LoSH and NTT: Creatures Of Their Time?

[Konja7]

Lets wait and see on the Beast Boy numbers before we compare it to Raven's success. I don't know if one OGN suddenly means a character can be a consistent seller like a Deathstroke or Nightwing.

Edit: Also the author and artist for the Raven series helped play a role in the book's success too I think. The author was a pretty accomplished novel writer I believe. So she had a built in audience. Raven also had that recent Wolfman series Raven: Daughter of Darkness before the OGN and it wasn't lighting up the sales charts I think.

Yeah. The author is relatively popular. One of his novels (Beautiful Creatures) had a movie, although the movie wasn't really succesful.

[king81992]

Yeah. The author is relatively popular. One of his novels (Beautiful Creatures) had a movie, although the movie wasn't really succesful.

So that's why there was such an emphasis on southern voodoo/ witchcraft culture in that Raven story, all his books have that influence. The Raven comic was the only story by him I liked.

[Konja7]

So that's why there was such an emphasis on New Orleans voodoo culture in that Raven story, all his books have that influence. The Raven comic was the only story by him I liked.

I should mention that Kami Garcia is a woman.

[SilverScarlet]

One of the things that is most important with the Legion (and, to a lesser degree, the Titans) is a proper balance of action and characterization....you need to CARE about such a large cast.
In his heyday, Levitz was a whiz at this balancing act.
I still think someone like Jim Zub or Christos Gage could pull something like that off with a slightly older, more experienced Legion (Geoff Johns also goes without saying).

[Zero Hunter]

What made the books great was they were comic soap operas. Fans were just as invested in who was dating who and what was going on in the personal lives of the characters as what threat they were facing that story. In fact with NTT I would say their personal lives were even more the main story in many issues. Somewhere along the lines comic companies got convinced that their readers were all stupid and all they wanted was big dumb action every month instead of real stories. It is the same reason most characters don't really seem to have any life outside of just being a hero anymore (especially over at Marvel)

[DrNewGod]

What made the books great was they were comic soap operas. Fans were just as invested in who was dating who and what was going on in the personal lives of the characters as what threat they were facing that story. In fact with NTT I would say their personal lives were even more the main story in many issues. Somewhere along the lines comic companies got convinced that their readers were all stupid and all they wanted was big dumb action every month instead of real stories. It is the same reason most characters don't really seem to have any life outside of just being a hero anymore (especially over at Marvel)

That's a really compelling point. The Legion were full time heroes, but Leviz and Giffin, and many of their predecessors, still managed to weave plenty of personal stories into the plots.

[caj]

What made the books great was they were comic soap operas. Fans were just as invested in who was dating who and what was going on in the personal lives of the characters as what threat they were facing that story. In fact with NTT I would say their personal lives were even more the main story in many issues. Somewhere along the lines comic companies got convinced that their readers were all stupid and all they wanted was big dumb action every month instead of real stories. It is the same reason most characters don't really seem to have any life outside of just being a hero anymore (especially over at Marvel)

I remember reading an interview with Paul Levitz where he said he would make columns on pieces of notebook paper. In the first column, he would list the main plot with all the little subplots underneath. In the second column, he would move everything up and feature other characters. He would continue that over two or three more columns. This helped him map out the main plot and subplots with each upcoming issue so that nothing got lost or forgotten and he tried to write something for every character.

[Lee Stone]

I remember reading an interview with Paul Levitz where he said he would make columns on pieces of notebook paper. In the first column, he would list the main plot with all the little subplots underneath. In the second column, he would move everything up and feature other characters. He would continue that over two or three more columns. This helped him map out the main plot and subplots with each upcoming issue so that nothing got lost or forgotten and he tried to write something for every character.

The Levitz Paradigm

DC even put a section about it in their How to Write Comics book.

I'll also note that the Legion Leadership Votes were also an ingenious way to poll readers for their favorites, so he'd know which ones to pair together in stories.

[DrNewGod]

The Levitz Paradigm

DC even put a section about it in their How to Write Comics book.

I'll also note that the Legion Leadership Votes were also an ingenious way to poll readers for their favorites, so he'd know which ones to pair together in stories.

That's pretty cool, and a good graphic on how hard good writing really is.