A strange thought occurred to me when reading Matt Fraction’s comment about how he’s approaching writing his new Defenders series for Marvel, this weekend:
I love writers like Arnold Drake, John Broome, Gardner Fox, and Jack Kirby — stories that bombard you with these pure bolts of imagination. It’s unlike anything else… I feel like I’ve said all I have to say about where we are now in comics with “Fear Itself.’ Everything I’ve done this whole last year has felt like the a summation of that first period. I’m getting restless. I’m looking to try and start new conversations. I’m going to dig around and find new and weird stuff to do. I’m looking for my new sound, whatever it is.
Okay, two thoughts, but the second one is the one I want to bring to your attention (The first was that, after reading Simon Reynolds’ Bring The Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip-Hop and Grant Morrison’s Supergods simultaneously, I’d been thinking about comic creators in musical terms, finding analogs between creators and musicians, and so Fraction talking about finding a “new sound” seemed weirdly coincidental). It seemed weirdly appropriate to me that, of the four creators Fraction mentions, three of them are remembered mostly for the work they did for DC Comics, because – for whatever reason, and it’s one I can’t really explain – I’ve always thought of Fraction as a creator more suited to DC than Marvel, even though, to the best of my memory, he’s never actually worked for DC.
Like I said, I can’t really explain why I get that feeling from him; there’s just this itching thought in the back of my mind when I read his work that he’d be more comfortable with the more optimistic, less grounded in reality, DCU characters and concepts than he is with Marvel’s, even though he’s doing just fine with Iron Man, Thor, et al right now. He’s not the only creator I have this odd bias for: Grant Morrison is similarly DC, whereas Brian Michael Bendis is firmly Marvel (JMS, to throw someone in the opposite direction, is a DC creator who “feels” more Marvel to me).
Is this just me? Does everyone have a list of creators and the publishers they feel they “should” be working for, irrespective of whether or not they’ve ever shown any inclination in that direction? And if so, who are those creators, and who should they be working for? Use the comments, people.
July 25th, 2011 at 10:59 am
Paul Cornell feels more DC to me (though Knight & Squire didn’t measure up).
I think of Mark Waid as a DC guy, yet his Fantastic Four run is so definitive and his first Daredevil issue was pitch perfect.
Ed Brubaker’s crime stuff worked perfectly in the Batman books, but now he’s scratching that itch with creator-owned stuff.
July 25th, 2011 at 11:57 am
this was even true back in the day. roy thomas was always marvel, as was gerry conway, while len wein seemed more suited for dc. marv wolfman somehow seemed at home at both publishers, while gene colan seemed more marvel. perez was the perfect guy for the jla/avengers team up because he could do both companies equally well.
July 25th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
I always considered John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Roger Stern Marvel guys. After re-reading Geoff Johns Avengers run, I feel he’s definitely better at DC.
July 25th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Busiek, when writing other people’s heroes, belongs at Marvel. As much as Waid belongs back at DC.
PAD is very much a Marvel man, Young Justice notwithstanding.
July 25th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
In terms of Artists as well. Alan Davis is a Marvel guy, So is Byrne, Coipel and Pacual Ferry. The one guy who isn’t at Marvel and should be is Jamal Igle.
July 25th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
I don’t know about creators being definitively linked to publishers, especially since any creator worth their salt do their signature work on creator-owned stuff.
About Fraction’s itch to forge new paths and launch “pure bolts of imagination”… he’s already been doing it with CASANOVA. That’s his statement about what’s next. Trying to do that within the context of corporate owned superhero characters was possible back when the groundwork was still being set but these days, it’s not going to happen. I think he should go work on CASANOVA any time he feels that itch.
July 25th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Grant Morrison is better suited to DC and I hope to one day see Jonathon Hickman do for Green Lantern that crazy things he has been doing for SHIELD. Hickman should be a DC guy. Geoff Johns is definitely more DC. Bendis is always going to be marvels main man in my eyes. I cant see his writing for DC, though I think it would superlative if he ever did.