DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee gave the company's reasons for firing Chris Roberson from his work on Fairest before his planned departure (see "DC Speeds Roberson's Departure") at the Before Watchmen panel at the L.A. Festival of Books last weekend. 

The controversy erupted last week when Roberson announced via Twitter that he was leaving DC after completing his current work because of the company’s ethics, while alluding to DC’s Before Watchmen and Marvel’s litigation with the Kirby heirs (see "Chris Roberson Leaves DC"). On Friday, Roberson was told that he wouldn’t be finishing his run on Fairest. 

Lee and Didio’s comments in Los Angeles didn’t really calm things down.

"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 do this one project," Lee said in response to a question about the incident, according to a transcript on Collider.  "It would seem wise to me to wait until you finished the project to voice that complaint.  You have to imagine from our perspective, for our own internal morale, what does it say for a company to hire somebody who’s that vocally against our principles and yet we’re still paying them."

Didio added, "As far as I’m concerned, he made a very public statement about not wanting to work with DC and we honored that statement."

The Co-Publishers also answered questions specifically about Before Watchmen and why they went forward with the project.  "In a baseball game you don't leave your best players on the bench," Didio said.  "You have to go out with your best foot forward -- the things that are most recognizable, that people want to see -- so I felt that it was in the company’s best interest to go ahead with Watchmen."

The pair also defended the company’s dealings with Watchmen writer Alan Moore, who has opposed the use of the property in new works, noting that Moore is being paid for all uses of the property for which he's entitled to royalties.