Your DC-Only controversial opinions (part II)...

[Buried Alien]

Yeah, while a great art team on other things, Andru & Esposito didn't really suit the Flash. Hard to say why, but I guess their art made the Scarlet Speedster look too thick--and Barry needs to be slim, because he's a runner not a boxer.

Precisely my problem with Andru (and Esposito) on those late Silver Age FLASH issues: the Flash did not look sleek. Andru was a great Superman illustrator, but the Flash was really not his bag at all.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Buried Alien]

I find it kind of funny the disdain he had for superheroes consider how silly European comics can be. Don’t get me wrong, I think Asterix and Tin-Tin are great, but boy could they be silly.

It’s an opinion thing, though, so it’s no big deal.

I think superheroes represent a kind of distinctly American aspirationism that Europeans in general have always found difficult to assess.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Raijin]

I think it's time for a Suicide Squad roster where the villains actually want to reform and do good.

[stargazer01]

I like Alex Ross' art but I don't like his old depiction of Superman or Wonder Woman.

[Jim Kelly]

My problem with painted art in comics is that it looks too static. Comic art should be dynamic. The few instances I've seen of Alex Ross pages that aren't painted look much more dynamic to me. Likewise, when I see the original black and white page for a contemporary comic, that often will appear much more impressive than the same page after the colourist has got ahold of it and muted all those dynamic lines of force and washed out the bold shading contrasts.

[byrd156]

My problem with painted art in comics is that it looks too static. Comic art should be dynamic. The few instances I've seen of Alex Ross pages that aren't painted look much more dynamic to me. Likewise, when I see the original black and white page for a contemporary comic, that often will appear much more impressive than the same page after the colourist has got ahold of it and muted all those dynamic lines of force and washed out the bold shading contrasts.

I get what you mean but Alex Ross' art is so damn good. I think Justice probably has his best motion/dynamic movement.

[byrd156]

Suicide Squad has really lost the worry, tension, and danger in the series. To restore that DC should never use B or A list villains in it. You know going in Harley, Deadshot, and Boomerang aren't going to to die and if they do it will only be for a few issues.

[9th.]

My problem with painted art in comics is that it looks too static. Comic art should be dynamic. The few instances I've seen of Alex Ross pages that aren't painted look much more dynamic to me. Likewise, when I see the original black and white page for a contemporary comic, that often will appear much more impressive than the same page after the colourist has got ahold of it and muted all those dynamic lines of force and washed out the bold shading contrasts.

I could never read a comic with that kind of art, it's gorgeous but it looks like it belongs on a poster rather than a comic book. It's very distracting to me and I think you might've described why.

[SilverWarriorWolf]

I could never read a comic with that kind of art, it's gorgeous but it looks like it belongs on a poster rather than a comic book. It's very distracting to me and I think you might've described why.

I’d agree. I saw a video for Captain Marvel: The Power of Hope, and it looked more like a storybook rather than a comic book.

[Jim Kelly]

I think Justice probably has his best motion/dynamic movement.

The difference there is that Alex Ross did the character designs and covers, but Doug Braithwaite did the pencils for the stories and then Ross "painted" that--but probably didn't have the time to do a full paint job like on his cover art, so some of the dynamic pencils come through.

Another example is Astro City, where Ross does covers and character designs, but Brent Anderson does most of the interior art.

[Frontier]

Suicide Squad has really lost the worry, tension, and danger in the series. To restore that DC should never use B or A list villains in it. You know going in Harley, Deadshot, and Boomerang aren't going to to die and if they do it will only be for a few issues.

Harley has no business being on the Suicide Squad.

Deadshot and Boomerang have tenure and their iconic roles on the group, but she just doesn't really bring much to the table aside from being Harley in my opinion.

[byrd156]

Harley has no business being on the Suicide Squad.

Deadshot and Boomerang have tenure and their iconic roles on the group, but she just doesn't really bring much to the table aside from being Harley in my opinion.

I totally agree. They have tenure and are a part of the series' iconography but those characters will always be safe. I'd be fine but the series' gimmick is that these people are expendable and you never know who will live or die.

[Jim Kelly]

In terms of the movies, how do WB know that Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie is the big selling point for their movies? She's only been in one movie--an ensemble cast, with other name actors and other name super-villains--and while that movie made money (thanks in part to overseas box office) it's not looked on as one of the best DC movies. It's different with WONDER WOMAN, because that has a clear star and it was both a critical and financial success. It's a certainty that Gal Gadot is popuar (but not always the movies she co-stars in like BVS and JUSTICE LEAGUE). They have one movie in production for WW and there's something like three or four movies projected for Harley Quinn. Is it just that Margot Robbie has a really good agent?

[DrNewGod]

In terms of the movies, how do WB know that Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie is the big selling point for their movies? She's only been in one movie--an ensemble cast, with other name actors and other name super-villains--and while that movie made money (thanks in part to overseas box office) it's not looked on as one of the best DC movies. It's different with WONDER WOMAN, because that has a clear star and it was both a critical and financial success. It's a certainty that Gal Gadot is popuar (but not always the movies she co-stars in like BVS and JUSTICE LEAGUE). They have one movie in production for WW and there's something like three or four movies projected for Harley Quinn. Is it just that Margot Robbie has a really good agent?

Robbie seems to have received the bulk of good press from Suicide Squad, some went so far as to call her as a feminist-icon for our times (I don't get that, but I saw the term bounced around here and there). As for projecting multiple movies with HQ, I can see a couple of possible reasons:

• Writers and producers probably have an easier time thinking of ideas for HQ than WW; the latter requires some well thought-out ideas that balance a range of fans, the the former needs merely be allowed to run amok (in their minds).
• Producers are probably hoping they can tap Deadpool fans.

[kjn]

In terms of the movies, how do WB know that Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie is the big selling point for their movies? She's only been in one movie--an ensemble cast, with other name actors and other name super-villains--and while that movie made money (thanks in part to overseas box office) it's not looked on as one of the best DC movies. It's different with WONDER WOMAN, because that has a clear star and it was both a critical and financial success. It's a certainty that Gal Gadot is popuar (but not always the movies she co-stars in like BVS and JUSTICE LEAGUE). They have one movie in production for WW and there's something like three or four movies projected for Harley Quinn. Is it just that Margot Robbie has a really good agent?

I think part of it was that once Wonder Woman was successful, there was basically only one sensible route to go: hire Patty Jenkins to make at least one more movie with Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

Harley Quinn was different. Margot Robbie was mentioned as one of the few good points of the movie, and Harley Quinn apparently became very popular as a Halloween costume and other merchandising forms. But as I understand it, Margot Robbie preferred the character to be in a team, Harley Quinn has traditionally been in teams as well, and thus they had several possible options and (as I understand it) a fractured corporate culture. And all of them wanted Harley Quinn for their movie.

This is also evidenced by that even though Suicide Squad came out a year before Wonder Woman, WW84 is filming right now, while it appears Birds of Prey is still only in pre-production (or whatever exact phase they happen to be in).