Between Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison: Who's the better DC writer ?

[LifeIsILL]

I don't see how is this a discussion.

Johns has never written anything as good as Animal Man or Doom Patrol. He depends on way too much splash pages to tell his stories.

[dornwolf]

It’s always going to be subjective. To me Geoff is a good writer because he can take an old idea fresh it up and apply it it a new way. His flaw is that he can’t stick the landing on massive stories, his over reliance on gore, and when he’s not interested in the long term you can tell like his last Superman run and Justice league never clicked until darkseid war.

Grant can take old ideas and just spin out incredible ideas. Is more than capable of adjusting their writing style to fit the audience, Klaus for example, very much like Alan Moore in that they can make you care with very little time to work with. Major flaw I have is it feels like Grant goes so far down the rabbit hole that it comes off like he’s climbing up their own *******.

[CPSparkles]

I don't see how is this a discussion.

Johns has never written anything as good as Animal Man or Doom Patrol. He depends on way too much splash pages to tell his stories.

This. There is no discussion.

[godisawesome]

I see them as two “saints” of divergent creative styles sprung from the Bronze Age that they both had in their childhoods.

In the late 70’s-early 80’s, writers started pulling comics out of the formulaic blandness of the Silver Age with either/both much better character dialogue and chemistry and/or much better lore work and big concept ideas.

Morrison is the boss to end all bosses in terms of lore work and big concept ideas, while Johns is a boss of character dialogue and chemistry. That's not to say that Morrison can’t do dialogue and character interactions, or that Johns can’t do some big concepts and lore… but both are generally more the master of their particular field than the other, and what weaknesses they have are in the other’s field.

Johns has the dialogue skills and characterization stuff to make “The Black Lanterns are Space Zombies!” work in spite of its seemingly hokey concept, with lots of heart and perfectly pitched emotional moments; his characters always feel human, even if the plot is maybe a bit sentimental or hokey. Morrison goes so deep into lore and big concepts that they can pull off utterly insane, nigh-nonsensical stuff, and they have done that repeatedly, over and over again.

However, sometimes Johns introduces concepts that are lacking enough in depth that whenever someone else tries to make it work, it can fail pretty easily (see: his repackaging of the YJ4.) And Morrison often writes things so far above the “ground level” of the story that the characters can seem more archetypal and cold.

I don’t like either of their Bruce Waynes, personally, as I find Morrison’s “voice” wrong and the character a bit too mythological when I prefer a more “human” Batman, while Johns’s tends to wax and wane between a bit too OP and meme-friendly (his New 52 Justice League version) and too pathetic (his Earth One version)…

…But I’d give Morrison the edge because, while I think Johns is more “well-rounded,” Morrison’s so good at their strength that even if I don't like Morrison’s own style, they’ve added such large characters and concepts that it’s easier for others to make them work.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I don't see how is this a discussion.

Johns has never written anything as good as Animal Man or Doom Patrol. He depends on way too much splash pages to tell his stories.

Because Johns tells human stories. He can tell legitimate epics like Blackest Night.

He helped uplift the JSA, an impressive feat in this poor market.

Frankly, I prefer Johns. Lately, when Grant writes characters, they have no depth, are nothing more an archtype, or some callback to some obscure Silver Age story

[WebLurker]

Since Johns helped create Jessica Cruz, my favorite DC character, I'm probably biased that way. I do remember reading a really good book about the history of the comic industry that I think was written by Morison, though.

[Leancarp900]

Morrison, obviously. How is this even up for discussion?

[DABellWrites]

Geoff Johns is a blockbuster writer.

Grant Morrison loves big concepts.

Both writers have their strengths and weaknesses. Both men have left their mark on DC Comics, with Geoff Johns being the most easily adaptable writer.

[kingaliencracker]

Morrison, obviously. How is this even up for discussion?

The fact this thread is 10 pages tells you it's not as clear-cut as you think it is.

Having said that, I firmly believe this is an apples & oranges comparison. They're very different writers stylistically. It's like comparing Steven Spielberg and Wes Anderson.

[nx01a]

Morrison by far. His JLA with Howard Porter is my favourite comic run.
Johns did help co-revive the JSA in spectacular fashion but how much of that was Goyer and Robinson?

[Minerboh]

Morrison in the old days was very good. Nowadays, his storytelling is way too tense for me at least.
Personally I think Johns is way too overestimated. His Green Lantern Rebirth was good but all the rest of it is too much noise for little pay offs.
And his Three Jokers was a bit of disappointing for me, I didn't saw something new to the Joker mythos that I haven't saw before.
Soooo Morrison but not his current output.

[Thezmage]

Morrison in the old days was very good. Nowadays, his storytelling is way too tense for me at least.
Personally I think Johns is way too overestimated. His Green Lantern Rebirth was good but all the rest of it is too much noise for little pay offs.
And his Three Jokers was a bit of disappointing for me, I didn't saw something new to the Joker mythos that I haven't saw before.
Soooo Morrison but not his current output.

I’m a huge Johns fan, but he needs to stay away from the Batman worlds. He just can’t write Batman or his rogue’s gallery

[Crazy Diamond]

When Johns writes anything like The Invisibles, Zenith, or Flex Mentallo then I'll start putting him in the same sentence as Grant Morrison. Everything that fans online hate about Brian Michael Bendis that is what Geoff Johns is.

[The Cool Thatguy]

When Johns writes anything like The Invisibles, Zenith, or Flex Mentallo then I'll start putting him in the same sentence as Grant Morrison. Everything that fans online hate about Brian Michael Bendis that is what Geoff Johns is.

...no, just no.

Bendis and Johns aren't even close in comparison.

Bendis likely thinks of himself as equal to Johns, but his best isn't close to Johns' worst.

Johns can at least adapt his approach to the character, something Bendis can't and Morrison often refuses to do

[WebLurker]

Bendis likely thinks of himself as equal to Johns, but his best isn't close to Johns' worst.

Alias (Jessica Jones) and Ultimate Spider-Man are worse that Johns' worst? I find that hard to believe.