Geoff Johns Promoted To President Of DC Entertainment

 

Comicbook.com and other media outlets who were at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend have confirmed that Geoff Johns has been promoted to president of DC Entertainment. Johns still retains the title of Cheif Creative Officer at DC as well.

Reportedly this promotion happened at the same time Johns was promoted to overseeing DC’s film production with producer Jon Berg. There has been no official announcement released by Warner Bros. yet.

Johns recently wrote the oversized one-shot to kickstart the DC Universe: Rebirth event that is currently going on now. Johns has said this will be the last comic he writes for a long while, due to his new responsibilities.

I have to say he ended it on a high note, grab a copy if you can still find one at your local comic shop. You will not regret the purchase.

Geoff Johns is best known for rebooting the Green Lantern franchise (Green Lantern: Rebirth) in the mid-2000’s, the Superman limited series Secret Origin and bringing back Barry Allen as the Flash (The Flash: Rebirth) in 2009.

It will be interesting to see what influence Johns will have for future DC movies. He has a vast knowledge of the DC universe and is a talented writer. Hopefully, his opinion will be valued and taken into consideration by the movie makers.

What do you think about Johns promotion? Do you think he can help turn around DC’s struggling film franchises? Let me know in the comments below.

DC Reveals Art For All-Star Batman At SDCC 2016

SDCC preview night has arrived!

DC Comics has just unveiled art for the upcoming All-Star Batman, which will be written by Batman veteran Scott Snyder and drawn by legendary artist John Romita Jr (JRJR).

Scott has called All-Star Batman “his Long Halloween” (The Long Halloween is Batman graphic novel by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale). His first arc will centre around Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. Scott has planned revolving collaborations with some of the top artists in the industry on this book, including Jock, Sean Gordon Declan Shalvey and Francesco Francavilla. All-Star Batman will be in continuity with the recent Rebirth relaunch that happened to the DC Universe this past spring.

Here is Jason Inman of DC All Access interviewing Scott Snyder and John Romita Jr. (plus more art shown)

Scott has also been previewing art on his Twitter feed. Follow him at @Ssnyder1835

All-Star Batman #1 will arrive on shelves (Comixology for digital fans) August 10th 2016.

More SDCC news to come in the coming hours and days. Keep checking in at Skatronixxx.com

Frank Cho Leaves Wonder Woman

Thought I would take a brief break from SDCC coverage to share some important news.

 

Bleedingcool reported yesterday that artist Frank Cho has walked off Wonder Women after drawing six covers. Frank was hired by DC to do 24 covers to coincide with the books bi-monthly release for the first year.

He explained why he left to Bleedingcool.

All the problem lies with Greg Rucka.

EVERYONE loves my Wonder Woman covers and wants me to stay. Greg Rucka is the ONLY one who has any problem with covers. Greg Rucka has been trying to alter and censor my artwork since day one.

Greg Rucka thought my Wonder Woman #3 cover was vulgar and showed too much skin, and has been spearheading censorship, which is baffling since my Wonder Woman image is on model and shows the same amount of skin as the interior art, and it’s a VARIANT COVER, and he should have no editorial control over it. (But he does. WTF?!!!)

I tried to play nice, not rock the boat and do my best on the covers, but Greg’s weird political agenda against me and my art has made that job impossible. Wonder Woman was the ONLY reason I came over to DC Comics.

To DC’s credit, especially [Art Director] Mark Chiarello, they have been very accommodating. But they are caught between a rock and a hard place.

I just wanted to be left alone and do my Wonder Woman variant covers in peace. But Greg Rucka is in a hostile power trip and causing unnecessary friction over variant covers.

This is just Cho’s side of the story. Greg Rucka (writer of Wonder Woman) has yet to respond to tell his side.

 

Whether what Cho said is correct or not, the man felt bullied out of a job. Regardless of who you are, that’s a horrible feeling. I remember him posting about going to California to chat with DC. He said the only reason he was working for DC was the for the Wonder Woman Gig. Cho’s work on Wonder Woman seem very tame compared to his previous work; I don’t see the problem with his interpretation of Wonder Woman.

Claims of censorship from surprisingly not DC but writer Greg Rucka is very odd considering a writer (at least in the work for hire game) never has the power of an editor. It seems that despite the DC staff’s approval of Cho’s work one person (who is not a permanent DC employee) had the “power” to say I want it my way.

Greg is a big name writer, with a huge following. He is well respected by SJW’s (social justice warriors) and people who are PC (politically correct) for his portrayal of women in comics. Cho, on the other hand, is hated by SJWs and the PC crowd. They believe his art is over sexualized and demeaning to women and look for every opportunity to call him a misogynist and voice their disgust for him and his work.

It’s fine not to like Cho’s art; it comes down to personal taste. What you can’t deny is his talent and his right to create, and his right to be employed despite political and social differences. Cho made an agreement with DC, not Greg Rucka, if DC had said, we don’t like it, that’s their right they own the property. I understand why Cho left and why DC couldn’t do much about it, you have a superstar writer who’s not a fan of a superstar artist, a bit of a catch 22.

