JH WILLIAMS III SIGNS TWO-YEAR DC EXCLUSIVE

[MattBrady]

DC Comics added another exclusive creator to its roster, today announcing that JH Williams III has signed a two-year exclusive contract with the publisher. While the news may come as a “duh” worthy event to some, given that Williams was the artist for the entire run of Alan Moore’s Promethea, but he had been doing work outside of DC.

“I’ve been doing lots of covers and little tidbits if interior stuff for some the competition,” Williams told Newsarama. “But as for why now...I had been approached to go exclusive about six months or so ago but didn't want to do it then without knowing what the next project would be. I wanted to keep my options open for the right thing to come along. Now that it has been settled I figured I might as well take advantage of some of the perks to going exclusive since my next large amount of work was going to be with Wildstorm anyway and I have always been treated with the utmost respect from DC and Wildstorm in particular. It just feels like home.”

Williams admitted that the exclusive will help to keep him focused on the work at hand, without succumbing to temptations from other companies. As for what the work at hand is, the bulk of it will be Warren Ellis’ Desolation Jones

”I’m really looking forward to Desolation Jones Williams said. “One, because it allows me to work on something with mister Warren Ellis. He’s one of my top favorite writers and I really wanted work with him on a project, so I'm very happy that it has worked out. And two, Desolation Jones is very different than Promethea and that’s why I wanted to do it. It’s going to pull me in some directions that I really wanted to go visually - to try something new, which is always what I like to do. My work on Promethea can attest to that.

Jones will be nothing like Promethea visually, other than a spot here and there. But at the same time it will allow me to be just as extremely creative and as risk taking as I have always been. So it will be lots of fun for me as an artist to keep pushing those boundaries of what I'm capable of, very challenging. About the story itself...I really don't want to say much more about it than what Warren has on his website other than that it is very urban, dark, human, gritty, and can be pretty funny at times. I think it has the potential to be some of Warren's best work yet and that’s saying a lot.”

While it may sound like Williams is happy to be moving on past Promethea, the end of the series was bittersweet for the artist. In working with Moore on the series, Williams managed to keep Promethea on a regular schedule, and never required a fill-in. A sign of the times, perhaps, but the accomplishment puts Williams in a small group of artists who can claim that they began and finished a finite work of the series’ scope.

“It feels absolutely amazing, but at the same time, I’m sad to have it behind me,” Williams said of the series. “It has been one of the best experiences of my life professionally and personally. To be honest though, I'm not sure if we really had much more we could have done with this particular take on Promethea. Alan said to me a couple of issues back that we probably only had a few really good issues left in us for now and I think he was right about that. Nothing lasts forever and it’s always good to end on a high point instead of letting things fizzle. So in that regard I am very much looking forward to something new with Desolation Jones. I'm looking to recreate a positive experience for my work and for the readers. I'm sure that will happen.”

Along with Desolation Jones, Williams contract will cover covers for JSA, as well as some pages for the upcoming Wildstorm project by Leah Moore (yes, there’s a relation), called Wild Girl.

“I also want to mention that I'm going to be at the big San Diego Convention this July so if any of you out there are going, please come by and say ‘hi,’ chat, maybe have a beer or two, heh. I can found be at the ‘Naked Fat Rave’ booth on the main floor along with Arthur Adams, Joyce Chin, Howard Chaykin, Walt Simonson, Phil Noto, Seth Fisher, Tony Harris, Eric Powell, Dave Johnson, Brandon Peterson, and Jason Pearson, or wandering around the DC booth as well. I know it's a shameless plug but I couldn't help myself.”

[PhillipVargas]

I loved Williams' work on Promethea and I'm really looking forward to his work with Warren Ellis on Desolation Jones.

[Rawle Austin]

Wise move by DC.

JH Williams together with Alan Moore created a series that broke new ground and will stand the test of time. Promethea.

Pure quality.

Looking forward to Desolation Jones.

Growler

[blankpoint]

I would love to see an Absolute Promethea or some sort of Graphitti Designs slipcase edition of the Kaballah Road-trip story-arc from Promethea.

Williams III has been doing beautiful, outstanding working on the title and I have a feeling that Desolation Jones will be Ellis' next major project after Transmetropolitan... most of his little minis and Marvel work seems to just be so-so.

[hondo]

J H Williams III has rapidly become a big name artist. Promethea is probably the best title ABC put out (tho it had some huge competition, most notably Top Ten).

I'm mostly going to buy Desolation Jones because of Williams. Ellis is good but Williams is great.

Another great coup by DC.

[GeorgeG]

great coup? overstating this a bit much?

[TTROY]

no probably understating it

[amazingdavidman]

Good God I love Promethea.

