By Todd Allen
DC sure is coming on steady with these writer changes. On Wednesday, you had Paul Cornell off Stormwatch (though DC really only announced Paul Jenkins writing a 2-parter, Cornell was the one announcing he was off). On Tuesday, you had Joe Harris replacing Gail Simone as Firestorm co-writer. On Monday, you had Tom DeFalco replacing Fabian Niceiza on Legion Lost. Are we seeing a pattern pattern here?
So today, Thursday, we have an announcement about Men of War:
James Robinson and JT Krul will contribute individual stand alone stories in MEN OF WAR issue #7.
Exactly like the Stormwatch announcement, it does not address what’s up with the regular writer. Unlike the Stormwatch announcement, Ivan Brandon has not taken to Twitter to address whether or not he’s still on the book. Yes, that would be the same Ivan Brandon who had an issue with people discussing which books were selling few enough copies they might be in trouble roughly three weeks ago.
Is Brandon out? We don’t have confirmation one way or the other, but the way DC handled the issue #7 announcement makes it an open an legitimate question.
Tom DeFalco, Paul Jenkins and Joe Harris (as well as earlier replacement Ann Nocenti for Green Arrow) were all Harras era Marvel writers. I’m seriously waiting for Howard Mackie and Terry Kavanagh to pop up for at least a fill-in issue tryout. Is that going to be the Friday writer-change announcement? Tune in tomorrow and see if it happens.
Mackie and Kavanagh are good bets, but my money’s on Chris Claremont or John Byrne. Then again, looks like everyone at least got six issues before they left or got canned. That’s worth mentioning, I think.
It seems that DC does have a set plan to keep this books out on time, react to luke warm recepections of books, conflicting creator schedules and the like.
See where the books are at critically and sells wise by the making of Issue 3. If a change in writer is decided upon, let them come on at issue 7.
The New52 trades will collect issues 1 to 6 so the tonally shift may be eased.
Artists changes can happen more frequently just due to the facts that 1) many fans decide upon buying books based more so on who’s writing and 2) the sheer number of available artists that are out there.
As for finding dependable replacement writers, those in charge will naturally go with those they know will get the job done. That means that presumably Harras makes the call on finding replacement writers so he goes with writers his successfully ( successful being mainly getting the books finished and in stores, actual story quality may vary) worked with in the past.
Result: books stay on schedule for retailers and fans. The quality of the books will, as always, be a matter of opinion.
I was never under the impression that creators would have indefinite runs, especially on the lower selling books.
Unless a series is written by one person, back issues, either in comic book periodicals or graphic novels, have a short shelf life. Simone’s Secret Six, Morrison’s Doom Patrol, Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man, for example.
Perhaps the digital storefront will help back issue sales, but I don’t see these first volumes staying around long.
I think that’s mostly due to the change in writers, who take a preceding storyline and then move in a different direction. There’s also less space for plot development, allowing for something hinted at in an issue from twelve months ago to suddenly become the A Plot. (How many loose plot threads exist from Claremont’s X-Men run?)