CrossGen
Cleans Some House...
The War Finishes Several Titles...
Over the
past few weeks, CrossGen Comics has endured a lot of metaphorical
bad weather. While denying overt financial troubles and fending
off accusations of failing to pay their freelancers, the beleaguered
publisher underwent a major restructuring.
A promised
new round of investment turned out to be CrossGen President
Mark Alessi himself. At the same time, each aspect of the
company's business became separate divisions, so that should
one fall, the others won't necessarily follow. And of course,
many employees previously considered under exclusive contract
were given the choice to seek work with other publishers.
Among those were former Green Lantern scribe Ron Marz
(returning to DC for a six-issue stint) and, incredibly, George
Perez.
The veteran
artist later worked out an agreement to still do some work
for CrossGen, but he will no longer be involved in The
War, nor, by his own account, will he be drawing Solus
any longer.
Today,
CrossGen announced the reason for that, one long suspected
by those of us who had followed the books. Solus, among
others, will see their final issues released in January, leading
directly into the events of the near company-wide crossover
event, The War.
Perez'
book was obvious for the chopping block, not because of quality
nor even for sales, though CrossGen keeps sales data pretty
close to its vest. Focusing on the apparent source of the
CrossGen "sigil," the mark of power that tied many titles
together, Solus started with an expiration date - once
it provided the answers to the three-year mystery of the CrossGen
Universe, it would serve its purpose.
But some
of the other titles are not so obvious. For instance, Alessi's
pet book Meridian, a centerpiece of CrossGen's educational
program and possible jewel in an animation deal, will end
in January. Several other titles thought to be key to CrossGen's
publishing strategy will join Meridian in oblivion,
though Bill Rosemann hints that some will return with a different
status quo.
Here's
the full list of titles ending, as sent out by Rosemann:
CRUX
#33
THE FIRST
#37
MERIDIAN
#44
MYSTIC
#43
THE PATH
#23
RUSE
#26
SCION
#44
SIGIL
#43
SOLUS
#8
Some
obvious, some not. Reading between the lines, it's clear
that "the New CrossGen," as Rosemann calls it, will look
more like a bunch of completely unrelated titles, as opposed
to the vaguely cohesive universe it had been before.
Among
the survivors are Chuck Dixon's Brath, the lead character
of which recently lost his sigil. With the success of the
historically-based El Cazador (and the potential
success of Kiss
Kiss Bang Bang), I'd bet that the barbarian title
slightly repositions itself, forgets that Brath ever had
extra power, and just admits that the characters are Celts
and Romans.
A similar
fate may befall Way of the
Rat, the best Jackie Chan movie the actor never
made. With film director Chuck Russell looking to adapt
it to the silver screen, it needs to quietly brush away
lingering ties to a larger mythos. (Though The Path
apparently takes place on the same planet, it gets the axe.)
My
personal favorite, Route 666, also continues, along
with, obviously, the Code 6 books independently produced
outside the CrossGen bullpen. That's a very good thing,
because The Crossovers rocks. And I've got a soft
spot for Snake Plissken.
So
has CrossGen weathered the storm? The War should
be interesting, if unfortunately sharing the same title
as the way Marvel destroyed its New Universe back in the
eighties. Rosemann promises that "…the stage will be set
for the next generation of adventure."
Whatever
it may be, stay tuned here and we'll let you know.
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