I’m not sure how many of you have been following Dr. Cyborg’s rantings about how good Chuck Dixon’s return to Robin has been, but I’m inclined to agree with him. (You can check them out here and here.) Mainly, the praise has been limited to the revival of The Spoiler, but I think I speak for all of us that regularly read Robin here at Big Shiny Robot!, his run has been great all around.

Not only this one, but he’s the one who launched the Robin mini-series’ (Robin I, II and III) and the regular series and defined Tim Drake for a generation of comics readers. (This is in addition to his superb handling of a number of DC mainstays in the 90s (especially his bloody, brilliant run on Nightwing with Scott McDaniel.))

The fact is though, he’s just started getting Robin back on track and out of the hands of the retarded chimpanzees writing it before (*cough*Adam Beechen*cough*) and has (as we mention ad nauseuam) brought back both the Tim Drake/Robin that we all know and love and The Spoiler. Critical response to the event (even here on Big Shiny Robot!) was positive and everyone seemed to think that he corrected a major misstep in recent DCU mythology.

Which is why it came as a major surprise to me and a lot of other people, that DC mysteriously gave Dixon the axe with very little warning and even less reason. In fact, there is no stated reason although he’s hinted strongly that Dan Didio might have something to do with it. Which may be the case or not, but I will say that Didio’s reign as Executive Editor has been marked with bad and confusing story arc after bad and confusing story arc. (52, Countdown, Final Crisis, Judd Winick, Adam Beechen, etc.)

The closest thing to an official statement from either party was this post on Dixon’s messageboard that read, in part:

Just to counter some nonsense I’ve seen “reported” on other sites.
I did not quit.
I do not believe it had anything to do with politics.
My involvement with Robin ends with issue 174.
I think my BATO run is over with #10.
My Booster two-parter will still be appearing.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Storming Paradise continues on schedule.
For those keep score, yes, I was way ahead on both of my monthlies. Down the road perhaps I’ll offer those scripts and you folks can help out Books for Soldiers as you so generously have before.

At the point where Chuck Dixon was ahead of schedule and writing quality books, I’m scratching my head trying to figure out why they cut him loose.

DC isn’t doing themselves any favors by keeping mum, either. If there was reason to fire a titan like Dixon, great, have out with it. But if this was hard-headed editors trying to reign in one of their betters by simply firing him, like it appears to be, they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot. Not only are readerships on DC books going to slip further in sales, but they aren’t going to get any better if you put shitty writers on them.

And DC is hurting for business. I mean, check this out. This is actual sales numbers from the month of April. DC has one book on the top ten (it’s number 9 and it’s Justice League of America). 1-8 are Marvel books, 10 is a Marvel book and 11 is Dark Horse Buffy the Vampire Slayer Book. Buffy the Vampire Slayer sells more books than all of DC’s catalogue (including Batman!) except JLA.

No wonder they’re trying to cram mediocre weekly books down the throats of the DC faithful, they’re slipping.

If you want to reverse that, do you think the best way is to fire writers with proven track records of turning in good books worth reading?

So, I’ll report more on this if and when I learn more, but seriously, I love DC and read more DC than anything and have for almost 20 years, but even I’m reading more Marvel than DC these days.