initially and currently to maintain diplomacy, and though I know nothing about him, seems like a great guy. In fact, I'd like to check out his stuff just after reading his blog entry.

As an aside, I was reading his blog's comments and some dude named Jamal Igle posted. He was talking about being in the business, so I checked him out, and the guy is phenomenal. Can't believe I've never heard of him--he has a real old-school illustrator type of quality to his work. Reminds me of a cross between Kevin Maguire and Frank Cho. Are you guys familiar with his stuff? Not to derail the thread, but why aren't people talking about this guy?

[madmarva]

Ed, thanks for the Daniel/McDaniel correction and you made a great point about Wacker. He left in the middle of 52 so there may be hard feelings between him and Diddio. Often moves like that burn bridges, but sometimes time and talent mitigates such feelings.

From things I've read and trying to read between the lines, it seemed to me DC editorial decisions chased off Waid and Rucka and they eventually gravitated to Marvel. Of course, they could have been waiting for non-compete clauses to expire.

I mentioned Wacker because he's a proven and talented editor both at DC and Marvel and the top editorial spot at DC would be a step up for him. I don't think DC could have gotten Alonso or Brevoort.

I read where Waid and Rucka haven't written off writing for DC at some point in the future, but there is obviously something that went on there that's being unsaid. Neither are exclusive to Marvel. Of course Waid and Harras had some sort of bad blood back in the 1990s over the X-Men.


I would really like to see Waid get a run on Superman that's not just a retelling of the origin. As for Rucka, he really wrote some nice stuff for DC during the past decade but never seemed to get his due on Batman, Wonder Woman or Superman.

Igle seemed like he was an up-and-coming artist at DC over the last five years or so doing some really great work on Supergirl, Zatanna and even Firestorm before that. I like his work a lot and would love to see him get a crack at some of the bigger characters at either of the big 2.

I think too much is being made of the DC books that are falling by the wayside. There's no way all those books were going to succeed. Heck, Marvel just canceled Moon Knight and it's written by arguably its most popular writer, Bendis.

Did anyone really expect Hawk and Dove to fly or the those war books to really make a splash? I'm surprised Hawkman, Captain Atom, Firestorm, Deathstroke and several others are still around.

It would be different if sales on Action, Superman, Batman, Detective, Justice League, Wonder Woman or Green Lantern were significantly lower than before the relaunch and were about to be canceled. I'm not one who really follows sales, other than headlines, but from what little I've gathered, all of those books are selling as well if not better than before the relaunch.

As for writer/artists, it seemed like the animal was on the verge of extinction at the big 2 until the relaunch at DC. Daniel's Detective book isn't bad, but it certainly has none of the crackle of Simonson's Thor, Miller's Daredevil, Byrne's FF, Grell's Warlord or Mingola's Hellboy. I'm not sure if there's a writer/artists combo at the big 2 doing work as good as Jurgens' Booster Gold from the 80s. But Manupal and Buccellato's Flash has some promise. I guess JH Williams III has a co-plotter on Batwoman, but the words certainly aren't the star of that beautiful book. But, when a writer/artist has it all together, it's made for some of my favorite comics of all time, so I'm glad DC is allowing some artists the opportunity to try both.

[samurainoir]

^^^
well stated on all points. Rucka was hugely under the radar and had very good runs on Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman before DC editorial sucked him into event-hell. Waid is currently doing some of the most killer work of his career on Daredevil right now, and Rucka seems back in the groove with Punisher (although I'm foaming at the mouth for more Queen and Country). I have much catching up to do on Waid's Boom stuff.

I know I lean much more Marvel these days, but I think Alonso and Brevoort make the perfect duo at the head of Marvel editorial. Brevoort being the staunch traditionalist early in Joe Q's kingdom, and Alonso bringing that experimental Vertigo vibe to the corridors of the house of Stan and Jack. Particularly if you look at the stable of writers who broke their chops at Vertigo that really put their mark on Marvel characters in the past dozen years... Grant Morrison's New X-Men is still spinning out storylines based on his ideas, Morrison's former Swamp Thing writing partner Mark Millar's Ultimates is pretty much the roadmap that the marvel movies are taking right now, Ed Brubaker still on Cap, Jason Aaron jumping over after making his name on Scalped, Garth Ennis on Punisher of course, Neil Gaiman certainly was a ridiculous coup for Marvel, Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's X-Force, the list goes on with the indie talent spotting as well who are all the head writers at Marvel right now.

Marvel probably had too high an expectation for the Moon Knight relaunch... it did Alias: Jessica Jones numbers instead of Avengers numbers, so I would guess they figured to get more bang for their Bendis buck on something else. Their Spiderwoman similarly ended much the same didn't it?

Mike Grell is definitely worth a shoutout as well. Green Arrow longbow hunters still holds up, and I was a fan of his John Sable, Freelance.

I first came across Igle when he redesigned Firestorm a few years back. He's a very gracious gentleman, and hugely underrated. I hope they give him a crack at a top tier book.

[samurainoir]

For those that don't know John Rozum, he created a hugely underrated series for Milestone called Xombi. It got a lot of acclaim, but was tragically unnoticed. Given that he was hand-picked by the late Dwayne McDuffie... it's ridiculously tragic that someone McDuffie trusted with his creation would be ignored like this.

[emeraldknight47]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sure is a good thing Supergirl is bulletproof all over or it's likely she'd have one sore nipple in the morning!!!

[kingdom warrior]

But yeah, Liefeld has really reinvented himself as an artist who can hit a deadline.

I don't care how many deadlines he hits......he is an embarrassingly horrible artist, who doesn't give two hoots to even attempt, to improve his skills as an artist all these years later. all I see is the same garbage style he drew back in the 90's.

[Figuremod73]

I actually think he might have been a little better when he did New Mutants!

[samurainoir]

I don't care how many deadlines he hits......he is an embarrassingly horrible artist, who doesn't give to hoots to even attempt, to improve his skills as an artist all these years later. all I see is the same garbage style he drew back in the 90's.

I'm probably the furthest from a Liefeld fan (I was reading mostly Vertigo bac then), but it's hard to argue with success. He's sold millions of comics, created Cable, Deadpool and X-Force (which Marvel continues to milk), made millions of dollars doing what he loves... drawing comics, and that's just the top of the list.

A track record like that, no matter how many failures since, opens doors and creates opportunities... even two decades away from the epicentre of that lightning in a bottle (which arguably struck twice... at Marvel and Image).

By comparison, we're just a bunch of fellas kvetching on a toy board, mostly named Jack (to reference Shatner's Has Been).

Listening to the word balloon podcast interview with him, you really can't doubt his earnestness and sincerity about the medium. I was fairly surprised to hear that level enthusiasm, given that Liefeld is generally off my radar and I tuned in while waiting for the Rucka interview to start.
Word Balloon The Comic Book Interview Podcast: Rob Liefeld Speaks Out and The Rucka Debrief Part 2