LitG:
My job would be so much easier if I lived in New York. During the day, I'd get a fold up chair and sit myself outside the Marvel and DC offices noting who came in and out. I'd find their waste refuse area and stick all their shredded documents back together by hand. And in the evening, I'd just hang out at McGee's bar.
Thankfully, that's exactly what one source was doing last week.
Last week, LITG reported that James Robinson had had a stand up row with Dan DiDio and had walked off Superman.
I was later told that this wasn't a creative nor editorial issue, but a personal one.
I then updated the story last week with a report from The Superman Homepage which reported Superman editor Matt Idelson as saying that Robinson "has not" quit the book.
It appears that was very specifically phrased.
Robinson certainly had quit the book. Past tense. And it was everywhere, I heard from DC employees, from Marvel employees, even from Diamond employees who had been instructed by DC not to mention James Robinson in any Previews article in any capacity. This was big news.
But then I started to be told that DiDio and Robinson patched up their differences, and suddenly Robinson was back on the Superbooks. And soon everyone was singing from that hymnsheet.
No harm done right? Well not quite. Because there was one person who has wanted to write Superman for a very long time and had been denied the opportunity. One who had even been told that he'd never write the Superman monthly title. And who, when Robinson stormed off, was approached by DC to take over the Superman book. And who instantly agreed. And was then ceremoniously dumped when Robinson came back.
In McGee's, everyone was drinking in commiseration to Mark Waid.
I understand that DC are in negotiation with Waid over this and related issues to find a situation that everyone's happy with. Guilt can be quite a powerful weapon in such circumstances.
