Comic Book News Round-Up

[HGervais]

Summer is here so that means all the comic book companies, especially the big 2, starting making their announcements. Creative teams, crossovers and what the big event du jour will be are all covered here in this handy dandy digest version from Newsarama. I'm kind of looking forward to a Peter David run on She-Hulk.

[Shmoooooo]

Peter David on She-Hulk?? Considering his troubled history with David, and his association with that character John Byrne must be thrilled ... however, as a Peter David fan I'm looking forward to this ... his recent run on X-Factor is pretty good so far.

[TemporalWisdom]

Peter David's done some good stuff, but the guy's kind of a hack. He doesn't come up with anything of his own. He just gloms on to something someone else has created and adds to it. This guy was a prolific writer of fanfiction in his youth. He just went pro with it, that's all.

[Shmoooooo]

Peter David's done some good stuff, but the guy's kind of a hack. He doesn't come up with anything of his own. He just gloms on to something someone else has created and adds to it. This guy was a prolific writer of fanfiction in his youth. He just went pro with it, that's all.

That's kind of a crazy statement. His innovations on the Hulk alone bring him to the forefront of comic book writers today ... just because he has taken existing characters and added to them does not take anything away from his ability to write ... and certainly doesn't make him a hack. Both his original and his new X-Factor comics are very good, his Hulk run is the definitive run of that character, in it he created new characters (the Pathelon for instance) and drastically altered existing characters (including the Hulk himself, as well as the Leader and countless others) created new villians (The Maestro, is an awesome villian ... even if he is just a futures self of the Hulk). Peter David is not a hack ... anyone that can take a book that's scheduled to be canceled and turn in around ... making it one of the best selling books of it's time and keep it up for over a hundred issues must have some talent ... probably more then some guy who just did fanfiction in his youth, and decided to go pro.

[Adam Arseneau]

World War Hulk has potential. Hopefully they have the sack to go through with it hardcore.

[TemporalWisdom]

Peter David's done some good stuff, but the guy's kind of a hack. He doesn't come up with anything of his own. He just gloms on to something someone else has created and adds to it. This guy was a prolific writer of fanfiction in his youth. He just went pro with it, that's all.

That's kind of a crazy statement. His innovations on the Hulk alone bring him to the forefront of comic book writers today ... just because he has taken existing characters and added to them does not take anything away from his ability to write ... and certainly doesn't make him a hack. Both his original and his new X-Factor comics are very good, his Hulk run is the definitive run of that character, in it he created new characters (the Pathelon for instance) and drastically altered existing characters (including the Hulk himself, as well as the Leader and countless others) created new villians (The Maestro, is an awesome villian ... even if he is just a futures self of the Hulk). Peter David is not a hack ... anyone that can take a book that's scheduled to be canceled and turn in around ... making it one of the best selling books of it's time and keep it up for over a hundred issues must have some talent ... probably more then some guy who just did fanfiction in his youth, and decided to go pro.

Just because you have a few good ideas doesn't make you a good writer. I think the most that can be said about him is that he takes chances. Can you say no one else could have come up with retconning Bruce Banner as a child abuse victim? Of course not; Bill Mantlo came up with it first. David's just the one who explored the implications of it further. It was the late 80's, and stories were getting grittier. I remember the troubles the X-Men had with their moral compass back then. The Morlock Massacre still gives me chills when I think of it. So David was following a trend. That's just good marketing.

If he were merely a comic book writer, I wouldn't be so harsh. There isn't much room for new titles these days. But Star Trek novels? Babylon 5 novels? I read some of the ones he wrote, by the way, and they all read like fanfiction, just with good spelling and punctuation. None of them are canon, of course, any more than fanfiction you find on the internet.

[Shmoooooo]

Peter David's done some good stuff, but the guy's kind of a hack. He doesn't come up with anything of his own. He just gloms on to something someone else has created and adds to it. This guy was a prolific writer of fanfiction in his youth. He just went pro with it, that's all.

That's kind of a crazy statement. His innovations on the Hulk alone bring him to the forefront of comic book writers today ... just because he has taken existing characters and added to them does not take anything away from his ability to write ... and certainly doesn't make him a hack. Both his original and his new X-Factor comics are very good, his Hulk run is the definitive run of that character, in it he created new characters (the Pathelon for instance) and drastically altered existing characters (including the Hulk himself, as well as the Leader and countless others) created new villians (The Maestro, is an awesome villian ... even if he is just a futures self of the Hulk). Peter David is not a hack ... anyone that can take a book that's scheduled to be canceled and turn in around ... making it one of the best selling books of it's time and keep it up for over a hundred issues must have some talent ... probably more then some guy who just did fanfiction in his youth, and decided to go pro.

Just because you have a few good ideas doesn't make you a good writer. I think the most that can be said about him is that he takes chances. Can you say no one else could have come up with retconning Bruce Banner as a child abuse victim? Of course not; Bill Mantlo came up with it first. David's just the one who explored the implications of it further. It was the late 80's, and stories were getting grittier. I remember the troubles the X-Men had with their moral compass back then. The Morlock Massacre still gives me chills when I think of it. So David was following a trend. That's just good marketing.

If he were merely a comic book writer, I wouldn't be so harsh. There isn't much room for new titles these days. But Star Trek novels? Babylon 5 novels? I read some of the ones he wrote, by the way, and they all read like fanfiction, just with good spelling and punctuation. None of them are canon, of course, any more than fanfiction you find on the internet.

