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What is Jimenez doing anyway these days? It's been ages since I saw his name on anything.
What I really do not understand is this strange prejudice against traditional superhero comic book writing. Like it or not, exposition adds value, enables plot points to be developed efficiently, and explains the abilities and limits of characters with unusual powers. And it's rendered more or less necessary by the demands of a monthly serial title.
Trade volumes need to be dialed way back: at least, there shouldn't be an expectation that every monthly will have all of its issues collected and republished in the format. The universal expectation that they will be encourages lazy and undisciplined writing across the board. We've forgotten that every issue is potentially somebody's first issue, which in turn drives complaints about "convoluted continuity". It seems more convoluted than it is because of lack of exposition. It's gotten so bad that in some series I've seen important characters go unnamed through a whole issue. That's simply a mistake that requires editorial correction.
The books don't seem obscure and hard to follow because there's an Earth-2 or because Power Girl once was from Atlantis or because Donna Troy was variously a younger Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman's sister, and a descendant of the Titans. The books seem obscure and hard to follow because the writers aren't explaining any of these things when they become relevant.
At least, take a page away from that "Channel 52" junk and give us a Marvel-style recap page.
Last edited by SteveGus; 05-02-2014 at 05:21 PM.
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
You make a good point on how some of today's writers seem prejudice against writing traditional superhero stories. Some of them are adding a lot of gore and sexual elements that often times add no real value to the overall story and in some case, just come across as shock value in order to get people talking and make their book seem "edgy". There's certainly nothing wrong with a writer taking a different approach here and there but with some superhero books, they seem like they're trying to be different just for the sake of being different which ends of leaving them coming across as flat and boring to me. Writers should write things because they honestly feel inspired to write about them or because they're very passionate about a subject or story instead of seeing how much shock value they can inject from issue to issue in order to get people talking on Facebook or Twitter. I'm not interested in half-hearted superhero stories. With me, I want all or nothing. Give me big epic battles, colorful costumes, crazy displays of powers, and unique gadgets that get kids interested in science and wanting to help their fellow man.
Currently(or soon to be) Reading: Absolute Power, Batman/Superman: World's Finest, Birds of Prey, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Justice Society of America, Shazam, Titans, & Wonder Woman.
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
Writeups.org -- huge encyclopaedia of characters, chiefly from super-hero comic books. It's great.
But why should a future writer be forced to follow the changes azz made when he himself didn't seem to respect much of what was established for the character pre-52? Apparently he felt the need to deconstruct the character in order to make his own "idealized" version of her, because he said she didn't have a story before he took on her title. That's a pretty arrogant claim to make.Originally Posted by sacred knight
But isn't what Azzarello did technically considered a reboot? And in his run, there seems to be things that were deliberately "left out". If that's the case, it seems like while his work is "critically acclaimed", he's still a part of the problem, as opposed to a lasting solution.Originally Posted by Batknight
Again, I'm seeing azz as doing this as well. I mean, new origin, new supporting cast, lop-sided direction?Originally Posted by Vanguard-01
I think at her core, Diana is intrinsically a walking contradiction. I think when people try to change that, it kinda defeats the purpose of her character. Her dichotomies are what makes her appealing, and how she balances those things can make for interesting plots. I don't know of many characters other than Wonder Woman who benefit from internal, dual-sided conflicts.Originally Posted by Vanguard-01
Like it or not, Azzarello contributed to the idea of Wonder Woman being contradictory. Perez modernized her continuity during the 80's. However, authors like JMS and Azzarello completely rebooted the characters and gave her new origins in a non-Elseworld's setting. They added to the murkiness of the character's history. Prior to that, the main problem with WW was not being able to pin down a consistent supporting cast, now the problem is that if there is an adaptation, I don't know who the supporting cast will be or which of the origins the writers will go with.
Bringing back something closer to the Perez origin would not be a bad move. It will actually make the character consistent. Heck, it doesn't even have to scorch earth the existing mythos that Azzarello created. You can soft retcon it by saying that WW being the daughter of Zeus and the Succcubus Amazon's were all lies. There we go, problem solved. Now onwards to new stories!
In fact, going the opposite route of what the previous writer has done is not an inherently bad idea. Look at what Mark Waid on Daredevil has been like. Waid took a complete U-turn and took the opposite route that most writers have done. If handled right, returning WW to her Perez routes, bringing Steve Trevor to the title and bringing back popular Rouges into her title will not be a bad move. It would actually benefit the book.
Azzarello's run was absolutely a reboot. There was this thing called "The New 52"? Everything except Batman and Green Lantern got a nice, cold, hard reboot?
And the new writer should follow the newly established new universe, and not reboot it again, unles they can reboot the whole DCU again at the same time.