CBR: DC Announces Artist Changes on "Animal Man" and More

[mushroom2703]

But doesn't DC think that a big part of the book's success is BECAUSE of Travel Foreman's art?

Apparently not enough, sadly. Whether it was their decision or Travel wanted to move on, in both situations DC should have been throwing more money his way to keep him on, not switch him off. Just as important as the writer in my eyes, but as I said. It is what it is.

[spark627]

This change is so odd, I will miss Foreman but I think Pugh will be good. Based on the cover, is this Buddy's new outfit? I actually like the shirtless and barefoot look, it works with his powers IMO.

[Yttrium]

Sometimes DC baffles me with its creative decisions. "Let's take a guy who excels at drawing creepy, grotesque monsters off a pretty popular book and put him on the book with a team of hot ladies." Maybe Birds of Prey is going to transition to a book featuring a team of half-women/half pterodactyl hybrids.

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that. I expect BoP to take a big hit in entertainment value for me because of this change. And I doubt Saiz will manage to get me interested in Resurrection Man. Not a good round of changes, as far as I'm concerned.

Well, it could have been worse. They could have put McDaniel on Birds of Prey.

[Jaded Devil]

I'm pretty sure DC Editorial chooses creative line-ups by playing Spin the Bottle.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

If they were going to do it, wouldn't it be better to pull a creator from one of their top books?

A mid-line book will continue to be a mid-line book without a big name. I think Aquaman could survive without Reis or Green Lantern without Mahnke because they still have arguably DC's biggest writer attached. Sure you can argue why mess with a good thing, but if they're going to change it up, why not be bold?

As for Aquaman and GL, I'd get some fresh talent. If Marvel can find Pichelli and Bradshaw for Ultimate Spider-man and WATXM, I'm sure DC can just as well find some talented up-and-comers.

[demos99]

I really liked Steve Pugh's artwork on the original Animal Man series in the '90s so the sting of losing Travel Foreman is lessened somewhat but the decision to change artists within the first year is one I don't get. The new Animal Man has, afaik, been one of the more acclaimed New 52 titles so why break up the Lemire/Foreman team? I like to see a creative team put a large number of issues under their belts (at least a year-plus) not this changing drivers mid-stream malarkey. But like I say, at least Steve Pugh's back.

[Disco Pyg]

I don't read Suicide Squad, but I like the current artists on all of the other books just fine. This doesn't really make a massive amount of sense to me

[kalorama]

I'm skeptical of Foreman's suitability on BoP, but I have to say that penciled page at the end of the article looks pretty nice.

[Paladin King]

Steve Pugh on Animal Man full-time?

Hell.
Yes.

Travel Foreman on BoP does seem really weird, but I will say that that preview page looks gorgeous so...who knows?

[Let's Kill Hitler]

It's possible he wanted to switch it up? Artists are often loath to stay on a book too long these days.

And the writer of Birds of Prey and Foreman have a history of collaboration on Iron Fist, so perhaps they wanted to reunite?

This may not have been a DC editorial decision.

Yeah I somehow doubt this is an editorial decision, like others have said why would DC break up the team on a book with a lot of critical and commercial acclaim? And with Foreman work on Iron Fist it makes sense that he want to work with him again.

I'm honestly not as broken up about this as I would have thought. Foreman is fantastic on animal man but he's not the reason I pick up the book every month, and Pugh looks good.

[travel foreman]

I just want to chime in briefly, because everyone here has been so supportive of the book and because there's so much behind the scenes stuff that goes on with these books... I read a lot of comics and I too get confused about whats going on in some books and ultimately feel like we're getting a raw deal sometimes.

The change on Animal Man boils down to the reason I was on the book to begin with, which was that I needed to take on a job after my mother died (to deal with the financial end of someone being sick for a while and then passing) and Animal Man was the only thing DC was going to let me do. Which in any other time frame would have been perfect.
But really the context of me dealing with the death of my mom and drawing the kind of content in Animal Man just burned me out sooner than I thought.

I had hoped to stay on the book until at least the spring so that the artist I wanted to replace me was free from his commitments, but I would have ultimately just dragged the book down if I did, because it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate on the work.

Steve was bending over backwards on his fill-ins to keep the book on schedule so you have to keep that in consideration. Really, he won't skip a beat once he's doing the book full time.

Thanks, everyone.

[Desaad]

I just want to chime in briefly, because everyone here has been so supportive of the book and because there's so much behind the scenes stuff that goes on with these books... I read a lot of comics and I too get confused about whats going on in some books and ultimately feel like we're getting a raw deal sometimes.

The change on Animal Man boils down to the reason I was on the book to begin with, which was that I needed to take on a job after my mother died (to deal with the financial end of someone being sick for a while and then passing) and Animal Man was the only thing DC was going to let me do. Which in any other time frame would have been perfect.
But really the context of me dealing with the death of my mom and drawing the kind of content in Animal Man just burned me out sooner than I thought.

I had hoped to stay on the book until at least the spring so that the artist I wanted to replace me was free from his commitments, but I would have ultimately just dragged the book down if I did, because it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate on the work.

Steve was bending over backwards on his fill-ins to keep the book on schedule so you have to keep that in consideration. Really, he won't skip a beat once he's doing the book full time.

Thanks, everyone.

Wow sir.

I am really sorry to hear that this all happened.

Just know that your work on this book was Phenomenal, that it really made the book (in my mind) what it was, and that I'll be following you to whatever you do next.

Your sense of design and the creative, human energy you put into your books is amazing.

Condolences for your loss.

[CagedLeo730]

Psh, he didn't do anything to Yo Yo... he's just keeping him safe.

Yeah, that was only ketchup in King Shark's cell. Pints and pints of ketchup.

[doordoor123]

If they were going to do it, wouldn't it be better to pull a creator from one of their top books?

A mid-line book will continue to be a mid-line book without a big name. I think Aquaman could survive without Reis or Green Lantern without Mahnke because they still have arguably DC's biggest writer attached. Sure you can argue why mess with a good thing, but if they're going to change it up, why not be bold?

As for Aquaman and GL, I'd get some fresh talent. If Marvel can find Pichelli and Bradshaw for Ultimate Spider-man and WATXM, I'm sure DC can just as well find some talented up-and-comers.

The problem is that the most recognizable artists are the ones that don't look like the generic DC artists. Although there are good "generic DC artists" like Reis, it wouldn't do well with them. The ones that look different are the ones that are going to make the difference.

[Godlike13]

I just want to chime in briefly, because everyone here has been so supportive of the book and because there's so much behind the scenes stuff that goes on with these books... I read a lot of comics and I too get confused about whats going on in some books and ultimately feel like we're getting a raw deal sometimes.

The change on Animal Man boils down to the reason I was on the book to begin with, which was that I needed to take on a job after my mother died (to deal with the financial end of someone being sick for a while and then passing) and Animal Man was the only thing DC was going to let me do. Which in any other time frame would have been perfect.
But really the context of me dealing with the death of my mom and drawing the kind of content in Animal Man just burned me out sooner than I thought.

I had hoped to stay on the book until at least the spring so that the artist I wanted to replace me was free from his commitments, but I would have ultimately just dragged the book down if I did, because it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate on the work.

Steve was bending over backwards on his fill-ins to keep the book on schedule so you have to keep that in consideration. Really, he won't skip a beat once he's doing the book full time.

Thanks, everyone.

Sorry about ur mom, but thanks for chiming in. Much appreciated . I'll miss ur stellar work on Animal Man, but luckily i buy BoP too