Marvel Now Shakeup: Kieron Gillen Off Iron Man, Mark Waid Off Hulk, Warren Ellis Off Moon Knight

Several big name writers on Marvel ongoing series are departing their respective books. Kieron Gillen will depart from Iron Man with issue #28 and the conclusion of the Original Sin tie-in miniseries. Mark Waid will depart Hulk following issue #4. Warren Ellis will end his run on Moon Knight with issue #6.Gillen announced his departure from Iron Man on his Tumblr blog earlier today, saying that another opportunity came up within Marvel Comics that he couldn’t pass up:

Basically, the situation is this. An enormous opportunity turned up.We looked at my schedule. We realised that it just wasn’t going to work. The new book Marvel was offering was so utterly irresistible, I knew something had to give – and I realised that I was actually in a good place to bring my run to a conclusion. I realised the ORIGINAL SIN story would be a damn good climax for everything I’ve done, and between all I’ve put in play with the Mandarin War, Iron Metropolitan and where the HULK/IRON MAN story ends up, there’s a mass of toys for the next writer to play with. And hey – with the annual? That’s 31 issues total, which is exactly as long as my Uncanny X-men and Journey Into Mystery runs.

#28 ships in June and will conclude Gillen’s “Rings of the Mandarin” story. No word on what the new project he’s working on is, but it must be big for him to drop out of Iron Man.The fate of the Iron Man series following Gillen’s departure remains unknown as the book was not included in Marvel’s July or August solicitations. Gillen has been the writer of Iron Man since the series was releaunched as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative. Given Iron Man’s current popularity, it seems likely that Marvel will announce a new creative team and potentially a new relaunch for the series soon.Mark Waid will depart the recently relaunched Hulk following issue #4, with Gerry Duggan replacing him. Waid made it clear on Twitter that this was an amicable parting and that he was simply trying to make more time for his continuing run on Daredevil and to work on Thrillbent.com.

Waid has been the sole writer on Hulk (previously Indestructible Hulk) since it was relaunched as part of the Marvel NOW! inititiative. It will be interesting to see how Duggan builds on what Waid started and if he resolves the many dangling plot threads that Waid is leaving behind.The most mysterious departure is Warren Ellis from Moon Knight following Moon Knight #6, a departure that may include the entire creative team of Ellis, artist Declan Shalvey and colorist Jordie Bellaire. There’s some confusion stemming from an apparent typo in Marvel’s August solicitations that makes it sound like Marvel is ending the creative time as people.

MOON KNIGHT #6 Warren Ellis (W) Declan Shalvey & JORDIE BELLAIRE (A/C) • A threat from the first issue is back to cause problems for Moon Knight! • This mysterious person is the new BLACK SPECTRE and it doesn’t mean anything good for the protector of night travelers. • Don’t miss the conclusion of Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

It’s possible that the solicitation is simply announcing the conclusion of the first arc, but Moon Knight hasn’t really been following a mutli-part arc format so much as it’s been a series of single issue stories. There has been no announcement of a replacement creative team, so it’s unclear whether the book will be cancelled or if Ellis and company simply never intended to stick around for longer than six issues from the start. It’s also unfortunate to see the series getting a creative change so soon after a much talked about and critically lauded launch.