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

[kingaliencracker]

I look at it this way...

Geoff Johns is the Fast & Furious franchise.

Grant Morrison is every Wes Anderson movie ever.

[Vishop]

Bumped this 7 year old thread. I was having this argument on another forum. I want to see how many think who is better right now.

[Nomads1]

Haven't read anything new from both in quite a long time, Morrison more than Johns, so my opinion really hasn't had much to change on. Still like them both. Still not my all-time favorites. Still favor Johns a tiny bit more than Morrison.

Peace

[Hol]

Geoff Johns. Not even close for me. I do like Grants work though.

[Factor]

Morrison by far in my opinion. I think Johns is good at putting new coats of paint on old concepts but his storytelling skills are not particularly impressive. Morrison is way more imaginative and interesting to me.

[Stanlos]

Hmmmm. Geof is like a JJ Abrams; he can set up an idea but for whatever reason he can never follow through or successfully close.

For this reason and of course EPICNESS I pick Morrison.

However, I feel Mark Waid, Gail Simone, Kurt Busiek, Ron Marz, Peter David, Walt Simonson, Devyn Grayson, Greg Rucka, and Warren Ellis eclipse both of them.

[Sacred Knight]

Morrison. But that's my preference. Each have their strengths and their weaknesses as writers.

Edit: Didn't realize this was a necro'd thread. I'm surprised I didn't comment in it originally.

[caj]

Morrison: "Let me do something crazy and confuse the heck out of readers" - i.e to the point where it doesn't make much sense.

Johns: "Wouldn't it be cool if we did...." - without any thought to long-term ramifications.

My choice would be neither. I agree with Stanlos - I'll take Mark Waid and some of those other writers over these two ANY DAY.

[Thezmage]

Okay, let me explain why I prefer Johns over Morrison. I prefer johns for the straight forward simplicity of the events and characters. With Johns you'll know what you're getting yourself into.

Unlike Morrison, who requires more thinking and some aspirin pill or two to understand and enjoy his long plotted delayed work that is sometimes a mess when it's done and creates headaches for any reader to understand if they don't have an extended knowledge of the history of DC.

I don't really even try to understand half of what Morrison says. They either sound like complete gibberish to me or half-gibberish that would make sense if I worked hard to really understand what they wrote. And I rarely want to put that much work into it.

[Mike]

I have never cared for Morrison.
I can't think of anything he has written that I have read that I have liked.
Geoff Johns is hit or miss with me.
Like some. Not so much others.

[Lightning Rider]

I'm not a big fan of Johns's big "events". I think before he was given control of the DC Universe and turned every storyline into event build-up and fallout, he was a much better writer. Up to anything after Infinite Crisis I suppose. I really enjoyed his run on the Flash and Justice League. Whenever Green Arrow narrates a Justice League story, I feel like we get an up close look at the actual relationships between the characters. I just wish he remembered his original theme for Wally-"The Flash is not about Tragedy"-before ruining Barry Allen.

I can easily see why people think Morrison is the better writer. I think he can sequence a story in a more compelling and thematic way. And the arcs are more fulfilling in one sitting, I think. But I think at his best, Johns crafted dialogue to make the heroes and the villains seem like people you know. I tend to prefer that over the sometimes convoluted psycho-thrillers Morrison likes to make.

Interesting to reflect on this. Looking back, Morrison was much more groundbreaking and inventive and the proportion of comics from Johns I dislike has grown slightly. Going to go with Grant now.

[Felipe Silveira]

Morrison, easily.
Morrison has some of my favorite comics, Johns doesn't have any that I really care about (I haven't read his Hawkman and Flash). On the contrary, Johns made some comics that I wish I could forget.

[scribbleMind]

Idk who the better DC writer is, but I think Morrison is simply the better writer in general.

[krazijoe]

Morrison---This will make their brain hurt because everything is messed up, but down the road the will go AH-HA!
Johns----They will go AH-HA with this one but down the road it will make their brain hurt cause everything is so messed up now!

[Thezmage]

Interesting to reflect on this. Looking back, Morrison was much more groundbreaking and inventive and the proportion of comics from Johns I dislike has grown slightly. Going to go with Grant now.

I do think you were right in your earlier post about how Johns was better when he had his own little corner of the world.