Spurred by DC Comics' upcoming Watchmen prequels and its prolonged legal battle with the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, iZombie writer Chris Roberson announced last week he would end his relationship with the publisher following the release of his Fairest arc -- only to have the company decide his "services were no longer required" for the Fables spinoff. The developments triggered substantial discussion, and debate, online, so it's perhaps to be expected that Roberson would be brought up over the weekend to DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee during the Before Watchmen panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Asked by moderator Geoff Boucher how, as a creator, Lee reconciles Roberson's comments about DC's position on creators' rights, the Image Comic co-founder replied, "I don't know the writer, Chris [Roberson], and so -- you know, it certainly would have helped if I could have talked to him or if he would've reached out to me. It seemed odd to me -- as a creator, I would not publicly state I have a problem with the company that's paying me to do work for them and I'm going to quit after I finish this one project. It would seem wise to me to wait until you finish that project to voice that complaint."

DiDio was more terse in his response, saying, "As far as I'm concerned, he made a very public statement about not wanting to work for DC, and we honored that statement."

"See," Lee joked, "now that's the line that's going to run."

Visit Comic Book Resources to read complete coverage of the Before Watchmen panel.