Marvel makes big artist change to upcoming Children of the Atom issue

Just four weeks before its planned release, Marvel Comics' Children of the Atom #3 is undergoing a significant artist change.

The publisher has informed retailers that series artist Bernard Chang is no longer drawing the issue, with veteran Marvel artist Paco Medina stepping in to fill his shoes.

In addition, Chang's cover to Children of the Atom #3 has been moved to be a variant cover, with RB Silva's originally solicited variant cover for the issue now reclassified as the primary cover.

The publisher hasn't given a reason for these changes, however, Medina is also slotted in to draw Children of the Atom #4. Curiously, Children of the Atom is the only ongoing X-title excluded from the broader 'Hellfire Gala' crossover event that month - explained by the publisher as due to story reasons.

This superhero series about humans masquerading as the mutants they're fans of has had a number of production issues over the past year. Originally scheduled to launch in early 2020, the series was put on an indefinite hiatus. It was later rescheduled for a January 2021 release, then pushed back again to an eventual March debut.

The first issue also had problems upon release - with an earlier draft of Children of the Atom #1 appearing as a digital release - different from the finalized version in the print edition. Marvel quickly corrected the issue.

So what is Bernard Chang doing if it's not drawing Children of the Atom #3 or #4? He is drawing stories in both the upcoming DC Festival of Heroes: An Asian Superhero Celebration and Teen Titans Academy 2021 Yearbook anthologies, and also recently designed custom sneakers for Brandblack called 'Rare Metal II Aqua 3D x Bernard Chang.'

Children of the Atom #3 by writer Vita Ayala and artist Paco Medina goes on sale on May 12.

Keep apprised of this and all the mutant titles with Newsarama's constantly updated list of new X-Men comics, graphic novels, and collections in 2021 and beyond.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)