When readers hear about book cancellations or changes made to creative teams by publishing companies the question of why these changes are made almost always comes up. While more often than not changes made to a book are made for financial reasons, there are times where creators will leave a book because of creative differences. Thing is, the stories about those creative difference are rarely (if ever) divulged for fear of being blacklisted by the publisher.

It's no wonder; really; at the end of the day writers want to be paid for their craft, and with so few publishers and such a tough industry to survive in, often one has to swallow their pride in order to keep food on the table.

Writer John Rozum, however, is one of the brave few to openly discuss a negative experience he had writing at DC Comics. Back in September Rozum first signed on to write Static Shock for DC comics as part of the launch of the "New 52." His initial thought was to reintroduce the character to fans as a very cool, powerful and prominent hero -- but he quickly discovered that the goals he had for Static were likely never to come into fruition. Rozum recently discussed his departure from Static Shock in response to a blog post made by a fan of the series titled 'Not Shocked, By Danny Donovan' Below is a response from Rozum regarding his experience.

I went into Static Shock with a lot of high hopes. Among them was showing that Static wasn’t simply an A-list character, but one of the most powerful in the DCnU. I really wanted this series to be fun and exciting and to bring the same degree of creativity to it that I put into Xombi balanced with making Virgil’s personal life at least as engaging as his superhero life. I also saw Static Shock as an excellent gateway through which to pull the rest of the Milestone characters into the DCnU.

I quickly learned that none of these plans were going to see fruition. I wound up being shunted to the sidelines as the writer while Scott McDaniel’s “high concept” criminal syndicate made up of Power Rangers and a big monosyllabic thug took center stage and Harvey’s ideas of the 2 Sharon’s and slicing off Static’s arm were implemented as desperate means of trying to draw attention to the book.

I tried my best to keep it from being a total turd, but as I said, I was completely sidelined. My main contributions were the Pale Man character, Guillotina, naming the school after Dwayne McDuffie, and including Hardware, along with random lines of dialogue. I decided it was unethical to stick with a title that a) I thought was garbage b) that people were buying because of my involvement, due to Xombi, when really I had nothing to do with it c) because I wasn’t being utilized on the title.

Frankly, Static deserved a lot better.

Rozum got into more detail about what really happened on STATIC SHOCK in a recent blog post. A decision he made after a publisher other than DC Comics refused to work with him because of his work on STATIC SHOCK. Check it out below.

Initially, I had never intended to openly discuss the reasons why I chose to leave Static Shock. My reasons were my own, and I felt that after expressing them to the powers that be at DC Comics and after discussing them with Bob Harras that the situation was resolved amicably and that there was no reason to say anything further than acknowledging that I had indeed left the series. However, since the announcement that Static Shock would cease publication with issue #8 ( I was only involved with issues 1-4) there’s been a lot of online chatter about why the series failed, and I’ve received a lot of angry email blaming me for wrecking the series, the character, and the opportunity for an African-American character to take center stage at one of the big publishing companies. I’ve had people announce that due to the low quality of comic that they would no longer buy anything that had my name on it. I’ve had an editor at a publisher other than DC say they weren’t interested in having me write for them because they thought Static Shock was a poor comic book series.

To say I was disappointed with how things turned out is an understatement. From the first issue on, I was essentially benched by Harvey Richards and artist/writer Scott McDaniel. All of my ideas and suggestions were met with disdain, and Scott McDaniel lectured me on how my method for writing was wrong because it wasn't what the Robert McKee screenwriting book he read told him was the way to do things. The man who'd never written anything was suddenly more expert than me and the editor was agreeing with him. Scott had also never read a Static comic book, nor seen the cartoon series, yet was telling me that my dialogue didn't sound true to the character and would "fix it."

The issue here is not about whether Rozum can write, as those who have read his work on XOMBI already know; it's about how much creative liberty a creator should be entitled to when it comes to a property. If he is writing a book, he should be allowed to, well, write. Right? What do you think? Check out Rozum's full blog here for the full story.

Source: Robot 6

So of this so called great comic writers of our time only got that 'title' because they were given a chance... sounds like John Rozum wasn't given that chance in DC... thats just my opinion.

Like I wrote in JonesDeini's blog...If this is the case, then it is a damn shame that it came to this. Unfortunately this is just one man's perspective on the matter, and being that I am an historian and am prone to realize that one can only understand things fully when one reads the problem from all points of view, I cannot exactly take this at total face value for what happened behind the scenes on this title. Many of you may disagree with me here, but we need to hear rebuttals from Harvey Richards or Scott McDaniel before we can believe all of this. It may seem wrong, but it is only right. Otherwise, we don't know the full story, only Rozum's point of view. Rozum is only human, and as humans we are all guilty of bias and personal opinion. Still seems sad though if this is the case though.

