File this under “Surprising, and potentially very interesting” – Brian Wood updates his career plans via his blog:
So late 2011 and onwards, you will see a lot more company-owned work from me. More than you might guess. That might seem odd coming from me – and it feels odd TO me – but it is all part of A Plan.
I took the slow, difficult way in comics, stubbornly choosing to try and build a sustainable career doing creator-owned work only. These days the trend seems to be to put out a well-received indie book, rapidly move to Marvel, or DC, and get on a big name title. I understand the appeal of that on several levels, but like I said, I was stubborn. I’ve also described myself in the past as “superhero illiterate”, and so that sort of work was never my #1 goal.
But I went fulltime in comics in 2003, by 2004-5 when I started writing DMZ, I was paying the bills off comics alone, and I felt by the time Northlanders launched in 2007 that I had that career I was aiming for. Now, with DMZ hitting 72 issues and North at 41 and counting, I feel like I proved it, I reached that goal. If only to myself, I proved that you can have a career doing creator-owned work. I have two kids, I bought a house, etc etc. And so now I feel freer to experiment and take on some company books and see what that’s all about and reap whatever benefits may come my way. Its certainly a very different sort of work. It exercises different creative muscles.
I’ll still do creator-owned work… I have two projects planned, one at least should be announced in the next couple months. Northlanders will keep running for while, but the company-owned work news will start dropping between now and the fall, so heads-up.
After all of that, the last line is the kicker:
I will also say that I am no longer DC exclusive.
Wood on some Marvel book in the future, then? That could be interesting – Wood has really proven himself to be a writer worth paying attention with DMZ, New York Four/Five and Local amongst many others, and he’s one of the few creators who’ve carved themselves a niche at either DC or Marvel in the last few years without a stint on a high-profile superhero book (Wood did do a DV8 series for Wildstorm last year, and had a short run on X-Force back in the late 1990s, but that’s about it). I admit, I’m hoping that the no longer DC exclusive line means more indie work from Oni or someone similar, too, but… place your bets for where Wood’s work-for-hire will be appearing soon.
Is an announcement in a couple of months too late for all of the new DC line…?
