The rumor about a resignation were made public by writer Warren Ellis, in one of his Bad Signal mailings early Friday morning:

If what I just heard is true, then it's going to be a really
interesting day in the comics news business... If it's not, well, I just wasted seven seconds of your time. You'll live.

As he had predicted, the news broke on Comic Book Resources, where Rich Johnston shared the following:

I understand that last week, John Nee handed his resignation in to DC Comics. As of today, however, he was still working at the company offices.

DC themselves refused to comment, but Nee's resignation was claimed confirmed for the site by "independent sources." Online reaction to the news was mixed; IDW Publishing's Scott Dunbier, who had worked with Nee at DC's Wildstorm imprint for years before resigning himself last year, posted that

John Nee is an honorable man and my friend. I hope he is happy and successful in whatever he does.

while "Tom Power" (presumably a pseudonym) left the following comment at Newsarama:

Nee’s departure won’t even be noticed by readers and consumers, but it will buoy the spirits of everyone who had to work under him. Nee was known for his being tone deaf to the feelings and sensibilities of others; what he probably saw as being forthright and outspoken was regarded by people with actual human emotions as a form of Tourettes and a total lack of empathy. Knowing people who worked under him at DC as I do (and having interacted with him on various bits of business over the years), I feel safe saying that he won’t be missed.

So, who was this apparently divisive figure?

John Nee came to DC through Wildstorm, the one-time independent studio headed up by 1990s superstar artist Jim Lee purchased by DC late in 1998, where he was VP General Manager for the imprint until his promotion last year to Senior Vice President of Business Development for all of DC Comics. During his time in both roles, he was responsible for the expansion of DC's international publishing programs, as well as the creation of DC's CMX manga imprint, the long-coming Sony/DC Comics MMO, DC's participation in online/cell publisher Flex Comics and - maybe most importantly of all - Lego Batman.

While his stepping down from his current position may not have an immediate effect for fans, it's still unknown what it may mean for the publisher itself; in response to Publisher's Weekly's Heidi MacDonald calling the resignation "capp[ing] off what had to be considered a week of bad news and turmoil for DC," Warren Ellis wrote (in another Bad Signal mailing):

Sadly, I don't think that does cap off the week for DC. I don't think they're going to have a very good day at all, tomorrow. I hate this, really.

Despite that Friday mailing, nothing was announced on Saturday or Sunday... Not that that stopped the rumor mill. Almost everyone assumes that Nee's resignation is part of larger changes, and while the nature of those changes varies depending on who you listen to (Most outlandish take: Nee has resigned in preparation for Jim Lee to leave his own post at DC and start up another independent publisher. Most plausible: Nee has resigned to facilitate a series of sideways moves that will slide Dan DiDio out of the Executive Editor position and someone else in), very few people believe that Nee's resignation is as simple as it seems on first inspection.

Dan DiDio's appearance at this weekend's HeroesCon has done little to inspire confidence in his staying power; although he told fans at the DC Nation panel that such rumors "come with the job" - not that they're helped when Jimmy Palmiotti teases the crowd with a "no comment" when asked if he wanted DiDio's gig (He's since made it clearer that he was joking and doesn't want the job) - others felt that he seemed very worn down and defeated:

DiDio stayed pretty gruff throughout the State of the Industry panel and dodged moderator Tom Spurgeon's questions about the past week at DC, marred by Chuck Dixon's acrimonious exit. Not inspiring anyone, at one point DiDio said, "We have the same characters... There's only so much you can do with them. You've seen it all, you've heard it all."

I mean, it's honest, but, man. Talk about a buzzkill.

It will, it seems, be another very interesting week for DC Comics.

More interestingly, DC are also releasing the collected edition of Faker, which deals with that college-age dilemma that we've all gone through at one point or another: "What if one of my friends isn't actually real, but instead a physical manifestation of the collective subconsciousness of my social circle?" Written by Lucifer's Mike Carey with lovely scratchy art by The Losers' and Judge Dredd's Jock, consider it the pick of a crop of DC trade paperbacks that also include the highly enjoyable second volume of 1950s sci-fi tales known as Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes, future dystopian superhero hijinks in Wildstorm: Armageddon and Robin Hood-inspired archery in Green Arrow: Year One.

(If you're not picking up the expensive books tomorrow but have a hankering for some alternate world superheroics, DC/Wildstorm: Dream War #1 takes the superheroes-fighting-each-other trope and adds in a boost of "dream logic," which will be coming to a Jamba Juice near you soon.)

For those of you who are looking for some Iron Man action, Robert Downey Jr.'s latest meal-ticket can be found in no less than eight separate titles this week (and maybe more; is Shellhead still appearing in Avengers: The Initiative?). But the two that you really want to look for are Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 — which sees Iron Man fighting Doctor Doom for the title of "Biggest Asshole In Armor 2008" - and The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, a 720-page hardcover collecting the first fifty-one stories of Tony Stark's career from the days when men were men, women were ornaments and communists were undermining life itself with their every breath.

As usual, it falls to other publishers to come up with the truly unmissable goods this week, and I'm not talking about the return of Captain Action — the 1960s action figure who could transform himself into various superheroes including Batman and the Lone Ranger — in Captain Action #0. (Although, really? It looks like fun.) I'm also not talking about Boom! Studios' new Lovecraft-inspired anthology, Cthulhu Tales. No, I'm talking about the much-delayed (by more than three years) American Flagg hardcover, reprinting Howard Chaykin's 1980s SF satire for an audience who have probably never read anything like it ever before — Brash, bold, sex-crazed (Well, it is Chaykin) and shot through with Reagan-era politics, Flagg is a great clash of old school, the origins of new school, and some crazy graphic design tricks that no-one else would dare do these days. It's 2032, and out-of-work TV host Reuben Flagg emigrates from Mars to Chicago, joining the Plexus Rangers, who enforce the law in the corrupt dystopian city. Highly recommended if you can come up with the $80 for the hardcover.

For everyone else, why not take a look at what else you could buy instead, and then find out where to buy it. Or, alternatively, rob a bank so that the American Flagg book could be yours after all. Your choice...

In addition to Batman: Death Mask, an original manga by Yoshimori (Togari - The Sword of Justice) Natsume that will be published in authentic back-to-front format, the main DC/Wildstorm project will be DC/Wildstorm: Dreamwar that crosses over characters from both lines. Editor Scott Peterson described the project simply:

Basically, it's the DC Comics heroes versus the Wildstorm heroes, punching.

When asked about the status of the very late Wildcats series by Grant Morrison that disappeared after a mid-2007 first issue, series artist Jim Lee embarrassedly called it "the dreaded question," before admitting that "there's no way to make amends [for the delay]" but both Morrison and Lee are committed to finish the series at some point, although that may be five or ten years from now. Here's hoping that he was sarcastic on that last point. Peterson said that Morrison's other delayed title, The Authority, has had some "serious forward motion" and will be returning at some point.

In response to questions about Warren Ellis's missing titles Desolation Jones and Planetary, Peterson said that, like any publisher, they're very happy to publish work from Warren Ellis when they get it. He has written the final issue of Planetary, but they're waiting for artist John Cassaday to have time in his schedule to draw it.

Jim Lee also talked about his All-Star Batman series with Frank Miller, saying that he enjoys working on the book, and that he's surprised that Miller continues to work on the series considering his movie schedule. The book is slated to run for twenty issues, and they have around ten still to work on.