DC Relaunch’s Creative Team Shuffle! PART 2!!

News

A week ago, I posted about some of the writer shuffling going on at DC. This week, it seems to be the artist’s turn:


First up, Jesus Saiz is going from Birds of Prey to Resurrection man

Beginning with its ninth issue in May, RESURRECTION MAN will have a new artist: Jesus Saiz. Fresh from his run on BIRDS OF PREY, Saiz will pick up Mitch Shelley’s story just in time to pit the indestructible man against the Suicide Squad. Shelley may be incapable of death – but the Squad’s under orders from Amanda Waller, and “The Wall” is not one to accept excuses.

“Having Fernando leave the series is bittersweet, but gaining a talent such as Jesus will give RESURRECTION MAN a decidedly different look,” said series editor Brian Cunningham. “His style brings a very iconic superhero look. His heroes are very heroic, his villains are as nasty as they come. I can’t wait to get him started.”

“I’m going to miss BIRDS OF PREY immensely, although it’s also true that I was dying to work on the Dark line of books,” said Saiz. “There’s some very interesting stuff happening in these books, and I’ve always considered horror / creating dark settings are some of my stronger areas as an artist, and I really haven’t had many chances to flex those muscles working in this genre during my career. So…I think I’m really going to enjoy working on RESURRECTION MAN! Crrrrazy fun!”


Fernando Dagnino moves from Resurrection Man to Suicide Squad

Earlier today, we announced that Jesus Saiz will be taking over the illustration duties on RESURRECTION MAN, kicking things off with a SUICIDE SQUAD crossover in issue 9. But what about Mitch Shelley’s current artist, Ferndando Dagnino? He’s not going far; in fact, he’ll continue to put Shelley through the ringer as the new artist on SUICIDE SQUAD, where he’ll remain at the crossover’s conclusion.

“What’s more fun: figuring out creative new ways to resurrect someone, or finding splat-tastic new ways to kill them?” said Pat McCallum, editor of SUICIDE SQUAD. “Fernando’s gonna find out in a hurry. His style has just enough menace to keep the team looking dangerous, and he’s joined at the perfect time to help with the heavy lifting: we got a lot of body bags to fill.”

“Call me insensitive but I must admit I’ve really enjoyed killing Mitch twice or thrice per issue,” said Dagnino. “Nevertheless, it all falls into place knowing that he will be in Jesus’ hands now. This run on RESURRECTION MAN has REALLY been loads of fun but now I must confess I am even more excited to take over the responsibility of dealing with such a thrilling cast of characters as the SUICIDE SQUAD. Harley…I’m coming!”


And in the most surprising news to me, Travel Foreman goes from Animal Man to Birds of Prey!

With Jesus Saiz resurrected as Mitch Shelley’s ongoing illustrator, the BIRDS OF PREY need an artist up to the challenge of depicting Gotham City’s finest female fighters. Fresh from The Rot in ANIMAL MAN, artist Travel Foreman takes on urban decay alongside Black Canary, Batgirl, Katana, Poison Ivy and Starling. Beginning with issue #9 in May, the Birds face Talon and the Court of Owls in the epic “Night of the Owls” Bat-family crossover.

“ANIMAL MAN is one of my favorite books of The New 52, in no small part because of Travel’s awesome art,” said BIRDS OF PREY editor Bobbie Chase. “We’re really challenging him to go against his animal instincts in his first issue; from the woods to the city streets, from a single super character (OK, with family) to a team book, from one small corner of the DC universe right into the big Bat landscape. It’s going to be exciting!”


Skitch Commentary: I honestly don’t know too much about comic art beyond “I know what I like” so I don’t have too much to say here. Strange to see all these artists moving around like this, especially after all the writer swaps last week.

I am glad to see Travel Foreman moving to Birds of Prey, which should be a very high profile book during Night of the Owls, but his work is a huge part of what I love about Animal Man, so that is a big loss for that book!


UPDATE!

After I posted this, it was announced “Steve Pugh Returns to Animal Man!”

Travel Foreman will be moving on from Buddy Baker’s ethereal adventures in The Rot, but ANIMAL MAN remains in good hands with artist Steve Pugh taking over illustration duties. Pugh is no stranger to Animal Man’s adventures, having drawn an extensive run of the character’s original series in the 1990s.

“For me, it’s awesome to be returning to a book that was such a milestone in my creative life and with Jeff, a killer writer who’s been punching ANIMAL MAN through the ceiling!” said Pugh. “Yeah, I was buying the book already but now I don’t have to wait so long to find out what happens next!”

Mike Maillaro is a lifelong Jersey Boy and geek. Mike has been a comic fan for about 30 years from when his mom used to buy him Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures at our local newsstand. Thanks, Mom!! Mike's goal is to bring more positivity to the discussion of comics and pop culture.