Geoff Johns vs. Mark Waid

[Lightning Rider]

Both have their misses like Kingdom Come

I think you meant home run.

[John Venus]

Interesting, I've been out of the comics scene for a while, but I don't know if I've met someone who didn't like Kingdom Come. Which is fine; there a plenty of critically acclaimed comics I don't like.

While I loved the series itself, I felt the follow-up stories were lackluster, and even took a little shine off of the original.

KC is disliked by a lot of WW fans for it's depiction of WW. It reduced her to a passive bystander, a warrior who is eager to fight and kill and later Superman's baby mama. The story also completely misrepresents the Amazons ideal with no proper rebuttal.

TBF, Waid has admitted that his take on WW was flawed and he wrote her much better in the recent WW 80th Anniversary Special.

I enjoy KC except for everything that has to do with WW.

[Lukmendes]

Never thought of comparing both of 'em before, but I'd have to go with Waid.

Johns is a writer who has good stuff, but his misses are really annoying, and sometimes they're actually worse than I expected (Like the speed force being created by Barry accidentally was John's doing, and it's ridiculous), while Waid, he has opinions I don't agree with, and his tie-in to House of M with Spidey was mediocre for example, but generally his highs are pretty fun and his lows are not as bad, at least as far as I've checked.

Wonder why this isnt a poll though lol.

[Dog of Thunder]

KC is disliked by a lot of WW fans for it's depiction of WW. It reduced her to a passive bystander, a warrior who is eager to fight and kill and later Superman's baby mama. The story also completely misrepresents the Amazons ideal with no proper rebuttal.

TBF, Waid has admitted that his take on WW was flawed and he wrote her much better in the recent WW 80th Anniversary Special.

I enjoy KC except for everything that has to do with WW.

That is completely new to me; I will have to reread it with that perspective in mind.

However, I can't help but wonder if this was just foretelling how badly DC would handle WW over the years.

[Lukmendes]

That is completely new to me; I will have to reread it with that perspective in mind.

However, I can't help but wonder if this was just foretelling how badly DC would handle WW over the years.

Well, it wasn't intentional, at least, the point of Diana being more of a warrior is that she lost her way, and that happened with everyone, it looks worse with her 'cause other aspects of her character and her world were screwed over too.

Basically it's an honest mistake, a mistake that people liked and it screwed over Diana, and that also makes her KC interpretation look worse, but the point wasn't for Diana to become like that in the main continuity.

[BohemiaDrinker]

Well,I'm a Flash guy, so I pretty much have to pick the guy who wrote the best Flash run ever instead of the one who turned the franchise into a radioactive dumpster fire.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I've very much liked some of what Johns has written, hated some of it, but this isn't even remotely a fair fight. In terms of straight superhero comics, almost no one is better than Mark Waid - and Geoff Johns is further away than many.

[Jon Clark]

Add one more vote for Mark Waid. In my case it's that Waid seems to have more stories while Johns has more ideas.

I can't think of anything Waid walked away from of his own accord without reaching a conclusion.

Johns, on the other hand, seems more likely to lose interest once his ideas run out. His Teen Titans petered out. Doomsday Clock seemed to be treading water from when Johns introduced an idea and the payoff in the last three issues, I'll give hime his JSA and Green Lantern runs.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

No surprise here. Waid without a doubt. I'm not saying Johns is bad; Waid's record isn't 100 percent perfect, at or away from DC Comic; and I certainly have had my share of disagreements with both men's opinions. And I agree both do love DC's characters. But as others have said, Waid just seems to love the characters more, while Johns seems to love his ideas more than the characters and doesn't think them through. His retcon of Superboy's origins, first proposed in a fan letter that, when first read and even now, comes off as him being an annoying twit who genuinely thinks he's smarter than the actual creators then working, seems like a creative dead-end.

Also, he sucks at writing romance. And it feels like his upcoming resurgence of writing for DC with the JSA characters feels like him doing a "Nyah, take THAT, Didio!" rather than out of genuine love for the characters (and I'm no fan of Dan Didio).

[Captain Nostalgia]

Harder or me than Johns vs Morrison, but still...

Geoff Johns.

I thought Johns first Flash run trumped Waid's run, and the Green Lantern, JSA, Hawkman.....sigh...they have aged like a fine red wine.

The one wild card that could change this outcome for me though would be the fact that......I still haven't read Mark Waid's Legion of Super Heroes....if it's stellar...it could sway my opinion.

[JackDaw]

Interesting, I've been out of the comics scene for a while, but I don't know if I've met someone who didn't like Kingdom Come. Which is fine; there a plenty of critically acclaimed comics I don't like.

While I loved the series itself, I felt the follow-up stories were lackluster, and even took a little shine off of the original.

I didn’t like it (Kingdom Come). But…of course..we’ve never met.

Skimming through this thread…my reaction is Geoff Johns rep has fallen away from say 10 years when I think a large majority would have rated him above Mark Waid.

[Johnny]

This is not a contest at all. I think that with time, humility, and respect Geoff could possibly begin to approach the level of greats like Waid, Busiek, or PAD. But right now he is Little League vs Waid's Major League Baseball

I don't believe a good portion of the most successful comic creators can be usually described as that humble or respectful, so I'm not sure what personal characteristics have to do with talent. Though I will go with Waid too, mostly because Johns doesn't seem to have his magnum opus just yet the way I personally think Waid does with Kingdom Come. And the funny thing is if he ever has, it probably won't be anything from the Big Two. He seems serious about his Mad Ghost imprint or whatever it's called.

[Zero Hunter]

Waid ruined the Legion of Superheroes with his misguided and horrible Waidboot. Waid thinks he can speak about young issues and it comes off corny as hell. Johns wins this one for me just becuase he doesn't try and preach at me like an out of touch old man.

[Ra-El]

I didn’t like it (Kingdom Come). But…of course..we’ve never met.

Skimming through this thread…my reaction is Geoff Johns rep has fallen away from say 10 years when I think a large majority would have rated him above Mark Waid.

Probably a lot of people out his work as CCO on the mix. Theres a great part of the fanbase that blames John for some character falling out of the spotlight, I mean, just look at the Green Lantern fanbase and most of it seem to think of him as tha anti-christ even if he is the one who made Green Lantern sell more comics than Batman.

[Gaius]

I think you meant home run.

Did I stutter?