
This month marks the return to comics of the CrossGen properties. RUSE was arguably the most critically-acclaimed of their titles, so its not surprising that it's one of the two titles TPB have chosen to begin the relaunch with.
The book made mild internet waves in 2002 when Mark Waid refused a Harvey Award nomination for Best Writer for his work on the title. I don't know if his motivation was ever divulged, but it almost certainly has to do with his conflicts behind the scenes with CrossGen's founder, Mark Alessi. Waid once described working there as the emotional equivalent of being punched in the stomach everyday. (Alessi, by all accounts, was a rich man who believed being a lifelong reader of comics qualified him to publish comics, a task -- again, by all accounts -- he woefully lacked the know-how for.)
( Four pages from the new RUSE #1 )