What ever happened it's a damn shame the character had to suffer for it

I'll say exactly what I said on the original thread, If he's telling the truth this guys 100% responsible for the few things I liked about this series and he really deserved more control and to be treated better

If this is true, and I don't doubt it is from the way DC editorial seems to have been staffing their books lately, it is a disgraceful story. Static is a great character, and the Milestone universe deserved a place on the DC roster. Instead they seem to have employed 'good ol' boy' politics and sacrificed the series to a less than stellar artist as a safe haven for his first shot at being a writer.

The same nonsense seemed to go on over in the Mr. Terrific book as well, where lazy and blatantly sub-par scripts were published. And what a shame that I had to drop that book, because I thought the art on Mr. Terrific was some of the best in the new 52.

All of that being said though, you never know. Rozum's run could have been even worse, probably not but possibly. After all, I though the whole 2 Sharon's thing was an interesting mystery.

You will not hear any kind of rebuttal from the editor or the artist. If you do it will be a corporate prepared statement from Didio or some executive blowhard at DC. They set Static Shock up for failure plain and simple. They took a character who despite the lack of any huge marketing blitz or significant product placement became a cult favorite and spawned an intriguing and worthwhile animated television series...they stripped him of his essence which was the main character's alter ego, Virgil. There was less character development involving Virgil and more action pumped in because we all know Static Shock's origin so well. He was also inexplicably removed from his home Dakota City and transplanted to New York. This is almost akin to moving Bat Man from Gotham City to Cleveland. Bat Man would still be cool, but Gotham accentuates his character. Besides the one appearance of Hardware that thrilled me silly...there was no mention or sign of any of the other Milestone denizens. WHY? Why didn't anyone intervene when this book started going down the wrong track? Why was the art so terrible and lackluster as opposed to the other NEW 52 titles? Why was the artwork on Mr. Terrific just as horrible if not worse? Because DC does not give a damn in the slightest about either one of these characters and their lack of effort led to a demise I'm sure they are not to concerned about. And to all the hooligans out there who cry foul over my Bat Man comparison...relax, you know exactly the point I'm trying to make.

While I totally understand the need for editors maintaining some form of control over the creative experience, I feel that the unequal distribution of such editorial control is a scourge to the big two publishers. I rarely got that feeling from DC before the relaunch, but I've always felt this way about Marvel. It's pretty clear that there are creators that are allowed much more liberties than others, and, its important to note, that for the most part, these liberties contribute to creators taking great risks and enjoying even greater payoffs (think Scott Snyder's work in the Batman universe over the past year -- he took a lot of risks and its paying off). The creative freedom given to some creators is excellent, but its apparent that the freedom is not distributed normally.

Worse yet, with a situation like the one we have now at DC, there can be editors who favor certain creators over others and, in truth, the story usually suffers. Its no secret that many blame Harras for giving a lot of guys work at DC that weren't working before the relaunch, decisions which drastically altered the tone of the books and the characters' continuity. Now, I'm not a comics historian, so I don't subscribe to this theory in total myself, but I've heard it espoused numerous times and its worth mentioning, especially since it relates to the experience that Rozum had on Static. It sounds pretty straight-forward to me: editorial had a clear vision for what Static should be and that vision was one crafted by a favored artist in McDaniel; this equation really leaves very little room for a writer, even a good one like Rozum.

It's a shame, really; on one hand, you want editors around to maintain control and continuity, but you also want to read stories where writers and artists take risks -- as long as the make sense! -- with characters that are too often typecast into "typical" stories. Unfortunately, the New 52 has trampled continuity and suppressed creative freedom -- I guess that's the worst of both arguments.

i actually believe Rozum. Ive been in many positions with school and work where someone wants to be the expert on how things are supposed to be and its frustrating because heres a guy whose profession is to write! not only is he seeing this opportunity to write this character to get paid but he really wanted to give this characters series MORE. and now you have someone whos job is to DRAW based on the writers context. he's now lecturing him on his profession? id love to see how well Scott McDaniel's comics last lets seee how far he makes it as a writer. and bad job on the editors part for choosing a side..you dont choose sides as an editor you fix things EDIT what needs to be done not change things off of biased. ohh well i didn't pick up this series anyway so w/e lol

I agree! Grant Morrison said it best when he wrote Animal Man for a time; There are no bad characters just bad writing. If the powers that be really thought Static was a bad character, then they should have allowed Rozum to write him with a good story arc. I think it's a shame the way he was treated and it's a shame how Static was treated.

