Greg Ruka Dispute Causes Frank Cho to leave Wonder Woman Covers

bleedingcool.com/2016/07/14/frank-cho-walks-off-wonder-woman-after-sixth-cover

>Frank Cho, as well as many other A-list comic book artists, was commissioned by DC Comics to create 24 variant covers for the first year of their twice-monthly titles. In Frank’s case, that was for Wonder Woman.

>Infamous in the online for his “outrage” sketch covers, both parodying sexism and criticism of sexism, this was a controversial choice, with many expressing their disappointment. But as the first covers emerged, that disappointment went away.

>But possibly not with Wonder Woman writer, Greg Rucka. And, as a result, Frank Cho is walking off the title after its sixth issue – and variant cover.

What is wrong with comics?

>He tells Bleeding Cool,

>All the problem lies with Greg Rucka.

>EVERYONE loves my Wonder Woman covers and wants me to stay. Greg Rucka is the ONLY one who has any problem with covers. Greg Rucka has been trying to alter and censor my artwork since day one.

>Greg Rucka thought my Wonder Woman #3 cover was vulgar and showed too much skin, and has been spearheading censorship, which is baffling since my Wonder Woman image is on model and shows the same amount of skin as the interior art, and it’s a VARIANT COVER and he should have no editorial control over it. (But he does. WTF?!!!)

>I tried to play nice, not rock the boat and do my best on the covers, but Greg’s weird political agenda against me and my art has made that job impossible. Wonder Woman was the ONLY reason I came over to DC Comics.

>To DC’s credit, especially [Art Director] Mark Chiarello, they have been very accommodating. But they are caught between a rock and a hard place.

>I just wanted to be left alone and do my Wonder Woman variant covers in peace. But Greg Rucka is in a hostile power trip and causing unnecessary friction over variant covers.
>Greg Rucka declined to comment

The people creating capeshit are basically children.

I blame Fredric Wertham.

These covers are the least "sexy" thing Frank has done in a long time. Is Ruka that fucking sensitive?

Cho's Wondy covers aren't bad at all. Could this be a personal thing? Maybe Rucka just doesn't like Cho as a person or something?

Greg Rucka is known for being a bit kooky about this stuff so I am not sure what they were expecting

Wondy is his waifu

Most people are basically children, and the higher you go, the more immature and petty things get.

Cho's covers for Wondy are gorgeous. It's a shame Rucka is being a brat about them.

>That 3rd cover is quite an odd pose. Why is here backside sticking out like that?

Remember kids, leaning forward is sexist, but only when female characters do it.

Sheeple here: was Greg Rucka always known as SJW? I kind of dug his Punisher run until he made Punisher a Gary Stu in War Zone, but his handling of Rachel Cole was absolutely superb throughout.

Usually I avoid these things like youtube drama, but I can't but be disappointed by Rucka. And Cho's covers are nice too and expose as much skin as, well, her fucking current costume allows it to expose.

L O L

That's really disappointing.

I think wanting this Year One project for so long has driven Rucka a bit crazy and paranoid about 'protecting' it. But those covers are not remotely objectionable.

He is maybe a bit of a sjw but mostly

I'm thinking it actually has nothing to do with Cho's covers and it's just that the two don't get along.

No, Ruka is just very VERY fucking protective of Wondy. He has a creepy John Byrne like She-Hulk level obsession with her.

Goddamnit Rucka, I actually have hopes for your run, but if this is how you're gonna act, then I fear for its future.

>He has a creepy John Byrne like She-Hulk level obsession with her.
Not. Even. Remotely.

If this story is true, it's utterly stupid. Those are probably the most perfect interpretations of Wonderwoman I've ever seen. Huge, strong, and beautiful.

>the higher you go, the more immature and petty things get.
Didn't a major film recently fail in China because of a pety grudge.

I may not be remembering this correctly, but Rucka left DC in a giant huff when Morrison got to do the Wonder Woman thing he wanted, didn't he?

In his personal life. He just doesn't write it INTO his comics like Byrne does. Because he may be obsessed with his waifu, but he tries to keep it to himself.

If a writer doesn't want someone doing covers for their book, that is their imperative.

End of discussion.

They don't sell and can't afford to have Cho's niche appeal on the cover.

It's no longer important that you enjoy his work. It's 2016, anybody who googles him is going to find his whole internet tantrum, the pathetic range of bodies he can actually draw, the wife that left him because he's a fucking manchild. These things, whether you think they should or not, factor into whether people continue to patronize his work, and that factors into whether the publishers paying him continue to hire him.

Long and the short of it: he's a dinosaur. If comics are going to survive, they need new audiences. There's never going to be a better time to get sales up - not just "up for the comics market 1997-2016" but UP, because there's never going to be a peak of exposure like this again. This is the last ditch chance at relevance for comic books - the characters will go on, but the people who work on these titles won't necessarily get hired again. So it's them or the Frank Chos of this world.

Really it's surprising they hired him in the first place, the way he's been acting. Free speech and all that, but nobody ever said a private business had to act as his mouthpiece or even give him work.

If he was selling better? Sure. But he doesn't really sell that well, he's just got a vocal fanbase.

>why can't i draw my cheesecake in peace
>why do i have to listen to the people who commissioned me about what they want their art to look like
>why can't i put spider gwen in the covers

>their book
It's work for hire. This isn't their book. It's DC's book

Yup. He said he'd never work with DC ever again.

>that is their imperative.

Prerogative, user. The word is prerogative.

What the fuck is offensive about those WW covers?

Its DC's book.

>cheesecake

Did you see the covers?! They aren't cheesecake in the slightest. Fucking baby.

>why do i have to listen to the people who commissioned me about what they want their art to look like
If they commissioned him, they are most likely already aware of how Frank Cho draws.

>why can't i put spider gwen in the covers
Frank Cho claims he was taking his job on Wondy very seriously, looking at covers he made I am inclined to believe him.

what's really rich is how he made fun of OUTRAGE all the time

to be fair he was also promised the book for awhile and didn't know they had booted him for morrison. it was more than just not getting it.

Was he the one who keeps retconing shulk sleeping with juggernaut.

>why do i have to listen to the people who commissioned me about what they want their art to look like
Greg Rucka is not the one commissioning Cho. And there's nothing cheesecakey about the covers aside from there being a woman on them.

He also said he'd never work for either of the big 2 after his Punisher run, then quickly came back when Lazarus didn't sell as well as he hoped it would

Aha, no. That was Chuck Austen.

Rucka only used this as an excuse to take Cho off the covers. Even yesterday's issue has more lewd interior art than this.

Rucka obviously wanted to "boycott" Cho over the OTHER controversies. He didn't want Cho doing covers from day one because of those controversies.

Bad form Rucka

Cho's covers are pretty sweet looking and aren't at all sexualized. He clearly wasn't trying to ruffle any feathers and was just trying to draw a badass Wonder Woman

Dumb as fuck move, and will surely effect sales numbers without those variants.

Go to bed, Gwen

Team Rucka

and Slott was the one who retconed it to not be 616 She Hulk

>transdimensional tourists, hohoho

i'm not DC so I can't answer why they didn't like them.

also i was making fun of cho generally

Wonder Woman burqa as directed by Frank Cho when?

You mean, Rucka, right?

...

Based Rucka will save Wonder Woman from the Fintches, they said. So far we have needlessly decompressed issues, the blandest take on her origin I've ever seen, as if her origin being told again wasn't enough and this shit show. Thanks Rucka.

I was going to say, seemed a mite hypocritical.

...

Jesus did DC start hiring Boundless staff to letter their books?

...

...

The funniest part I think is Cho leaving, not being fired.

Yes, but now I want to see a Wonder Woman cheese cake burqa.

He probably got sick of emails from Rucka reading
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SHITLORD CURRENT YEAR GET OUT

Thanks for the random twitter opinions rebbit

I love how the one with the most balanced take is the female while most of the men go full nu-male.

no one cares about rando twitter reactions

Well fuck those guys.

This

>well within its rights not to show WWs underwear

Holy fuck

>DC is well whiting its rights to not show WW's underwear on a cover
HER COSTUME HAS BEEN A BATHING SUIT FOR 60 YEARS ARE YOU SHITTING ME

i like this guy getting mad at Rucka for badmouthing Cho which didn't actually happen

So who is this Greg Rucka, and why is he such a fucking goober?

I have to wonder if it's more Rucka wanting to stay away from the Frank Cho 'brand' after the hallabaloo over the Spider-Gwen stuff. More likely it's just Rucka defending his pet character.

>Creative leaves comic because of issues with other creative.
Not the first time, not the last time.

