Not up to code - DC drops out of the CCA

[Blue Saint]

Warren Ellis is an interesting example, while he does prefer to do creator-owned projects, mainly due to the fact he doesn't like to write superhero stories, he does do a lot of work for hire recently it just hasn't been comics as much. He is doing the story for the Marvel/Madhouse projects and he wrote the recent G.I. Joe Resolute webseries for example. Also Ellis just finished up a rather forgettable stint on Astonishing X-Men. The issue with Nextwave was that it wasn't selling well enough to justify keeping on Stuart Immonen, who's page rate increased during production, so instead of getting a new artist Ellis opted to end the series.

As for the dip in quality at the Big Two, it isn't so much the creators than it is due to poor editorial departments. Quesada and DiDio were bad EiCs, they spent more time being masterminds than tending the lines which have lead into the problems we have today. Alonso for me is just going make things worse he has a very non-superhero mindset which has caused everything he has worked on since his Vertigo days to suffer (even his success at Vertigo is probably due in no small part thanks to Karen Berger who is a prime example of what good editorial control can do). Now Harras is going to be interesting, he is to my knowledge the first EiC who happened to be an EiC before. Now I have some serious reservations about Harras, his time at Marvel starting with being the X-Men group editor is rather infamous. That said towards the end of his tenure he was starting to learn from his mistakes and to make-up for them. He is also in such an unique position that he actually knows somethings to avoid. No matter what happens it will be interesting.

As for the only caring about indie and manga, that isn't going to promise quality. Those superhero titles you don't care about the people who write them now are former indie creators, highly regarded ones at that. That fact of the matter is that most of the comics produced be it superheroes, indie titles, or manga are crap.

As for CCA, it was outdated even before it was revised in the 70's. Hell it was just hassle to deal with most of the time anyway. It was also laughably easy to get around too, the big b&w magazines are a prime example. Also the new system would probably be better received anyway, since there are actual ratings instead of just a seal.

 

[Medivh]

True, the ratings give you a better basis from which to work on.

and that's interesting that you put the problem on the shoulders of the editorial team. I always used to hear that the only flaw behind the editors was that they didn't have enough spine to tell a snobbish writer who had a bad idea 'no'. Although following the logical conclusion, the final choice does in fact rest with them, so ultimately whatever happens, they drop the ball.

Kinda sad that Nextwave was ended. It was highly amusing and I picked up the only copies of the trades that my local shop had. It remains one of my favorite 'hidden gems' of a series. If only for Dirk Anger. DEPLOY THE DROP BEARS! Gods, now I wanna read that again...

I wouldn't say that it's all crap, it's just that one has to compete with the staggering amount of...stuff....that has been created over the years. Looking at things a certain way, everything is a ripoff of something, and the bigger a franchise you walk into, the harder it becomes to write for. Which is why I'd imagine people like Ellis dig doing indie work, but will be a gun-for-hire to pay the bills. Heck, it worked for Schuster if you believe that one guy...

It's just such a daunting task, when you think about it. Especially to take a known and beloved character and do something inspiring and original with them. Sometimes I think the only place more challenging than comics to do something original and make it work is MMORPGs. But that's another debate entirely.