Writers you currently hold in high esteem

[Whiskeyclone]

Based only on their current/very recent work, which writers do you like enough that you'll give pretty much any of their stuff a go?

[Astro]

Nicea.

So I hold them in high esteem, but I'm very rarely satisfied every time I pick up something they do.

Grant Morrison - He certainly comes the closest, but even he has an off arc or two. I didn't love the start of his Batman run, but I loved pretty much everything after the first arc. His Action started off strong, dipped a little around issue 4, but came roaring back with 5 and 6 and now I am super pumped for the rest. Pretty much everything he writes ends up being gold for me.

Brian Azzarello - I haven't read anything from Azz I haven't liked. He's one of the most clever guys on the stands right now, the way he plays with language, he does great character work. He's very minimalist, he lets silences say a lot, he puts a lot of the onus on the artist, but it's all so smart. He's got a great sci fi sensibility, which most don't give him credit for. 100 Bullets was a god damn masterpiece, but he also wrote one of the best Batman stories in recent memory - and as part of a CROSSOVER no less! He wrote one of my favorite Superman stories of all time (For Tomorrow), some of the best Batman stories of all time (Broken City, Flashpoint: Dark Knight of Vengeance, Joker Graphic Novel), the best Lex Luthor story of all time (Lex Luthor: Man of Steel), he's currently writing the best Wonder Woman I've ever read, and he's done various bits of brilliance like El Diablo, Dr. 13: Architecture and Morality (which is AMAZINGLY good, and one of my highest recommendations), he had a great Hellblazer run (though divisive), and more.

Jeff Lemire - I was really, really not into his work when he first came on the scene with a forgettable "Atom" story and a shakey "Superboy" book. Even his early "Frankenstein" book for FLashpoint was just BAD. Ho hum. But since the relaunch he's been wowing me consistently. His Frankenstein has some issues, but it's got a lot of layers and it's really smartly done and has some nice - though not mind blowing - big ideas. His Animal Man is brilliant, some of the best stuff being published today by any company, including Vertigo. If he has a weakness it is that he's not very clever. His dialog gets the job done, and it's always very heartfelt, but he's not really making clever quips, which slows down the narrative a little, which hurts in an action setting (but not in the horror setting he tends to play with).

Scott Snyder - He's pretty much done a great job on everything he's written up to this point, which is a hugely positive record. Even the stuff that he co-writes - Flashpoint Project Superman, Gates of Gotham, Severed - has ended up being good to great. He's hit it out of the park a couple of times on American Vampire and with his "Black Mirror" Detective arc, but his Swamp Thing and Batman runs have only just been 'good' rather than 'spectacular' in my mind. He's not currently doing work that puts him on par with Lemire's "Animal Man", and I don't think he has quite put out anything on par with "Essex County", but I think he's much more versatile and much more consistent.

Jason Aaron - I've really enjoyed this nu-Garth Ennis playing with all the Marvel toys. He plays a lot with cliche but he does it in a way that works really well because it's all about snappy characters and some cool ideas. I've found it odd to see just how much is career has paralleled that of Garth Ennis, even in almost the same sequence - Ghost Rider vs The Demon (etrigan), Scalped vs Preacher, Otherside vs Battlefields, WOlverine and the X Men vs Hitman, etc. That isn't a criticism, I'm really loving his work across all of his books right now, even if most of it doesn't 'blow me away' outside of his creator owned stuff (and I've only ready one trade of Scalped, but it was obviously very good). So he's up there for sure, but his Hulk drags him down just a bit, and I'm a little worried that he's going to run out of steam as his ideas are largely culled from various b movies.

Jonathon Hickman - Okay so I said in another thread that the bloom has come off the rose with this one a little, and I maintain that it has, but I'm still going to give anything he does a try, because it's still better than 90% of the guys out there usually. No, it's not very characterful, and I think long runs really don't play to his strengths in the least, but he's still doing some very smart stuff, conceptually. It reminds me very much of Ellis' more phoned in work, where he's just positing some super science schlock but doing nothing with the characters or the plot that is genuinely interesting. But occasionally he'll hit on some very strong character work, most notably in his Fantastic Four run at various points, and when he does it's phenomenal.

Joshua Hale Fialkov - He hasn't done very much yet, so there that is. But what he has done, most of it creator owned, has been spectacularly good. He's currently writing I, Vampire for DC and it's sort of the sleeper hit of the relaunch, and his "Elk's Run" and "Echoes" were both awesome. His 'Last of the Greats' is just okay by my standards, though. I think he has a better chance of staying...well, great...as his strength is primarily his craft rather than his ideas or any particular style.

