Tuesday, September 25, 2007

This Explains It: Why Authority #3 May Never Happen


Authority #2
Originally uploaded by Heidi Meeley
While perusing Newsarama, I stumbled upon this article. It is Gene Ha talking about the future of he and writer Grant Morrison's Authority series by Wildstorm. Here is the skinny:

"Though it's been said to be on the Wildstorm table...somewhere by Jim Lee and others at DC, Authority artist Gene Ha said in his recent e-mailer, that he doesn't think his and Grant Morrison's collaboration on Wildstorm's premiere super team will continue - ever.

Ha wrote:

"First off, I don't think The Authority #3 by Grant Morrison and Gene Ha is ever coming out. Grant is busy redesigning the DC Universe and I've moved onto new projects. Most importantly, it seems that editor Scott Dunbier has been forced out of Wildstorm. There is no #3 script, there may never be a #3 script.

"(Hey Scott, contact me when you start contacting people again! We miss you! I want to read more stuff you edit too).

"I am currently working on my second poster for the Illinois Library Association. After that, I'll start on the Zander Cannon scripts and layouts for a new Top 10 series. The story is set in the same time period as the Smax miniseries. This means that Smax and Toybox won't show up during my four issue run. I actually did a lot of sketching and research coming up with an updated costume for Toybox. Obviously, I won't get to use those concepts. I'm a little disappointed about that but the scripts are good enough to make up for that.

"If you see Zander at a convention ask him if he'll show you the layouts. They've got dialog penciled in and everything!

"And that's all I have scheduled for sure. I've got a pitch at DC for a project but I don't know if they'll bite. Or if they'll bite two years from now. I'm considering making a pitch to a French publisher like Humanoids or Soleil. If I do a project for the French I'll try to maintain my American comics schedule, with the equivalent of one issue's work every 2-3 months. It would be an original story with an American writer so I don't know if they'll be interested either.

"If all of those ideas fall through expect me to seek some Marvel work and some DC Bill Willingham scripts. I love that man's writing."

For those looking to commemorate and own a piece of what was, when it was, Ha is selling pages from The Authority #2 at his webstore."

That explains why I haven't seen hide nor hair of the third issue. Knowing this, I will not worry that I am missing it. I am glad that Newsarama dug this up, so I can quit being distressed and remove the book from my pull list. I am a bit disappointed, but there are many other books out there that publish regularly, and it appears that both Morrison and Ha, men of considerable talent, will not starve from lack of work.

Thoughts?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just more evidence of the wobbling house of cards that is DC Comics these days. Though there are signs they are snapping out of the worst of it, they're still far too lax on creative teams blowing off their commitments....while the editors just sit there and take it. Not a way to run a business that publishes monthly periodicals.

I recall writer Jeph Loeb making some smart-ass comment regarding the lateness of so many books (including his own)...something along the lines of "Comics aren't gum".

Well, you know what? They're not exactly the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel either, pal.

Lisa said...

Just another example of inmates running the asylum.

Heidi Meeley said...

Mark, it sounds like Wildstorm is having a lot of internal problems that DC isn't taking care of. Maybe it is too independent of DC? I am not sure of the logistics, but I think you are correct that it appears to be a wobbling house of cards.

I love your comment on the Sistine Chapel! Too true!

Heidi Meeley said...

Lisa, amen!