More Creators Leaving DC...

Action Comics writer Andy Diggle has parted company with DC for "professional reasons" (thought to be connected to excessive editorial interference, the same reason Rob Liefeld gave for his departure) while Joshua Hale Fialkov has walked away from both of the Green Lantern titles he was due to take over. It seems DC's current style of micromanagement is not making them popular with many creators...

tony ingram wrote:It seems DC's current style of micromanagement is not making them popular with many creators...

I am of two minds on this. From a professional standpoint, I can see some of their POV. When Shooter was in charge at Marvel, books came out on time, and were done to a standard of quality. Not a high one, mind you, but there was one. If your business is built on having something done on time, then you do what you need to do to make it happen.
But.
Things are changing. Fans shouldn't accept real mistreatment of creators (although I don't know if this WAS that, or just people not wanting to accept certain conditions of employment) and that's why I still don't (generally) buy DC. (I think I can get much of what I need for that course used, and not have to worry about money going to DC, now that I look at my list) We should support more creators doing their own thing. And therefore less of the corporate model.
I don't know. If you work for DC or Marvel, at this point you know what you're getting. But, if the fans don't support other work, what other choices are there?
Yeah, I just don't know. Apparently, I'm of more than two minds on this one.

The only other course, it seems to me, is to not work exclusively for one company. Mark Waid recently did a stint on Steed & Mrs Peel at Boom! Stiudios and Gail Simone is taking over Red Sonja at Dynamite, but I don't think either of them have burned their bridges with DC. Maybe if more big name talent follows that example, then the smaller companies will stand a chance of becoming real competition for the big ones and the big ones will have to start working to keep the creators.

tony ingram wrote:The only other course, it seems to me, is to not work exclusively for one company.

Maybe true, but doesn't that depend on fans being willing to buy from those companies? I mean, I blame the fans for a lot of the ethical issues publishers have because they're so willing to ignore anything and keep buying their fix.

All too true. Though IDW, Boom!, Image and Dynamite all seem to be doing rather better these days than they were a few years ago. Perhaps there's still hope?

tony ingram wrote:All too true. Though IDW, Boom!, Image and Dynamite all seem to be doing rather better these days than they were a few years ago. Perhaps there's still hope?

Maybe, though I think I've heard bad things about Boom. But, then, how often do independents do well for a few years, and then die off? Maybe I'm just getting too jaded as I get older. I know things get better over time, but it seems to do so unevenly.

Image are still around. Archie are still doing well. Dark Horse, too. And IDW and Dynamite are growing.

Wow. Diggle's kind of a big deal, isn't he? They even named a character after him in that Arrow show you guys all hate and that I pretend to hate--uh, I mean, that show we ALL hate. I've never heard of the other guy, though.

You've never heard of Fialkov? Really? How can you not have heard of...oh, I can't do it. OK, I've never heard of him, either. But he was apparently a big deal to someone...

tony ingram wrote:Image are still around. Archie are still doing well. Dark Horse, too. And IDW and Dynamite are growing.

That's good, then. But, really, only in the US would Archie be considered NOT mainstream...

Sam_Vimes wrote:They even named a character after him in that Arrow show you guys all hate and that I pretend to hate--uh, I mean, that show we ALL hate.

My girlfriend watches it, so I've seen a couple more episodes. I really WANT to like it, it's GA after all. It's just so badly written/acted, I can't get into it no matter what.
Ah, well. Side note, anyway.

Mbast1 wrote:But, really, only in the US would Archie be considered NOT mainstream...

Very true. I do get rather annoyed at the tendency of a lot of superhero fans to regard anything not published by Marvel or DC as "independent" and/or "not mainstream". I've even heard 2000AD described as both of those, and 2000AD (like Archie in America, I gather, but unlike those supposedly "mainstream" books) can be found in newsagents and convenience stores everywhere in the UK!

Mbast1 wrote: My girlfriend watches it, so I've seen a couple more episodes. I really WANT to like it, it's GA after all. It's just so badly written/acted, I can't get into it no matter what.
Ah, well. Side note, anyway.

I usually just watch it out of a sense of duty, but it surprises me by being good sometimes. The stuff with Slade Wilson and Shado is particularly interesting, I think. And now there's a Roy Harper in the mix, so who knows? Maybe season 2 will be just super-amazing.

tony ingram wrote:

Mbast1 wrote:But, really, only in the US would Archie be considered NOT mainstream...

Very true. I do get rather annoyed at the tendency of a lot of superhero fans to regard anything not published by Marvel or DC as "independent" and/or "not mainstream". I've even heard 2000AD described as both of those, and 2000AD (like Archie in America, I gather, but unlike those supposedly "mainstream" books) can be found in newsagents and convenience stores everywhere in the UK!

You are correct in your gatherings. There's not a grocery store in this country that doesn't sell Archie, but I haven't seen a DC or a Marvel in one since I was 12. Superhero-only snobbery is such a strange thing.

And now James Robinson has left the company! He'll be off Earth 2 and no longer working for DC as of October. No reason given, as yet.

tony ingram wrote:And now James Robinson has left the company! He'll be off Earth 2 and no longer working for DC as of October. No reason given, as yet.

DC is getting hammered by this, and the faux-diversity they've put out. I don't know what is happening.

What seems to be happening is that people higher up the corporate ladder with no real idea about the characters or about writing them are making decisions based on some abstract ideas of what the public wants or will respond to, and imposing those decisions on writers who are getting understandably sick of the continual interference.

tony ingram wrote:What seems to be happening is that people higher up the corporate ladder with no real idea about the characters or about writing them are making decisions based on some abstract ideas of what the public wants or will respond to, and imposing those decisions on writers who are getting understandably sick of the continual interference.

About all I can say in response to that is, "Well, yeah". Sounds dead accurate, actually.