I was a
child at one point (the farther I get from that point, the harder it is to
believe). At that time, comic books were
the most important thing to me. They
were what I wanted to read (I remember being asked to put away a copy of Uncanny X-Men during a scholastic required
reading period because it was not legitimate
reading material) and they were what I wanted to do with my life. This was in the much-maligned 1990s which, as
many of us know, was the heyday of variant covers, chromium foil and trading
card inserts. This was the time of
hundreds of comic books, most with marginally talented creators, all being
pumped out as fast as they could. One of
the individuals that is most closely associated with this time period (and all
of the negatives that come with it) is Rob Liefeld.
Now, I have
not always been kind to Rob in the past (as you can see by my review of Youngblood)
but I will readily admit that I was caught up in the ‘90’s comic firestorm and
found myself rooting for, and even actively participating in, his Heroes Reborn relaunch. I had always been a Captain America fan, so
when it started over at issue one under the Heroes Reborn tag, I scooped that
up like it was going out of style. Of
course that only lasted thirteen issues (and Rob’s involvement only lasted six)
and was hastily relaunched with a new number one under the Heroes Return
banner, to which I promptly said “screw this, I’m not playing your game anymore
Marvel.” While the comics that Rob
produced, and continues to produce to this day, are not technical blueprints of
artistic prowess, you can tell his love and devotion to the craft with every
page.
It is
amazing to see not only the speed that Rob works, considering how many irons he
has in the fire, but this is compounded by the fact that he writes as
well. He is not just a one trick pony
that companies like Marvel and, most recently DC, trot out to increase sales on
books that he had a big hand in in the past (Cable/Deadpool for Marvel, Hawk & Dove for DC). Regardless of how he is perceived around the
industry, the fact that, at the recent conclusion of his time at DC Comics, he
was writing three books and penciling one of them is a testament to not only
his work ethic, but also his love for the profession. Keep in mind that while
he was working on the DC comics and heavily involved in “corporate comics,” he
was also overseeing the Extreme studios properties (maybe not as closely as he
would want to, but I am sure he kept an eye on things at the very least) so his
plate was overflowing with work (and these are only the things that I know
about, there were most likely more).
Anyone that
follows Rob on Twitter (which I highly recommend) or reads the comic news sites
knows that his recent split with DC, while amicable up to a point, was not
without due cause. The simple fact that
Rob’s reasons for leaving echoed those of another legendary creator, George
Perez (even though he is still on World’s
Finest, he did leave the Superman
title) would indicate to me that something is inherently wrong with DC
itself. If one guy, even someone as
credible as Perez, says something, it may be dismissed by the bigwigs at DC as
a misunderstanding, or sour grapes, or something along those lines. When two or more creators echo the same
sentiment (and it’s not just Liefeld and Perez, Gail Simone, Paul Cornell and
John Rozum had similar issues as well), well, where there’s smoke, there’s fire
as the old saying goes. That is a story
for another time though, but if you want a one-sided but fairly
non-confrontational account of editorial prick-waving just follow Rob on
Twitter.
What this
really speaks to is where Rob is as a creator.
He is a guy that was brought in at the onset of the “New 52” and has
been a mainstay on one title or another for the entire run of the relaunch up
to this point. Regardless of how derided
he is in the comics media and by people that want their art to be less
stylized, the dude obviously still sells a shit-ton of books. The fact that he was in charge of writing
three books also proves that he is not just a monkey with a pencil but a guy
that is really trying to make a positive mark on the industry. Now I have not read his recent DC stuff (it’s
not you, Rob, it’s me, I don’t read any “Big Two” if it makes you feel better)
but maybe his future is more as a writer than it is as an artist. We all know he loves to draw, and it is pretty
evident by his work ethic that he is obviously not just in it for a
paycheck.
Maybe it would be best if he put on
his writer’s hat though, and tried his hand at world-creating on his own
terms. This would be a return to what
really allowed him to blow up in popularity during the germination of the Image
years. There is one distinct difference
here though, Rob is now twenty years older, wiser and hopefully better at his
job than he was during those days. While
the wow factor that he (and everyone at Image in those days, for that matter)
produced may be less than it was back then, the overall quality of the books
will undoubtedly be better. He could
easily hire a bunch of creators to work with him and start up a couple new
titles under his Extreme Studios banner (hell, I would work for him in a
heartbeat - you can take that as my official job application Rob). With the success of his recently relaunched
group of books (Prophet, Youngblood,
Glory and Supreme), as well as
his obviously relatively successful run at DC, he may have the fan support to
just go nuts. Anything that is not
associated with the Big Two comic companies is gaining more and more traction
in today’s markets and this may be a perfect time to jump back into the role of
world creating on his own terms. While
having an editor for the line would obviously be beneficial, it would have to
be a real editor and not someone like he had at DC that basically (if I am
interpreting things correctly) came in and thought that he could command and
demand at will. While this may be okay for some people (and it
obviously is, considering the fact that there are still people employed at DC
and no one has burned the place to the ground yet), for someone that is
obviously bursting with ideas and is as involved in as many books as Rob is, I
can only imagine the frustration. This
is only compounded by the fact that his workload at DC before his departure was
far more than probably anyone else, save maybe Geoff Johns.
Regardless, Rob if I could speak to you mano-a-mano,
it’s time to stop being everyone else’s publicity stunt. You are obviously capable of doing your own
thing and by juggling the multiple titles combined with the various demands of
the recent year or so at DC, you have undoubtedly made yourself a better
writer. It’s time to put that to good
use and beat the other companies at their own game. While I am not necessarily the biggest fan of
Rob Liefeld the artist, I am definitely a huge fan of Rob Liefeld the person
and comic book icon and wish you nothing but the best
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