Legion Unfinished

About two weeks ago, it was mentioned in a post comment that Legion Unleashed writer Richard Evans was done with comics.  Evans had made the announcement on the Raven Entertainment Facebook page.

I didn't say much about it at the time because...

• It would be stating the obvious to say that I was disappointed, and I prefer to focus on those producing comics than those who no longer wish to.
• Evans could just as quick decide to "unretire".  It's not like the decision is binding in any way.
• Evans didn't go into detail as to what led to his decision.

Well, at least not right away. This past Sunday, Evans added another Facebook wall post entitled "Why I Quit Comics".  It got mentioned by bleedingcool.com and as a result, got picked up by a number of other sites.

Evidently, Bleeding Cool didn't care for Evans' opinion of the business and they took the opportunity to attack him personally, question his professionalism, and attempt to paint him as a hypocrite.  Also evident is that the writer for the Bleeding Cool piece, Rich Johnston, doesn't watch Mad Men because Evans' wall post was taken from an episode of that show, but adapted to the comic industry.

The Bleeding Cool message board thread in regards to the announcement is seven pages long.  It includes all of one post by Evans in which he clarifies his comments.  Here's a partial version:

Raven Entertainment Studio isn't a real company. It's just me guys. This is not a professional press release, it was released by me after watching that episodes of Mad Men and identifying with what they went through...

It was never intended to represent anyone or anything but my own experiences as a writer. I paid to make all those books out of my own pocket and can no longer afford to do so. It was supposed to be fun, but like the comments I read here, it was anything but fun.

I am still working with ANA Comics because they are good guys. I ALWAYS deliver on what I promise. I'll be working on novels with subject matter that we don't see enough of in comics.

...

All those companies I mentioned have put out decent work and I look forward to seeing what they put out. If you don't like one of them, that's cool. I never intended to insult them.

Best of luck to those in the industry and I am glad to be free of the stress. Thanks.

It's unfortunate that the Evans and Arcana partnership did not work out better.  I'm not going to try to assign responsibility for a situation in which I had no involvement, but it doesn't seem like it should have reached the levels that it did.

Here's a cover for the first issue, which I assume was never actually used.  I'd like to give proper credit, but I do not recall where I found it.  Probably Mr Evans' blog, linked at right.

I find it a little ironic that the most publicity that Evans was ever able to generate for his book was the result of announcing he is no longer producing it.