As many of you had probably noted already, Mahmud Asrar’s solicited artwork was missing from last month’s issue of “Supergirl.” It was strange and something everyone was quiet about — Asrar hadn’t made any official statements about leaving the book, although this wouldn’t be the first time that an issue came out (especially from DC lately) with a different interior creative team than the one you might’ve pre-ordered the issue for.
Well, today on his tumblr, Asrar cleared up a few things and officially announced that he would no longer be illustrating the series — which is, to put it lightly, such a shame. Asrar will contribute a few more covers, and that’s it. As he writes,
What kept me from drawing the book initially was some health issues after which I had to rest for a bit. In the meantime I was offered some other projects which I took into consideration. Offers that ultimately had me make some important decisions. Unfortunately one of these decisions was to resign from art duties on Supergirl. Believe me, It was not an easy decision but one I had to make for the sake of several things in my career and life.
Asrar’s art will be found in an upcoming “Indestructible Hulk” annual with Jeff Parker in December, and there’s the aforementioned tease that he has some more irons in the fire as well.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll read anything Mahmud Asrar draws. It’s just a shame he won’t be drawing this book anymore; Asrar’s artwork perfectly captured the dire but playful mood that the book has had, like something akin to Buffy – you knew the world might end this issue but it looked damn good. Nelson’s writing also picked the series right up after a too-long crossover that dragged all the Super-books down, and I’d dare say that the series was definitely picking up a certain set of steam again that it had when it first launched.
“Supergirl” may still be good yet with Nelson writing, but it won’t be as good as it was with Asrar’s art. It was definitely one of the best looking books they had, to say the least.
If you haven’t checked it out, there should be a few trades available for you now in stores. In the meantime, we wish Asrar the best of luck as to whatever comes next.
