Chris Arrant uncovers some good news in his interview with David Lafuente over at CBR – He’s coming back to comics after a “sabbatical” in his exclusive contact with Marvel:
There have been ups and downs in my collaboration with Marvel, but I think we’ve been able to work things out. Everybody sets out to make a great book. But that could mean many different things. For one perhaps it’s a book that is commercially successful. For another it may be a book that gets an emotional response from the reader. For others, a book that is done in time. The key is to put together people who are after the same goals, or at least close enough. Working with people for months on end, doing something that is very subjective, is always tricky. An author with a long-term vision can’t agree with certain policies of a corporation. That vision is not always practical. Things are more complicated than black and white. And there is common ground were company and author can meet. Marvel has been very supportive of me and I’ve repaid that confidence with my best work. A rather good exchange I believe.
After the long pause I’m looking forward to come back to fulfill the rest of my contract. I want to honor the agreement. Beyond that, I have plans. I’ll have to see what the landscape looks like, though, and how to go about those plans. Interesting times ahead nevertheless.
Lafuente is one of my favorite superhero artists around these days, and I was one of many who wondered what happened to him after his short New Mutants run last year; turns out, he was burned out from overwork (“By the second [Ultimate Comics Spider-Man] arc, “Chameleons,” I was exhausted,” he explains. “I was doing pencils and inks plus two covers a month”), and has been taking time to recharge and work on some creator-owned material. I’m really looking forward to seeing him back.
August 10th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Thanks for the link, Graeme!
August 12th, 2012 at 6:14 am
And there is common ground were company and author can meet. Marvel has been very supportive of me and I’ve repaid that confidence with my best work. A rather good exchange I believe.