Jeff Johnson leaves Way of the Rat

Jeff Johnson, whose thrilling martial arts battles and glorious wide shot spreads on Way of the Rat has made it one of the company’s real hits, has left CrossGen. He will be penciller on Marvel’s Weapon X.

This is the first truly unsettling news I’ve heard from CrossGen since the initial story about their financial troubles. While this Newsarama piece doesn’t delve into the whys and wherefors of his leaving CrossGen, we can tell that Jeff must have had a cut in pay even for a book that they were retaining…or possibly had gone unpayed for a month or more…as he had put out feelers looking for other work.

A disheartening development, to say the least.