DC Shakes Up Creative Teams On ANIMAL MAN, SUICIDE SQUAD and More

With DC's rigid monthly release schedule it's no wonder that the publisher is experiencing some shake ups of various creative teams on some of their 'New 52' titles. Earlier today DC revealed some changes being made to three of their current ongoing titles.

Since the launch of the title, Travel Foreman has lent his artistic talents to Jeff Lemire's ANIMAL MAN series at DC. Now, Foreman will be taking his leave and in his stead will be artist Steve Pugh. This isn't the first time that Pugh has contributed to Animal Man's story. one of the artist's very first projects was the character's original series back in the '90's.

“For me, it’s awesome to be returning to a book that was such a milestone in my creative life and with Jeff, a killer writer who’s been punching ANIMAL MAN through the ceiling!” said Pugh. “Yeah, I was buying the book already but now I don’t have to wait so long to find out what happens next!”

RESURRECTION MAN will also be seeing a new artist: Jesus Saiz. The artist has done plenty of work on DC's current BIRDS OF PREY series and will begin drawing Mitch Shelley beginning with the series' ninth issue this May. So what will happen to RESURRECTION MAN's current artist, Fernando Dagnino? Well, he will be moving along to work on DC's SUICIDE SQUAD and is very excited over the prospect of being given the chance to breathe some new artistic life into Harley Quinn.

“Call me insensitive but I must admit I’ve really enjoyed killing Mitch twice or thrice per issue,” said Dagnino. “Nevertheless, it all falls into place knowing that he will be in Jesus’ hands now. This run on RESURRECTION MAN has REALLY been loads of fun but now I must confess I am even more excited to take over the responsibility of dealing with such a thrilling cast of characters as the SUICIDE SQUAD. Harley…I’m coming!”

Those are the shake-ups so far! Do you think moving artists from one book to another is a good idea, or would you rather see the same artist throughout a 12-issue run of a series?

Source: DC Source

But where's Foreman going??

Yeah, awesome.

@Skywarpgold: This article forgot to mention a key link in that chain.

Steve Pugh goes to Animal Man

Travel Foreman goes from Animal Man to Birds of Prey

Jesus Saiz goes from Brids of Prey to Resurrection Man

Fernando Dagnino goes from Resurrection Man to Suicide Squad.

So the Real question is, what happens to Fedorico Dallocchio?

I read both Resurrection Man and Suicide Squad so I can't wait for the crossover

Dc is changing 4 titles BOP SS RM and AM, all of them are getting new artist why did you only count 3?

I hate all these DC creative team changes, but at least all the talent there is good

While in general I'd like artists to stay on long enough to go several arcs, changes in artist can work with the story from time to time.

This is not that. Each and every artist listed here was on a series that they fit PERFECTLY. This is just a humungous bummer of an announcement. Ugh.

I thought you i was going to say Lemire was going to be leaving Animal Man, I was about to pitch a fit

I'm Going to miss Foremen on Animal Man. He brings that IT element to the art but at least his replacement is a good one. Steve Pugh won't miss a beat. It's a homecoming for Mr. Pugh.

Animal Man's change sucks. Steve Pugh is nowhere near as good as Foreman.

@entee: @monopolyloser: @The Mighty Monarch: Ahhhh, thanks guys! Hopefully they'll let him continue his crazy-awesome style on Birds of Pray

@spiderbat87 said:

I thought you i was going to say Lemire was going to be leaving Animal Man, I was about to pitch a fit

This is exactly what I thought the article was going to say too...

The lack of stability in DC's "new" 52 initiative is jarring. They can't keep writers on books. They can't keep artists on books. A half dozen titles were incapable of making it for a full year. It's unbelievable.

Jesus Saiz is like 90% of the reason I'm still reading BoP. This SUCKS.

If they even TOUCH Red Hood or Teen Titans I will scream........I would say the same for Swamp Thing but their back up artists for Yanick Paquete are ALMOST as good as he is. Now if they change the writers on the 3 I named I will probably be done! The only exception I will make is Judd Winnick writing Red Hood. And yet I still think scott does a better job.

@chalkshark said:

The lack of stability in DC's "new" 52 initiative is jarring. They can't keep writers on books. They can't keep artists on books. A half dozen titles were incapable of making it for a full year. It's unbelievable.

If they Drop Capullo, Glapion, and FCO from batman, or change the Batworman team AT ALL I will cancel my entire pull list, I don't care what Jim Lee is drawing these days, he's not putting in the effort he did into his old work and it shows.

@Om1kron: They just got a new artist on Batwoman. I understand that writing and drawing a monthly comic is incredibly time consuming and hard work but it's a huge bummer. Amy Reeder is nowhere near the artist that Williams is.

I....don't....like....change!

