Not Like This

So, Dwayne McDuffie got fired from the writing gig on the JLA. Seeing as how I questioned why he was still on the book, you'd think I'm happy with this move.

I'm not.

You see, I don't like seeing anyone get fired. McDuffie's expressing sorrow that he won't be able to wrap up certain plots make me wonder whether he had one of those "maybe it wasn't quite THAT BAD" moments of clarity you sometimes get once you're rid of something.

The job I referred to being miserable at in the previous blog? Got fired from there. Spent the initial few weeks grumbling about it being a wrongful termination. Then, with distance, I realized it was the best thing that could have happened for me.

Here's hoping that moment comes to Dwayne very soon.

But in the meantime, I can see where DC Comics would feel justified in terminating McDuffie...just as I can see where McDuffie could argue that he didn't say anything worthy of termination. Personally, I'd side Dwayne on this. Living in a "right to hire/right to fire" state, though, I know there are certain things you shouldn't do because your employment is completely at the will of the client. NY is not such a state, but freelancing gigs are pretty much the same territory.

One of the most infuriating things about this news would be the comments from fans ignorant of the whole story. There are some fans railing against him for elements of his run that were handed down from editorial and saying it justifies his termination. From using characters that weren't "JLA" enough (which is always a ridiculous argument) to the inclusion of Milestone characters (which, again, is a stupid argument), the decisions weren't up to McDuffie. He didn't write the Big Three out because he'd prefer not to have them. While I'm sure he enjoyed getting a crack at the Milestone characters being rolled into the DC Universe, their placement in JLA wasn't entirely his call.

So, we have McDuffie fired off the book for questionable reasons, rather than leaving on his own or finally being given more room to tell his stories, with a bunch ill-informed, entitled fanboys dogpiling on him (not that everyone giving him a light kick on the way out the door is such a person). Of all the ways this could have shaken out, it wound up the way I'd be the least pleased with. Ugh.