How to Sink A Comic
December 20th, 2007 by david brothers | Tags: Colored Commentary, DC comicsStep 1: Hire a quality writer, one known for doing right by your characters.
Step 2: Pair him up with a T&A artist or two, neither of whom are known for their ability to convey emotions beyond Angry, Shocked, and Aroused.
Step 3: Hamstring the writer by making him tie into your crappy stories that have nothing to do with the book he’s writing.
What book am I talking about? JLA!
The latest issue of JLA is a tie-in to the Tangent stuff that McDuffie isn’t even writing, the first arc was a perfectly decent Legion of Doom story that was hampered by the fact that Ed Benes was wholly unsuitable for the story he was trying to tell and that it turned into a Salvation run tie-in. You know what that did? It neutered the end of the story.
I was super hyped about McDuffie on JLA, despite Benes and Benitez on art. Now? Now I have to struggle to care about it. Tangent comics? Isn’t that like doing a Bloodlines homage or something? Who cares?
DC Comics? You need to get some act right in your life.
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I’m pretty sure McDuffie’s Injustice League arc was already planned to be a Salvation Run tie-in from the start. It just reaked of an arbitrary giant villain team-up just so they could have them be captured and sent off to the crappy Salvation Run comic in one swoop. The characters’ motivations didn’t really make sense otherwise. I mean, Luthor wants to overthrow the government? Since when does he want to do that? Superman even mentions that it doesn’t make any sense in issue 15. And what did the Joker bring to the team that got him a spot as team leader? Random insanity? McDuffie’s previous team-ups have always made sense and had logical reasoning behind them, this one seemed way too arbitrary.
The next three issues look like they’re going to be another Salvation Run tie-in. I wonder if he’s ever actually going to get to write a story he wants to tell or if they’re just keeping him around as what basically constitutes as a long-term fill-in tie-in writer.
grr. i like tangent comics!
Yes! Yesyesyes! This is exactly what I thought!
And I picked up JLA just for McDuffie, and it is possible to enjoy the books so long as you squint real hard so you can’t see all the tits and arse. I mean, I like those things, but I like seeing a well-executed story more.
Yargh. And with editorial and marketing looking to be making even more of the story decisions in the future, its not a good time to be a DC fan…
Isn’t that like doing a Bloodlines homage or something? Who cares?
I’d care. Because JLA/Hitman was pretty sweet. Needed some Gunfire though…
The thing that really sucks is how much it will ruin McDuffie’s reputation in the long run. When the trade eventually comes out, all that anyone will remember is that these two arcs were shitty.
Everything said in this article matched my thoughts exactly. What a waste of a comic this newest JLA was.
Couldn’t agree more. I felt sick after reading the newest issue.
Actually, this book’s been doing a lot of tie-ins even before McDuffie. “Lightning Saga” tied in to the latest Superman/Legion arc in ACTION COMICS as well as BOOSTER GOLD and COUNTDOWN.
The art situation is a problem. Benes’ characters all look good but don’t always look good in action. Plus, he’s been getting lazier with his backgrounds lately. Maybe he fit better with Meltzer. Benitez’ outing in the latest issue was better than his last, but that’s not saying a ton.
But who can we get to draw?
Perez? Doing BRAVE & THE BOLD with Waid.
Tom Grummett? EXILES.
Barry Kitson? THE ORDER.
Gary Frank? ACTION COMICS.
Dan Jurgens? BOOSTER GOLD.
Rags Morales? NIGHTWING.
Steve Epting? CAPTAIN AMERICA.
Ethan Van Sciver, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Carlos Pacheco, Andy Kubert, Jim Lee, Phil Jiminez? Screw that. I want the book on time.
What are our options?
Lightning Saga was a tie-in only in that other books tied into it. It was written as a standalone crossover between two books.
notintheface: Pete Woods, but I’ll settle for a Renato Guedes, Joe Bennett or Mike McKone.
I think a good fit for McDuffie though would be Ed McGuinness. He’s a bit weak with faces, but he’s got big superhero action down. Right now he’s busy with Ultimates vol. 4 but with v3 going the way it is, who knows how that’ll be received? Plus he did the first three issues of JLA: Classified which were awesome.
On crossovers, that probably won’t stop until after the Final Crisis tie-in that’ll inevitably come right after the Salvation Run arc. I mean, McDuffie is supposed to be on the book until he wants off, so I hope they keep shoving this stuff on him; but JLA/FC really is inevitable when you think about it. And if there’s a third weekly then hopefully JLA can avoid a tie-in long enough for it to stand on it’s own, or at least until it’s built up some steam.
I’m no fan of JLA, but I like the new comic Northlanders from DC.
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