Writer Greg Rucka to Leave WONDER WOMAN With Issue #25

Writer Greg Rucka will leave DC Comics’ Wonder Woman with issue #25, as announced in his personal Tumblr post. A new writer to follow Rucka has not been revealed yet.

Rucka clarified that leaving the book is his decision alone, citing time constraints and commitments to other projects as the main reasons.

“Writing Diana again has been an amazing experience, on the level of a dream-come-true,” Rucka says. “All any of us who’ve worked on the book this last year have wanted is to serve her well, to illuminate what we so absolutely believe makes Wonder Woman such a remarkable and unique and timeless and important character. To have had that opportunity is something that I doubted I would ever get again. Most of us don’t get a single bite at the apple, let alone two, you know? To get that opportunity at a time when Diana is rising to such (long-overdue) prominence makes that apple all the sweeter. That she’s turned 75 during the course of our run is–to ruin the analogy–icing on the cake.”

Greg Rucka has written Wonder Woman since DC Comics’ Rebirth started almost a year ago, working with artists such as Nicola Scott, Liam Sharp and Bilquis Evely. Wonder Woman #23 will be the end of the book’s main storyline, while the epilogue will be in Wonder Woman #24. Issue #25 will serve as a set-up for the next creative team to follow. “Diana’s future is bright,” as Rucka says.

He went on to thank his several collaborators in the book and the fans who have continually supported the run. “The last thank you, of course, has to go to all of you who’ve supported our run, and who I sincerely hope will stick with us through the end and into the next team’s stories. Wonder Woman fans are a breed apart. They are, in so many ways, like her. That makes stepping away all the more bittersweet, and it has made writing for her this past year–as I’ve said–a privilege.”

In the meantime, Rucka plans to focus on his creator-owned titles like Stumptown and Black Magick, with the latter set to return this April from Image Comics. He will also work on a new miniseries debuting later this year called Lazarus +66, a spinoff from his science fiction series Lazarus.