Bastard Sons of The Father: James Robinson Leaves DC

NO COMMENTS YET

james_robinson_headshotWell, there goes all my hopes for another Starman story… or worse: here comes another Goddamned Starman story.

Allow me to explain. Yesterday, via Twitter, the magical service that allows people to reach into my life across time and space to show me the things that they are about to have for dinner,  DC Comics’s Earth 2 writer James Robinson announced that he is leaving that book.

Okay, that’s a bummer, especially considering that when it comes to alternate versions of classic heroes, Robinson is one of the best in the business – so good that the characterizations in his Elseworld’s story The Golden Age became, pre-New 52, part of DC’s Golden Age canon.

But hey: maybe this was good news! Maybe Robinson was freeing himself up to do that last Starman story he’s always been saying he wants to do! Maybe it means that he’s clearing himself up to do a complete new Starman series! Maybe it means –

Oh, what’s that? It means nothing of the sort?

Shit.

I’m not gonna speculate what might have led to Robinson’s decision. I don’t know the guy, and for all I know he’s found a sweet gig as a beer taster for the Anchor Steam brewery in San Francisco with a side job as Head Boob Inspector for Vivid Video. But Robinson isn’t the first A-List creator to walk away from DC Comics since the New 52 relaunch – off the top of my head, Judd Winick’s left to work on a creator-owned project, Paul Cornell’s left to work on Wolverine for Marvel, and Rob Liefeld’s left to… do whatever it is that Rob Liefeld does after torching every bridge he can get his hands on. But then again, there have been some high-profile defections from Marvel recently, so Robinson’s departure doesn’t necessarily mean anything at all.

But what I will speculate on is that this could well mean that we get new Starman stories. Just not the ones we wanted.

Sure, supposedly Robinson has a deal with DC that doesn’t allow anyone to use Jack Knight or any of the other primary characters from Starman without his permission, and God knows that I’m not privy to that contract or deal or whatever. But we are just at the tail end of Before Watchmen, a series put out by DC Comics in direct violation of the original writer’s wishes, and despite a long-time unwritten policy by Paul Levitz to prevent such a project… because somebody figured there was a buck in doing it.

So that’s my great fear in this situation: that Robinson moves on to some greener pasture where, when creative teams are announced on books, they remain until those books actually come out… and that then we get an announcement that DC is releasing a new Jack Knight Starman book by Geoff Johns. Only to be told a week later that it’s actually gonna be by Robert Venditti. With the actual book being released with Scott Lobdell’s name on it. Featuring Stargirl with the memory of a goldfish and the yen for cock of an egg-sucking dog.

(via Bleeding Cool)

Categories: Comic Book News Tags:
May 18, 2013 by Rob
Previous:
Next: