DC Comics 2024 News/General Discussion

[Refrax5]

Yeah, I think this move is 100% valid, but it does suck for the other creators and the readers. Not just here, but the really great artists (whatever happened to Ron Randall?) he worked with in those early '90s JLE and Green Lantern comics. It's a pity to not have those reprinted or available digitally at all, in fact. Both GL and JLE lost their way after a while, but they started really well.

Though, actually, are the JLE issues he did with Keith Giffen being included as part of the new JLI omnibuses? You literally can't do Breakdowns without them, and a lot of what was set up in Breakdowns was already established in JLE as well. Besides, they're just great comics that were a nice, more serious alternative to the increasingly goofy JLA.

I don't know, it would be much easier if he could be convinced to give his royalties (I assume he'd get some from reprints?) to the artists and/ or child abuse charities, and DC could just print a disclaimer distancing themselves from his later crimes. It's not completely impossible, as Jones may well want to do something to make some sort of amends/ slightly improve his public persona, but I'm not holding my breath.

It does suck for the artists he collaborated with and for readers in general. That guy was prolific during the era I was first reading comics and some characters I really love like John Stewart and Wonder Man had a bulk of their solo stuff written by him. And it definitely gives me a bit of an icky feeling reading that stuff now.

I'm always of two minds about this stuff, I guess. It feels hypocritical in a way for me to feel that way about Jones, but still enjoy the works of Edgar Allan Poe and David Bowie. Half my heroes growing up were rock stars and punkers that did some pretty awful stuff. I also, in general, think people are complex and flawed, but capable of change, so I try to view these things without too harsh of judgement. I don't know them, why they are the way they are, or what's in their heart. It's just sad and messed up.

I don't know. It's a complex issue and I'm always conflicted about where I stand on the whole "separating the art from the artist" thing.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

It does suck for the artists he collaborated with and for readers in general. That guy was prolific during the era I was first reading comics and some characters I really love like John Stewart and Wonder Man had a bulk of their solo stuff written by him. And it definitely gives me a bit of an icky feeling reading that stuff now.

I'm always of two minds about this stuff, I guess. It feels hypocritical in a way for me to feel that way about Jones, but still enjoy the works of Edgar Allan Poe and David Bowie. Half my heroes growing up were rock stars and punkers that did some pretty awful stuff. I also, in general, think people are complex and flawed, but capable of change, so I try to view these things without too harsh of judgement. I don't know them, why they are the way they are, or what's in their heart. It's just sad and messed up.

I don't know. It's a complex issue and I'm always conflicted about where I stand on the whole "separating the art from the artist" thing.

It definitely helps to separate art from artist if the artist is dead - though I still don't want to know why you used Bowie as an example, in this case. But honestly, many great artists were and are horrible people, but I think the only time that I can't enjoy the art of such a person is if their sins actually influence their work. Which is why I have zero trouble reading Jones' 90s comics - not just because he hadn't, um, gone down that road yet, but because there is absolutely no connection between those stories and his possession and distribution of child pornography.

On the flip side, while I don't believe that Woody Allen did actually molest his daughter (the evidence seems to be overwhelmingly on his side), there's no denying the ickiness of the beginnings of the relationship with his current wife, so it does make Manhattan, which centres around his character's relationship with a teenager, much more difficult to watch and has caused my estimation of it to drop drastically. On the other hand, there's none of this stuff in, say, Annie Hall or Love and Death so I adore them as much as ever.

[Refrax5]

It definitely helps to separate art from artist if the artist is dead - though I still don't want to know why you used Bowie as an example, in this case. But honestly, many great artists were and are horrible people, but I think the only time that I can't enjoy the art of such a person is if their sins actually influence their work. Which is why I have zero trouble reading Jones' 90s comics - not just because he hadn't, um, gone down that road yet, but because there is absolutely no connection between those stories and his possession and distribution of child pornography.

On the flip side, while I don't believe that Woody Allen did actually molest his daughter (the evidence seems to be overwhelmingly on his side), there's no denying the ickiness of the beginnings of the relationship with his current wife, so it does make Manhattan, which centres around his character's relationship with a teenager, much more difficult to watch and has caused my estimation of it to drop drastically. On the other hand, there's none of this stuff in, say, Annie Hall or Love and Death so I adore them as much as ever.

Bowie had at least one encounter with an extremely young groupie back in the day. So did Iggy Pop and Johnny Thunders, for that matter. I know Slash had some fling with a teenager (by his own admission). He was of age but I think fairly young at the time. Does that make a difference? I don't know.

Jerry Seinfeld dated that 17 year old when he was in his late 30s, which I guess is legal in NYC, but still makes me look at him sideways a bit. Is it the same as somebody going after grade school kids? Probably not, but it's still not great. I'm still a huge fan of Seinfeld and watch reruns of that all the time.

I studied abnormal psych and criminal psych in college and I've had friends and family who were therapists and parole officers. So I have some understanding of the psychological and moral complexity of cases like that and...I don't know. It's never good for a person to do something like that, but there are some cases that are vastly worse than others.

