Rob Liefeld’s latest book Major X has been quite a shot in the arm for the comic book industry. Issue 3 of Major X just hit comic store shelves, and like the issues before it, it’s frequently selling out and destined for a second printing.

With the direct market struggling, comic book stores closing, and comic industry reports tagging in crowdfunding and manga sales to artificially buoy some otherwise lackluster sales numbers, one might think that a comic book publisher hiring Liefeld, the creator of Deadpool, would be a no-brainer.

Well, check those brains at the door if you ever visit DC Comics. Despite Liefeld’s history of success and growing notoriety thanks to the blockbuster Deadpool movies, DC Comics turned him down for multiple projects over the past 16 months.

While it certainly appears that Liefeld meant for this post to be inspirational and not intended as a slam against DC Comics, it’s still clear that all of the series he listed are DC properties. In the back-and-forth that follows, Liefeld states that “agendas” are the reason why he was turned down for work on an additional DC series, Female Furies.

It’s unclear whether Liefeld is blaming “agendas” as the reason why he was not offered Female Furies specifically or why he was denied work at DC altogether. Either way, for DC Comics to toss aside a promising deal with Liefeld over internal agendas doesn’t seem like a sound business strategy, particularly considering how that Female Furies book eventually turned out without him. Yeesh.

Is this yet another example of how the ever-shrinking mainstream comic book industry is currently operated more like a “club” than a “business?” Whatever the issue might be between Liefeld and DC Comics, let’s hope that DC and the rest comic industry can shed any profit-leeching agendas and instead reestablish a thriving market built on proven talent and professional behavior. After all, Avengers Endgame doubled the annual 2018 sales of the entire comic book industry in just two weeks.

There’s lots of work to be done and an industry to save. Right, DC Comics?