...they are riding on Geoff Johns. In my opinion. No dig on Grant. I loved Animal Man and Doom Patrol. And I think his Batman is very good. But, Final Crisis is not the crucial book for DC right now, though it has been positioned as it is. It's Geoff's work; it's the only thing solid holding everything together. I think Geoff is really a Monitor.
Just a thought or two before I run a brush through my hair and scoot off to work.
I couldn't agree more with you. I do love Geoff's work but I also have this nagging fear that if DC was left to him then all of the books would be reset to the Silver Age. Don't laugh but I was digging DC during the 90s much more. Starman, Hitman, Legion, Morrison's JLA, Dixon on GA. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteBad news for DC as far as my money is concerned. I have tried some of his books (Green Lantern, JSA) and I just don't like them. I can't put my finger on it, but his stories just don't excite me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I detest the fact that the Fortress of Solitude has the crappy crystal design from the movie. Ugh.
And don't get me started on the way in which he has undercut the Legion book with his "all-new" Action Legion. Ugh.
You know, that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteIn a weird way Geoff Johns reminds me of Jim Shooter or Bill Mantlo story-wise. Nothing amazing, but solid storytelling and a love for the characters' history and backstory.
Johns is the Bendis of DC. Big picture, long overarching interconnected arcs. And me likes.
ReplyDeleteJohns' JSA has been excellent from day 1 and getting my picky ass to care about back ass characters like the JSA is a big deal since I have been a Marvel boy since I was 4.
And Green Lantern is my favorite superhero ever, and he has made Hal amazing.
If you aren't reading Geoff Johns you should be, he's quickly become my favorite comic writer of this era.
If you look at my DC stack, its GJ, GJ, GJ, GJ, GJ, JLA, Wonder Woman, Supergirl.
Johns is the Bendis of DC.
ReplyDeleteSelf-important, all flash and no substance, total lack of follow-through, and in love with turning all the heroes into failures and letting the villains win?
Actually yeah, that about covers it.
Well who knew this could be such a divisive issue? *L*
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself I like the idea of the future of the DCU resting in GJ's hands better than GM's. Lately GM has been very hit or miss. But for me GJ always brings the awesome. There is very little by him that I read and don't come away absolutely breathless.
Actually, I think of Geoff Johns as being a lot like Roy Thomas in a lot of ways. Thomas had that same sense of history to his writing, drawing inspiration from older stories (which was, and is, a bit of a double-edged sword.)
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint about Johns (apart from, as I say, sometimes finding his reliance on continuity to be a hindrance as well as a help to him as a writer) is his tendency to try to inject drama into a storyline by upping the on-panel gore. I think he frequently substitutes graphic violence for actual tension, to his detriment as a writer (the "No more silly faces" sequence in IC springs to mind as an example.)
But, like Thomas, he's a reliable solid writer who knows his audience, which is a good thing for a company to have in their back pocket.
The last comics company to put their future in Grant Morrison's hands was Britain's 2000ad. Morrison admitted he knew little about the status quo of characters and simply wrote what he wanted, resulting in a fan exodus that the company never recovered from, minimal new readership despite some stories getting coverage in non-comics media, and Morrison himself storming off the title while claiming ownership of characters he'd created under a work-for-hire basis and demanding to be paid (again) for work previously printed.
ReplyDeleteJohns doesn't really excite me as a writer, but he does seem to make an effort. When Morrison storms out of DC (as he does every few years), DC could do worse than replace him with Johns.
Until Morrison comes back after storming out of Marvel, at any rate.