The New 52 Musical Chairs

Something odd and annoying is going on at DC Comics, and while that’s become a long list even before the New 52, I’m referring to the game of revolving staff on comics. More proof that I don’t understand the current editorial staff.

Gail Simone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gail Simone is one of the most well-known women in comics. She has written some of the fandom’s most praised titles and stories. Now she hasn’t usually worked on a title that I’ve been a fan of…she just un-followed me on Twitter, didn’t she? No, really, she is/was following me. Well, she did work on the original Fury of Firestorm 52 before leaving. If you recall my review of the first two issues, it was an interesting idea but it wasn’t Firestorm, but as a co-writer I don’t know how much influence she had. I dropped it after issue #2.

Simone’s not just a comic writer; she’s also a comics fan. Kind of like BW Virtual Mentor Jerzy Drozd but working on big name titles for DC Comics. And female. Part of that has changed. Not the female part, or Jerzy not working for DC, unless you know something I don’t. Over the weekend, work came that Simone was taken off of Batgirl…which she learned by e-mail! According to solicits, Ray Fawkes, writer on Justice League Dark, the occult version of the League, will at least temporarily take over on Batgirl. Support from her colleagues and fans were almost immediate. BW Fave Linkara went to a big Twitter rant tweeted directly at DC Comics not only about this but a number of bad decisions.

Naturally I have thoughts on these events as well. Yes, events, because this is just the biggest fallout of a gameplan that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Now I understand that sometimes people leave titles. Editors decide to go a different direction. (Television series have had similar changes.) Sometimes the writer himself or herself decide to leave because they feel they can’t do anymore with the characters. Sometimes they also overstay their welcome because their run was so beloved by fans that publishers see dollar signs in their eyes. Simone, from what I can tell, has never overstayed her welcome. Prior to the New 52 her runs on Birds of Prey and especially Secret Six has met with nothing but praise from comics fans. Even fans angry that DC decided to put Barbara Gordon back in the Batsuit (because nobody wants to acknowledge another Batgirl even outside the comics) gave the title a chance and were won over because of Simone’s presence on the title.

Also announced over the weekend was that Swamp Thing writer Scott Snyder was also leaving his title along with artist Yanick Paquette, but Snyder says they had planned an ending and reached it. Finally, since while fans loved their run many in my circles have gotten tired of the “Rot” storyline (and teasers of a crossover with Animal Man), which seemed to go on a bit too long. Still, at least he did what he set out to do rather than being cutoff…again via e-mail, which is rather impersonal to someone who has done as much for the company as Simone has.

Click to see HOW YOU DO SUPERMAN!

This is just the latest symptom of a larger issue: writers and artists being taken off of a title, sometimes after only one arc. Look at Superman. Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens worked together to create one of the best Superman storylines in a long time. Anguish was a great new character that I would like to see again in the series or in one of Giffen’s other stories. But for some reason he and Jurgens (who co-plotted events that led to his storyline) were not asked to stay on the title, but instead gave it to Scott Lobdell, and let’s just say we predicted some of the failures he brought almost immediately. (Although it would be the first comic outside of Justice League that acknowledged the stupid Clark/Diana romance.)

I don’t understand why DC is having such a hard time with this. Yes, Didio, Johns, Jim Lee, and Morrison can work on any title they want, it seems, and possibly Lobdell can be added to the list. Liefeld would be, but he decided to work for a company that makes more sense. Gail Simone SHOULD be on that list, especially with the dwindling numbers of women working on a DC or Vertigo title (speaking of endings, Karen Berger will be leaving as Vertigo’s executive editor), but she has some self-produced projects in the works and could probably get signed to any comic that her writing style will work in. I once asked Blair Shedd in a review for one of the Doctor Who comics why they kept changing artists, which they still do from arc to arc.

For the same reason that Marvel has a rotating team on Spider-man: keeps books on time. Very few artists nowadays do runs of a year or more (Mark Bagley comes to mind as an exception).

When Pia had to drop out of the Forgotten, they had to scramble to find a team to finish up the unfinished parts.

By having Al do 1-2, then Matt on 3-6, Al on 7-8, and me on 9-12, while one artist works on his arc, as long as the script is done, the next artist can work on his arc at the same time. That’s nearly impossible with a single artist.

Writers, however, tend to be on a title for as long as they make the company money or can convince (or perhaps just con) the editor to keep them on. The fans want Simone on, Simone wants to stay on, but the editors want to take her off. I don’t understand what they’re trying to do except to remake the DC Universe in their image, but that’s another commentary I’m planning to write. For now, can someone explain how does a creative team get chosen for a title and when they’re taken off? It seems we can’t go more than two weeks without a creative team change announcement, or DC cancelling a title in favor of another New-52ed series. And they wonder why they aren’t doing so well.