This just in: everyone’s leaving everything.
This can’t be right. Marvel has actually lured someone away from DC with an exclusive contract. (Running tally: Marvel, 3; DC, several thousand.) This time, it’s Michael Lark, gifted artist of the wonderful Gotham Central. It wasn’t that long ago that writers Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker were saying in Newsarama interviews how integral lark was to the title, so how will they go about finding a replacement? Here’s Rucka’s take:
“At the end of the day, and if we’re lucky, the decision is going to be a joint one between Ed, myself and [editor] Matt [Idelson], and it will be someone we all agree on. I’m honestly less concerned with somebody who will be able to replicate the stylistic as much as finding someone who was as killed as Michael with the acting, and the subtleties that required.”
How about Sean Phillips? Or Steve Epting?
Maybe there’s some kind of Newsarama curse at work. Not long after Christopher Priest sang the praises of Captain American and Falcon artist Joe Bennett, DC lured Bennett away with (wait for it) an exclusive contract. Priest, unfailingly decent, optimistic, and unlucky, has a request:
“But we are begging you, retailers, to not cut your orders. There’s no reason to. The book will go on, but at some point Sam [Falcon] will shove Steve [Cap] under a bus and take over the title in some fashion.”
I really enjoy the way Priest writes the Falcon, so I’m hoping this comes about. Maybe comic synergy will assert itself, and Lark will end up drawing the title.
When he isn’t busy backfilling plot holes in Avengers: Disassembled (which he might have done prior to publication), editor Tom Brevoort is explaining what’s going on with critical darling She-Hulk. The short version is, the current run will end with the 12th issue; a couple of months later, Marvel will re-launch the title. Brevoort earns a tiny bit of good will with the following remark:
“She-Hulk was launched during a period in which we started up dozens of titles, so it’s no surprise that it got lost in the mix.”
The series will start up again in May with writer Dan Slott and, miracle of miracles, a concentrated promotional push from its publishers. (I remain unconvinced that Marvel, given its track record, won’t launch another glut of superfluous books at the exact same time. You need only look at the summary of Marvel news from Wizard World Dallas to see how much they have in the pipeline.)
Wedging Jessica Jones into virtually every corner of the Marvel Universe apparently takes a lot of time, so Brian Bendis will be leaving Daredevil a year from now. (I kid, though she does seem to be slated for a lot of face time, considering her appeal is that she’s a rough-edged fringe character.) Mark Waid is about to leave the Baxter Building, but not to worry. Marvel knows that three Fantastic Four titles (four, if you count the Marvel Age book) just aren’t enough to meet rabid demand, so they’ve got a Joe Casey mini-series (Fantastic Four: First Family) on deck and what appears to be a villain spin-off (Ed Brubaker’s Books of Doom) on deck.