Warren Ellis - I'll try out anything he does, still. His last Secret Avengers run ranged for good to great (the black widow issue was AMAZINGLY clever), his creator owned stuff ranges from great to bad, he's got an incredible historical pedigree...but he's not really writing much in the way of comics these days. He's transitioned to being a novelist, primarily, apparently. A sad loss.

Paul Cornell - I'm willing to try out most of what he does, but he disappointed me a bit on Stormwatch and that last Action Comics run. Still, he usually does good work, his Captain Britain, Dark X Men, Black Ring and Demon Knights runs all speak for themselves. I can't say I'm too interested in his Saucer Country ongoing coming up from Vertigo though, so we'll see.


Some guys whose work I'll check out if I have any interest at all in the concept are Nick Spencer (but I'm not picking up Morning Glories or Ultimate X Men, and he sucked on Iron Man 2.0), Bryan Q Miller (but I have no interest in a smallville comic book), Mike Costa, Greg Rucka (no interest in punisher), Jeff Parker (but I recently read his Thunderbolts run all in one sitting and found it kind of a chore to get through -- I think his work is good in monthly doses but doesn't really hold up in long form).

[Whiskeyclone]

For me, in no order other than how they come to my head:

Jason Aaron - So okay, I won't read just anything he does - I hate the Hulk so I'm not reading his Hulk, though I may give some of the guest-star issues coming up a peak. But he redeemed the Wolverine title, wrote Astonishing Spider Man & Wolverine which was one of the more fun reads I've had in a while, and is now bringing even more zany fun to Wolverine & the X-Men. I didn't read his Ultimate Punisher and I need to read a lot more of Scalped, but as far as big players at the big 2 he's gotta be the safest bet for me at this point.

Rick Remender - He's been hitting on just about all cylinders for me of late. He's made some pretty questionable concepts for books work beyond expectations (Uncanny X-Force, Venom) and turned out my favorite superhero story in ages. He crafts big arcs that juggle plot elements and build and build, and he's carving out a nice corner of the MU for himself right now. I'm pretty excited to see where his Secret Avengers goes now that it's started, and can't wait to check the next big UXF arc he was talking about.

Paul Cornell - He's not quite as consistent as I'd like to say he is, and he still hasn't topped MI:13, which is what initially made me a fan, but he still tends to write books I want to read and like. His Luthor arc was probably the longest I followed Action Comics on a monthly basis and was good fun, even if the subsequent Superman arc was one of the worst things I've read in ages. Demon Knights is fun and I wound up liking Storm Watch, too, even if I don't have an overwhelming majority behind me there. Dark X-Men was good, too, glad Astro reminded me of that.

Jeff Lemire - Animal Man is killing it month in and month out and Franksenstein is a fun romp. I'm officially stoked to see him on JL Dark and if he nails that he's going to be officially on fire for me.

Ed Brubaker - I'm not as enamored with him as I was a few years ago, but I'm definitely going to be following Winter Soldier, and I still read Cap, even if I take a couple months to catch myself up on it most of the time. He sticks pretty well in his safety zone these days (and probably with good reason, his x-stuff was pretty bland), but I'm still always curious to see what he gets into.

Warren Ellis - Of course. He doesn't swing for the fences much these days but he's still way too good to ignore. He writes elite stuff when he tries, and even when he's keeping it more low-key like his just-wrapped Secret Avengers issues he tends to crank out some pretty interesting stuff. I just tend to like what he does.

After that, there's Morrison who I just don't really read that much for whatever reason, Azzarello, who I haven't read enough of to really judge despite the praise, and Parker who's consistently good-not-great. Snyder might belong there, but I only started reading any of his stuff with the relaunch. Swamp Thing is pretty good. I haven't gotten the same enjoyment out of the Batman I've read, but I haven't read every issue, so maybe I just need to read it all straight through. We'll see.

[Whiskeyclone]

Oh Brian Wood, too. Especially if this X-Men mini he's doing works out well.

[BigJayHam]

I would recommend that both of you read Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire. Great work and a funky post-apocalyptic story that is a great read in part due to his art.

[Astro]

I would recommend that both of you read Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire. Great work and a funky post-apocalyptic story that is a great read in part due to his art.

Yeah I'm already reading it. I'd actually recommend that YOU pick up Essex County and Animal Man, because both of them are better than Sweet Tooth.

I do like Sweet Tooth, but it's such a slow burn it took me a while to jump on board. His character work is astounding.

[BigJayHam]

Yeah I'm already reading it. I'd actually recommend that YOU pick up Essex County and Animal Man, because both of them are better than Sweet Tooth.

I do like Sweet Tooth, but it's such a slow burn it took me a while to jump on board. His character work is astounding.