Either way, like I said, I think even good people can be screwed up or do something bad and I think good/bad are more of a spectrum than a binary, black and white thing. So while I don't condone any of it, I try to remind myself that these are still damaged human beings rather than evil monsters in a lot of cases.

I think a good example of this is the singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers singer. That guy did some gross, scummy stuff in his youth, but later in life, he pulled over and jumped out of his car to give CPR or the heimlich to a baby when he saw its mother running outside screaming. He saved the kid's life. So it's one of those things where you go, "Okay, this guy did some awful stuff but then he did something amazing." And I think a lot of people, even "bad" people, are like that. So I don't know how to judge people like that or if it's even anybody's place to judge people we don't know. I think you can be against a behavior without hating the person, I guess.

But now we're off on a tangent.

[Derek Metaltron]

Learning that the Anagram Omnibus won’t be complete because of that bums me out on two levels and ultimately makes me debate if I want to pick it up now. Then again who knows when Marvel and DC will be as willing to play ball again…

[DT Winslow]

I wonder what makes Jones' crime worse than Justiniano's. Justiniano worked on Day of Vengeance and that has been reprinted multiple times since his arrest and incarceration. He also contributed to 52, which has a reprint out this year.

[Factor]

I wonder what makes Jones' crime worse than Justiniano's. Justiniano worked on Day of Vengeance and that has been reprinted multiple times since his arrest and incarceration. He also contributed to 52, which has a reprint out this year.

That's curious. I guess it's because Jones' case gained more prominence. I'd honestly forgotten about Justiniano, as its rarely brought up. Maybe because Jones had a much larger body of work? But I agree it's a bit unfair that one gets the censorship and not the other.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Oh yeah, Justiano, I remember him. I remember that being quite a big thing at the time and his crimes seemed to be pretty much identical to Jones' so that is quite a double standard. And I can't see how Jones is more famous a case. He hadn't really done much for mainstream comics in years, whereas Justiano was a pretty prolific and in-demand artist at the time. Not A-list, but his name was all over the place in the way that Jones' wasn't at the time of his arrest.

[skyvolt2000]

That's curious. I guess it's because Jones' case gained more prominence. I'd honestly forgotten about Justiniano, as its rarely brought up. Maybe because Jones had a much larger body of work? But I agree it's a bit unfair that one gets the censorship and not the other.

It's the body of work.

Justiniano's stuff can be reprinted nonstop and nobody will really notice it because of the books he has done-bigger names have also worked on those characters.

Nobody is going to recommend his Beast Boy mini when you got Kami Garcia's Beast Boy's books and the current Beast Boy antics in comics right now.

Now look at Jones-if we don't bring up Ultraverse, EL Diablo, Justice League, Wonder Man. You got John Stewart and Guy Gardner.

With Wonder Man sniffing a tv show at Marvel-Jones's Wonder Man run is Wonder Man's longest solo run.
While his version of El Diablo is NOT in movies-folks searching will find out about his version.
Jones's Green Lantern Mosaic is John's longest solo run.
89 issues of Green Lantern. That is huge chucks of Guy and John history.

That is a lot of stuff to NOT reprint.

[Thor-Ul]

DC Continues their boycott of Gerard Jones and pulls his books (Magneto and the Magnetic Men & JL-X) from the Amalgam Omnibus. I certainly understand the reluctance to print anything with his name on it, but this also impacts the other creators on those two issues. In this instance as he was a co-writer (with Waid) I say just remove his name from the credits and let it ride without him....but is that something they could legally do? Sucks that the gorgeous Jeff Matsuda pages wont get reprinted (from Magneto and the Magnetic Men).

Indeed, that is the worst part. To my mind came the case of the Ultraverse Prime title. Breyfogle worked in that title and he was in a situation when he needed all the help possible, but the negative of Marvel to reprint those issues cut the artist of an income than he needed. It is so important to punish certain people even if they have served their sentences and punishing them in these cases perjudices innocent people too? Maybe I am seeing this in a wrong perspective, but I don't see a straight answer.

[Felipe Silveira]

A big jumpscare in Green Arrow #9 will give me nightmares.

[OopsIdiditagain]

Tomasi really said I will bring back super sons one way or another with sinister sons

[Leancarp900]

You know, this tweet by Scott Snyder really screams "I'm making Ultimate DC" without outright saying it.

I feel like 2024 is going to be a huge year for superhero comics - the movies and TV shows have done so much, but these are the moments comics reminds everyone that this is where the characters are renewed through the biggest, most daring stories, biggest swings.

[scary harpy]

You know, this tweet by Scott Snyder really screams "I'm making Ultimate DC" without outright saying it.

Does this mean another Crisis?

[Thor-Ul]

Tomasi really said I will bring back super sons one way or another with sinister sons

Time travel. Only can be time travel.

[Leancarp900]

Does this mean another Crisis?

I presume it spins off Absolute Power somehow, since Scott Snyder hinted he was working with Mark Waid on that.

Maybe the line is called Absolute DC?