Wow, major props to him for coming out and revealing this, because I won't lie, the whole 2 Sharons thing and the lame villains juste made me drop the book outright, and I'm happy to know it wasn't his fault.

if you are given an opportunity to write a book especially a powerful but c list character like static, and give him a chance to survive in a new universe, you should take it. DC took a good book (i own issues 1-2) and then kick off the writer after he has been given critical acclaim only to blacklist him and bring in someone else is a slap to the face. static was a great opportunity for DC to recover from the comic con fiasco last year about not having women in comics, and they blew it. so now not only do they not have a lot of women helming DC comics, but also they lost a great minority character. even though rozum is not black, it will have tons of black comic fans and black writers who want to join this industry to begin asking dc why they will not endorse or support minorities.

I’ve had an editor at a publisher other than DC say they weren’t interested in having me write for them because they thought Static Shock was a poor comic book series.

Prejudge, so unfair

Wow that really sucks. I never been a big Static Shock fan, I respected the character, but this sucks for both this guy and Static. Someone who has read or write the comics and/or watch the cartoon show should have wrote the book. That be like having a good story for a peace loving character that inspires hope then shooting it down and making them into a character that kills for pleasure.

I had such high hopes for Static because of his Xombi work. I can't understand how DC thought three writers on one story could possibly work. Rozum is right Dtatic is one of the most powerful characters that DC has (the end of Teen Titans before the reboot shows this) and a Static series has great potential because he is basically the only way to introduce Milestone characters, it is a shame that they turned him into some guy fighting power rangers wanna-bes. Also props to Rozum for creating Pale Man and Gillotina, they were definately high points of the series.

I believe what Rozum says, but I think the way he aired his grievances in a public fashion even singling out 2 other individuals is horribly unprofessional in any line of work. This makes Rozum look bad, will probably destroy his career (because who will want to work with a guy who is going to slander them), and makes me feel lesser about him even though i did really get into Xombi

minority characters can't sell comicbooks and there aren't many writers that understand them or even try.

@SIRIUS_BLAK: And here they say that racist is dead in the usa... ha! because of s--t like this is why i dont pay for comics anymore. i get them for free online. with these companies its like people of color dont matter. i knew these two book wasnt going to last.

I read this on Comics Alliance this morning. What a sad ordeal. Loved John Rozum's recent work on Xombi. Hope he sticks around and does another DC series where he has creative control.

zing zing zing

creator drama. real talk. yowza

I bet there are a lot more stories like this out there in the land of comic artists and writers, and I hope we hear more.

That really is a shame. When I first heard that Static Shock was coming back as a series for the new 52, I was excited. I thought DC would give Static the respect he deserves in honor of Dwayne McDuffie.

After 5 issues, I don't know what happened. I think one of the main problem with that series was that it took place in New York and not Dakota. It's kind of hard to win fans both old and new when you take that element out. The writers got his personality right, but the story is so redundant by adding uninspiring criminals.

For some reason it makes a lot of sense. Why would there be a fake sister? why would there be a gang of colored weirdos who I didn't find appealing? I didn't mind him leaving his hometown since it was a fresh start for static in the new DC but why this odd changes? I only watched the show before this so it thought they kept some things from the milestone continuity and apparently I was wrong. Usually I hate judging a matter of why something happened (Static being cancelled) before looking at the two sides of the story, but you know what? I'm not surprised. This isn't the first time that DC editors have (censored) up since they feel like they should be telling the stories how they see fit instead instead of you know.......the storytellers themselves. But seriously? chose the entire direction of the book based on what the artist wanted to do instead of the writer who knows what he is doing? That's just stupid and unprofessional who deserves to get his ass fired.

But don't get me wrong, an artist should have a saying in some things as well and it has been shown to work pretty well when both writer and artist agree on something that can benefit the book. But forcing the writer to write stuff that wasn't intended based on what a guy whose job wasn't to write and doesn't know who the character is just ridiculous.

Static Shock is the one who would had brought the Milestone characters that I always wanted to read about for a long time (Read the Justice League of America when worlds collide story arc and I really wanted to learn more about that universe) but that will be for another day.....again.....thank you jerks....for showing how much respect you had for Dwayne Mcduffie's greatest creation.

(P.S: How come the Ray....a total stranger for any newcomer is showing to be a much superior mini-series than a to be cancelled ongoing of a character with a cult fanbase which had great potential to bring an entire universe of rich characters with him written by talented guy? because i bet you the editor of that book is actually doing his freaking job!.....yes I'm kinda pissed now).

