This may surprise those of you that know how much I enjoy books like 100 Bullets, the Bendis/Maleev run on Daredevil1, and Sleeper, but at this point I'm pretty goddamn tired of the dark superhero comics that DC puts out.
Where's the wonder, the goddamn brilliance that should be splattered across the pages that DC drops like a dead fish into the laps of its readers every month?
The Flash is increasingly grim, from what I can tell - Geoff Johns has him dealing with the dark secrets of Barry Allen and the rest of the JLA and villains who do things like, oh, rip the faces off their victims. Hell, the most recent issue deals with the villains having a funeral with a lot more page-space given to them than our titular hero. Is it a sin to tell fun stories about a guy who can run faster than anyone else and do the impossible?
Why have we had to look at Jim Lee drawing 12 issues of Superman talking to a priest, fighting with the people who are his closest allies, and dealing with a terrorist who looks like a knockoff of Seth from Millar's final Authority arc? If anyone could show us Superman saving the earth from a giant meteor, stopping an alien invasion, or dealing with a horde of hyper-fast ninjas, it's Jim Lee. Instead, we get Superman pining for a lost Lois, questions of purpose and desire, and some kinky stuff with Wonder Woman.
Why is Teen Titans full of miserablism when it's got a hit cartoon and characters that young readers want to read about? I've seen parents reach for the regular-flavor Teen Titans comic for their 8 or 9 year old and had to divert them over to the version based on the Cartoon Network series. The same goes for Justice League Unlimited and while I've enjoyed both comics and I know that kids will read them enjoy them, it seems ludicrous to pull a comic starring Superboy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, and Robin out of a kid's hands and tell them "No, hey, look, you shouldn't be reading that."
Identity Crisis2 is being followed up by the even-more-grim looking DC Countdown, which currently has the rumormongers on the internet abuzz with what is going to happen, who's going to die, and the massive effects this is going to have on the DC Universe for the readers. Now, I have a simple, almost Mamet-like question for the people doing this: when does all of this become enjoyable for the readers instead of a chore?
I have a good deal of respect for Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick, but is there a single ounce of wonder in their bodies? Have they ever embraced the sheer coolness of the characters they get to write? I know Winnick's got some whimsy in him - Barry Ween comfortably merges foul-mouthed kid action with crazy science fiction concepts and makes you believe in its strange little world. His Outsiders, however, is a grim look at heroes in their young 20s dealing with a grim world and grim villains who do things like bomb schoolbuses full of people.
Greg Rucka's a really good procedural-slash-mystery writer - not someone who should be writing superheroes. His Queen and Country is one of those comics I look forward to the most, but outside of creating Sasha Bordeaux for Detective (and then managing to make her yet another victim of Batman's ego,) he's done nothing that makes me able to recommend any of his DCU work. Hell, he took a year to get to the point where something happened in Wonder Woman and while everyone was screaming about how awesome that thing was, I wondered "Why couldn't that have happened sooner? Why couldn't there have been 11 months of things that happened before getting to the point where he's at now?" Wonder Woman is a character that DC should be managing to sell to people who aren't fanboys in their 30s. She's an Amazon Warrior Princess, which I seem to remember selling to people well enough under the guise of the much-less sophisticated Xena.
Geoff Johns? JSA can be a fun book when they just let go, but it seems that more often than not, he feels the need to do something truly awful to make sure that the readers are paying attention. Per Degaton went and slaughtered a family, including an infant at the dinner table in a recent issue. You see, when your comic book has the old-school Flash who wears a wheel rim from a '42 Chrysler sedan on his head, murdering babies shouldn't be part of the story. There's bits I like in this Green Lantern: Rebirth book - the most recent issue featured Ollie Queen using the power ring and remarking as to how much work it really is to use a magic wishing ring. A nice touch in an otherwise dour story that serves only to make amends for other grim-and-gritty mistakes DC has made.
