Barry Kitson to Leave DC Comics for Exclusive Deal at Marvel

Barry Kitson plans to leave DC to begin an exclusive deal with Marvel Comics. Kitson has been a mainstay at DC Comics for years, working on titles such as The Adventures of Superman, The Titans, and JLA: Year One. Currently he's working as the artist on the Legion of Superheroes.

Just how good is Kitson? His partner on the Legion series, Mark Waid, also announced that he would leave the title once Kitson said that he was leaving. He didn't want to continue to write it without him.

"I think that's Mark being too kind," Kitson said. "We like working together. If it had been Mark leaving first, I would have probably left for the same reasons. We do look upon our collaborations as real co-creations so it would be difficult for either of us to continue a project without the other's input I think."

Kitson said that he and Waid's chemistry came from being opposites. "We're sort of diametrically opposed in how we approach most things - we don't really share any tastes except creating comics so coming together to do that keeps the work fresh and always makes our collaborations interesting."

According to Kitson, the deal Marvel offered him was too good to pass up. "I was kind of at the stage in my career where I felt if I didn't take the chance now, I was probably never going to."

When asked why he decided to move from such a sweet deal, Kitson said it was a hard decision. "It was certainly a really big move for me, after so many very happy years with DC, but I've always loved the Marvel characters and my first big influence was Jack Kirby, so the desire to draw them and feel part of the Marvel Universe has always been tugging away at my psyche."

The main project Kitson will be working on at Marvel is The Order. Kitson said that this book would offer him challenges that he didn't have to deal with in other titles, which made the deal all the more exciting for him. "It's different in that it's entirely new characters. Instead of working on old characters or coming up with new slants on existing concepts, it's an entirely straight-up-from-scratch book."

One of those challenges is having to draw existing buildings and technology. "If it's set in the future or out in deep space, I design the buildings, so it doesn't really matter what they look like - nobody's seen them!"

Matt Brady. "Talking to Barry Kitson about The Order." Newarama. URL: http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=118379