What was the (presumably editorial) disagreement that caused such a sudden departure from the book?
JB: The departure was as sudden as it was for a simple reason: a bone-head EiC who did not pay attention. Several months before the Immortus storyline got started, we writers and editors were summoned to the EiC’s office for the purpose of concocting the latest . . . shudder. . . Summer Crossover. As I had a storyline coming up in AWC that would be pretty cosmic and wide reaching, I offered it as the basis for the Crossover. The EiC said no, he didn’t want to do that for the Crossover. So Howard Mackie (AWC Editor) and I returned to our jobs on the book, and went ahead with the story as planned. One month before we got to the Big Reveal, as it were, the EiC suddenly noticed we were doing the storyline he had “rejected”. He ordered us to change it, immediately. Howard protested — the EiC had not said we could not do the storyline, only that he did not want to use it for the Crossover. Finally the EiC pulled rank — we Must change our story, as we did not have “permission” to do it.