I have not read any of his Star Trek books ... nor do I have any interest to ... I also wasn't speaking on his ability to be a writer ... I was speaking on his ability to be a comic book writer. Those are two different things. As is a screenwriter and a novel author. They are very distinct ways of writing ... he may very well suck at writing books ... but he is very good at writing comics. As I said, he took a dying comic, rejuivenated it and make it one of Marvel's best selling comics ... during one of the peaks of the comic book industry ... and, at the same time, made it obtain probably the highest amount of critical aclaim of any ongoing super-hero comic from either of the big two. But I guess your right ... being able to do that for over a hundred issues doesn't really mean anything.

[TemporalWisdom]

I have not read any of his Star Trek books ... nor do I have any interest to ... I also wasn't speaking on his ability to be a writer ... I was speaking on his ability to be a comic book writer. Those are two different things. As is a screenwriter and a novel author. They are very distinct ways of writing ... he may very well suck at writing books ... but he is very good at writing comics. As I said, he took a dying comic, rejuvenated it and make it one of Marvel's best selling comics ... during one of the peaks of the comic book industry ... and, at the same time, made it obtain probably the highest amount of critical aclaim of any ongoing super-hero comic from either of the big two. But I guess your right ... being able to do that for over a hundred issues doesn't really mean anything.

Your point is taken, being a novelist and being a comic book writer are separate skills. But I was speaking of the man, his overall body of work. I did say he's done some good stuff - I sure wasn't referring to his books. I said he's kind of a hack, and I stand by that. That isn't to say a hack can't produce anything good.

[AutoAym]

World War Hulk has potential. Hopefully they have the sack to go through with it hardcore.

Exactly. Read WW:Hulk and WW:Hulk - X-Men #1's. If they can keep that level of quality up, they've got book of the year honors right now.
I would love to see Hulk tie Reed Richards into a knot, but it won't happen.
The problem is that you know Marvel (like many directors) are going to totally blow the 3rd act, like so many before them. (See: Civil War, House of M, Avengers: Disassembled, etc...)

[HGervais]

In the process of reading the HC trade for Planet Hulk and thus far it is really good stuff. As for the out, well the recent revelation at the end of New Avengers certainly opens up a pretty good platform to wrap all these storylines up.

[AutoAym]

In the process of reading the HC trade for Planet Hulk and thus far it is really good stuff. As for the out, well the recent revelation at the end of New Avengers certainly opens up a pretty good platform to wrap all these storylines up.

Planet Hulk = Agreed. Greg Pak's the best Hulk writer since Peter David's run in the early 90's.
Which New Avengers revelation? the one about Ronin's identity?

[HGervais]

In the process of reading the HC trade for Planet Hulk and thus far it is really good stuff. As for the out, well the recent revelation at the end of New Avengers certainly opens up a pretty good platform to wrap all these storylines up.

Planet Hulk = Agreed. Greg Pak's the best Hulk writer since Peter David's run in the early 90's.
Which New Avengers revelation? the one about Ronin's identity?

No...so this is a pretty big spoiler...it turns out Elektra was a Skrull and has been a Skrull for a number of years, in Marvel time anyway.

[AutoAym]

No...so this is a pretty big spoiler...it turns out Elektra was a Skrull and has been a Skrull for a number of years, in Marvel time anyway.

Bah! Stupid Marvel and their stupid RetCons! I swear to [whatever deity you pray to] that they can't get through a single story arc in any of their titles without writing themselves into a corner and then retconning their way out of it. What crap.
Who's writing that title agai... oh, wait. It's a Brian Michael (King of retconning and unmasking heroes because i don't know of any other plot devices to advance my stories) Bendis title, isn't it?

[Shmoooooo]

Bendis is one of the best comic book writers ever to grace the illustrated page. His Jinx and Goldfish are examples of how comic books can be about more then just superheros. His Ultimate Spider-man is one of the most refreshing takes on the character in years. His Daredevil run was the best that character has had since Frank Miller. Granted, his New Avengers, despite moments of greatness, has failed to impress and House of M was just another big Marvel event story. However, the stuff he does well he does better than most.

[AutoAym]

Bendis is one of the best comic book writers ever to grace the illustrated page. His Jinx and Goldfish are examples of how comic books can be about more then just superheros. His Ultimate Spider-man is one of the most refreshing takes on the character in years. His Daredevil run was the best that character has had since Frank Miller. Granted, his New Avengers, despite moments of greatness, has failed to impress and House of M was just another big Marvel event story. However, the stuff he does well he does better than most.

I'll give credit where it's due. For stuff where he has absolute control (Ultimate Spider-Man, Alias, etc...) and he doesn't have to worry about an established history for the characters, his stories are very good and he is brilliant at getting the nuances of characters and putting them on the page (Luke Cage's speech in New Avengers #17 about impact superheroes was brilliant).
The problem is that if there's an established history at all, he has a tendendency of completly disregarding all established plot/story/characterization in favour of his own. In addition, he will RetCon nearly every story arc he comes into in order to explain away where he wants to take the plot (to the point of RetConning entire character histories. See Jessica Jones and the Sentry). Between that and the "Let's unmask the hero!" arc that he's used in darned near every book he's written, it makes it maddening to try to follow books that you've read for longer than he's been on them.
I'd be very interested to see if there was any cooresponding change in the overall quality of his work if he dropped a few of the titles he's working on to focus on the stuff he really wants to work on.