Former Marvel writer Roger Langridge (Thor: The Mighty Avenger), during an Orbital Podcast to promote his creator owned Snarked, had the following to say about his future in the industry:
I’m very happy to be cultivating a working relationship with people like BOOM! and IDW at the moment when Marvel and DC are turning out to be quite problematic from an ethical point of view to continue working with…I think it’s down to everybody’s individual conscience, but I think those of us who have options—and I do have options, I’ve got a working relationship with a couple of different publishers, I’ve got illustration to fall back on, I’m not beholden to Marvel and DC for my bread and butter, so it seems to me that if you do have the option you should maybe think hard about what you are doing and who you are doing it for. I was writing the last issue of John Carter when the news came that Marvel had won a lawsuit against the heirs of Jack Kirby, and Steve Bissette wrote a very impassioned post about the ethics of working for Marvel under those circumstances, and pretty much then I figured I should finish the script I was writing and move on, and it’s not like Marvel needs me. It’s no skin off their nose if I don’t accept anything else from them in the future.
Hm…I will say, that the independent companies are getting better and better content wise, as of late (particularly IDW, Image and Boom!)…I mean, like some of the best stuff I’ve read. And, with the HUGE success of things like The Walking Dead (AMC), and Y: The Last Man in production, I am sure that those companies will be getting more and more mainstream attention, in the near future. You would think that the “Big Two” would do more to keep good artists happy.
I will keep you posted.
PS, this news comes just a month after Chris Roberson (iZombie, Superman) announced his parting from DC with the following tweets:
“Aside from the Fairest arc I already committed to doing, iZombie will be the last time I’ll ever write for DC…I decided quite some time ago, but waited until after the cancellation of my book was announced to discuss it. The short version is, I don’t agree with the way they treat other creators and their general business practices.”
Totally F***ING Awesome!! 