DC Stays Losing
March 26th, 2009 by david brothers | Tags: DC comics, dwayne mcduffie, jla, pauseDwayne McDuffie: I wrote a scene set at their gravesite that I recently had to quickly rewrite into something not very good.
Matthew Murray: Do you actually enjoy writing JLA? It just seems to be constant editorial rewrites and bad art.
McDuffie: No, I don’t.
To be honest, I wouldn’t like writing JLA either if I was paired up with an artist with zero storytelling skills, multiple tie-ins and interruptions due to crossovers or just editorial mandate (no one but Dan Jurgens cares about Tangent Comics, DC), and having to clean up Brad “Write First, Think Later” Meltzer’s crappy subplots.
I think back to this, back when I was excited, and this, when the shine first started wearing off, and then this, coming a year later, in which I don’t even want to read a series I was hyped for and features characters I love because I know it’s going to be subpar.
I said it in 2007:
Step 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.
Turns out I was right.
Well done, DC Comics.
(thread on McDuffie’s forum here, via the new scans daily)
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scandalous!!!
Wow, that’s surprisingly candid.
But seriously, this JLA series has been the least interesting I’ve read.
* Surprisingly candid, indeed.
* I love Tangent Comics, but I’m not fond of the latest volume.
* Meltzer’s writing is pretty weak; I agree.
* Yeah. JLoA is pretty weak; I agree.
Wow. I am really surprised at McDuffie answering so honestly. I certainly wouldn’t have.
I can sympathize with him, too. That must be like a monkey’s paw type situation. You get your wish, but at a terrible, terrible price.
It’s sad, really. I started my JLA subscription because McDuffie was taking over, because I thought he would be the perfect man to write it. Just a shame he wasn’t allowed to.
I really feel for McDuffie, I’m hoping that the subsequent arcs that deal more with the Milestone characters will be more up to snuff, since they’re his characters after, but it’s not looking to good.
(I think that “slot” pun is the worst thing I’ve ever read.)
Thanks, AERose. I was hoping someone else would say it, first.
[…] Well at least we’re all unhappy about it: Someone asked Justice League of America writer Dwayne McDuffie, “Do you actually enjoy writing JLA? It just seems to be constant editorial rewrites and bad art.” And he responded, “No, I don’t.” I’m actually kind of glad to hear that. I’ve always enjoyed McDuffie’s writing, but I dropped his JLoA within his first arc on the book, unable to stand another month of Ed Benes’ completely inappropriate artwork and amateur design skills and storytelling. But I have kept flipping through it each month at the shop, and it seems like every single story has either been in a lead-in or lead-out to another comic and/or devoted to cleaning up after the narrative mess of Brad Meltzer’s breif run. With artwork that hurts my eyes. (Link stolen from David Brothers of 4thletter.net) […]
[…] at the 4thletter!, David Brothers points out this thread on The V Hive from last month, in which Justice League […]
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