Kirkman off Youngblood: Imperial: Via Newsarama comes word that Fabian Nicieza has replaced Robert Kirkman as the writer of Youngblood: Imperial. In an irony-free post at Millarworld, Rob Liefeld explains the reason for the change is Kirkman's lateness:

“I handed the reigns of Youngblood:Imperial to Fabian Nicieza 3 weeks ago. Reason being that my artist, Marat Mychaels had no plot going on a second month and I want desperately to produce Youngblood Imperial on a regular basis. I believe Kirkman when he says he was swamped with work and I regret not being able to go forward but my artist could no longer sit on his hands and I made an executive decision to change writers and Kirkman was politely let go early last week.

"Obviously it goes without saying that I love the Walking Dead and Invincible and think the world on Kirkman's writing. We just had to keep the trains running if we are going to produce the first Youngblood monthly in years. I will continue to follow Rob's work and hope to work with him again in the future.

"That said, Fabian Nicieza is producing the best work in his career and is a natural fit and I could not be more grateful and thrilled that he's jumped on board Imperial.

"For the record, I don't recall ever saying all of Imperial was written, Kirkman wrote 2 issues in early 04 and wrote an outline that we will be no longer using. ..."