'SPIDER-MAN' artist Mark Bagley moves to DC Comics in '08
In a stunning move, Ultimate Spider-Man co-creator and career Marvel penciller Mark Bagley will take up an exclusive assignment with DC Comics next year.
Comic penciller Mark Bagley, whose name has been synonymous with Marvel Comics since the beginning of his career in 1986, has signed an exclusive contract to move to DC Comics for "an undisclosed high-profile project" when his current Marvel contract expires at the end of '07, Newsarama reports.
Bagley won the pencilling category of Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter’s "Marvel Try-Out Book" contest at the age of 27, leading to his first professional assignments with the publisher and, eventually, acclaimed runs on New Warriors with writer Fabian Nicieza, Amazing Spider-Man with David Michelinie, and Thunderbolts with Kurt Busiek.
The artist finally achieved near-legendary status when he began drawing a younger Peter Parker for Brian Michael Bendis on the runaway hit Ultimate Spider-Man. The seven-year, 111 consecutive-issue collaboration now is the all-time industry record for Marvel, even topping the Stan Lee-Jack Kirby Fantastic Four run of the '60s.
The DC project Bagley will pencil is unknown (or has not been publicized), and both Bagley and DC Comics declined Newsarama's request to comment. Meanwhile, fans online have been advancing their own suggestions: the Legion of Superheroes, Teen Titans, Robin--all books about characters the same age as Ultimate Peter Parker--and, with the most "votes," Batman. Bagley has, in fact, drawn the Dark Knight, in a Spider-man/Batman crossover from years ago.
"Amen!" SCHADENFREUDE at Evil Avatar posted upon reading the news. "That's the best news I've heard from DC in a long time."
"This is really surprising," wrote DAVE WALLACE at Silver Bullet Comics. "Bagley is one of those pencillers who I absolutely associate with Marvel Comics, so it'll be very strange to see him playing in the DC Universe. Maybe he's tired of drawing Spider-Man every day of his life, or maybe DC made him an offer he couldn't refuse."
[Thanks to DC Universe Message Boards and Comicspriceguide.com for additional info.]