@Zjd106 said:

I believe what Rozum says, but I think the way he aired his grievances in a public fashion even singling out 2 other individuals is horribly unprofessional in any line of work. This makes Rozum look bad, will probably destroy his career (because who will want to work with a guy who is going to slander them), and makes me feel lesser about him even though i did really get into Xombi

I see where you coming from but put yourself in his shoes. He played ball, he promoted the book even when he wasn't happy. He did the company man thing and look what happened. He maintained silence until recently and now his career is suffering because of it. They used his name and reputation to promote the book and because it was crap that very reputation is suffering. There comes a point where you have to speak up and defend your name because that reputation is all you have. This may "hurt" him in short run with the big two, but he's a great writer and I have no doubt that he'll still get work, especially if he chooses to go the creator owned/indy route.

Ironically DC screwed McDuffie over as well during his Justice League of America stint. DC better calm down on on insulting creators. It's like if your name isn't Morrison or Johns you're f**ked.

@Duo_forbidden said:

I thought DC would give Static the respect he deserves in honor of Dwayne McDuffie.

I was under the impression McDuffie's death was like the only reason they gave Static his own book, but I had no illusions of respect though.

As i wrote elsewhere, I'm glad for him he didn't internalize it and got it off his chest, but sadly it does him no good, if not worse. In a few years this will only be acknowledged as an angry persons ramblings by the majority. The brass above him will just put forth a contrary opinion, as they already did, whether true or not and that's what will become supported, and him in turn viewed as a spiteful liar. Most people in the industry will back this sadly as in the case of most humans, they tend to share the opinions of those they think they can benefit the greatest from. The inverted lie deal is in itself human nature for most. Say I say that I love cats, which I do. Joe Blow however claims to know me very well, and says I kill and eat them, despite not knowing me at all. Which will the majority of people believe? Joe Blow actually. Again, it's a human thing. Your only telling the truth, until one person says your not, then your lying because what you said doesn't match what Joe Blow said, and Joe Blow also happens to be favored by everyone. It's a very societal thing to go for the easy answer, and the one that discredits and seems the most fanatical in any case: ei: " The city loves it's sunshine, but it loves it's dirt even more." ~ kudos if you recognize where the quote is from. Despite supposed right, there is only chaos in reality. I would say then he would have been better to just let it go and move onward, but I would've done the same in spite of it all.

What a little Bitch. Go cry to your mother you clown and do your job

How's clearing his name "doing more harm than good"? The man was handled wrong at DC after a book with his name attatched to it SUCKED, intern causing other companies to not want to work with him. OF COURSE he's gonna set the record straight, by any means nessassarry. Um... Greg Rucka anyone?

All I can say is... Ouchhhhhhhh

I still want Static back. I hope somebody is interested to continue writing his ongoing series

@Owie said:

I bet there are a lot more stories like this out there in the land of comic artists and writers, and I hope we hear more.

I agree. After all, its important to REALLY know who is behind what... many times have i bought books because of the writer listed on the cover only to find it was NOTHING like their normal work... and then you snoop a little and realize they only get a writing credit for that express reason... to fool readers into buying things they expect to meet certain standards.

I'll say this honestly. I wasn't happy with DC's part in this but I wasn't happy with his part either. The parts he said he contributed and the changes he would liked to have made is not something I would have been happy with.

Anyway we heard only one side of the story. The side of the aggrieved. I would like to hear the other side of the story and not just take what he said as gospel because we are all mad at what happened to Static.

This is really a shame that there are still this kind of pressure with writer and artist but i can't said that i'm sad from the end of this title. Since ther beginning it was boring and the plot had a lot of hole, maybe it is better the end the suffering and begin with something new.

awww..

Sucks if this is true, but there are two sides to every story, if a series you have worked on sucks, it's pretty convenient to then tell everyone your input was minimal, would you really do the same if you were working on something like Animal Man or Swamp Thing?

Honouring Dwayne McDuffie? Don't be silly. It's business. There's no honouring anyone there, apart from the occasional nod to something that has happened in the past. And Static blew, regardless of whose fault it was. Sadly, Rozum's name is attached to it, so for all that will be remembered until the end of time, it was him who made it suck. But suck it did. Blimey, was it ever bad.