Well, Astro, it just so happens that I already OWN Essex County (a place that's only an hour's drive from me) and I'm loving Animal Man. I picked up a sketchbook of his at a convention that was full of awesome stuff. His art's an acquired taste but too unique and well put together (panel work) to just overlook. Can't wait for his JLDark. Hopefully he takes some of the attention away from Shade, which I thought dragged down the first arc quite a bit.

[Astro]

Haha oh awesome. And yeah, I really like his artwork to. Did you pick up 'Strange Adventures" a few years ago, a giant 80 pager out of Vertigo? He did this little Ultraa the Multi Alien short that was really heartbreaking, he both wrote and drew it and it was excellent.

And he is taking away all of the attention from Shade, by removing him from the team. He's going in a more "Justice League" superheroy direction, which is going to necessitate an entire cast overhaul as far as I can tell. Less spell users and more magic-BASED characters, so Shade and Mindwarp are defo out, and I'm sure the Enchantress is out too. Constantine, Zatanna and Deadman maintain the core, and we know Andrew Bennett (i, Vampire) and Black Orchid (from the Gaiman mini presumably) are joining up.

And I believe one non magic character is joining up as well - not sure if that is supposed to be Black Orchid (who did have some connection to The Green) or someone else. I'm sort of hoping for Manhattan Guardian to show up.

Are you picking up Frankenstein?

[Whiskeyclone]

Frankensstein has been teased to be used at some point in JL Dark once he's on.

[Cleric]

Scott Snyder, Ed Brubaker, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Jonathan Hickman for me.

Although for me it's kind of a love/hate relationship with Morrison. I don't like it when his stuff turns into self-indulgent solipsism.
And with Millar, I'll give the guy a chance on his own creator owned stuff, but other than that, he ranks the lowest on my list.

[BigJayHam]

Haha oh awesome. And yeah, I really like his artwork to. Did you pick up 'Strange Adventures" a few years ago, a giant 80 pager out of Vertigo? He did this little Ultraa the Multi Alien short that was really heartbreaking, he both wrote and drew it and it was excellent.

And he is taking away all of the attention from Shade, by removing him from the team. He's going in a more "Justice League" superheroy direction, which is going to necessitate an entire cast overhaul as far as I can tell. Less spell users and more magic-BASED characters, so Shade and Mindwarp are defo out, and I'm sure the Enchantress is out too. Constantine, Zatanna and Deadman maintain the core, and we know Andrew Bennett (i, Vampire) and Black Orchid (from the Gaiman mini presumably) are joining up.

And I believe one non magic character is joining up as well - not sure if that is supposed to be Black Orchid (who did have some connection to The Green) or someone else. I'm sort of hoping for Manhattan Guardian to show up.

Are you picking up Frankenstein?

That's great to hear about JLDark. It felt like a follow up to a story I'd never read (Shade). Plus, that's a nice core team to have. Bringing Constantine in worked out better than I thought it would have.

I'm digging Frankenstein. I think his work there shows he's capable of writing a team book. But the art is too bland at times.

[Astro]

Did you really feel like you needed to know anything about Shade though to get it? I know there was stuff with Kathy there, but I felt like they gave you context by telling you who she was.

Anyway, I honestly think JL Dark is a bad fit for Lemire.

One of the toughest things to crack in comics is getting a successful magic book up and running. I don't mean books like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel or Thor, but books about people who cast spells, who wield magic as a language.

The basic problem with this is that magic, in that form, tends to be a bit of a deus ex machina, with the conclusions being sort of a matter of 'hey, just because you didn't know he could do that doesn't mean he couldn't! Magic!".

That's fundamentally incompatible with the standard superhero comic paradigm/formula.

Vertigo has made a successful go of magic characters precisely because they allow themselves to break from that superhero formula, often completely. Magic, then, is a metaphor, and victories are primarily internal, manifesting externally. It's satisfying, because the whole thing is so character focused, so grounded in the journey of the individual(s) you're watching, and the plot is secondary to that journey, just a reflection of those primordial, internal struggles. It doesn't MATTER that you couldn't predict how Morpheus was going to win this particular conflict or that, that everything just seems to fall into place for Tim Hunter once he comes to a certain realization about himself, about others, about the world around him. Because the plot was never the real concern, anyway.

Milligan is bringing that to Justice League Dark. Was the ending of the plot satisfying? Oh, absolutely, but only because it revealed the type of character Constantine is, the type of character Xanadu is, the type of character Deadman is. Did much 'happen' in terms of plot these first 5 issues? Not at all, really. Enchantress was separated from her host by Xanadu, this resulted in some magical upheaval, these heroes put her back together and everything was saved.

But the meat of the story had nothing to do with the plot I summarized above.

And that's what allows this series, filled with characters with deus ex machina abilities that are so undefined as to be unguessable, to be (creatively) successful.

