Despite claims to the contrary, writer James Robinson apparently hasn’t quit DC Comics’ Superman books.
On Monday Rich Johnston reported that he understood Robinson had left the titles, “and the DCU in general,” after an argument with Executive Editor Dan DiDio.
But yesterday editor Matt Idelson told the Superman Homepage fan site that Robinson has not quit.
I guess that’s what you get with an amber traffic light which, in “Lying in the Gutters” parlance, means “there is a heavy bias involved here, or it just seems a little dodgy.”
Robinson, who’s probably best known for his Eisner Award-winning work on Starman and Leave It To Chance, and his recent stints on Batman and Detective Comics, was announced as the new writer of Superman in February. His first issue was June’s #676.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
WHEW! That would’ve been bad…especially with the Superman books hitting on all cylinders these days. However, the other news floating around is that Action Comics will supposedly be “Superman free” at some point, turing the book over to…it’s not clear who.
Arrrghh! What’s going on over there?
November 19th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Rich Johnston is just a vermin. Too bad that internet is full of stupid whining fanboys who ready to start a whole holy war by his word alone. Dog is barking, others follow. Stupid, stupid people.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Hopefully we’ll get that Justice League book solicited one of these days.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
So, does this mean that my John Byrne FX comics will not be worth a fortune? Shucks.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I find Johnston to be right far more than he’s wrong, and really don’t get the hatred people have for him.
Also, given what happened to Chuck Dixon, I am quite really to accept that any misstep by DC is possible.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Well, a while back, Rich reported that Shooter left the Legion and there was no news of it…. until the title was canceled and Jim said that he HAD left the book (fired) earlier and begged to be reinstated, which he was… until the book was canceled.
In other words, Rich may have been correct, but OTHER STUFF HAPPENED later.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Rich Johnston killed my favorite pet dog.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Funny how DC was quick to squash the “Robinson has quit Superman and DC” rumor, but has said NOTHING in regards to the massive rewrites on Final Crisis #7 or what’s going on with Grant Morrison because of those rewrites.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
It’s a rumor column. Why do people get so worked up about it?
November 19th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Because ever since that article exposed the nonsense that was going on with Spider-Man and “One More Day,” the fanboys think LITG is the end-all be-all of comic book news.
Also, the haters of Dan DiDio, Grant Morrison and the direction of the DCU clamor to rumors like they’re truth, because they often WANT them to be the truth.
Remember when everyone was getting excited when LITG reported that Dan DiDio might be losing his job?
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
You can’t believe half of what you read on LITG, but for some reason the fanboys read it as if it were their Bible.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Do you know what? I wasn’t wrong.
This story is developing. As it currently states in the column.
Look for a full update on Monday.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Acrid Gunsmoke, you said “Remember when everyone was getting excited when LITG reported that Dan DiDio might be losing his job? ”
I don’t. I seem to recall that LITG was reporting that Dan WOULDN’T be losing his job, indeed that his contract had been recently renewed, against the whipped up beliefs of the internet.
Check it out yourself:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=16910&page=article
November 19th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Richard Pachter knows the score.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Eddie, would you call me that to my face?
only ask because I’ve been playing with the Gmail Voice and Chat. I’m on richjohnston@gmail.com if anyone wants to shout abuse down the webcam at me.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Me and Alan Moore!
November 19th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I don’t recall anyone saying DiDio was being fired… There’s just a whole lot of us hoping for it.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I’m not one of the people who’s hoping for DiDio to be fired, but really…as a 35-year DC fan, I’m starting to wonder if ANYONE over there understands that, at some point in the creation of the book, the editor is supposed to say “That’s it, it’s deadline, no more changes.” This business of books still being rewritten when they were supposed to be at the printer already is just nuts.
Also, concerning the James Robinson is-he-gone-or-not issue, why in God’s name would you hire a writer known, as Robinson is, for writing fascinating supporting casts, for a book where you were planning to effectively jettison the supporting cast for a year or more?
What could possibly make anyone think that kicking Superman out of Action Comics, his home for SEVENTY YEARS, was going to be a good thing? Particularly after the kick-ass work Geoff Johns has been doing there?
DOES ANYONE THERE KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY’RE DOING?
November 19th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
“Funny how DC was quick to squash the “Robinson has quit Superman and DC” rumor, but has said NOTHING in regards to the massive rewrites on Final Crisis #7 or what’s going on with Grant Morrison because of those rewrites.”
Was it rewrites that caused the delay? I’ve been under the impression that it was an art issue.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Josh, if you shave, do you change to Joshua “Shorn Man” Shaw ?
November 19th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
# Acrid Gunsmoke Says:
November 19th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Because ever since that article exposed the nonsense that was going on with Spider-Man and “One More Day,” the fanboys think LITG is the end-all be-all of comic book news.
Also, the haters of Dan DiDio, Grant Morrison and the direction of the DCU clamor to rumors like they’re truth, because they often WANT them to be the truth.
——————————————————————
How about people who scream untruthful things whilst hiding behind an internet handle. I’ve been enjoying Rich’s column for sometime, for the schoolhouse type rumors comics are famous for, right through to the push to help out great publishers like Top Shelf or Fantagraphics when their printers bailed on them and left them with one hell of a bill. If anything Rich shows his love for the medium, does it piss people off from time to time? Sure but he tries to keep em honest.
Not everything is always true sure, but he doesn’t state that it all is.
November 19th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I think it’s funny that people get so mad over a rumor column. I mean if it’s true then it sucks and you’ll have to deal with it whether Rich reports it or not, and if it’s not and Rich’s source is wrong then why get your panties in a knot, you’ll still get to enjoy the book.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Why can’t DC have blogs on their site to debunk rumors like this? A word from the editorial or something instead of this awful silence.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
“Josh, if you shave, do you change to Joshua “Shorn Man” Shaw ?”
I’ve been wondering that myself these last couple of weeks. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
The latest and greatest anti-hero—
Rich Johnston as Vurman!
November 21st, 2008 at 3:03 am
Alan Coil = fail
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Rich Johnston lies
November 25th, 2008 at 11:25 am
truth smells
November 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
When people shave, they generally look younger, so “Shorn Lad” is likely more appropriate.