Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dc, entertainment, frank cho, greg rucka, wonder woman

Frank Cho Gives Timeline Over Leaving Wonder Woman To The Mary Sue

Published Sat, 16 Jul 2016 08:00:17 -0500

Last updated Tue, 13 Dec 2016 05:50:29 -0600

Two days ago, the comic internet split apart as Frank Cho told Bleeding Cool that he was flouncing off Wonder Woman after his sixth – rather than his twenty-fourth – variant cover. And despite ructions around the globe, everyone lost their nut, with even the Guardian newspaper pitching in (twice) and Breitbart getting their share.

And while Greg Rucka has kept it on the down low, Frank Cho has continued to speak, being approached by The Mary Sue, a site with whom he has had a tumultuous relationship.

And he gave them a more detailed timeline of what went down.

Wonder Woman was my dream job at DC Comics. I love and respect the character very much. When I was invited by DC to draw the 24 variant covers for Wonder Woman, I was ecstatic. I was told that I had complete freedom on the variant covers and the only person in charge of me was the senior art director, Mark Chiarello, who I greatly respect. Win-win for everyone.

Now the variant covers are handled by entirely separate editorial office than the rest of the books. I was given assurance that I would not have to deal with the Wonder Woman book writer or editor at all, and were told I would only be dealing with Mark Chiarello. So I came onboard and started working right away.

Everything went smoothly at first. I turned in my first batch of cover sketches and Chiarello approved them, and I started finishing and inking them ASAP since these were biweekly covers and we had limited time. Then Chiarello started getting art notes from Greg Rucka ordering him to tell me to alter and change things on the covers. (Remove arm band, make the skirt longer and wider to cover her up, showing too much skin, add the lasso here, etc.) Well, Chiarello and I were baffled and annoyed by Greg Rucka's art change orders. More so, since the interior pages were showing the same amount or more skin than my variant covers. (For example: Issue #2, panel One, etc.) I requested that Greg Rucka back off and let me do my variant covers in peace. After all, these were minor and subjective changes. And let's face it, being told by a non-artistic freelancer what I can and cannot draw didn't sit too well with me.

Then things got ugly. Apparently unbeknownst to Chiarello and me, DC, for whatever reason, gave Greg Rucka complete and total editorial control on Wonder Woman including variant covers by contract. My promises of creative freedom were verbal. I think this is a case of complete miscommunication and things falling through the crack during the post-DC headquarter move to LA. Had I've known Greg Rucka had complete editorial control over the variant covers, I would have never came onboard Wonder Woman.

Since we were on the same team with the same goal – making great Wonder Woman comics, Mark Chiarello and I tried to reason with Greg Rucka to back off and let me do the variant covers in peace. But Rucka refused and tried to hammer me in line. Things escalated and got toxic very fast. The act of a freelance writer art directing me, overruling my senior art director, altering my artwork without consent was too much. I realized after Rucka's problems with my Wonder Woman #3 variant cover, my excitement and desire for the project have completely disappeared and I decided to bow out quietly after I finish my Wonder Woman #4 variant cover. (This was around end of May.) But DC wanted me to stay and finish out #5 and #6 covers to give them some time to find my replacement.

The rest is history…

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