Over at iFanboy, Jim Mroczkowski wonders why he reads comics:
One recent example of my mental pretzel, as the time for making preorders draws near:
Rick Remender is great. I love Rick Remender on Venom.
Cullen Bunn is also great. The Sixth Gun is a delight.
Rick Remender leaves Venom. I say, “Do I need to keep reading Venom now? Meh? I’m suddenly acting like Remender gave birth to this character from my childhood. Cullen Bunn… I dunno….”
Rick Remender gets Avengers. I say, “I dunno… Rick Remender…?”(See also: Hickman, Jonathan, uncontested talent and brilliance of.)
They hop from book I like to book I like, and suddenly I’m treating them like some chancy unknown quantity. Clearly, there’s more going on here than “I like writers.”
Poor Remender got it again from me on another book. “This just in: Brubaker is off of Captain America and Winter Soldier.” “This just in: so much for Captain America and Winter Soldier. Local man to reclaim $7.00 a month.” As if Rick Remender, John Romita, and/or Jason Latour have ever done a book I didn’t love. (Well, I suppose Latour might have. To be fair, I haven’t the first opinion about the man yet, other than “you’re not the Winter Soldier’s daddy, and you can’t tell him what to do [door slam]!”)
Isn’t the issue that, when a writer – and these days, it’s generally a writer, because writer/artist teams are things of the past in terms of long runs, with the occasional exception like Fraction/Larocca on Invincible Iron Man – leaves a character, there’s a feeling on the part of the reader of having reached some sense of closure with that character, at least for awhile? It’s not like it was in years gone by where creators would disappear mid-story; these days, there are entire character arcs that really do bring things to some sense of completion, and so not wanting to continue with a series past a certain writer’s leaving doesn’t necessarily mean you’re disinterested in the incoming writer, just that you’ve reached a good point to take a break from that character’s life for awhile. Or am I entirely imagining that mindset?
August 28th, 2012 at 10:54 am
TV shows are often written by a dozen writers in a given season. But no one seems to notice because we like the actors and characters and maybe because the producer or storyrunner is very capable. So shouldn’t we stick with a comic we like because the characters are still interesting and the editor knows what he or she is doing?
August 28th, 2012 at 11:26 am
That’s different though. The showrunner is really more akin to the writer(sometimes writer and artist) of a comic book. He’s the one with the consistent vision of what the show should be.
August 28th, 2012 at 11:39 am
As a person who only buys one or two Marvel books it’s tough to jump on any of these new launches simply because it’s the same collection of writers I’m not already reading. But for Cap and Winter Soldier, this is a completely logical jumping off point. Brubaker is finishing a story he’s been telling for five or six years and I’m frankly not interested in reading Remender’s, no matter if I think he’s talented or not.
August 28th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
I certainly see it as an opportunity to hop off. In the next couple of months I’m regaining a bunch of my money from Marvel–with the creative shifts on Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Invincible Iron Man, plus the end of Fraction’s Defenders. I no longer have enough inherent interest in any of these characters to justify monthly+ purchases in the absence of my favorite writers and artists animating them. (I think I’ll be much happier seeing what most of these folks are able to do away from the constraints and expectations of the big superhero publishers.) Plus, as Graeme suggests, four years of decent Iron Man comics is more than enough to hold me for a while.
August 28th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
I’m always a little upset when a writer that I like leaves a character that I like, but I DO like to give the new writer a chance. In fact, I remember when Remender took over for Gail Simone on the Atom! It only took him two issues to completely destroy all the fun.
But perhaps I’m being harsh. Has he improved?
August 28th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Good writers are writing good stories! I’m angry! lol.