tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post3656526050367023273..comments2024-02-29T14:12:01.955-05:00Comments on Flashback Universe Blog: From Noble Death to Lazy ExecutionJim Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05006833955333061262noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-76033876057340279142011-07-18T17:47:59.150-04:002011-07-18T17:47:59.150-04:00I think Moore is often a good writer, but is hampe...I think Moore is often a good writer, but is hampered by his desire to bring in various sexual issues combined with meta-fictional fixations in almost everything he writes, many times to the detriments of the stories. LoEG has been completely derailed by it to the point it's practically a caricature of Moore's style, I actually checked the credits to see if 1910 was written by him, it was so weak. I found even at the time his "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" to be very derivative and cliched, in keeping with many "final issues" or "episodes" where everything and the status quo changes just because the writers no longer have to worry about the next issue or episode following.<br /><br />For all the violence of The Killing Joke, what makes it work is that it's ultimately about Commissioner Gordon. The Joker is trying to justify himself by breaking Gordon, only Gordon doesn't break. He's put through about the worst that can happen to him, and he doesn't break, he doesn't seek to kill the Joker, to become a monster. <br /><br />But, I think Moore has gotten away from the humanity of the characters, and many of the following writers only saw the fetishes, sex lives and violent aspects of his work and thought that's what made it genius. So today's comics are a lot more adult, but a lot less sophisticated and mature.cash_gormanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12071052539938367439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-10194670368265739302011-07-14T08:18:04.162-04:002011-07-14T08:18:04.162-04:00@JP Cote. "Noble, ground breaking work or laz...@JP Cote. "Noble, ground breaking work or lazy writing?" <br /><br />Moore has more genuine chops as writer than many who have followed trying to ride his beard, but I'd call lazy writing. It's easy to tear superheroes down or point and say they aren't realistic. It's easy to take your colorful childhood icons and basically make a horror movie out of them. <br /><br />I remember reading that Joe Quesada came up to Alan Moore at a con gushing about how what Marvel was doing was being modeled on Watchmen to which more responded "..why?"<br /><br />So in fairness I think at the end of the day Moore never intended anything he did with DC to be a style-guide/holy gospel for the entire industry.MattComixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14015552734150732758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-46412778525742451732011-07-14T00:19:06.798-04:002011-07-14T00:19:06.798-04:00I was reading DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Mo...I was reading DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore and I started to ask myself, what makes people think of Alan Moore as a great writer? Now, I love his original works such as Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Tom Strong is pretty good. Looking specifically at his DC stuff though what hits me is just the level of violence and the prominence of death in his stories compared to the time period they were written in. As an example, "The Killing Joke" has such a level of violence to it I wonder if it is more shock value than a good story. In the Vigilante story, the bad guy is murdered by having the front tires of a car rip him apart while the parking break is on. In "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" (non-canonical of course but still) the deaths come fast and furious. These are but a couple of examples from a major award winning writer. So where does his work sit in the context of these discussions? Is it important, influential writing or just a guy taking advantage of the times and using the shock value of violence and sex to advance or improve what would otherwise be great ideas but mediocre storytelling? Noble, ground breaking work or lazy writing?JP Cotehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17147704252567241149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-14656305350200692872011-07-11T07:23:29.733-04:002011-07-11T07:23:29.733-04:00^ Well they're kind of doing that now in GL wh...^ Well they're kind of doing that now in GL where you have Hal, Kyle, Guy, and John as all active GL's. Though I do think this has the problem of diluting the whole Green Lantern of Sector 2814 thing. <br /><br />The immediate modern editorial answer would be to have them slaughtered with only one remaining to angst about it in a 35 part crossover. But as I said in my article surely there are more elegant ways to write these guys out that are respectful to the characters themselves and wouldn't involve gore tactics, cheap stunts, and making death a revolving door.MattComixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14015552734150732758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-55964347660039806132011-07-11T06:27:18.742-04:002011-07-11T06:27:18.742-04:00@Trey - I think there is actually a larger conting...@Trey - I think there is actually a larger contingent who "don't buy and bitch" based on emails I get. However, apparently enough fans fit your category to keep sales from taking a cliff dive when things changes.<br /><br />@Reno - What I'm wondering is why can't the companies just have both versions at the same time? Back in the 70's we had both Hal Jordan and a young John Stewart and everybody was happy. I don't think it's necessary to kill one version to introduce a new one.Jim Shelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05006833955333061262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-66206898181498732452011-07-08T22:17:54.831-04:002011-07-08T22:17:54.831-04:00When I was a kid, I liked Flash and green Lantern,...When I was a kid, I liked Flash and green Lantern, they had very cool powers. But when I reached high school and college, I found Barry and Hal to be one-dimensional and boring. I was sad to see them both die, but their replacements (Wally and Kyle) were much better character-wise. Was it a product of the times Barry and Hal were written in? I'd have to say no, since re-reading the revived Barry and Hal, I still found them to be quite one-dimensional and bland(especially Hal).<br /><br />I guess what I'm saying is that if the deaths of characters pave the way to much better iterations of them, then comics creators and companies should just leave well enough alone.Renohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13706715472542842560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4778276361957351199.post-22425894572017049832011-07-08T07:49:27.432-04:002011-07-08T07:49:27.432-04:00I think fans bear much of the blame. If the comic ...I think fans bear much of the blame. If the comic book reading public stopped being gimmick deaths or gimmicks of other sorts, companies would stop doing them. The hardcore pool of fans still in comics seem to prefer "buy and bitch" to "not buy" though.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.com