Rob Liefeld sure has been in the news a lot lately…

DC obviously sees something in the man as he will soon be taking over writing duties on “Deathstroke,” “Grifter,” and “Hawkman” after “Hawk and Dove” is cancelled.  For myself, and I suspect many others, that just gives us a reason we can safely avoid these titles for the forseeable future.  What’s more interesting is the news that “The Infinite,” the time-travel series written by Robert Kirkman that Liefeld was also illustrating, would be ending due to “creative differences” between the creators.  The differences in question appear to center around the artist’s use of an inker and how the finished product wasn’t “Liefeldian” enough for Kirkman.  That’s entirely plausible, but what these reports have left out is how the book’s sales have been sinking like a stone since its debut, with November’s issue selling only 20% of what the first one did.  It’s one of the swiftest demises of a comic I’ve ever seen, especially when you consider the high-profile creators involved.  Saying that the series was finished due to “creative differences” not only works in the context of Liefeld’s history as a creator, but allows him and Kirkman to bow out of the series without admitting what a bomb it was.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Extreme Studios “soft” relaunch which kicked off last week with the arrival of new issues of “Prophet” and “Glory” after an almost decade-long hiatus.  The completion of Alan Moore’s “Supreme” run is also a part of this, but the early word on the two aforementioned titles was good, and the buzz has only gotten louder now that they’ve arrived.  Unless something goes horribly wrong, I’ll be picking up both once they’re collected.  What’s interesting to note is that these two titles have been relaunched with the aim of letting indie creators Brandon Graham and Joe Keatinge do whatever they want with the characters.  It’s essentially the same tact that Liefeld took when he got Alan Moore to write “Supreme” back in the 90’s.  I don’t know what took him so long to realize that the same approach could be applied to other characters he has created, but I’m glad he finally did.