More writers leaving DC?

[frigidmagi]

Bleedingcool

Just as I was about to run the story about the Villains Month at DC Comics yesterday, I received an e-mail from an anonymous source that not only backed up everything I’d heard from good sources about that project but added some new details about DC right now, some of which I’d heard (and was planning a story for today) and some of which I hadn’t.

This includes a list of titles that from issues 18, 19 and 20 will see all the writers leave, and some of the artists.

batgirl, birds of prey, dark knight, flash, hawkman, swamp thing

Some of this I knew. I’ve heard that Duane Swierczynski’s last issue of Birds Of Prey is issue 17, currently in February’s solicitations. Look forward to them announcing a brand new creative direction for that book for March.

Ans yes, I had heard that Scott Snyder has been piling up more and more projects – leaving Swamp Thing and putting American Vampire on hold may be his best option.

But what about the rest? Hawkman has just been through one upheaval, can it survive another so soon? Dark Knight was David Finch’s baby, he moved on with Paul Jenkins and saw Ethan Van Sciver and Gregg Hurwitz take over… will Ethan take it all on? The Flash has been Francis Manapul‘s signature book, has he said what he’s wanted to say, or will he be making do without Brian Buccellato ?

And then there’s Batgirl. Gail Simone made that book into something it could not have been without her and was afforded respect and some independence for that. However, that was a while ago. She walked off one DC book, will she walk off another? And how will the fanbase, many of whom seem to only be reading the book because of Gail, react?

Or is it all a load of baloney? Action Comics wasn’t mentioned, neither was Batwing or I Vampire, both rumoured to have changes coming.

My gut says yes, though. And I understand that some of these are changes because the writers want to try something new, some are attempts to freshen books that may have been seen as stagnant, but others are based on major creative disagreements and the Villains month may be part of that. Storylines planned and approved well in advance have suddenly been rejected to make way for it, with relatively little time to make amends. Some see this as a challenge, others… less so.

Especially since a number of writers were only told about Villains month after the Bleeding Cool article ran yesterday…

Let me first state, this is not confirmed. I say again negative confirmation. Still, writers only finding out about a major event/storyline from a public news article? That's... Not a good sign. And losing Gail Simone would be a heavy blow.

[Hotfoot]

Gail Simone has denied leaving Batgirl.

[Hotfoot]

And now she's been TOLD she's leaving Batgirl. As of Wednesday, she was taken off the book. Fan-fucking-tastic. Good job, DC. Unless you're bringing back the old universe Secret Six or Birds of Prey, you just fucked up one of the few good titles you had going.

[frigidmagi]

Boycott!

[Hotfoot]

Can you double-boycott something?

[frigidmagi]

Sure has hell gonna try!

[Batman]

Depends on how you define boycott I guess. Is just plain not reading DC anymore a single boycott or does every title you don't read count separately?

[Hotfoot]

And it looks like DC does have the ability to know when they've gone too far.

Gail Simone is back on Batgirl.

More hope that soon the new 52 will be a bad memory.

[Batman]

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease. Not that I don't like it in the drawer but but it was more fun when I could be proud to be a DC character, rather than being ashamed of it.