By: Russ Burlingame on October 24, 2012
After an acrimonious split with DC Comics, in which he left the publisher and the three comics he was working on in a flurry of Twitter action, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Rob Liefeld’s profile in comics lessened a bit; he’s working on, or in negotiations for, at least three feature films based on his comics work that we know of, which can be a time-consuming ordeal.
Nobody expected that he would step away from comics completely, though, which is what some are claiming has happened.
Responding to a comment by fellow artist Ethan Van Sciver on Facebook that called upon Liefeld to draw “Badrock Obama,” the veteran artist said, “Ethan, I am retired from comics but you have my blessing, it would look great if you drew it.”
That comment was seized upon by news-and-gossip site Bleeding Cool, who ran it as his retirement “announcement,” prompting Liefeld to respond via Twitter. “No, I did not announce anything,” the artist tweeted. “I made a comment.”
“No I am not permanently retired from comics,” Liefeld tweeted just moments ago. “I’m too young! Momentarily, yes. Geez, let a guy enjoy some R and R.”
He added, “I am currently retired from any comics work. There is no announcement here. Please. Carry on.”
He later added that he should have said he was on sabbatical, but that it was late at night.
This means that Liefeld will at least theoretically be able to return for some work on the Extreme relaunch, which has been doing better than almost anyone anticipated, including some of the as-yet-unpublished titles that have been teased for that line.
Added Marvel Comics’s Jim Viscardi, “So it’s more like a comic book death, then?”
Perfectly said.
