Why do folks insist on personal attacks?
Dixon's work still holds up the same for me. Having grown up Catholic, I always appreciated the Catholic tinges I'd notice here and there in some stories or some characters.
While I love a good deal of his Robin and Nightwing work, I still think Chuck's Detective Comics run is his best. He had to work in & around crossovers and what not, and so it's a run that's not so contiguous all the time. (However, Dixon's entries in a crossover were often the best entries, often besting Moench or Alan Grant or Denny)
I think one Dixon's strongest abilities was his ability to write The Joker. He really excelled at that. I think The Joker: Devil's Advocate (1996 one-shot) is maybe my favorite Dixon story (though Tec #651 "A Bullet for Bullock" and others can also lay claim). Devil's Advocate boldly tackles Joker's insanity pleas (and Gotham's legal system) and Batman's no-kill rule and I think best puts a firm forceful stand on how far Batman's no-kill rule goes, and how Kantian/deontological Batman's view is on killing. (Such Kantian deontology being a HUGE DIFFERENCE I think between DC Heroes vs Marvel Heroes)
I don't necessarily approve. But people on boards have some leeway to bring up such things. Frank Miller faced criticism, etc. And I think Dixon does get unfairly blacklisted for being openly conservative in his personal life.
Last edited by JBatmanFan05; 07-21-2022 at 10:14 AM.
Things I love: Batman, Superman, AEW, old films, Lovecraft
Grant Morrison: “Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.”
Well he created career suicide the day he decided to co write with Vox Day (That's fruit loop territory for sure) Way to embarrass your fan base.
I try to separate the artist from their personal views, but white separatism/preservation, is outright vile....assuming he sympathizes with their views.
That aside, as hard as it is. He was extremely talented for his time though. His Detective comics was good, Green Arrow great (Despite being ordered to off Ollie).
I revisited his Birds of Prey a while back, and as the original creator....got a say....better than Gail Simone in terms of plot writing.
Cheers - CL
Yes, they were both excellent runs. I thought Simone did dialog better, and she brought in some of my favorite super heroienes (Huntress, Vixen, and made more use of Power Girl, but....
I didn't think her plot points were all that good though, there were times when I felt really sleepy, whereas with Dixon, I always felt captivated and entertained.
He was really good at setting tone and pace, and creating a 007 type of action atmosphere.
When Dixon was on the Bat-titles, his DETECTIVE, BIRDS OF PREY and NIGHTWING were my favorite titles then in print. Never got into his ROBIN but I look forward to re-reading it one of these days. And loved his GREEN ARROW. His personal views really disappoint me but I can't deny I owe him countless hours of great reads.
I want to add. I've always enjoyed Chuck Dixon as a writer. I thought he could write both sides of his argument logically and that really made his side characters memorable.
He was my favourite bat writer of the 90's. Detective, Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey. Cool Martial Arts stuff, History and True Crime. It was great for 12 year old me. I followed his non DC stuff religiously as well.
Damn shame about who he decided to stand with in the end. I was pretty conservative as a kid, so i agreed with him about a lot of stuff, but i moved on as i learned more about the world. The fact that his conservative positions have led him to stand with Vox Day is... disappointing.
Yea, it's definitely more than just being "openly conservative" - Bill Willingham is openly conservative, he even contributed to Breitbart back in the day, and he's getting DC work with the new Fables run.
The Vox Day association is going to make any creator radioactive, DC PR isn't gunna want to deal with that mess, "why did you hire the guy who partnered with the other guy who doesn't think women should be allowed to vote?" etc. etc.
Was Dixon getting any work from DC or Marvel before teaming up with Vox Day?
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