I believe in the power of a shared universe when it comes to comics storytelling, but these grand crossovers have done nothing but disappoint myself and I presume, many other comics fans for years. I've heard that Didio views comics and TV as parallel mediums - episodic entertainment that builds as the "season" goes on, but this metaphor fails with even more than a cursory glance. I don't need to know what's going on in CSI to enjoy Law And Order, so I shouldn't have to read Identity Crisis to know why something happens in The Flash in the same month. You can build and expand upon things without having marketing dictate what the trends and storytelling should be.
The Johns/Winnick/Rucka DC Universe is the least exciting world in comics right now, despite what Newsarama and Wizard tell me and despite what many fans are telling themselves as they hook up to that monthly dose of the heroes they once thrilled to. The saving grace for myself and the DCU right now is Morrison's Seven Soldiers project and All-Star Superman. When are fans going to rebel from the legacy of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns that the creators of those works have moved away from? Hell, Frank Miller's doing All-Star Batman featuring Robin - the first Batman-and-Robin book since the 80s, when he was basically the impetus for Jason Todd's death.
As a fan, all I want is to be able to get the same feeling DC's superhero comics that I got when I read Alan Moore's Supreme or Grant Morrison's JLA. Show me people doing good things because they can. Show me heroes doing what they should do. Stop dragging them through the mud and elevate them. I don't think the argument that they need to be characters to which the audience can relate means that they have to have awful things happen to them nor do they need to be "pushed to the edge," as is in vogue.
Give me wonder, give me scale, give me fun. That's it.
1To defend the current Daredevil run, I'm going to say this: Matt Murdock is much more interesting than Daredevil. This struggles with his personal life and the costume have driven storylines like Born Again and what's called "The Miller Run." His failures as an attorney bite him on the ass in his hero life: Elektra (you know, when she died the first time) and Melvin Potter / The Gladiator being the most glaring examples that pop to mind.
2Which is getting its own line of goddamn action figures, for the love of Christ almighty. I note that Sue Dibny's not in there. Beef jerky's pretty cheap and I bet you could mold it into an acceptable simulacrum. And can I just say that Michael Turner's art translates even more poorly to plastic than Jim Lee's?
Where's the wonder, the goddamn brilliance that should be splattered across the pages that DC drops like a dead fish into the laps of its readers every month?
The Flash is increasingly grim, from what I can tell - Geoff Johns has him dealing with the dark secrets of Barry Allen and the rest of the JLA and villains who do things like, oh, rip the faces off their victims. Hell, the most recent issue deals with the villains having a funeral with a lot more page-space given to them than our titular hero. Is it a sin to tell fun stories about a guy who can run faster than anyone else and do the impossible?
Why have we had to look at Jim Lee drawing 12 issues of Superman talking to a priest, fighting with the people who are his closest allies, and dealing with a terrorist who looks like a knockoff of Seth from Millar's final Authority arc? If anyone could show us Superman saving the earth from a giant meteor, stopping an alien invasion, or dealing with a horde of hyper-fast ninjas, it's Jim Lee. Instead, we get Superman pining for a lost Lois, questions of purpose and desire, and some kinky stuff with Wonder Woman.
Why is Teen Titans full of miserablism when it's got a hit cartoon and characters that young readers want to read about? I've seen parents reach for the regular-flavor Teen Titans comic for their 8 or 9 year old and had to divert them over to the version based on the Cartoon Network series. The same goes for Justice League Unlimited and while I've enjoyed both comics and I know that kids will read them enjoy them, it seems ludicrous to pull a comic starring Superboy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, and Robin out of a kid's hands and tell them "No, hey, look, you shouldn't be reading that."
Identity Crisis2 is being followed up by the even-more-grim looking DC Countdown, which currently has the rumormongers on the internet abuzz with what is going to happen, who's going to die, and the massive effects this is going to have on the DC Universe for the readers. Now, I have a simple, almost Mamet-like question for the people doing this: when does all of this become enjoyable for the readers instead of a chore?
