Rob Liefeld -The Charlie Sheen Of Comics…?

Mother forgive me but I am finding myself rooting for Rob Liefeld.
Artist Terry Pavlet (Haus of Design) asked the following on Face Book:

“Would somebody please make a list of who who’s of leaving Marvel and DC since December, so I can get it straight and who is left?”

Well, I guess my hints about all the crap going on at the, uh, “Big Two” (I’m sure there IS a juvenile joke there) have nopt sunk through.

Marvel has managed to keep a tight little grasp on some of the creators that are disgruntled.  Let’s just say one thing: those cheerful, laughing lovable guys who represent the Big Two to the public and fandom at large -they’ll stab you in the back and keep twisting the blade until you can’t hurt any more.

Now, I am NOT going to attack Liefeld for his art.  I’ve said before that he does what he does and seems to generally enjoy himself and get paid for it -it’s the comicker’s dream!

No, what Liefeld has done is the unforgivable. He has dared to speak out about editorial and management incompetence (Hey, we’ve all been there and done that, right?) and why it is screwing up, in this case, DC.  Editors who have one failure after another and get rewarded? Nothing new there.  Editorial policy and editors changing their minds at every tick of the clock so that it makes writers (and, oh yes, artists busy drawing the stuff) question whether someone is tripping.

But this is where Liefeld and, uh, “others”, have made a mistake.  He has publicly spoken out on the matter.  Comic editors are an incestuous bunch and they know that if you let one creator speak out against “one of their own” -even if at another company- they will no longer be the great gods you must bow down to and lick the arse of. I think everyone knows my opinion of gods, right?

And today they can do what they could not do years ago (up until the 1980s editors knew what they were doing so there was never a reason back then) -they can gang up and use twitter and the full resources of the internet to attack someone knowing the idiot geek fraction will lap it up and that blogs with a vested interest in staying on the Big Two’s side will follow through on.

But when it comes down to name calling there is no sense just chaos. Talkcomix posted this:

http://www.talkcomix.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=325%3Aliefeld-vs-the-comic-universe&catid=5%3Anews

There is a problem in that the reporting makes it seem Liefeld is some loony out of control creator -the Charlie Sheen of comics.  After all, don’t they present all the positive and unified postings of the various bosses and editors at Marvel AND DC to show that it’s Liefeld having a problem?

Now, that’s how it seems to the reader.  Whether this is accidental or deliberate I have no idea of knowing but it is very one-sided.

A fairer approach would have been to approach Liefeld and ask for an interview to outline the problem(s) as he sees it. But not just Liefeld, also the others leaving well paid work at DC and Marvel and see just what is going on -then get a response from the editor/whatever involved.

Some creators leaving the companies are going overboard on the “hey- its nothing to do with the company…” line.  You do a search on the internet you see who is leaving who and the lines are the same. Why? Well, companies change and editors come and go.  So, keep quiet and you may be asked back by a new editor and the company will not mind because you spoke out against an editor NOT the company.
If these disgruntled creators -and there are a good few despite what is being said- spoke out then Liefeld would not be alone and companies might be forced to “bend with the wind”.  But, as with the UK comics industry, no one will really speak out. It’s a kind of cowardice based on wanting to keep working and paying bills!

Look how that turned out for the late UK comics industry.

Marvel seems to be going in an endless cycle of the same old same old while sales suffer.  DC just seems to have gone from a ten pound steak to a quarter pound mince.

It’s nice for the editors to have a “stable” of writers/artists and they can be controlled or they get pushed aside.  You need to get in fresh blood both art and writing wise and keep the teams flexible and keep open the possibility of bringing in newer and fresher writers.

“Fan favourite” I once had explained to me as meaning that a few people like him/her so “we keep saying fan favourite the schmucks will believe it and buy!”  Though it does not always work like that!

Liefeld has dared to do the unthinkable in the US industry-speaking out against things that will eventually make the Big Two hit the fan. It will happen -its just a question of when.

It would be nice seeing other disgruntled creators speak out but not to the point where attention is diverted from the issue in question and to personal insults. Breevort and co. use an old business trick in swinging things to make it all seem personal -Liefeld fell into that one.

US creators need to decide on whether they want a strong industry in future or a dead one.  Leaving Liefeld out to dry is shameful.