Guy that is Bendis tier in decompression but we all choose to ignore that when discussing his writing

>rebirth will save comics from sjw's they said
Wew.

That's what's amazing about all this. People are acting like Rucka got him fired but really Frank didn't want to put up with all the bullshit and did what any normal fucking person would do, and just left.

Now Rucka looks like a genuine asshole because his tantrums got a high profile artist to bail. DC isn't going to like this, especially if the Wondie issues start to go down in sales after this whether it be a coincidence or not.

It's the other way around, dude.

It's LITERALLY her fucking costume you faggot

I have no interest in Wonder Woman, but those are amazing. No high heels, gear is both functional, attractive, modern and Classical. It's like Cho knows how to draw woman and researched the subject.

One of the last great artists in comics.

Cringiest post in a while.

This is a really fucking ugly cover. I don't get it. The other covers are great, not at all like Cho's usual cheesecake shit sow. But this ones, it's like he couldn't help himself.

I think I'll wait to see what Rucka has to say before reacting.

my bad.

who went to the comic gossip rag and bitched about leaving because of the creative team again? the actual creatives or some dude doing variants? Cho's throwing the tantrum

I'd be interested to know who is going to replace Cho, and if its a pal of Rucka. Could be office politics, as much as anything else.

>NOOOOO! TOO MUCH MUSCLE! LITHE! LIIIIITTTHHE!

I also think that these are the finals and earlier concepts were worse.

Like Cho said, Rucka shouldn't have any power over the variant covers. He shouldn't even see the sketches or unfinished work.

Remember when Cameron Stewart asked to change the variant cover of Batgirl? He hadn't seen the cover until DC released it. And DC complied to avoid controversy (also apparently Albuquerque also asked), but he had no actual control or imput over it.

It'll probably be a woman to calm the tempers.

>I'd be interested to know who is going to replace Cho

Likely no one. These were variant covers. WW will probably just have none anymore.

>Cho's throwing the tantrum

>Calling people out on there shit
>A bad thing

Cho is a master on drawing women. He has a little problem with samefaces but otherwise he's amazing

But Rucka has saved Wonder Woman from the Problematic Elements! Because the 70+ year old Amazon who can bench-press a bus needs a middle aged Nice Guy to save her.

Maybe they were trying to present to her that they're all one of the Good Ones. Like a nu-male mating ritual.

they don't have to, they don't even interact or hardly at all

Rucka's WW run is off to a mundane start anyway, and Morrison's book will prove way better

Shit like this is why if i were a professional drawfag i would stay the fuck away from the "big two". Who wants to deal with that bullshit, i mean comic artists in the states don't get paid that much.

I could understand preferring the other over that one but its not really ugly and you must be fucking retarded to think it's cheesecake.

It'll be Jenny Frison (according to the early solicitation thread)

>killing dr. psycho

eat your grundy, you faggot

Hey I'm saying objectively, the dude who walks off the book and gives an interview complaining about it is the one throwing the tantrum over the guy who's done nothing.

Ruka's Twitter avatar fwiw

Greg Cucka starting shit over variant covers for being too sexy. Pitiful.

>We could have gotten an entire WW book drawn by Cho at one point
>Pissy manbaby office politics ruined all chances

Fucking cape comics are such a shit show.

I like Frank Cho, but that outrage series went on for far too long. It didn't really feel like he was doing satire, or making some kind of criticism. He straight up told people that they were being stupid and took commissions from straight up non apologetic sexist.

That's just not going to go over well when you're dealing with companies who may not want to have to be connected to your political viewpoints which are vague at best.

Cho also seems to belittle an entire segment of society telling them that their overreacting and them drawing female chars in weird hot poses, but also adding word bubbles to these drawings to antagonize them more.

In business there is such a thing called defending your work, but to defend your work and to talk down at those who disagree, then to toss more fuel on that fire on a monthly basis.

Hell... that's just putting your own head in the guillotine.

>the guy who's done nothing.
You mean the guy who gave Cho shit since day one? Fuck off already.

My geuss it was the pantyshot the colorist edited out

Behind the scenes politics that are he said/she said. Rucka's not gone on record anywhere about the covers iirc.

>this
>pantyshot

kill yourself

Sad for Cho.

It's kind of funny because isn't this the sort of thing that most comics gossip sites have eaten up and sympathized with creative when it was "They micromanaged my work and were hard to deal with so I walked" about DC Editorial?