The past few years I have noticed the shocking influence the social justice, and PC culture has had on the comic book community and society in general.(my country Canada is pretty close to changing our national anthem from “all thy sons command” to “in all of us command”….sigh ). For the most part, I see nothing but whining, complaining and hypersensitivity to any comment or differing opinion from their own.

The truth is they do not represent the majority; they have been getting mostly positive influence and support from the media which make them seem larger than they are.

I’m acutely aware of issues of sexual harassment and inequality in the comic book industry. I realise a lot of creators in a position of influence are keeping quiet on the topic.I don’t condone it; I believe it’s something that should be talked about but not over social media, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter. It turns into a mob of your ignorant or your an idiot, from random people wanting to put their two cents in. Nothing will get accomplished that way.

The sad thing to me about mainstream comics today is that no one is saying I want a story that’s told well by talented creators, regardless of gender, religion, creed or sexual orientation. Are there creators that are female, and POC that deserves a shot at mainstream comics properties? Absolutely. There are also many people who deserve to play in the NFL or the NBA that never get a chance despite their talent. Countless reasons for this are known and unknown to the public and the professionals. It happens in every creative and athletic market, not just comics. Shouting at the top of your lungs for “Diversity” in a mainstream industry who is interested in making money is not working. Sales have declined for many of Marvel’s books mainly, for giving into to an immature movement. Lots fans feel they are force fed an ungenuine form of diversity.

If you feel like your not represented in comics, I suggest exploring indie comics, or better yet make your own. If you believe there is an audience for your particular comic start a Kickstarter campaign, people will support it. You have the ability to outsell Marvel and DC if you have the right book and the right marketing of it. If you have time to complain 24/7 from your keyboard, you have time actually to do something productive and make a “real” difference. What the social justice community and even fanboys need to realise is that all this extremist hate and an argument are over FICTIONAL CHARACTERS (Ben Affleck’s best line in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back by the way) they are not real, we all need to step back and remind ourselves of that sometimes.

The social justice culture is no different than religious groups who force their views down your throat or vegans pushing their agenda, or people who believe we should all cut out gluten from our diet.

It’s easy to get caught up in a movement or belief system and lose sight of common sense and treating you fellow man(persons for the PC crowd) with respect. The big question is why do we to act like were children or even like were in high school? What happened to real constructive criticism and fair debate?

I hope this incident with Frank Cho doesn’t occur to another artist but with the way our culture is right now I don’t see it getting any better. For the sake of comics, I hope I’m wrong.

 

Previewing This Week In Comics: 6/29/16 Edition

Hey everybody you may know me as the Lucha Underground writer for this site so I’d like to welcome you to my new weekly comic book preview for Skatronixxx.

I recently got a job at a comic book store and have the chance to check out and read these issues before many others get the chance to. I hope this info helps you decide what you may pick up this week and I’ll make sure to do it spoiler free.

I’d like to start my first article by beginning with my pick of the week.

Steve’s Pick of the Week: Captain America: Steve Rogers #2

I know many people are frustrated and bothered by the end of the last issue and I was no different. Cap turning “heel” (that’s a wrestling term for you non-wrestling fans) was one of the weirdest decisions in recent comic book history.

Why is this my pick of the week? Let’s just say this issue may be even more intense than the first one. I will admit though, if you had problems with the first issue you may have them with this one as well.

Also this week from Marvel we are getting new issues of Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Darth Vader, Squirrel Girl and Star-Lord. Just to name a few.

Black Panther has been remarkably well-received at my store so far and is consistently towards the top of the popularity list. I’ve enjoyed the first two issues and am looking forward to checking out the third in the next few days.

As I mentioned, we are also getting new issues of other Marvel comics this week. One I suggest you check out is Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #9. I really enjoy this series and this issue is no different. Each issue of this comic is just plain fun.

On the DC side of things its a bit of an off week. There’s no new Rebirth comics week but we do get some interesting annuals from Teen Titans, Grayson and Deathstroke.

My pick on the DC side of things this week would be Dark Knight III: The Master Race #5.

The series is off to a great start and I think that streak continues this week in issue #5.

This week from IDW we get new release like Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything #5, Micronauts #3 and Wynona Earp #5. As a massive TMNT fan, I suggest you check out Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything #5 this week.

For other companies like Oni Press, Dark Horse, Image and Boom!, we’ll see some pretty great releases this week from them too. Those being new issues of Rick & Morty, Steven Universe, East of West and Mae.

East of West has been terrific and continues to be in the next issue as does Mae in what is only it’s second issue.

I hope you all have enjoyed my first article on the comics of the week! If you decide to pick up any that I suggest, tweet me at @JellyBeanSteve or @Skatronixxx and let us know what you thought about my choices (rather good or bad).

Thanks for reading and go out and buy comics everybody!