>GAWR!!<

Oh man, I really liked Foreman's style on Animal Man. I remember a lot of people were uncertain about it at the beginning of the New 52 over the summer, but I got into it from the start. Too bad, would've at least liked to see a 12 issue run from him.

@chalkshark said:

The lack of stability in DC's "new" 52 initiative is jarring. They can't keep writers on books. They can't keep artists on books. A half dozen titles were incapable of making it for a full year. It's unbelievable.

Really? "Unbelievable"? They canceled 6 titles that mostly just weren't any good, and are replacing them with 6 new hopefully solid books. That's 6... out of FIFTY TWO. And really, it's more like sixty. I'd say that's a pretty damn good ratio. And at least they're clearly willing to try new things and cut what doesn't work.

What would be unbelievable is if a publisher made nothing but perfect comics all the time.

Can we please get a re-redesign for Harley Quinn

@TheRedRobin96: I too believe that Scott Lobdell does a better job with Jason. Anyways, this is interesting as the art for these books has always been good (at least in my opinion). So, this change up will be interesting to see at the very least.

@chalkshark said:

The lack of stability in DC's "new" 52 initiative is jarring. They can't keep writers on books. They can't keep artists on books. A half dozen titles were incapable of making it for a full year. It's unbelievable.

From the sound of it at least half of these artist requested to be changed Saiz in on Resurrection Man because he wanted to do a dark book not because he was booted. It sounds like a similar situation applies to some of the writers and half a dozen books weren't incapable of making it even if the new 52 had been in all 52 top selling book spots they still would have been cut because that was always their plan even before they announced the reboot, the first report I heard about the new 52 included a mention of this plan. It's true that the new 52 has been inconstant but you have to give it time to find it's footing, it's to early to expect thing to be permanent and most of the reboot has been doing great so far

These changes have been really irritating. With this New 52 they really should have taken the initiative to remain on course and keep consistent. Nevertheless I think Steve Pugh is an absolute perfect replacement. I just hope it doesn't upset the flow of the series.

I really am of mixed opinion with all these shake ups. Consistency is being undone already in the New 52 then and its just opening up this new reality to a whole new can of worms, not which the most of could be a new Crisis if the inconsistencies grow out of hand. On the other hand it is nice to see new interpretations come forth. Still, it seems like a double edged sword to me, with good and bad coming out of these shakeups.

I'm gonna hate to see Travel Foreman go, but as long as Lemire is still writing I'm sticking with Animal Man.

NO! BIRDS OF PREY IS LOSING SAIZ?! 
 
Why in the world would they want to shake up a brilliant writing/drawing partnership and send the artist to a lesser book?

@longbowhunter said:

I'm gonna hate to see Travel Foreman go, but as long as Lemire is still writing I'm sticking with Animal Man.

AND I think DC was thinking the same thing; that people would stay for Lemire's writing. Foreman going somewhere else is a good idea because hopefully it'll get some more readers elsewhere. Hopefully all of these changes will put some eyes elsewhere. DC is currently seeing what works and doesn't work. I am all for this.

“Call me insensitive but I must admit I’ve really enjoyed killing Mitch twice or thrice per issue,” said Dagnino. “Nevertheless, it all falls into place knowing that he will be in Jesus’ hands now. This run on RESURRECTION MAN has REALLY been loads of fun but now I must confess I am even more excited to take over the responsibility of dealing with such a thrilling cast of characters as the SUICIDE SQUAD. Harley…I’m coming!”

JESUS CHRIST! HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD! =P

why!!! why must foreman go to birds of prey :'*

I dropped Animal man because of his art despite the fact I liked the writing.

He gets one issue to impress me if it sucks then I'm dropping BOP :(

@RedheadedAtrocitus: I keep reading people talk about inconsistencies but besides the Teen Titans one early one I don't really see anything else.

I'm a little upset that Saiz is leaving BoP, I was loving his art. Plus Foreman leaving Animal Man is also upsetting, as his art fit that book so well. I guess i'll just have to wait and see how things go for those books when the art changes.

Animal Man!

@gangly: Who said anything about perfect comics? My criticism is regarding stability. In general, when a publishing company hires a writer to take on one it's titles, said writer tends to stay on that book for years. Johns has been writing Green Lantern for over 5 years. Brubaker has been writing Captain America for 7 years. Levitz has been on Legion Of Super-Heroes for over 2 years. Bendis has been writing The Avengers for 8 years. Artists don't tend to be too different. Bagley drew over a hundred issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. When you make your living writing and drawing comic books, it's in your best interest to find a book & stay on it, because that means you get to pay your bills every month. This has been the status quo for decades. Yes, creative teams change. This is why we can go back and compare the Miller run on Daredevil to the Nocenti run on Daredevil to the Bendis run on Daredevil to the Brubaker run on Daredevil to the current Waid run on Daredevil. Each creative team leaves their stamp on the book they worked on, and depending on how long they stay on a particular title, they may also define that title's character, or characters, for a generation. The disruption of creative teams at DC Comics is unprecedented. There's no sense of what you're getting form month to month. Green Arrow, alone, will have had three different creative teams playing musical chairs with that title, by it's 7th issue. How can a book be expected to find an audience, if it cannot clearly establish itself?

