Though Marvel and DC seem content to bet the future of their flailing publishing lines on the incoming generation of younger comic book talent, Image Comics co-founder and overall industry veteran Rob Liefeld has found himself exhausted with their widespread sense of entitlement.
The Deadpool creator spoke to his issues with “the next gen” of creators on July 29th, taking to his personal Facebook unrelated to any public event or controversy to vent, “Gotta be honest, had to cut ties with a number of new talent this past spring & summer. Several of these, the work will never see the light of day, I’m having it re-done.”
“The connective tissue is the age, these are individuals who are of an age between Millennials and Gen Z,” he said. “The talents I let go are terrible with directions, they love to argue and have zero accountability.”
To this point, Liefeld recalled, “No matter how polite I share, and I write every exchange as if it would be shared in public, the reactions are a style and manner that I haven’t encountered before.”
“I go out of my way to give the benefit of the doubt, spoon feed the info and directions,” he explained. “But the snap and deflection is unlike anything I’ve encountered in 36 years.”
“I’ve had a great track record breaking all manner of talents over 3 decades but man, this is a whole new era and I‘m learning that I don’t have the patience for the petulant behavior,” he admitted. “Add to the fact that I pay top rates, I’m not looking for bargains.”
Drawing his thoughts to a close, Liefeld lamented how the entire phenomena “Makes me wonder what will become of the industry over the next decade.”
“I’ve been really fortunate to work with so many great talents over the course of my career,” he reflected. “ but this is a whole new era that has a different standard of the dread ‘entitlement’.”
In a pair of follow-up comments, Liefeld expressed further amazement at this entitlement, noting “I haven’t encountered it in the field of comics until these past few months and wow, I’m floored.”
“I’ve worked in comics for 36 years,” he said. “This is absolutely a generational thing, a social media generation. It’s different than any age before. And it’s several people, not one guy, from across the globe. Complete lack of accountability, willingness to be flexible in terms of suggestions… the attitude is crazy.”
“The last group of new talent that I worked with, many starting from 2015, were go-getters, diligent workers with respect,” the creator reminisced. “The new folks I’ve started working with since 2021 are a new breed.”
Attempting to give said creators some grace without dismissing Liefeld’s genuine concerns, Comics Beat Editor-in-Chief Heidi MacDonald offered the caveat, “They said the same thing about us when we were kids.”
“That said, there are hard workers and deflectors in every generation,” she replied. “The same things will be successful now as in any time: hard work, talent and playing well with others.”
However, even after taking her point into consideration, Liefeld disagreed with Heidi, pushing back, “No it’s not the same.”
“I’ve broken 50-60 names into this business,” he concluded. “3 decades of young talent. This is a by product of so much of the new tech and social media.”