Image Comics is currently undergoing both a critical and commercial renaissance, with the likes of Prophet, Saga and Fatale winning over readers new and old, and a whole slew of new books from the likes of Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Grant Morrison and more promised in the next year. A somewhat cryptic post titled "Retirement" on the often outspoken publisher Eric Stephenson's personal blog had us holding our breath wondering if he was quitting while he was ahead. Turns out the only thing that's getting retired is the "It Sparkles!" blog itself.

In the post, Stephenson wrote:

Time to do something else.

A call to Image confirmed that "retirement" and "doing something else" simply means It Sparkles! has come to an end, which is a little sad for those who've come to enjoy his outspoken, occasionally controversy-stirring commentary on the comic book industry as he sees it, a million miles away from the often bland and self-censored comments of other leading industry figures.

Stephenson even modified his blog description to reflect the retirement:

it sparkles! was an online scrapbook of sorts, compiling my various interests and obsessions as the mood struck. 28 January, 2010 - 13 August, 2012.

That's not to say he won't be keeping busy in other arenas of writing; Stephenson has, after all, just reinvigorated his own comics writing career with the announcement of Nowhere Men, the series he's creating with artist Nate Bellegarde. Since he's still serving as publisher, closing down the blog shouldn't be a major loss to Image Comics; during his tenure, the publisher has become more diverse, more interesting and more successful than it had been in years.