At Wizard World Chicago, Marvel launched a powerful counterattack against archrival DC Comics by announcing a number of exclusive signings including Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner, Leinil Yu and Joe Madureira.  At Wizard World Philadelphia in early June DC fired the first salvo in this summer's increasingly heated competition for the exclusive rights to top artists and writers by signing Adam and Andy Kubert (see 'Adam & Andy Kubert Exclusive to DC').  Now Marvel has answered though 'exclusive' turns out to be a relative term since Jeph Loeb will continue to write Supergirl for DC, and fan favorite artist Michael Turner will be able to work on his own Aspen Studios projects--but for Marvel, which lost Loeb (Hulk: Gray) to DC in 2003, the return of the writer behind such hits as Batman: Hush and Superman/Batman is very good news indeed, and Michael Turner has demonstrated the ability to sell a lot of books.

Marvel plans to put artist Leinil Yu on the Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine project along with an as yet unnamed writer, who may well come from outside of comics.  Meanwhile for Joe Madureira, his contract with Marvel represents a homecoming of sorts.  After a very successful run on Uncanny X-Men, Madureira left Marvel some eight years ago to create Battlechasers for Wildstorm/Cliffhanger.  In spite of the fact that Battlechasers was a hit, Madureira gradually became more and more preoccupied with working on videogames and fan interest in Battlechasers waned as the title fell farther and farther behind schedule.  If Madureira is able to revive his comics career and get his books out on time, his signing will also be a major plus for Marvel.

Meanwhile DC also made an 'exclusive' announcement at Wizard World Chicago.  Darwyn Cooke, who is illustrating the Jeph Loeb-written Batman/The Spirit one-shot due out in December and is both writing and illustrating a new The Spirit comic book series (see 'Spirit Movie & Comics in the Works'), will be exclusive with DC.