Chuck Dixon exits DC Comics

[Gay Titan]

Veteran comics writer Chuck Dixon announced on his official forum last night that he is no longer employed by DC Comics “in any capacity.” The confirmation comes after Monday’s news that Frank Tieri would be writing a two-issue story for the “Batman and the Outsiders,” a title that Dixon was brought in to retool and write under similarly unexpected circumstances, following the exit of scribe Tony Bedard prior to the book’s launch. Presently, it appears Dixon’s final issue of “Batman and the Outsiders” is August’s #10.

After a considerable absence from the publisher’s more high profile titles and six years away from “Robin” itself, Chuck Dixon returned to DC Comics in 2007 to write the book he’d help bring to prominence with a hundred-issue run beginning in the 1990s. Solicitations indicate Dixon’s work on “Robin” can be read at least until August’s issue #177. At the moment, it is unknown who will be replacing Dixon on the book.

Beyond those works, Chuck Dixon is also slated to pen DC’s “Booster Gold” #11 and “Storming Paradise” #2, both solicited for August, after which it appears " pending the release of September’s solicitations -- there will be no more Chuck Dixon work from DC Comics.

DC Comics has declined to comment on this story.

[Elliot Kane]

To be honest, Dixon did all his best work for CrossGen anyway. I really hope he gets to do some more stuff that is not superheroes, and for which he seems eminently more suited.

I feel a bit sorry for him, honestly. He's kind of been shoe-horned into a genre that doesn't really suit him because the market ain't there for what he does best. It's a shame.

[Gray Lensman]

Gah, this absolutely sucks. Dixon is a solid professional whose work is far too often overlooked.

I liked the work Dixon was doing on the Batman titles. The past few issues of Robin were every bit as good as what I've read of the first run. Outsiders is a solid, respectable team title, which is saying a lot considering that Dixon was brought in to do a rush job after Bedard got kicked off early on. I'm going to miss Dixon's work on both these books, especially Robin.

Sadly, I suspect that both of these titles are going to slide back to mediocrity. Dixon is the only writer who ever made Robin work well for me, and DC has a habit of sticking its low-tier writers on it. As for Outsiders... well, I know I won't be sticking around for Tieri, but we'll see who handles the book after that.

All in all, this incident has soured my interest in following Batman RIP. I was planning on picking up the whole event, but that was while Dixon was on Robin and Outsiders. If Tieri is writing the Outsiders tie-in, and someone else is doing the Robin issues... well, it's down to Batman and Nightwing for me.

As for Dixon... well, I strongly suspect some kind of dispute with DC editorial. I would prefer to see him back to doing the kinds of books he was putting out at CrossGen. Still, he did a good job on the Bat-books, and I hope he'll get another crack at them some day.