pailo rivera daredevil
It may be horrifying news for fans of Daredevil, but now both of the original artists attached to the series have decided to amicably part ways with Marvel, in order to pursue their own creator-owned work. In a post made to his blog today, Paolo Rivera states that he is going to step down from his 10-year exclusive contract with the company. In this, he joins fellow artist Marcos Martin as creators look outwards to the greater world of comics, interested to create their own legacies and stories in order to keep their futures secure.

What I create in the next decade needs to pay dividends when my vision gets blurry and my hands start to shake (and who knows what else). Now is the time to make that choice, while I’m still young, possess “great power,” but have few responsibilities.

Noting that he isn’t leaving the company entirely, and may well still contribute covers to Mark Waid’s acclaimed relaunch of Matt Murdock’s life, Rivera has nothing but compliments for his employers, and wishes them the best.

The reason you’re reading this now — the reason I have a career — is that I have played a privileged part in stories and characters that predated my birth and will long outlast my life. As an artist, my reputation — my fame, in blunt terms — is what makes this a profession, and not a hobby.

His attention now rolls over to some personal work – not forgetting the other exclusive contract he’s attached to (congratulations!) – as well as his commissions list, which is understandably rather large. It’s a fond farewell from Rivera, and well worth reading in entirety.

1 COMMENT

  1. this is amazing news for those of us who dont like buying marvel comics! him, opena, javier pulido and ESPECIALLY marcos martin are the only things i miss from there.

  2. its refreshing to see that the most talented creators are starting to embrace the Kirkman philosophy to various extents. Use the big 2 to advance your career as much as they want to use up all of your career shelf life.

    I’ll check out any creator owned book Rivera is drawing.

  3. This is a wonderful example of the seachange we’re starting to see within the industry. It’s starting to realize that doing licenced contract stuff is pretty lame, like what every other industry knew from the beginning.

  4. I’m happy that Paolo is moving on to something he’s excited for, but I hope he works with a talented writer on his creator-owned stuff. A lot of artists have exited good company gigs for creator-owned stuff that was a great showcase for their art, but a crap story.

  5. The guy is brilliant, so I’ll at least take a look at anything he does, but yeah, I really hope he works with a top-notch writer on anything creator owned.

    Isn’t Marcos Martin working on something with Brian K. Vaughan? That’s what I’m talking about.