This weekend Newsarama reported that writer Mark Waid has been fired from Marvel's Fantastic Four for 'failing to get with the program' and go along with changes in the long running comic series' direction dictated by Marvel President Bill Jemas.  Waid's stint on the Fantastic Four will end with issue #608.  Waid, who took the FF assignment last year after ending his 'exclusive' stint with CrossGen, told Newsarama that Jemas 'tried to convince me to jettison our high-adventure approach in favor of a making the FF a wacky suburban dramedy.'  Waid also suggested (in a separate post) that Jemas himself would take over the writing chores on FF -- which immediately created howls of protest from fandom as well as a quick rejoinder from Marvel EIC, Joe Quesada.  Quesada wrote an open letter to comic fans in which he flatly denied that Jemas would be writing the FF and also rejected Waid's characterization of the new direction suggested for the FF saying that Waid, '...may be mixing up stories he's heard and judging the new direction on what was a very initial pitch that was circulated over a month ago.'  He also characterized Waid's departure from the book as Waid's decision over creative differences. 

Quesada did not deny that the impetus for the new direction came from Jemas, who appears to be much more of a 'hands-on' executive than his counterparts in comic publishing.  Though Quesada mentioned that he and 'a couple of Marvel's top creators' are also working with Jemas on the new FF-related concept, he obviously doesn't object to executive involvement in editorial affairs -- on the contrary he gave Jemas his full props as 'the man who schemed the Ultimate Universe, had the guts to tell Origin, and turned Marvel's publishing business around in less than two years.'  Quesada also said that 'a new writer for FF will be announced shortly.'