Well, that didn’t take long. From this week’s Cup o’Joe over at MySpace:
Zeb [Wells] returns for a story in July’s Brand New Day: Extra! Special. Then after that Zeb will be leaving Amazing for the foreseeable future. Much like Bob Gale, we knew Zeb would have limited time, so we were thrilled to have him help us with the launch, but due to his schedule on Robot Chicken and some other projects, he’s just swamped. Zeb’s been such an integral part of relaunching Spidey and we’re going to miss him terribly, but on the bright side, he’s still going to be involved as part of the brain trust which is great news.
That’s a shame; Zeb’s arc was my favorite to date… What I don’t get is, is Joe also saying that Bob Gale is off the book as well, or just that we shouldn’t expect him to be that involved…?
April 25th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I just took that to mean that Bob Gale has a limited time on the book, however long that may be. But I don’t think an announcement has been made as to when he’s leaving. I know his next arc has already been solicited.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
It seems like the people actually doing the writing should have a greater say then some people who are “too busy” to commit fully to the project. Having two ‘main’ writers in the brain trust, two ’strictly brain trust’ writers, and two more writers just seems to me like Spidey is going to get a “too many chiefs and not enough Indians” situation.
Just let Waid, Slott, Guggenheim,and Kelly write the whole thing. And get McNiven, Romita Jr., Bachalo, and Yu to draw it. Any delays can be made up by Romita.
Just my $0.02.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Yeah, but now it brings into question, who is committed to the title long term and who isn’t? Is Waid, with his EiC duties at BOOM!?
I hope the people committed to the title become part of the braintrust, and I hope we find out who they are. And I also hope Spidey gets some stability, instead of shifting voices each arc.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Since writers don’t seem to be fully committed to this brave new direction, I view this as only a way get generate more $$$ from the readers and then laugh all the way to the bank.
April 26th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
LAME, Zeb’s arc was the first truly successful one on BND…however Gale’s was also the worst, so I assume this means its averaged out to…mediocrity?
April 26th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I always figured Wells and Gale would be the first two to go, because they’re the smaller names. But I never expected Wells would get such a short chance to prove himself and get tossed out on great work. A
dd me to the people saying, “how the hell is Waid committed to this when he has an executive gig at BOOM!?”
Gale for Kelly? Great. But why lose Wells?
April 28th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Gale’s actually the biggest name on BND. He only wrote a small flick called Back to the Future
April 28th, 2008 at 6:58 am
it seems to me that everybody onthe book is on it for a limited time. Waid was announced as being on for one arc,although he did say he would like to do more. I believe Roger Stern said that Marvel was interested in him comming in for an arc. I think that the only writer that can be counted on as long term might just be Don Slott.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Wells didn’t impress me with his other work, but this arc completely justified Brand New Day, and then some. Everything up to this point was a lot of fun to read, sure, but far too anachronistic to have any legs. Wells presented a fresh story, used the supporting cast and new characters effortlessly, and didn’t make too many references to Spider-Man’s so-called “glory days.” Gale’s run, and even Slotts, which surprised me, were solid, completely unmemorable works.
I hope Wells makes it back in a year or two for another go. When I finished this arc, I didn’t give a shit about One More Day or any of that garbage. It was just good comics in my hands. Isn’t that all that matters?
April 29th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Gale riddance to bad rubbish.