@BlackArmor: I'm probably sounding a bit more critical than I feel. In large part, most of the books that are playing musical chairs with the creative talent are not ones that I'm picking up. Bringing Pugh in on Animal Man is actually a change I can get behind, as I never cared much for Foreman's art. While it was imaginatively horrific... which suited the title... I never took to his figure or facial work. I've been trying to keep up with the various creator changes, and it hasn't been easy to get straight information regarding why this person or that one has moved on so quickly. The only really detailed accounts I've read were the creative debacle on Static Shock, & Geroge Perez's "read between the lines" comments regarding his departure from Superman. I do think that consistency is very important in establishing any given title, and that the audience will be hard pressed to stay with a title if it's voice keeps changing.

I've heard mention of this "plan" of DC's, too, but I'm not sure how much I'm actually buying into it. It makes for a good sound bite. While it is highly unlikely that all 52 of their new titles would have been consistently high sellers, it's not outside probability that weaker titles may have found a small but stable audience... something that seems to keep X-Factor on the shelves, month after month... or been critical darlings. Had that been the case, I question whether or not DC would have actually gone ahead and axed six titles. One also has to wonder why they would even bother publishing books that no one was asking for... like O.M.A.C or Blackhawks... while holding in reserve the new Justice Society and Batman, Inc titles, books that had huge fan bases that were outraged at their lack of appearance in the "new" 52. Why spend the money on books that are going to be dead on arrival, when you've got guaranteed money makers in the tank? It's an odd move.

For the record, I am giving the titles I'm buying time to find their footing. If I weren't, I would have dropped about half of them after the first issue. At the end of the day, I'm pulling for DC to succeed, here. The industry will only be in worse shape if they fail.

Picking up Ressurection Man for the crossover and BOP from issue 8. Win Win for everyone.

@chalkshark: I heard the reason some of the less requested books came about because writers asked for the opportunity, for example Mister Terrific was never planned but the writer said he had a story in mind and they gave it to him, this also explains why the didn't change authors when the book began to fail. I have no idea why DC held off on their proven money makers but I'm assuming they thought they were pacing themselves, not quite sure I agree with their idea of timing. You definitely have fair points but I personally am going to give them until the 12th issues to find their voice and really hit their stride, If they haven't by then maybe I should be cutting them less slack, I really hope they get everything together soon, and I hope that includes changing back the artist to Suicide Squad and Resurrection Man I don't think the new artist are right for either books feel.

I just want to see the same artist and writer work on the arc together if they can do more then one arc thats great, but I dont get super frustrated when the collected trades have multiple artist sometimes it can work other times its jarring.

@Gordo789 said:

Jesus Saiz is like 90% of the reason I'm still reading BoP. This SUCKS.

Right there with ya; I absolutely floved his line-art.

Saiz drew those girls so well too =/

At first when I saw title I thought Lemire was leaving Animal Man but it's just the artist. Phew.
BB

@chalkshark said:

How can a book be expected to find an audience, if it cannot clearly establish itself?

I completely agree. Teams need time to establish their books and find their flow. But what these DC change ups mean to me is that they're not afraid to make changes when necessary. Green Arrow, as you mentioned, is going through a crazy overhaul. But I think that's great because that book was AWFUL! Similarly Perez abruptly not writing superman is great because he just was not writing it well.

I'd much rather have a company that made some necessary and even unnecessary alterations every now and again, than one which is afraid that any changes at all would loose readers.

Best thing about this post. Rob Liefeld isn't being given any more work to massacre.

I would completely disagree with the sentiment that Pugh won't be as good as Foreman. He proved that he could match Foreman's style, and he's a complete workhorse and brilliant artist. Steve Pugh cut his teeth on Animal man and had one of the longest runs on the book in the 90's. I would actually consider him to be the quintessential artist for Animal. Still, Foreman was good, but his reasons for leaving the book make complete sense, and it's good that he had the foresight to say that he needed a change and needed to leave.

@chalkshark said:

The lack of stability in DC's "new" 52 initiative is jarring. They can't keep writers on books. They can't keep artists on books. A half dozen titles were incapable of making it for a full year. It's unbelievable.

Its only a matter of time before Marvel starts kicking their butt again.But go DC for now hahahaha

Why Couldn't they switch creative teams on Mister Terrific or Static Shock

So far i am loving both series, I just hope they keep doing a good job!