Your DC-Only controversial opinions (part II)...

[TheRay]

Geoff Johns is good and brings back a Silver Age feel.

[lemonpeace]

Geoff Johns is good and brings back a Silver Age feel.

this is exactly the problem with Geoff Johns, he's devolved from telling legitimately exciting stories with nods to the past, to what's essentially indulgent nostalgia-bating cosplay. it's not the silver age, how well you can mimic that time shouldn't be the barometer for quality.

[TheRay]

I didn’t say “mimic”. I don’t think he’s mimicking it.

[SiegePerilous02]

I think using Silver Age or general pre-Crisis stuff shouldn't be an automatic pass or fail for a story. There were good and bad comics both pre-COIE and post, a talented writer can utilize elements from any era well if they are telling a good story.

Johns has some superficial usages of Silver/Bronze age stuff, but his comics are generally nothing like they are from that era. In general, I think the "Silver age nostalgia" thing is overblown outside of things like swapping out Wally for Barry again. Even after the mess DiDio made of things, it never resembled the old universe again.

[skyvolt2000]

If you favorite character has had a solo that lasted beyond 6 issues and then gets multiple others-that character is not being MARGINALIZED.
Because of a failed movie with a guy more famous playing a guy with a deformed face and a loud mouth.
Please look up the word and it's meaning and stop viewing a certain person as a threat.

[Dark Falz]

If I had a criticism of Johns, it would be his over reliance on Crisis on Infinite Earths-style disaster stories that have battle scenes with hundreds of characters brawling each other, but that often don't end up doing much at all for the characters involved. I've also seen him hammer on themes to a somewhat corn ball level. He's not my favorite writer by any stretch, or even a preferred one, but I think he's really good at playing to his particular audience and more or less giving them what they want (heroic moments with characters they like, "epic" feeling stories [sometimes], and he usually brings in artists that are good at heightening those aspects).

[Vordan]

this is exactly the problem with Geoff Johns, he's devolved from telling legitimately exciting stories with nods to the past, to what's essentially indulgent nostalgia-bating cosplay. it's not the silver age, how well you can mimic that time shouldn't be the barometer for quality.

Johns has a very interesting trajectory from Infinite Crisis which argued against the idea of a better and “kinder” past, to Doomsday Clock which is essentially the opposite. I don’t think Johns actually has “Silver Age” nostalgia though, he grew up reading Bronze Age/early Post Crisis stuff. He’s got more affection for Wolfman’s NTT than Binder’s Superman imo.

[Frontier]

Johns has a very interesting trajectory from Infinite Crisis which argued against the idea of a better and “kinder” past, to Doomsday Clock which is essentially the opposite. I don’t think Johns actually has “Silver Age” nostalgia though, he grew up reading Bronze Age/early Post Crisis stuff. He’s got more affection for Wolfman’s NTT than Binder’s Superman imo.

And his biggest contribution to DC were stories about Golden Age heroes in the modern day with tons of legacy heroes.

[Dark Falz]

I would contest Johns' biggest contributions to DC were bringing back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, and his stories with Hal Jordan. Blackest Night was probably the high water mark for Geoff Johns at DC Comics. The Silver Age love he's accused of no doubt comes from that. However, I don't profess to know what his preferences as a comics fan are. I could certainly get an idea, but I don't really know for sure.

[TheRay]

The only importance the name of the city has to the story is that each hero should have their own place they protect with its own rogues.

[Frontier]

I would contest Johns' biggest contributions to DC were bringing back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, and his stories with Hal Jordan. Blackest Night was probably the high water mark for Geoff Johns at DC Comics. The Silver Age love he's accused of no doubt comes from that. However, I don't profess to know what his preferences as a comics fan are. I could certainly get an idea, but I don't really know for sure.

I think his contributions to the GL franchise (Hal, bringing the Corps back, the Emotional Spectrum, Sinestro, Jessica Cruz), Flash franchise (The Rogues, Thawne, Flashpoint, Wally's kids), Aquaman franchise (the entire revamp of the mythos) and JSA franchise (Stargirl, the team back to the forefront, their entire legacy roster) sum up Johns' biggest contributions to DC.

[Marvell2100]

Dick should have stayed as Batman and Bruce should hang up the tights and become some kind of overwatch type character for the JL or coordinating the Gotham vigilantes.

[SiegePerilous02]

Johns has a very interesting trajectory from Infinite Crisis which argued against the idea of a better and “kinder” past, to Doomsday Clock which is essentially the opposite. I don’t think Johns actually has “Silver Age” nostalgia though, he grew up reading Bronze Age/early Post Crisis stuff. He’s got more affection for Wolfman’s NTT than Binder’s Superman imo.

He does seem to get that the pre-COIE ideas for Superman were stronger (Brainiac, the Legion connection, etc), but his execution is either iffy or mixed in with some post-Crisis stuff or bringing in the Donnor stuff. Similarly with his Wonder Woman ideas in the New 52, he re-established a young Steve Trevor as her love interest but Barbara Minerva was the Cheetah over a straight take on Priscilla Rich. He never seemed to go straight Silver/Bronze age with anything.

Morrison tends to lean in that direction more, but 1. he IMO executes it much better and 2. always includes some fresh ideas as well, so even he isn't running on pure nostalgia.

[DrNewGod]

... I don’t think Johns actually has “Silver Age” nostalgia though, he grew up reading Bronze Age/early Post Crisis stuff. He’s got more affection for Wolfman’s NTT than Binder’s Superman imo.

I haven't read enough Johns to feel fully informed about his preferences. However, I will say that the era in which one grew up is not necessarily a good measure one's favorite era. I began reading at the Silver/Bronze transition, but - with some specific case exceptions - I'd probably say I'm more of a Golden Age DC fan than a Bronze fan.

[phonogram12]

While Waid's run on The Flash is one of my favorites and I'm surprisingly enjoying Bendis' run on Superman, Marvel does the "superhero without a secret identity" thing far better than DC.