Williams III and Moore have been one of the greatest collaborations in comic book history--There's a two page spread in the first issue that just blows my mind. It's hard to explain, but the panels border is the outside of a building--everything inside are panels that transpire inside said building, and the outside is a panel as well--I'm not explaining it properly but it was pure genius.

Smooth move on DC's part.

[manhunter1]

J.H. is going to be working with Warren Ellis on a book called Desolation Jones for DC?I thought Warren went exclusive with Marvel?

[beta-ray]

UGH. I dislike exclusives... but I do love JH Williams III's work. Well, hopefully we can see a lot more from him!

[TheRay]

JH's work is phenomenal. I've absolutely raved about Promethea since the get-go and have hooked many comic and non-comic fans onto it.

I look forward to much more of his work...and covers for JSA! Awesome!

[Hdefined]

Originally posted by manhunter1
J.H. is going to be working with Warren Ellis on a book called Desolation Jones for DC?I thought Warren went exclusive with Marvel?

What dimension did that report come from?

[Fazhoul]

This is good news. I've liked his work ever since I first saw his work on Justice Riders, the JLA Elseworlds story.

[Julio Diaz]

The only thing that would make this news better is if it included a revival of CHASE with him back on art.

[render man]

I want to know more about this project hes working on with Leah Moore (Alan's daughter I think). Anyone got a scoop?

[kcekada]

JH's work was phenomenal on both Chase and Promethea. Unfortunately, neither book got the audience it deserved.

I'm not sure if any current DC mainstream title would be a good fit for JH. Maybe Catwoman or JSA? I'd love to see more of the DEO and Chase, but I doubt that will happen any time soon.

[Scavenger]

Originally posted by manhunter1
J.H. is going to be working with Warren Ellis on a book called Desolation Jones for DC?I thought Warren went exclusive with Marvel?

No Elli's work for Marvel is just part of his ..what's he calling it..year of Whoredom? He has several things in the works with DC, IIRC.

[iMac]

This is indeed great news, he is a fantastic and gifted artist.

On that note, I have a few questions:

DC has been signing some outstanding talent for the last few years right?

When ar we going to see some of the results of this exclusive talent?

Or is this just a way of DC signing as many talented people as possible so Marvel doesn't get their hands on them?

I'm having a hard time understanding this strategy. I guess I'm hoping to see some results of these exclusives before their contracts run out.

[Gavin Hanly]

Originally posted by kcekada
JH's work was phenomenal on both Chase and Promethea. Unfortunately, neither book got the audience it deserved.

Maybe not Chase - but I'll be that collected editions have given a very nice boost indeed (and will continue to do so for many years) to Promethea.

I suppose we can only dream of Chase starting up where it left off...

[hondo]

Originally posted by iMac
This is indeed great news, he is a fantastic and gifted artist.

On that note, I have a few questions:

DC has been signing some outstanding talent for the last few years right?

When ar we going to see some of the results of this exclusive talent?

Or is this just a way of DC signing as many talented people as possible so Marvel doesn't get their hands on them?

I'm having a hard time understanding this strategy. I guess I'm hoping to see some results of these exclusives before their contracts run out.

It takes a while for them to produce after they have been signed usually. I too have been watching.

They will produce indeed. It's not buying them out just to lock them out from Marvel. They certainly have some fine talent over there, esp with the Fall of CrossGen.

Marvel has traditionally taken on lesser known talents as a cost saver and helped to develop (X-ploit ?) them. DC has done this too, of course, but Marvel has a lot more creators that are not as seasoned. Before posters start slamming me, they DO have some megatalent over there and some seasoned too, but overall a higher percentage of "talent in the rough" I would say.

This isn't to say I don't like Marvel. I do, just not nearly as much as DC.

The exclusives also help maintain a creative continuity on titles and characters which I think is sorely lacking in today's market.

[Neon]

Hey,

Okay, JH Williams III is probably one of the best artists out there. He's surely on my top-five list.

And, it's true he didn't need a fill-in artist on Promethea, but it is also true that in the last nineteen months the book got only seven issues out, right? I thought it was supposed to come out every two months. What caused the lateness? The scripting end, or the art?

I'm not complaining, I think it's good that there was no fill-in artist on Promethea, even though the waiting's been a bit of a bitch.

But if Mr. Williams III keeps this regularity, maybe he'll do around 10 issues of Desolation Jones, right? In two years. I'm getting Desolation Jones whenever it comes out, and I hope DC extends his contract so he can stay onboard the whole series. Even though I hate "exclusivity" contracts. Specially when it's DC securing talent for their super-hero titles. I don't follow the DCU much, so that's a bunch of cool talent I miss for a few years.

B.Cool.

[lennonpatton]

Congrats to JH and DC! I enjoyed meeting JH in San Diego a few years ago. His sketch is one of the treasured items in my comic collection.