TRANSITIONS

LegalDispatch 0.62

Howdy.

I missed putting out last week’s newsletter because my eldest child was graduating from high school. She did so two days after The Flash aired its final episode, marking the conclusion of the Arrowverse.

The latter hit me with surprising poignancy. I generally don’t think about projects I’ve worked on after they’ve concluded. I’m very much a “set it and forget it” kind of writer/producer. I move on quickly and with little, if any, looking back. However, last Wednesday (May 24) was not only the date of The Flash’s series finale, it was also “superhero day” at Warner Bros. — a themed picketing event which saw a lot of Arrowverse fans, writers, and actors coming out in support of the WGA strike. Seeing such fondness for the Arrowverse — fans of Legends of Tomorrow chipped in to rent out an ice cream truck — and being reunited with many faces I haven’t seen in person since the pandemic, was certainly cause for me to break out of my usual “what’s next?” propensity and reflect somewhat.

I always say that I work for ten year-old me, and my involvement with the Arrowverse is the zenith of that reality. During my time playing in that sandbox, I was guided — for good or ill — by the fan that still lives inside of me. But for as cool as the things I got to do were to younger version me, what I’ve taken with me from the experience is the friendships, relationships, and memories of working with some very good people and interacting with some very passionate fans. As hard as producing the shows and crossovers were — and they were hard — true friendships were forged in those fires. If there’s a theme that ties the Arrowverse together, it’s that of found family — Team Arrow, Team Flash, the Legends, etc. — and out of these shows came several families, both found and — as various people paired up, married, and had kids who would come to work on the shows — quite literal.

As noted above, I’m always ready to move on to the next thing. But this time, I’ll do so missing what we had.

WELL, THIS SUCKS

Speaking of transitions, this morning Billy Joel — of whom I am the biggest fan — announced that his 10-year residency at Madison Square Garden was coming to a close. It’s not happening for another year — the last concert will be in July of 2024 — but it marks yet another transition. Nothing is forever.

STAR WARS: D-SQUAD

For a while now, I’ve been teasing a new Star Wars project. Today, the news (finally) dropped that I’m writing a four-issue series that sees Artoo-Detoo assembling a “super-team” of droids to combat the Scourge that was first teased in Star Wars: Revelations and is the subject of this summer’s big comic event, Dark Droids.

The scripts for all four issues are in the can with the latter two awaiting feedback from LucasFilm. The art team of Salva Espín and Israel Silva is simply astounding. I can’t adequately convey how beautiful this book looks. But when the vast majority of the cast speaks only in beeps and boops, believe me when I tell you that you need an incredible artist to convey what’s happening. In 18 years of writing comics, I’ve never seen a better match of artist to material than Salva, and Israel’s colors are beautifully eye-popping. But don’t take my word for it. Check out a little preview below:

Artoo gets his Wall-E moment…

And if that wasn’t fun enough, the first issue includes a 10-page story about Ajax Sigma, the droid who we introduced in Revelations and Han Solo & Chewbacca. This story gathers all these various threads and ties them together in a way that leads directly into Dark Droids. And the best part is that David Messina, my partner-in-crime from Han & Chewie, returned to illustrate. Here’s a preview:

Those familiar with Revelations will notice the tight continuity between this story and that of Revelations. One of the many reasons I love working with David is that he’s as OCD about this stuff as I am.

If you want to learn more about D-Squad, I spoke a bit with starwars.com about it.

Be good to each other.

Best,

Marc

Encino, California

6.1.23