And that is what they are getting rid of. Which...you know, really sucks.

And they're trying to turn it...well, into what it is advertised. As the Justice League of magic users.

Okay, well I can tell you that all the problems everyone else has in making that compelling are going to exist here to, and I know that Lemire is smart enough to recognize that.

So here's what he's going to do; he's going to take off all the characters with highly undefined power sets, toss them aside. Expect Shade, the Changing Man, whose ability is literally to alter reality on a vast, sometimes universal scale while at the same time be beaten up by thugs in a bar, to be gone. Expect Mindwarp, who is a pet character, to be gone, as I don't think even Milligan is 100% sure what his abilities are at t his point (because that's not the POINT of creating a character, after all). Expect Xanadu to take a support/intelligence gathering role. Expect Zatanna to get limits placed on her abilities.

And expect the new characters to be magically empowered, rather than magic wielding (or, in the case of one, apparently not related to magic directly at all).

That's the only way he's going to be able to make this work. The way they tried to make Shadowpact work, except hopefully much better than that mediocre series.

[Astro]

Also, in hindsight, the 'non magic character' is almost certainly going to be Xombi -- Lemire mentioned on twitter re-reading the Xombi trade the other day.

[Bueno Excellente]

I thought the Shadowpact team during Days of Vengeance was quite strong.  The ongoing was a major letdown though.

[BigJayHam]

Did you really feel like you needed to know anything about Shade though to get it? I know there was stuff with Kathy there, but I felt like they gave you context by telling you who she was.

Anyway, I honestly think JL Dark is a bad fit for Lemire.

One of the toughest things to crack in comics is getting a successful magic book up and running. I don't mean books like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel or Thor, but books about people who cast spells, who wield magic as a language.

The basic problem with this is that magic, in that form, tends to be a bit of a deus ex machina, with the conclusions being sort of a matter of 'hey, just because you didn't know he could do that doesn't mean he couldn't! Magic!".

That's fundamentally incompatible with the standard superhero comic paradigm/formula.

Vertigo has made a successful go of magic characters precisely because they allow themselves to break from that superhero formula, often completely. Magic, then, is a metaphor, and victories are primarily internal, manifesting externally. It's satisfying, because the whole thing is so character focused, so grounded in the journey of the individual(s) you're watching, and the plot is secondary to that journey, just a reflection of those primordial, internal struggles. It doesn't MATTER that you couldn't predict how Morpheus was going to win this particular conflict or that, that everything just seems to fall into place for Tim Hunter once he comes to a certain realization about himself, about others, about the world around him. Because the plot was never the real concern, anyway.

Milligan is bringing that to Justice League Dark. Was the ending of the plot satisfying? Oh, absolutely, but only because it revealed the type of character Constantine is, the type of character Xanadu is, the type of character Deadman is. Did much 'happen' in terms of plot these first 5 issues? Not at all, really. Enchantress was separated from her host by Xanadu, this resulted in some magical upheaval, these heroes put her back together and everything was saved.

But the meat of the story had nothing to do with the plot I summarized above.

And that's what allows this series, filled with characters with deus ex machina abilities that are so undefined as to be unguessable, to be (creatively) successful.

And that is what they are getting rid of. Which...you know, really sucks.

And they're trying to turn it...well, into what it is advertised. As the Justice League of magic users.

Okay, well I can tell you that all the problems everyone else has in making that compelling are going to exist here to, and I know that Lemire is smart enough to recognize that.

So here's what he's going to do; he's going to take off all the characters with highly undefined power sets, toss them aside. Expect Shade, the Changing Man, whose ability is literally to alter reality on a vast, sometimes universal scale while at the same time be beaten up by thugs in a bar, to be gone. Expect Mindwarp, who is a pet character, to be gone, as I don't think even Milligan is 100% sure what his abilities are at t his point (because that's not the POINT of creating a character, after all). Expect Xanadu to take a support/intelligence gathering role. Expect Zatanna to get limits placed on her abilities.

And expect the new characters to be magically empowered, rather than magic wielding (or, in the case of one, apparently not related to magic directly at all).

That's the only way he's going to be able to make this work. The way they tried to make Shadowpact work, except hopefully much better than that mediocre series.

Outside of the Vertigo titles, this will be my first foray into the DC magic scene, but I can sure as hell tell you that you're right. Anytime magic is introduced in one way or another in mainstream superhero comics in DC (more so at Marvel) it's used almost exclusively as a deus ex machina, either in the form of Zatanna or Dr Strange speaking. What you say is interesting and is the most likely creative direction when you take everything into account. I guess that's why he's opting to use characters like Black Orchid, I Vampire guy and the other characters whose power sets are more strictly defined rather than Shade and what's his face.. friend of Shade's.