It perplexes me when people say comic writers are just failed screenwriters and novelists.
Some successful tv/movie writers became mediocre comic book writers (Jeph Loeb, J. Michael Straczynski, Brian K. Vaughan, Jeremy Adams).
Some novelists have also become mediocre comic book writers (Brad Meltzer, Greg Rucka, N. K. Jemisin, Ta-Nehisi Coates).
It's not as easy as it seems.
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It's usually people too stupid to check credits, a red flag for someone not worth discussing things with. Almost always people with little experience reading comics and mostly focused on manga , their peak comic reading was 2000's stuff when they were a teenager and fell off in the last 5 years, yet have no idea who wrote or drew what they read beyond a few names everyone knows like Jim Lee.
>It perplexes me when people say comic writers are just failed screenwriters and novelists.
It's basically midwits who parrot shit they heard from Outrage Media or the kinds of people who talk about, 00s kids who don't realize they were part of the problem they're now complaining about
those "mediocre writers" are better than the vast majority of comic book writers lmao. adams for instance has one of the less than a handful of good on-goings right now.
His Green Lantern is trash.
>those "mediocre writers" are better than the vast majority of comic book writers lmao
Nah
You might not like his stuff, but BKV's a way above average comics writer, who shouldn't be put in the same bracket as Loebotomy, or even JMS. Frick, he even got into screenwriting after he became a name in comics
That was a bad move, because Saga is so much worse than his earlier stuff like Ex Machina.
When people say this, they're not normally talking about writers like that who've been around for decades, they're talking about a lot of modern comic writers that don't seem to have any real interest or passion for the job they're doing, and rightly or wrongly are perceived as wannabe screenwriters or novelists trying to use comics as a stepping stone to the job they really want.
Though didn't Benis fail to make it in Hollywood before he settled for comics?
>s, they're talking about a lot of modern comic writers that don't seem to have any real interest or passion for the job they're doing, and rightly or wrongly are perceived as wannabe screenwriters or novelists trying to use comics as a stepping stone to the job they really want.
but
again
Many of the writers people have issues with ARE already TV/screen writers who did comics after getting regular work in other mediums(and still are)
Again, it just seems like ignorance yet trying to be part of the conversation. They try to avoid mentioning some ambiguous past writers(because they don't know them either except "Alan Moore" and "Frank Miller" )and just assume the problem today is all "failed screen writers"
Assuming you're OP again, nobody having these conversations is talking about ANY of the guys you mentioned in that first post. Even the ones who do get complained about regularly here aren't getting called "failures" in the other fields they've worked in.
These conversations are usually very specifically about newer comic writers who started in the 2010s or 2020s and are seen as seeing comics as a stepping stone to something bigger where they really want to be working.
A related issue is both unsuccessful and successful comics writers alike producing books that are blatant pitches for a movie or TV show, written in the hopes of getting noticed by Hollywood, and the idea that a lot of the creator-owned books people are doing through Image, Dark Horse or IDW are just being made to try to sell the concept to Hollywood.
If you're complaining about people who literally don't know any comic writers except Moore or Miller, it doesn't sound like you're talking about conversations on Cinemaphile, we're not that casual even at our worst. Are you bringing your social media drama with casuals here to complain about it?
> These conversations are usually very specifically about newer comic writers who started in the 2010s or 2020s and are seen as seeing comics as a stepping stone to something bigger where they really want to be working.
Then name then
>Straczynski
>mediocre
You probably think that hack Stan Lee was a better writer than Straczynski lmao
Well yeah, it's a different medium.
No shit.
JMS is hardly mediocre is he? Nor is rucka.
And as much as i dislike leob for better or worse his work is generally considered fundational.
They're all mediocre.
That seems insanely reductive to just call them all mediocre. JMS is either great or ass, not really mediocre.
>JMS is either great or ass
Silver Surfer: Requiem is mediocre.
You're mediocre.
How did you know it was I, J. Michael Straczynski?
OP its mostly jealous fanboys seething that they never got to write for their beloved characters, not that they ever put in the effort to have writing careers anyway.
Its more about people like bendis who clearly just write to get into other mediums, its exaggerated but its defintley a thing.
It's because people assume comic means capeshit, and there has never been a good capeshit comic while there are plenty of good books and movies.
>and there has never been a good capeshit comic
There are plenty.
Loeb's TV stuff is just as mediocre as his comics are. In fact it's probably even worse.
>It perplexes me when people say comic writers are just failed screenwriters and novelists.
It's true. You're effectively just writing fan fiction for characters with an established fan base and someone else illustrates it for you. So it's a lot easier to "succeed."
Rucka was great back in the 00s.
Coates isn't a novelist. He wrote non-fiction. Of course that would end up lousy, he had no experience writing fiction.
Also remember that the reason why Stan Lee is called Stan Lee is because he wanted to be a serious novelist and didn't want his low-status comic crap affecting the career he wanted. But then his comics ended up taking off.
>Rucka was great back in the 00s.
Not really.
No Man's Land, Detective Comics (both runs), Gotham Central, Wonder Woman, his contributions to 52 (everyone involved in 52 was A-list), Elektra, Wolverine, and Punisher were great comics.
You just listed a bunch of mediocre comics.
"Everything is average" is an empty criticism.
"Everything is great" is empty praise.
I didn't say everything was great, I said those specific books were. Rucka has worn four Eisners and one Harvey. A lot of trades of his books are still in print which means that people are still buying them one to two decades later. Most writers, the truly mediocre, don't win awards and stay in print.