Anyhow, if DC's still willing to give Rozum work, they should let him do Xombi again or let him continue the six issues he had before the New Fifty-Two came along. Because that book was excellent and had a sort of quirkiness to it that can't be found in any of the New Fifty-Two books. Besides, it has the advantage of having had absolutely no ties to the DCU at large. There were no crossovers (unless there was one in the last issue, because I haven't gotten around to reading that yet for some odd reason) at all, so it wouldn't screw anything up. Besides, it was good, interesting, completely new and everything. It would fit in well with the general direction of the New Fifty-Two.

Sounds like the writer didnt know how to play office politics to me. Rule number one, your boss is always right. Then find a way to way around his restrictions. But I guess if take your ball and go home is your way of doing things thats what you have to do.

I would imagine what he said happens a lot of the time in that sort of industry. And people like Bendis or Fraction are given free reign? It does sound slightly bitter though.

So his main contribution was Pale Man...a Joker knockoff and Guillotina...a generic naked slasher chick....

I would've sidelined him too. I'll have to check out this Xombi everyone's raving about to see what his GOOD work is like.

It's good to hear a non-politically correct answer from him. The comic industry, like all other facets of the entertainment industry, has turned into a cesspool of executives grasping for money by producing as much crap as possible. Who cares about quality, let's try and trick people into buying garbage!

I think Rozum should have been given another chance to write Static Shock. We're talking about the new 52 here. It's not just aimed for the older readers. It's also aimed for the new readers who haven't read a Static Shock comic book series before.

I understand where Rozum is coming from about being sidelined. But the first complaint right off the bat was the boring dialogue.... whos fault is that?

Pale Man, I really like the character seems like he has a good story behind him and why he kinda looks like the JOKER!! :D .. I want more Pale Man!!!

"All that stupid stuff you guys didn't like, I didn't do that $hit." Basically. “...high concept” criminal syndicate made up of Power Rangers"...LMAO!!!!

@Mr_Wayne69 said:

Ironically DC screwed McDuffie over as well during his Justice League of America stint. DC better calm down on on insulting creators. It's like if your name isn't Morrison or Johns you're f**ked.

Thank, I was just about to say this. Just when I thought DC was getting better with the race thing.

Ok, i just read through all of Rozum's blog post and It appears that it wasnt a problem that was being caused by the "big wigs" at DC, but a problem being caused puerly on the editorial level with his editor and artist (read his entireblog post and not just the small bits that babs has cut out and shown us here as examples) and it does seem as though he was getting the shaft despite being down as the series writer. Concidering these circumstances i think that it's unfair of the Xombie fanbase to drop the title just becuase of this. Xombie is a good series, so why would you drop it just becuse theres another title with the writers name on it which is terrible. I mean to use another example, many people dont like some of Frank millers newer works such as Holy Terror so why would not buy his better dark knight returns or batman year one in protest? All It'll do is drop the sales of 2 series reather than one and end up with 2 series getting the can and not just one. It's almost infantile in nature.

Holy $#!* one crappy purchase for me was a career ending decision for him, tough luck guy

@BatClaw89 said:

What a little Bitch. Go cry to your mother you clown and do your job

Ctfu!

I really can't believe some of the comments in this thread.

First off people who are claiming that DC set up this book to fail, are being idiots and ignoring the facts. They gave the book a good writer in John Rozum, an editor he had worked with before in Harvey Richards (they worked together on Xombi) and an artist who while not to my personal tastes, is definitely not terrible and who was clearly passionate about his job (note: the trailers he created and posted on youtube in an effort to promote the comic).

Second, for those who are trying to use this and Mr Terrific as examples of racism within DC, i'll raise you the brilliantly written and drawn Batwing. The actually interesting characterisation and introduction of Cyborg into the Justice League, and the fact that these titles actually made it to the NEW 52 line-up, when it would have been safer financially for them to ignore them in place of titles like Young Justice, Justice Society and even a Worlds Finest title (because we all know a title starring Batman and Superman would sell).

While i'm sad and disappointed that Static didn't work out, and that their were problems within the creative team. I'm not going to blow this out of proportion and claim its because of racism or DC hating Static.

Setting Static up to fail;

1. Relocating the story to New York as opposed to Dakota City.

2. Terrible Artwork.

3. God Awful plotlines and subplots that make no sense and exist for shock value alone.

4. Not paying attention to the character development of Virgil Hawkins.

5. Getting a fan fave writer and then not allowing him to do what you "advertise" him as doing...writing the book.

6. Ignoring all the characters in the Milestone Universe...essentially castrating the concept of Static Shock.

R.I.P Duff...We gonna straighten this out...a new day is dawning.

http://luciushammer.blogspot.com/2011/11/dc-new-black-52or-has-dc-comics-finally.html