Your DC-Only controversial opinions...

[hotroddii]

Comics get cancelled because people don't buy them

[FanboyStranger]

The Silver Surfer should be powered down a bit and put in The Avengers. (Not DC-related. but hey.)

Disagree. The Silver Surfer should be broken off from mainstream Marvel continuity and be the subject of true graphic novels in the European mode by people with something to say. Don't reduce the character, but elevate him.

[Moriarty]

The Martian Manhunter and the Spectre seem to require someone specific writing them. That means the concepts need some work.

nope.

While I applaud most of the Kate Spencer Manhunter run, they wasted Mark Shaw with another BS brainwashing story.

agreed

Geoff johns ruined Bart Allen.

totally agree. i miss the old days of Bart as Impulse.

[FanboyStranger]

A few others:
- Garth Ennis raises some good points about superheroes but his writing of them is problematic in it's own way and is not above reproach.

I agree that his points aren't above reproach, but I disagree that his writing of them is problematic. My personal feeling is that he hits the flaws quite well, but he doesn't play very well with the potential of superheroes. In many ways, his critique of superheroes is more about how they are presented through comics than the ideas behind them. While Ennis' view of superheroes is clearly indebted to Pat Mills' reductivist and political views, he never quite commits beyond the jokes. Superheroes are a ridiculous, fascisitic power fantasy-- that's what makes them fun, especially if you hold more enlightened, nuanced political views. Batman is hilarious if you've ever lived in a big city.

[Patrick_C]

- Most of DC characters would be wildly more popular than "the big three" if DC stopped intentionally holding them back (See 52 for how awesome a world where Superman and Batman don't dominate the scene can be)

- Incidentally, the very concept of a big three is ridiculous.

- Related: Wonder Woman is not on par with Superman and Batman. Not as a concept, as a concept, she might be better than both of them combined. I mean as a "sucessful" character. She's not a franchise maker as the other two.

- Also: The only reasons Wonder Woman keeps "failing" are her "fans". A Wonder Woman movie is difficult to make not because her concept is hard or people are sexist, but because a bad movie will be treated as a slight against all women everywhere, not as a failed superhero movie, and not many people are willing to risk that.

- That's actually the reason why she has seen so many revisions. People demand Diana to be the "iconic feminist hero"... But they disagree about how THAT looks like, so no Wonder Woman run is ever largely well-accepted. Ultimately, the character can't bear the weight of this responsibility.

- The Multiverse shouldn't be a cheap gimmick to use every once in a blue moon. At least a third of DC on-goings should be set on parallel earths.

- Garth Ennis sucks. Mark Millar sucks most of the time.

- "Deconstruction" sucks - It's pretentious, overdone, and stupid.

- Captain Marvel is the best superhero ever. At his top form, he should be a cross between Doctor Who and Spider-Man, and it would be GLORIOUS

[FanboyStranger]

- Vertigo does have a house style. Most Vertigo books, and just about all of the ones you think of when you think 'Vertigo', were bleak, cynical, and pretentious, with bad, cartoony art and horrific pacing issues that came from the fact that most of the series weren't really intended to be read as monthlies. The influence of Vertigo on writing and art styles has done more harm than good to DC as a business.

Thanks for your critique of Vertigo circa 1995. We'll send those complaints back in time twenty years to when they actually applied.

In the meantime, read Astro City...

[taylortexas]

Damian is the best Robin

Is this controversial? I totally agree. He's a little brat at the start but develops into the most capable and interesting Robin of them all, IMO. I'm loving his solo series so far.

[FanboyStranger]

- Garth Ennis sucks. Mark Millar sucks most of the time.

- "Deconstruction" sucks - It's pretentious, overdone, and stupid.

Three points:

1) Garth Ennis is one of the finest writers in the history of the medium. His war comics are proof of that. He's not particularly adept at superhero comics, and that's okay because not all comics are superhero comics. People ignore the craft of his superhero comics because they're more bent out of shape about what he says rather than how he says it.

2) Mark Millar devolved from a creator with something to say to a Hollywood pitchman who values shock more than story. He counts his money as we criticize his work. To compare him with Ennis is ridiculous, and shows a complete misunderstanding of their respective work.

3) Deconstruction is perfectly valid if it leads to a story that gives us a new understanding of a character(s) or concepts(s). For example, China Mieville's Dial H was a perfect deconstruction of the superhero ideal and a perfect reconstruction of that ideal for a contemporary audience. I'm sure you didn't read it.

[Patrick_C]

China Miéville sucks.

[Jim Kelly]

The 21st century is overrated.

[Flash Gordon]

China Miéville sucks.

Oh here's THAT guy. Have you ever even read his work?

[Trey Strain]

Why create parallel Earths when good stories about this Earth are so scarce?

[Trey Strain]

The 21st century is overrated.

I don't remember anyone praising it.

[Trey Strain]

Disagree. The Silver Surfer should be broken off from mainstream Marvel continuity and be the subject of true graphic novels in the European mode by people with something to say. Don't reduce the character, but elevate him.

Would that make money? I don't know that it would. Just knocking his powers down to a non-absurd level wouldn't debase him. It might make him usable, which is something he's never been.

Anyway, what are those nameless authors going to use him to say? I doubt they have much of anything to enlighten us with except more of their worn-out and stupid political correctness, which nobody needs for them to do.

[Agent Z]

I agree that his points aren't above reproach, but I disagree that his writing of them is problematic. My personal feeling is that he hits the flaws quite well, but he doesn't play very well with the potential of superheroes. In many ways, his critique of superheroes is more about how they are presented through comics than the ideas behind them. While Ennis' view of superheroes is clearly indebted to Pat Mills' reductivist and political views, he never quite commits beyond the jokes. Superheroes are a ridiculous, fascisitic power fantasy-- that's what makes them fun, especially if you hold more enlightened, nuanced political views. Batman is hilarious if you've ever lived in a big city.

Is it wrong that I don't totally agree with this since fascism has a rather broad definition and how fascist a superhero is depends on the writer? Not saying superheroes don't deserve criticism but I'm not sure if Ennis is the right person for the job.