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  1. #1
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    Default Do you agree with the saying "There no bad characters, only bad writers"?

    This is a fairly common saying in the comic industry. Do you agree with it?

    I'd say that yes, I do. A change in writers can have a night-and-day effect on how I care about a character.

    Edit: Bah, meant to say "There are no bad characters, only bad writers" in the title.

  2. #2
    CBR's Good Fairy Kieran_Frost's Avatar
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    Pretty much, yes. There are a few characters that are a train wreck, but even then a great writer can redeem them. It's comics, so anything bad in the character's nature or personality can be erased/changed/retconned.
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  3. #3
    Astonishing Member FanboyStranger's Avatar
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    Absolutely agree. I think that with some thought and imagination almost any character can work, even ridiculous and lame ones. Even offensive characters can be redeemed if a creator approaches them from a different mindset and with a different intent. Take Matt Wagner's use of Ebony White in the new Spirit series-- what was once an offensive, racist character has been transformed into the interesting driving force of the series without whitewashing the character or denying his past.

  4. #4
    Extraordinary Member John Ossie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kieran_Frost View Post
    Pretty much, yes. There are a few characters that are a train wreck, but even then a great writer can redeem them. It's comics, so anything bad in the character's nature or personality can be erased/changed/retconned.
    Yeah I agree with this basically.

  5. #5
    Dirt Wizard Goggindowner's Avatar
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    Yes. Absolutely. Even a completely broken character can become fantastic if the right person comes along and takes the reigns of storytelling in an interesting direction.

    Superman, for example, is a broken character. Too many powers, basically unstoppable. But every now and then, a writer comes along that finds interesting ways to challenge the man of steel and it makes the character work for a while.

  6. #6
    Extraordinary Member John Ossie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goggindowner View Post
    Yes. Absolutely. Even a completely broken character can become fantastic if the right person comes along and takes the reigns of storytelling in an interesting direction.

    Superman, for example, is a broken character. Too many powers, basically unstoppable. But every now and then, a writer comes along that finds interesting ways to challenge the man of steel and it makes the character work for a while.
    My example would've been Daredevil. Not that I'm saying he's ''broken'' or anything it's just that he's a character that I don't usually care about but Death of Jean DeWolff had him so well written that he was actually my favourite character in that story, and that was a Spider-Man story.

  7. #7
    Boisterously Confused
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    I agree. I'll also say that there are some characters that take more effort than others (see Red Bee and The Fin for examples).

  8. #8
    Astonishing Member FanboyStranger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goggindowner View Post
    Yes. Absolutely. Even a completely broken character can become fantastic if the right person comes along and takes the reigns of storytelling in an interesting direction.

    Superman, for example, is a broken character. Too many powers, basically unstoppable. But every now and then, a writer comes along that finds interesting ways to challenge the man of steel and it makes the character work for a while.
    I don't think Superman is broken. I think the problem is that so few creators approach Superman in an imaginative fashion. When you have a character that could do anything, the sky should be the limit for the character. The aphorism for the past 30 years has been "the 'man' is more important than the 'super'", but I think the man should be a given and the way forward is to explore the super. That doesn't mean you have to throw anything out, but you approach the stories from a more inventive place. You can't keep telling the same six or seven Superman-by-numbers stories over and over again.

  9. #9
    Mighty Member Greg's Avatar
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    I totally agree. That's why I give a little side eye when people say "I love the writer but I'm not interested in any of these characters so I won't bother to check it out." That makes no sense to me. I've grown to love so many characters I would have never thought I would if not for giving them a chance, especially due to writers I've enjoyed.

  10. #10
    The Fastest Post Alive! Buried Alien's Avatar
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    There are a *few* characters that are pretty much irreparable from the point of genesis, regardless of what talent is assigned to them.

    Exhibit A: Big Sir



    Given the name "Doofus B. Ratchet," the character was basically a slur against the developmentally challenged. There's nothing ANY writer could do to fix this character.

    Cary Bates is one of my favorite Bronze Age writers, and perhaps my favorite FLASH writer, but this was one of the worst character ideas EVER.

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  11. #11
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    I think there are some uninspired and ill conceived characters, but I think a clever writer can redeem them.

  12. #12
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Goggindowner View Post
    Yes. Absolutely. Even a completely broken character can become fantastic if the right person comes along and takes the reigns of storytelling in an interesting direction.

    Superman, for example, is a broken character. Too many powers, basically unstoppable. But every now and then, a writer comes along that finds interesting ways to challenge the man of steel and it makes the character work for a while.
    One could say that about the New52 Wonder Woman which is why I dropped her book long ago. Brian Azzarello's Greek mythology angle which bored the hell out of me didn't help either.
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  13. #13

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    Sometimes I do.
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  14. #14
    Libre. People Of The Earth's Avatar
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    Rather than bad writers, I'd say bad stories.
    Odds are bad writers will produce more bad stories than good writers, hence the shortcut I believe you made, that much is true.
    "The means are as important as the end - we have to do this right or not at all.
    Anything less negates every belief we've ever had, every sacrifice we've ever made."


    "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

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  15. #15
    Astonishing Member FanboyStranger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by People Of The Earth View Post
    Rather than bad writers, I'd say bad stories.
    Odds are bad writers will produce more bad stories than good writers, hence the shortcut I believe you made, that much is true.
    I'd add that ignoring the artistic part of the equation is a big mistake, too. The old maxim is that a terrible storytelling artist will ruin a story no matter how well it's written, but a great artist will elevate even the most mediocre material. For some reason, writers have tended to get more attention over the past two decades, but most of those writers will note that they'd be nowhere without their artistic collaborators. There are a lot of books where the plot is boiler-plate, but the artist turns it into something memorable through storytelling and stylistic choices.

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