I have a good deal of respect for Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick, but is there a single ounce of wonder in their bodies? Have they ever embraced the sheer coolness of the characters they get to write? I know Winnick's got some whimsy in him - Barry Ween comfortably merges foul-mouthed kid action with crazy science fiction concepts and makes you believe in its strange little world. His Outsiders, however, is a grim look at heroes in their young 20s dealing with a grim world and grim villains who do things like bomb schoolbuses full of people.
Greg Rucka's a really good procedural-slash-mystery writer - not someone who should be writing superheroes. His Queen and Country is one of those comics I look forward to the most, but outside of creating Sasha Bordeaux for Detective (and then managing to make her yet another victim of Batman's ego,) he's done nothing that makes me able to recommend any of his DCU work. Hell, he took a year to get to the point where something happened in Wonder Woman and while everyone was screaming about how awesome that thing was, I wondered "Why couldn't that have happened sooner? Why couldn't there have been 11 months of things that happened before getting to the point where he's at now?" Wonder Woman is a character that DC should be managing to sell to people who aren't fanboys in their 30s. She's an Amazon Warrior Princess, which I seem to remember selling to people well enough under the guise of the much-less sophisticated Xena.
Geoff Johns? JSA can be a fun book when they just let go, but it seems that more often than not, he feels the need to do something truly awful to make sure that the readers are paying attention. Per Degaton went and slaughtered a family, including an infant at the dinner table in a recent issue. You see, when your comic book has the old-school Flash who wears a wheel rim from a '42 Chrysler sedan on his head, murdering babies shouldn't be part of the story. There's bits I like in this Green Lantern: Rebirth book - the most recent issue featured Ollie Queen using the power ring and remarking as to how much work it really is to use a magic wishing ring. A nice touch in an otherwise dour story that serves only to make amends for other grim-and-gritty mistakes DC has made.
I believe in the power of a shared universe when it comes to comics storytelling, but these grand crossovers have done nothing but disappoint myself and I presume, many other comics fans for years. I've heard that Didio views comics and TV as parallel mediums - episodic entertainment that builds as the "season" goes on, but this metaphor fails with even more than a cursory glance. I don't need to know what's going on in CSI to enjoy Law And Order, so I shouldn't have to read Identity Crisis to know why something happens in The Flash in the same month. You can build and expand upon things without having marketing dictate what the trends and storytelling should be.
The Johns/Winnick/Rucka DC Universe is the least exciting world in comics right now, despite what Newsarama and Wizard tell me and despite what many fans are telling themselves as they hook up to that monthly dose of the heroes they once thrilled to. The saving grace for myself and the DCU right now is Morrison's Seven Soldiers project and All-Star Superman. When are fans going to rebel from the legacy of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns that the creators of those works have moved away from? Hell, Frank Miller's doing All-Star Batman featuring Robin - the first Batman-and-Robin book since the 80s, when he was basically the impetus for Jason Todd's death.
As a fan, all I want is to be able to get the same feeling DC's superhero comics that I got when I read Alan Moore's Supreme or Grant Morrison's JLA. Show me people doing good things because they can. Show me heroes doing what they should do. Stop dragging them through the mud and elevate them. I don't think the argument that they need to be characters to which the audience can relate means that they have to have awful things happen to them nor do they need to be "pushed to the edge," as is in vogue.
Give me wonder, give me scale, give me fun. That's it.
1To defend the current Daredevil run, I'm going to say this: Matt Murdock is much more interesting than Daredevil. This struggles with his personal life and the costume have driven storylines like Born Again and what's called "The Miller Run." His failures as an attorney bite him on the ass in his hero life: Elektra (you know, when she died the first time) and Melvin Potter / The Gladiator being the most glaring examples that pop to mind.
2Which is getting its own line of goddamn action figures, for the love of Christ almighty. I note that Sue Dibny's not in there. Beef jerky's pretty cheap and I bet you could mold it into an acceptable simulacrum. And can I just say that Michael Turner's art translates even more poorly to plastic than Jim Lee's?
