Dwayne McDuffie, the current writer on the regular JLA book, has been removed after he made a long series of comments revealing editorial behind-the-scenes.

In this week’s Dan Didio Q&A, Len Wein has been announced as the writer of future JLA issues, which led folks to wonder what had happened to McDuffie:

8. A reader asked that, with as much as they’ve seen Len Wein writing Justice League, and as much as Dwayne has stated publically that he’s not enjoying writing Justice League, is Dwayne McDuffie still writing Justice League?

DD: As of right now, Len’s the writer of Justice League, and once his arc is done, we’ll be able to announce the new direction for the series.

At his forum, McDuffie answered a fan’s question as to why he had been removed:

Nope, it was my own doing. I was fired when “Lying in the Gutters” ran a compilation of two years or so of my answers to fans’ questions on the DC Comics discussion boards. I’m told my removal had nothing to with either the quality of my work or the level of sales, rather with my revelation of behind-the-scenes creative discussions.

I have to say I’m a bit disappointed, because next summer was planned to feature a JLA-driven crossover, where my book’s story line would have been the driving force. I’m distressed by where I left Black Canary, as my intention was to use the current subplot to strengthen her character and relationships with the new membership, and instead I’m leaving her at the bottom of a hole I’d intended to rebuild her from. I was also just about to get a regular artist for the first time since I’ve been on the book, which would have been nice. That said, I’m sure DC’s going to put together a creative team that will generate major excitement around JLA, which is as it should be.

As for me, I’m still busy story-editing both Ben 10: Alien Force (just nominated for 3 Emmys!) and the upcoming new Ben 10 series “Ben 10: Evolutions.” As far as comic-related stuff, the all-new “Milestone Forever,” is still on track for late this year/early next year, and the Milestone trade paperback program is in full swing, with Static Shock, Icon and Hardware volumes already on the way. I’ve also recently completed a console video game script that I can’t talk about yet, but that will be of interest to anyone reading this thread. I’m currently writing a Direct-To-Video animated feature for Warner Animation, the second of two I’ve taken on this year. Again, I can’t say what they are until they’re officially announced, but they’re likely of interest to superhero fans, and one of them I can’t help looking at as what-could-have-been. You’ll see what I mean.

Okay we get it–don’t cry for McDuffie, he’s busy with his Emmy-nominated TV show, etc., etc., etc.

And what were the offending comments that got him bounced? Johnston did indeed have a looooooong list of candid comments from McDuffie, of which this is representative:

I do get frustrated, but it comes with the job. The nature of monthly comics has changed drastically over the past 20 years. JLA used to be THE place to go to see the big guns together, dealing with the gravest threats in the DCU. Now there are several big event crossovers a year, and those titles are where the huge stories happen. So I have to tell stories that feed into and come out of those events. I’d prefer if, as on Justice League Unlimited, I could tell stories that were at the center of the characters lives, but that was a very different circumstance. JLA the comic is part of a larger patchwork, and my mandate is to support the bigger story of the DCU. I think we could do a much better job of making the comic feel more self-contained while still serving the needs of the DCU, and I’m working on ways to do that, but the truth of the matter is, every three or four months, I have to sort of drop everything and deal with a crossover or other event. In my next arc of 6 issues, there are three of these events (four if you count the Milestone guest shot). That makes JLA integral to the DCU, but it also makes us lurch around more than a bit.

But it all started out so well. Cut back to 2007:

Newsarama: Dan, to start off, you clearly had a wide field of writers to choose from when filling Brad Meltzer’s shoes on Justice League of America - someone who’s an unknown, a traditional, safe pick, another novelist, a screenwriter, a comic book writer…what went into the decision to go with Dwayne?

Dan DiDio: A lot of things went into choosing Dwayne, first of all the choice was made by Eddie Berganza, who’s the editor of the series. He gave me the list of people he wanted to work with, and Dwayne was at the top. I’ve been a fan of Dwayne McDuffie’s writing since his Damage Control days, and was a big fan of all his Milestone material, and everything he’s done in comics, and animation. He’s such a solid writer, and he’s been so busy in animation for so many years that he hasn’t been able to do comics that often. We’d talked over the years, and we’ve never been able to put anything together.

Then he started to come free as his schedule started to open up, and he handled the end of the Firestorm series for us, and quite honestly, I thought his three issues of that series captured the actual essence of the book that I always wanted it to be.

One of the things he does so well is write team books with multiple characters and develop the distinct personalities of each one. He can handle a big cast like very few other writers can, and we figured that he would be the person who knows the characters best who would be able to handle the team really, really well. And his knowledge of the characters isn’t just from the animated series, but also from his knowledge of DC Comics and his past history in comics as well.

He’s one of the best comic writers out there who’s not writing many comics, and I’m glad we’ve got him writing for us right now.

In a way this is a dog-bites-man story. By his own admission, McDuffie was “frustrated” working the DC way; whether because of those frustrations or some other reason, his run on the book wasn’t well-received. McDuffie’s comments weren’t particularly bitter or recriminating, (unlike those of other writers departing various comics companies over the years) just factual statements of this or that. But both Marvel and DC prize discretion and loyalty from freelancers, so ending an unhappy relationship would seem to be the best for both sides.

There are, perhaps, two salient points here; #1, having an alternate source of income (his TV work) left McDuffie free to speak his mind. #2, you understand why people sometimes roll their eyes at all the happy talk interviews these days; the real story is often way more complicated. Not that one side is any more good or evil than the other…it’s just more complicated.

This entry was posted on 05/29/09 at 11:20 am and is filed under DC, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.