Rob Liefeld is a polarizing figure in comic books. Comic book fans either love him or hate him. His writing style annoys long time comic book fans. His art style does not adhere to any sort of rules of anatomy, logic, or proportions. But, only a blind fool would try to deny his mark in the comic book industry over the last 25 years.

When he was hired onto work in DC Comics and their New 52 project, there were a lot of bets to see how long he would last before calling it quits. Well, it turned out to be a year. This is a lot longer than most other writers.

This past Wednesday, after months of battles with the editorial board, Rob Liefeld announced that he left DC because he’s tired of the editorial oversight. Next month’s zero issues for Deathstroke, Grifter, and Hawkman will be the last of his work for DC. Well, for the foreseeable future at least.

From his Twitter Feed Wednesday.

“Just finished sending my thank you’s to DC personnel. Officially got off the DC52 treadmill this morning…”

“Scott Clark will be replacing me p. Deathstroke. Marat will continue the work on Grifter…I had a great time at DC.”

“It shouldn’t be considered courageous to call out horrible editorial decisions and then walk away when it’s epidemic.”

Throughout his twitter feed yesterday morning, Rob congratulates himself for winning most of his battles with the editorial staff.  He claims to have won 80 percent of them, with two major exceptions.

The first tone is Grifter cover for the July issue month (Click on the link to see original cover design):

“Approved Grifter cover, banned after Aurora #understandable http://instagr.am/p/Or-bSTD38k/”

The second one is about changing the iconic look of Lobo.

“As to LOBO, I was specifically directed not to adhere to the biker bad boy look. No leather jacket, no chains, skull, etc. Not my call.”

I can accept that explanation because it makes sense. Who do we blame for making Lobo’s personality generic?

Being really honest here, I’m not a fan of his artwork. However, I don’t pay attention to artwork enough to get bothered by it. His writing style bugs me. There is a weird samey quality to everything he writes.

But, he does have good ideas, when he lets someone else take them from him.

About Joseph Furguson

This child of the 80s does not look upon it as some gold age where everything is better. He is well aware that the filter of time causes the best stuff to rise to the top. Every era has terrible and awesome things, but most are downright mediocre. He loves to highlight the forgotten good and the deserving bad items of all generations.

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